Why Obasanjo, Falae Fell Apart
THE decision to move in to African Democratic Congress (ADC) therefore, is an appreciation of the progressive essence of the party and its untainted existence on the terrain of our nation’s politics.”
It was on those explanatory note that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s fangled Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) went into oblivion and immediate reincarnation. This would be the former President’s second withdrawal or retirement from active engineering of the social forces.
But quite unlike when he announced his withdrawal from active partisan politics through public destruction and desecration of his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), this time around he was retreating to the background from where he would influence daytime activities of ADC.
Most Nigerians recall that Obasanjo declared his intention to withdraw from active participation in the CNM whenever the movement fuses or transmutes to a political party.
Signs of a crack within the third force proponents came when shortly after Obasanjo and his foot soldiers launched the CNM, the former national President of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olisa Agbakoba, came up with
Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM).
Yet, noting the possible deleterious impact the segregation could have on the third force dream, Obasanjo encouraged discussions between CNM and NIM with a view to ensuring the much-needed political synergy. But, instead of the tributaries leading into a common course, at a unification meeting in Lagos, the former President showed up at the venue with one of his political godsons, the Senator representing Kano Central in the Senate and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Whether it was deliberate or a concerted attempt to test the reaction of other delegates, the presence of Kwankwaso caused some disquiet, with Agbakoba wondering why the Senator should be part of the meeting when the third force was predicated on sidetracking political actors of APC and PDP hues.
Nonetheless, the former President continued the mobilisation of the CNM, pointing out that the movement would seek a political party to adopt for the purposes of taking part in the 2019 election.
SDP Romance, Atiku’s Shadows T the height of the euphoria of CNM and the third force
Aings, signing of Memorandum of Association (MOU) and convention to ratify the fusion, in the case of ADC, it was just a mere discussion with Nwosu and his secretary.
Implications Of ADC Reinvention ITH the adoption of ADC as platform of choice for CNM, the Southwest geopolitical zone would be a big battleground for the 2019 poll. Chief Obasanjo seems to have succeeded in accomplishing what he could not achieve in 2003, when the battle for his second term in office raged.
The former President has unwittingly squared up to the former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who through the appropriation of a faction of the Alliance of Democracy (AD) carved a territory for political negotiations.
By adopting ADC therefore, and entrusting it in the hands of one of his loyal foot soldiers, Oyinlola, Obasanjo can afford to sit back and direct proceedings in the platform for national relevance.
The implication of the foregoing is that the Southwest will go into electoral battle in 2019 from four cardinal points. While Tinubu leads the divided APC flank, Falae would be directing proceedings on the SDP platform, just as Ayo Fayose and Obasanjo make their cases through PDP and ADC respectively.
It could be inferred from the above portent scenario that Presidential candidates of those four platforms will scramble for votes in the zone. And given the DNA of ADC grafting, the auguries point to the possibility of a northern Presidential aspirant running with a Vice Presidential nominee from the Southeast.
Obasanjo had on various occasions made a case for the Southeast to gamble for the Presidency. With ADC now in his kitty, the former President can attempt to kill two birds with one stone. That might be what the CNM alluded to when it declared: “It was resolved that with the understanding of like minded persons and organisations across the country, Nigeria will be rescued, and that the elections of 2018 and 2019 will be used to cure the curse and afflictions of failed leadership and perpetual underdevelopment.” It is obvious therefore that Obasanjo and his gang of CNM advocates have the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls in mind in their hurried acquisition of ADC as party platform. The two crucial elections stand out as a possible basis to assess the effectiveness of Obasanjo’s political theories and practice.
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