Book presentation on Atiku: From right, Former
Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Col. Abdulrahman Danbazau and Former Vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,
discussing during public presentation a book title “Landmark Constitutional Law
Cases in Nigeria 2004-2007 THE ATIKU ABUBAKAR CASES”, in Abuja yesterday. Photo
by Gbemiga Olamikan.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of the book,
titled, “Landmark Constitutional Law Cases in Nigeria 2004-2007: The Atiku
Abubakar Cases”, at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, Governor Aliyu who
described Atiku Abubakar as one who could not be pushed aside when he was Vice
President, however stressed that he had an understanding with his former boss,
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, hence any memo which did not have the
backing of the former Vice President was considered dead on arrival, adding
that each time he nodded his head at Federal Executive Council, FEC meetings,
the memo scaled through and when he does anything to the contrary, the memo
dies.
Governor Babangida Aliyu who urged any
politician who wants to contest for any election, being it Councilorship or
Presidential, must budget for it and for the courts, adding, Atiku is “the best
President Nigeria is yet to have.”
Meanwhile, the Special Guest of Honour of the
event, President Goodluck Jonathan was absent, even as no one represented him.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Host, Former
Vice President Atiku Abubakar who noted that with his case, governors can now
dump the party where they were hitherto elected for another party like what
happened on Tuesday where G5 Governors dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP
for the All Progressives Congress, APC .
According to him, the privilege of leaving the
PDP without any persecution from ‘above’ was one of the dividends of the
persecution he passed through as the Vice President, just as he said that other
gains which could be attributed to his ordeal as the Second in Command under
the Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2007 include the inability
of the Independent National Electoral Commission to disqualify candidates duly
nominated by political parties, among others.
The former Presidential aspirant on the platform
of PDP who called for strict adherence to rule of law, however hailed the
judiciary, adding, “Today INEC can no longer disqualify candidates that have
been duly nominated by their political parties. Today we know that a sitting
president or governor may choose to humiliate his deputy, but he cannot remove
him from office. The constitutional provision on that has been affirmed by our
courts. Today, governors who are elected under a political party can freely
defect to another party without persecution
“Today political parties must hold elections to
select their officers rather than employ undemocratic methods such as
affirmation.This is a critical step if we want internal democracy in political
parties without which we really cannot hope for a truly democratic country
where impunity by those in power is rejected.”
Stressing that the Nigerian judiciary deserves
special commendation, Atiku said, “in the face of enormous pressures it
demonstrated exemplary courage in standing by the truth, justice and the
Nigerian Constitution. In short it put Nigeria first.
“These cases and the whole experience of
fighting for my rights also tell me that we need to do more to strengthen our
institutions. We must be a society of rules not of men. We must not trust
people in power to do the right things always. Americans do not and they have
practiced democracy for hundreds of years. Why should we? And we should stand
up to defend our rights and those of others whenever they are threatened by
those in power.
“As we seem to be sliding towards more political
intolerance, intimidation and harassment of those deemed to be oppositional, we
ought to remind ourselves that our work of deepening and normalizing democracy
is not done yet. We must remain vigilant, focused and determined to guard the
democratic victories that we have won and to further expand the democratic
space and extend the frontiers of freedom for our citizens.”
BOOK PRESENTATION—From left, Governor Babangida
Aliyu of Niger State; former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida;
former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Uwais and Deputy
Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, at a public
presentation of a book: “Landmark Constitutional Law Cases in Nigeria
2004-2007: The Atiku Abubakar Cases” in Abuja,yesterday.
“I did not plan nine years ago to be involved in
events and actions that would bring all of you here today for the public
presentation of a book about some of those events. I was, as we say in Nigeria,
minding my business as the Vice President of our country having had the
privilege of being selected twice by President Obasanjo to run on the ticket
with him and having been elected on that ticket by the Nigerian people.
“I did not plan on waging struggles to defend
and protect my constitutional rights or the Nigerian constitution which I had
sworn to defend. I did not think that there would be a reason to make such
plans. A number of circumstances and events would, however, shake me out of my
comfort zone and propel me to participate in and/or lead the struggles some of
which became the court cases captured in this book. I commend these young and
accomplished lawyers for putting the book together.
“By hindsight I should not have been as trusting
of people doing the right thing when the occasion demanded it, because of the
strange things that power can do to even the best of us human beings. I had
worked with other compatriots to restore democracy in our country after a long
period of rule by our military brothers and sisters. We were convinced that
civil democratic government, with all its imperfections, was a preferred form
of government because of the freedoms that it allows us to exercise in
selecting our leaders and in being who we want to be within the ambits of the
law.
“Having achieved democratic restoration, I was
committed to deepening our young democracy and I was committed and loyal to our
Constitution which I swore to uphold.
“I am a deep believer in the sanctity of the
rights of the individual. Thus when I felt that my rights were being abridged,
I had to react, but did so according to the law: hence the recourse to the
courts.
“The book reviewer has done a good job of
highlighting some of the salient issues in the cases covered in the book and
drawing out some of the precedents established and lessons for us. So I will
not try to repeat them.
Let me say however, that I do not see myself as
a hero; I did what I believe reasonable people in my position would do. I just
had the privilege of occupying a high office and having the resources to
prosecute the struggles.
“But I did not do it alone; a lot of people
helped, many of whom I did not even know personally and many of whom would
prefer to remain unmentioned- political associates and supporters, lawyers
across the country, public servants who provided information often unsolicited.
I must say that the support that I received helped immensely to strengthen me
and renew my faith in our country.
“Let me use this opportunity to acknowledge the
many sufferings that many of my political associates and supporters went
through mainly because of their association with me. Many were detained and/or
charged to court on frivolous grounds; many lost their jobs or had their
businesses destroyed and their lives thrown upside down; and all were
threatened and intimidated for their association with me.
“I do not see the court cases as victories for
me. If they are to be viewed as victories they are the victories of Nigerians,
of Nigeria’s democracy. The cases that we won and the ones that we didn’t win
are all important to the extent that they helped to develop Nigeria’s law and
democracy.
There were also a pool of encomiums on Atiku from
the national leader of APC and former governor of LagosState, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu during the public presentation of a book chronicling his
political-cum-legal battles during his tenure as Vice President of the country.
He won 14 cases in court mainly against the Government of President Olusegun
Obasanjo, in which he was the number two man.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was represented
by the Spokesman of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: “Atiku was
misunderstood by many Nigerians for resolving his political crisis through the
courts when he was Vice President. But we thank God that the efforts he took in
those days have become the bedrock of our democracy today.”
Also speaking, Deputy Speaker, House of
Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha who hailed him, said that the lower legislative
chambers identifies with the book.
Also in his remarks, former Minister of Justice
and Attorney General, Chief Michael Andooakaa who noted that politics must have
a sense of maturity where government and those in leadership do not crush any
person seen to be with a perceived enemy, stressed that rule of law must be
entrenched and those not happy with actions of some persons should go to court,
adding that through out his stay as Minister, he worked with late Musa
Yara’adua, yet he was always with Atiku and the late president never harassed
him.
The Atiku Abubakar Cases, pulled a large crowd
of the who-is-who in Nigeria’s judicial, business and political circles to the
Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, venue of the book launch.
Other dignitaries also present at the event
included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, his
Deputy, Hon. Emeka Ikedioha; Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State as well as
the representatives of the governors of Sokoto, Kwara, Enugu and Kano States. A
former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Adamu Ciroma, former
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Lawal Uwais, Yahaha Kwande, and a number of
traditional rulers also graced the occasion.
The Chairman of the Dangote Group of Companies,
Alhaji Aliko Dangote who was represented by Alhaji Issa Yusuf also described
Atiku Abubakar as, “a business mentor.”
More than (N50M) Fifty Million Naira was raked
in by the authors who are teachers, Professor Maxwell Gidado and Barrister
Chidi Ojukwu.
Vanguard
Atiku is one of the richest presidential candidates, is glarring that Gov Aliyu has been feasting off him.
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