In another 24 hours, it would be the year 2012 and bye to the year 2011. BAYO OLADEJI and STANLEY NKWOCHA look back at 2011 and feature the politicians that made it thick, either for the wrong or right reasons.
President Goodluck Jonathan
No doubt, this is the year of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who rose from obscurity in power to that of prominence. From the lame-duck vice president to acting president and finally to the president, it was a tale of history for the Otuoke-born politician as all efforts to stop his bid for the Presidency failed as the clash between the? centripetal force and the centrifugal force ended up in is favor.
Against all odds he not only took over the power but hijacked the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and this helped him immensely as he disregarded the zoning policy of his party to emerge as its presidential candidate.
Ideally the successor of his late boss, President Umaru Yar ‘Adua was supposed to come from the North to complete the two terms given to the assumption that if Yar’Adua were to be alive, he would have sought for second term. The consensus idea came but failed as Jonathan proved cynics wrong by emerging the winner of the Presidential poll. Unfortunately the post-election crises occasioned by the emergence of Jonathan have not ceased till today and this is why not a few political watchers believe the political elite in the North may be the sponsors of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
President Goodluck has been battling with the insecurity in the country even as the economy has refused to come out of the wood. The economic team under the former World Bank Chief,Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealla, has not found the much-needed panacea. The plan to stop the fuel subsidy by the government has not yet been accepted by the media, the common man and the human rights community.
PROF. ATTAHIRU JEGA
The highly respected University Don who conducted the last general election, said to be the most expensive poll in the history of Nigeria, will definitely make the list ten times over. With over N120 billion spent, the outcome was not satisfying enough to warrant applause of? the opposition with over N80 billion expended to conduct the registration of voters alone yet on the day of the election, there was little or no difference from the previous ones.
President Goodluck’s ”moon slide” victory? especially in the East where they had made a vow to vote en masse? as a show of solidarity became of subject of controversy. Some court verdicts? have reversed some of the results but certainly not in the dimension of the 2003 and 2007.
GENERAL IBRAHIM BABANGIDA
The former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, planned to return to power after the historic steeping-aside that ushered in General Sani Abacha. He was keenly interested in wrestling power with Jonathan. So also was former VicePresident, Atiku Abubakar, former National Security Adviser, General Muhammed Aliyu Gusau, and the immediate past governor of Kwara State, now a Senator, Bukola Saraki.
The four surrendered their political career to the whims and caprices of the Adamu Ciroma -led Northern Political Leaders Forum. But in its wisdom, the group picked Atiku to run as the consensus candidate who eventually lost to the incumbent at the PDP’s presidential primaries.
DAVID MARK
When the country found herself in the political logjam occasioned by the death of President Umar Yar Adua, it was the leadership of the Senate under Mark that came in with the unforgettable Law of Necessity which made Jonathan the Acting President. Senator David Mark also used his influence to ensure he returned to the number three seat making him the only Nigerian that has served for two terms on that seat.
No doubt, Mark is a member of the ‘inner circle’ of Mr. President. Soon after the President’s family finished hosting the Christmas Carol in the Villa Chapel recently, did Jonathan, Mark and a few others go into meeting that lasted several hours all on the 2012 budget, especially with the fuel subsidy saga.??
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DIMEJI BANKOLE
Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Sabur? Bankole was number two in the leadership of the National Assembly. He was Yar’Adua’s Man Friday in the House. His leadership did not support Jonathan to become the Acting President until the Senate intervened. And when the PDP zoned the Speakership to the Southwest, his leadership set the stage for the emergence of the duo of Aminu Tambuwal and Emeka Ihedioha as the Speaker and Deputy. Today, Dimeji Bankole is facing trial for alleged sharp practices while in office.
CHIEF OLUSEGUN OBASANJO?
Former President Obasanjo remained a factor on the political scene while the year lasted, despite all the criticisms against him which he elected to ignore. Even when forces ganged up to frustrate him out of the ruling party, he refused to bulge. He was the strongest pillar, aside God, that made Jonathan the President.When it seemed the Consensus group was gaining support in the North, it was Obasanjo who encouraged Solomon Lar and a few others to counter the move among the minority groups in the North.? However, the same Obasanjo could not deliver his daughter from political defeat even as the PDP lost his home state to the opposition, ACN.
Obasanjo single handedly picked all the ministers representing the Southwest in the Jonathan cabinet. This did not go down well with some stalwarts who denounced his allege tactics of ‘use? and dump’.
ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU
Unarguably, this is the acknowledged lead of opposition in the country today. He has a deep pocket and support of the media and human rights community. He literally killed the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to pave way for his own party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which has become the second biggest party in the country, controlling six states and 18 senators and not fewer than 70 members in the House of Representatives.
Tinubu plotted a political alliance with the CPC but it failed on the eve of the poll. Shortly after the election, he was arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for allegedly operating foreign account as a public officer. But few days ago he was set free as the charges were thrown to the winds. But the outcome of the concluded Local Government poll in Lagos state has put a question mark on his democratic credentials. This is because the election was everything but free and fair.
GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI
The Former military Head of State is certainly among those that gave shape to the out-going year as his involvement in the general election was a plus to the poll despite its flaws. Unlike the previous election he went to so many states in his bid to rule the country again but it seems the political elite are not ready to trust him with power again apparently due to his anti-corruption posture.? General Buhari is not unaware of this as he occasionally accuses the elite of being responsible for the poor development of the country. With his recent loss at the Supreme Court it remains to be seen what the next line of action for the strong man of Northern politics will be.
JUSTICE ALOYSIUS KATSINA-ALU
The Judiciary was in a mess throughout the year and the former Chief Justice, Katisina –Alu, had his own share of the bad side of the bench. Justice Isa Salami accused him of intervening in the case of the Sokoto State gubernatorial poll. And Justice Isa Salami rejected his transfer to the Supreme Court under the supervision of Katsina-Alu, describing it as a Greek gift. He was on the exalted seat when the year begun but his tenure expired before the year got over. He deserved being called ‘Mr. Controversy of the Bench.’?
JUSTICE ISA SALAMI
This is another controversial judge that made his impact on the bench that marred the image of the Judiciary in 2011. The Kwara State-born judge sacked two sitting governors in Ekiti and Osun by annulling their poll.Questions were raised but the verdicts were not reversed.
Not a few see Salami as a friend of the ACN and the party did not help matter as it used the media to solitaries with Salami. Year 2011 witnessed the sack of Salami which to some was a welcome development while others saw it as a political persecution.? Salami accused? Katsina –Alu of having an interest in the re-election bid of? sitting governor of Sokoto State, but he betrayed the judiciary by taking the matter to court although he withdrew it but the havock had been done.
FARIDA WAZIRI
Farida Waziri may have been removed from the office of the chairman of the anti-graft commission, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) by President Goodluck but her efforts this year brought good result to the nation through the prosecution of big fish in the political waters of the country. The list includes but not limited to the immediate former Speaker, Bankole and his deputy, ex-governors Danjuma Goje, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Gbenga Daniel, Aliyu Kowe Doma and a host of former CEOs of some commercial banks who became victims of the CBN reforms.
But there are insinuations that Farida was not able to live up to expectation as a result of the questionable ways she got to the office. Media reports have it that she might be probed next year especially by the National Assembly who has not hiding the disdain of its members against Farida who put for the disgrace of some legislators.
ADAMU CIROMA
Since finding space in Nigeria’s political equation in the 1960s, the former CBN governor has refused to quit politics. However, when he earlier in the year became the points man in the Northern Elders Political Forum, NEPF, it was unclear what his aim was. But no sooner did he take charge that he heightened tension in the PDP and indeed the nation in the days ahead of the PDP’s presidential primaries. However, not a few persons could explain how his wife remained a formidable member of the ‘Jonathan –must-win’ campaign while he, her husband, fought it with all his strength. Give it to Ciroma or not, he was a major name at a point in the nation’s 2011 political space.
AMINU TAMBUWAL AND EMEKA IHEDIOHA
For well over a month, these duo held the ruling PDP by the jugular, redefining the party loyalty and indeed making a mark in? the political history of the nation as both vehemently resisted the zoning of political offices as done by their party and choosing to rather offset the table. And they did it in style, beating their opponents that were acclaimed party choices to the seats.
Give it to the both Tambuwal and Ihedioha, their action redefined the power in certain quarters as clearly theirs was a battle between power and numbers. Unlike in the past as always was the case in the National Assembly, the later won. Little wonder, the ‘Politician of the Year’ award accorded him by several groups and individuals.
TIMIPRE SYLVA AND HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON
Unlike in the past where he fought and won his fights like the proverbial cat with nine lives, for Governor Timipre Sylva, the battle to return for a second term to the Creek House in Yenagoa was one that could have taken his life if he had stretched it further, literally speaking.
For Sylva, it may be a hard lesson forced down his throat by the powers that be in the PDP – with most pointing at the presidency, how he joined Chinwoke Mbadinauju in the list of governors denied re-run party tickets of the PDP, remains a huge mystery to many a Nigerian. But to others, it is the beauty of democracy.
For Seriake Dickson, a relatively unknown House of Reps member, it is the dawn of a new era in Bayelsa as he is positioned to fly the party’s flag in next year’s gubernatorial election. A golden chance beckons for him.
SENATOR ALI NDUME
Eloquent Senator Ali Ndume had everything going for him, especially when he defied the odds to win his Senatorial seat few weeks to election date after being denied his ticket and dumping the ANPP for the PDP.
The hero in him has since left the psyche of the average Nigerian, not after been alleged to be linked to the dreaded Boko Haram Sect which he is accused of a being a major sponsor of. On a rather regrettable note, 2011 turned its head on the once dreaded minority leader in the House of Representatives.
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