This OBJ strategy was used recently: In politics, plant moles in your opponent camps and the rest is history…
From Obasanjo’s account, it would seem that his relationship with Atiku began on a sour note:
“By the Constitution, I had to inaugurate or prorogue the National
Assembly on June 4, 1999. The most important officer in the National
Assembly is the senate president and that office had been zoned to the
South-east. And here was where Atiku Abubakar, my vice-president, first
showed his hand and his character. “Without seeking my view or approval, he started planning the
installation of Chuba Okadigbo as the senate president. I did a
background check on Chuba including his past as a student and made
enquiries about him in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) under
(President Shehu) Shagari and no one would recommend him for the post of
senate president.
“I left Atiku to go on his chase while I carried out a meticulous and
detailed investigation and background check on each senator from the
South-east. The one that appeared most appointable was Evan Enwerem. I
canvassed the senate across the board for his election and he was
elected. Atiku did not expect it and he felt sore. “He began to strategize for Enwerem to be removed and Chuba Okadigbo
to be installed. His strategy worked because I was at Abuja airport to
receive a visiting head of state when the news reached me that the
Senate had impeached Enwerem and elected Okadigbo. I was not perturbed. I
came to understand from some senators including Florence Ita-Giwa, who
later became my Special Adviser/ Liaison Officer to the National
Assembly, that Atiku distributed US$5,000 each to some senators to carry
out the ‘coup’.
“That was the beginning of bribing the legislature to carry out a
particular line of action to suit or satisfy the purpose or desire of an
individual or a group. The National Assembly had tasted blood and they
would continue to want more. From the day I nominated Atiku to be my
vice, he set his mind not for any good, benefit or service of the
country, but on furiously planning to upstage, supplant or remove me at
all cost and to take my place. “That was what I brought him for, but he was impatient and
over-ambitious. He was not ready to learn and to wait. His marabout, who
predicted that despite being elected as governor, he would not be sworn
in as a governor, which happened, also assured him that he would take
over from me in a matter of months rather than years.
“All his plans, appointments of people and his actions were towards
the actualisation of his marabout’s prediction. Once I realised his
intention and programme, I watched him like a hawk without giving any
indication of what I knew and letting down my guard. I could not succumb
to the distraction, diversion and malevolence of an ambitious but
unwise deputy. “The work in hand was more important than a confrontational
relationship with my deputy, a man over whom I knew I had far more
experience and outreach in all matters. To alert him of what I knew he
was up to, would only lead to lying, denial, more mischievous plans and
more duplicity on his part.
“He was better managed that way. What was important was not allowing
myself to be surprised or outmanoeuvred by him. I must always seize the
initiative and know what was going on if not in his mind, but at least
in his camp. That I did very effectively. “Sometime in the fourth quarter of 2004, an associate of Atiku came
to my residence at the Aso Villa from Atiku’s official residence. He
felt uncomfortable and I tried to make him feel at ease. Then, he
settled to tell me the story of what had just transpired in Atiku’s
residence. I listened with rapt attention. “He went on to say that Atiku told him that for him to become the
President of Nigeria, the 2007 elections were only a formality.
“The seven ingredients he needed for his enthronement were already in
his hands. He controlled the National Assembly because both the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives
were in his pocket. He controlled twenty-eight out of thirty-six
governors. He had control of the media. His influence over the judiciary
was overwhelming. “What he needed was foreign endorsement and for that he had employed
two lobby groups in the US and one in the UK. And finally, the money for
the elections was in his purse. “When the man finished, I thanked him without passing any comment.
The man was surprised at my reaction and asked, ‘You have nothing to say
to these?’ I said that I had nothing to say and I immediately called my
ADC, Chris Jemitola, to play a game of squash with me.
“On our way to the squash court with my ADC, I said, ‘People at times
make plans and leave God out of their plans.’ My casual remark struck
Chris and he said, ‘Sir, that was a profound statement.’ I said that I
made the statement because of what I had just heard of Atiku’s plan. I
was not convinced he had put God in his plans. “Atiku was confident and God was laughing. Most of Atiku’s
ingredients soon started to fall out of place one by one. The first was
the party, PDP. “He thought I was powerless and had no clue about the execution of
his plan with his group; part of his attack on me was for national
chairman of the party to give the first salvo, then other things would
follow as his grip on the party would be firm and consolidated.
“That salvo came in the form of a letter to me from the chairman of
the party, Audu Ogbeh, who had fully defected with (Iyorchia) Ayu to
Atiku. “The letter, which was not the product of any issue or matter
discussed with or at any party meeting, came suddenly. When I received
it, I could read the sinister intention behind it. “I spent that night writing my reply and I sent it in the morning. My
reply was clear. I wondered why Atiku and his group did not realise
that with my reply, the battle line was clear or maybe they thought that
the seven ingredients would remain intact to the end.
“My assistants had moles within the Atiku group. Anything that they
planned would be reported. That was the case after Ogbeh’s letter. They
decided that Ogbeh should appear remorseful and come with the National
Working Committee to apologise to me. It was not from their hearts, but
to lure me to a ‘killing ground’. “All pieces of information that were reported were verified because it would not come from only one informant. “Timely information is a very important principle of war and also of
politics. In politics, just as in war, what matters is not just your
plan, but knowledge of your opponent’s plan.
Knowing their plan, I had
the choice of playing along with them or being firm, I chose the latter.
“I told Ogbeh that my relationship with him as national chairman and
me as national leader of the party was based on mutual confidence and
trust. But with his letter, my reply and what I knew of him then, I
could no longer work with him in confidence and trust. “There were only two choices left for both of us in our best interest
and that of the party – he, leaves as chairman or I leave as leader of
the party.
“The following Sunday, I called at his house, which I had done on
several occasions in the past when there was an important party matter
to discuss. This time, I asked him to give me an undated letter of
resignation as the national chairman. “I waited, he gave me but it was wrongly addressed to me rather than
to the national secretary of the party as stipulated in the party’s
constitution. “Ogbeh reported to his group and it was decided by them to play on
and to wait for my disgrace whenever I presented a letter of resignation
not addressed to the national secretary.
“The informants did their job and I, once again, paid another visit
to Ogbeh at his residence. He entertained me to a meal and drink, and
changed the addressee on his letter of resignation. “It would appear he never reported the change to his group. When I
considered it opportune and appropriate, the letter was dated and
presented to National Executive Committee of the party, which
regrettably accepted the resignation.
“With that, whatever control Atiku claimed to have over the party
began to crumble. But he did not think so and went on to boast that if I
made my daughter the national chairman, it would be a matter of weeks
not months before he would put her in his pocket.
“I therefore had to look for a successor chairman, who would be too
big, uncompromising and inflexible to be lured and controlled by Atiku. I
found such a man in Senator (Dr.) Amadu Ali, whom I had known many
years earlier as a medical doctor in the army…
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