Atiku, Shekarau: Exit of the lion and the fox

Many people go into politics, not with mindset and ability to change the life of the people or society they are supposed to represent. NO! But, with the mindset, that, politics is the easiest intermediary to wealth and social status in the society. Democracy and governance is not about the people and by the people anymore, but by few people for their interest and the possessions, tricks and powers they are able to acquire. This direction has seriously windswept the value system of Nigeria. An average Nigerian has lost faith in the Nigerian project.Consequently, they ransack and rip off the country’s collective destiny with the Lilliputian ruling elite. Democracy has become a great disappointment to the Nigerian people, making people unsure of what to define as a good politician.
Today the game of decamping from the ruling party to opposition or from the opposition to ruling party by our politicians for choosing safe landing venue is indication that democracy has come to stay in Nigerian polity. Nigerian politicians seem to be poor students of history
Recently, former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau defected to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying he left the All Progressives Congress (APC) because of injustice in the party. Shekarau announced his defection at the end of a meeting of stakeholders of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state, held at his Kano residence.
During the meeting, which was attended by hundreds of supporters from the 44 local government areas, the former governor said they were all cross carpeting to the PDP. Shekarau, who was among founding APC leaders, has been sulking since the national headquarters proclaimed governors as party leaders in their states. Even though the national headquarters as well as other party leaders in the state made some reconciliation efforts, the former governor insisted that there was injustice that must be remedied. Shekarau’s defection came days after his Sokoto counterpart, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, also left the APC for PDP, protesting the emergence of his rival, Governor Aliyu Wamakko, as party leader in the state.
Last Sunday former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, formally dumped the PDP and joined the APC. In a press statement  he described the PDP as bereft of ideas and refusing to live up to the promises it made in the past. He said his decision was the right one, recalling that in 2006, he and his supporters were pushed out of a party they had worked tirelessly with other compatriots to build as a vehicle to restore democracy to Nigeria.
According to him, he returned to that party in 2009 when a new leadership of the party and the country promised a new direction, a direction of inclusiveness, of internal democracy, of an end to impunity, adherence to the rule of law and respect for the dignity of members and Nigerians, regretting that those promises were not kept and that the PDP continues to be beset with mostly leadership-induced crises.
He further said it is the struggle for democracy and constitutionalism and service to Nigeria and her people that have driven his choice and decision, adding that the PDP has lost touch with Nigerians and that efforts made by many well-meaning members and stakeholders to bring it back to the vision of the founders have been rebuffed.  Atiku disclosed that it was in order to demonstrate the seriousness of the challenges and bring public attention to it that he and some other leaders and stakeholders staged a walkout during the party’s last convention in Abuja.
Nigerians need a party that can enhance prosperity and economic stability. The naked greed of our politicians has caused grave misfortune on democracy and socio-economic development. Projects and services that provide for the people and alleviate the suffering and improve the standard of living of the masses are jettisoned. In their place, programmes and projects that have no direct bearing on the lives of the people, but serve as avenues for looting and squandering the people’s resources are pursued religiously with all forms of unconventional methods employed to realise these objectives of politicians. These criminal methods include rigging of elections, creating crisis to divide the people, creating artificial scarcity of essential commodities and mass poverty, to force the people to submit to their dictates in order for them to survive. What a pity!
Every well-meaning Nigerian knows that Nigeria is sick, but a few who feed fat on the system have refused to acknowledge this fact. Atiku’s stance to identify himself with those who believe Nigeria is sick without any guarantee that he will be allowed to achieve his presidential ambition has raised his integrityratingand made Nigerians see him in positive light. While the same surprise goes to Malam Shekarau who swore that he would rather remain alone in his party even if every other member decamped to PDP. For someone who people believed was upright and a Sharia commander, this has really shown him off as double faced and selfish. All this demonstrates that politics is just a game.