Nigeria Must Not Go Up in Flames Over Your Ambition.
Dear Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,
Sometimes, the most devastating rebuttal to a politician’s present argument is not an opponent’s opinion, but the politician’s own words, preserved in the archives of history.
On May 24, 2019, following the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment invalidating the participation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Zamfara State elections, you issued a statement through your media adviser, Paul Ibe, celebrating the verdict.
Your words were emphatic, unambiguous, and seemingly anchored on an uncompromising commitment to justice. Let me repeat same verbatim below;
“Nothing is as pleasing to the ears of believers, as justice being served in the holy month of Ramadan.”
You commended the Supreme Court justices for supposedly putting aside the interests of the powerful and upholding the interests of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Then came the immortal declaration;
“God first, Nigeria second, must be our priority as trustees of the people.”
You went further;
“The storm is over and peace and calm are coming to Zamfara.”
You concluded by praying for God’s blessings upon the Supreme Court, Zamfara State, and Nigeria. Beautiful words, indeed. Principled words, one would ordinarily expect to remain valid irrespective of political circumstances.
But here we are, years later, confronted with a rather uncomfortable question. Does justice remain justice only when it serves your political interests? Is the Nigerian court only justifiable when your political ego is satiated or when it suits your narratives?
Today, your newly adopted political platform, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), finds itself confronting an unfavourable judicial decision. Suddenly, the judiciary’s intervention has become a convenient subject of political suspicion, with accusations of APC orchestration and political manipulation being thrown around.
Dear Alhaji Atiku, permit me to respectfully remind you that the Supreme Court did not become an instrument of divine justice in 2019 because the APC lost Zamfara, just as the judiciary does not automatically become an instrument of political persecution because the ADC has encountered an adverse ruling.
The courts are neither political mascots nor emergency instruments for rescuing electoral ambitions. Their decisions must be evaluated on their legal merits, not according to the emotional temperature of whichever political camp happens to be disadvantaged.
Indeed, the Zamfara precedent you enthusiastically celebrated ought to have reinforced a fundamental democratic principle: political parties and their candidates are not above the law, and judicial pronouncements must be respected regardless of their political consequences.
The difference between a statesman and a perpetual presidential aspirant is often revealed in moments when personal ambition collides with national interest.
A statesman accepts that the nation is bigger than his political fortunes. A statesman understands that democracy cannot survive when judicial decisions are celebrated as victories for justice only when they favour his camp, but condemned as conspiracies when they do not.
And that brings us back to your own words. God first. Nigeria second.
Not Atiku first. Not ADC first. Not presidential ambition first. Not political survival first.
Nigeria first in the practical ordering of national priorities, above personal ambition, political desperation, and the temptation to inflame public sentiment.
Nobody should be expected to celebrate a judicial outcome that genuinely appears unjust. Legitimate criticism of court decisions is permissible, and the right to appeal remains available. But allegations of political interference must be substantiated, not merely proclaimed because the outcome is inconvenient.
Nigeria has endured enough political tension, institutional distrust, and inflammatory rhetoric. Our democracy needs responsible leadership, not an endless succession of political grievances capable of being converted into national crises.
Dear Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the statement you issued in May 2019 was not addressed exclusively to the APC. It was a declaration of principle. And principles, by their very nature, must survive changes in political affiliation, electoral fortunes, and personal ambition.
The same God you invoked in 2019 remains the same. Nigeria remains the same country whose interests you then declared must come second only to God.
The question, therefore, is simple. Will you honour that principle even when doing so demands restraint from your own political camp Remember, Sir, your own words.
God first. Nigeria second.
And Nigeria must not go up in flames over your ambition.
Omogbolahan L.A. BABAWALE
Public Affairs Analyst
Life Camp, Abuja
officialczar2@gmail.com