How IBB, Abdulsalami tricked Atiku on presidency – El-Rufai

MORE revelations have continued to
emerge from the controversial memoir of
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, The Accidental
Public Servant, in which he detailed the
part played by former Heads of State,
Generals Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in the failed
bid by former Vice-President Atiku
Abubabakar to succeed his boss, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.
The two generals as well as a former
National Security Adviser, General Aliyu
Gusau, according to El-Rufai, in his
newly-released book, had in conjunction
with Atiku, formed what was known as
the G4, a political group allegedly hell-
bent on supporting Atiku to stop
Obasanjo from becoming the country’s
president for a second term, because “the
four of them had been meeting to review
Obasanjo’s performance and they had
concluded that Obasanjo’s first term up
to that point had been a disaster.”
El-Rufai revealed that the former vice-
president had called the trio of himself
[El-Rufai], his political adviser, Dr Usman
Bugaje and Thisday publisher, Nduka
Obaigbena and told them of how the G4
had allegedly told him (Atiku) that the
group would support him to become
president as he was the then vice-
president, who “should have the first
shot at the presidency.”
“Now, it was a well-known fact then that
President Babangida harboured a similar
ambition. Yet, Atiku believed that
Babangida, who is older, would step back
for him to have the first shot.
He [Atiku] did not see as a trap. The
moment he told us, it did not sound
right. As I learned much later, this was
Babangida’s ploy to prove to Obasanjo
that Atiku, given the slightest
opportunity, would stab him in the back.
When the four of them began meeting
and discussing Nigeria’s problems,
Babangida allegedly called Obasanjo and
informed him,” the book read in part.
According to the book, which has drawn
diverse comments from the public,
including Obasanjo and Atiku, revealed
that while the G4 meetings were going
on, General Babangida was furnishing
Obasanjo with details of the meeting
while Atiku, who had similarly informed
his boss, was alleged to be withholding
some information, probably taking
insurance against a backlash of his
actions.
Atiku, according to the former minister,
was also in consultation with a second
political group comprising 17 Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) governors “who
all wanted him [Atiku] to be the next
president, in return for assurances for a
second term for themselves.” This group,
it was gathered, was powerful because
the governors controlled the selection of
voting delegates to the party’s national
convention which would determine the
presidential candidate.
However, the bubbles of General
Babangida alleged plot against Atiku
burst with one of Atiku loyalist’s
suggestion that the former Head of State
should be made to walk the talk. Atiku
was advised to approach the G4 with
information that having begun
consultations within the country and got
positive feedbacks, he needed to
undertake international consultations
which would involve the G4, especially
the former presidents using their
influence on the international scene to
sell Atiku to the international forces in
France and Germany.
While Atiku’s men, El-Rufai and Bugaje,
were to handle consultations with the
United States and United Kingdom, he
was advised to test IBB by asking him to
arrange a meeting with a former
President of France and a former
Chancellor of Germany where they could
broach the topic of an Atiku presidency, a
test which the former head of state
allegedly failed, as El-Rufai revealed that:
“We never got to the point of having
those consultative meetings abroad
because before they even took place,
Babangida had already failed the test.”
Accordingly, El-Rufai went on to write
that act of disloyalty and subsequent
actions allegedly on the part of Atiku
created a wedge between him and his
boss further widened the gulf of his
ambition to the president of Nigeria.