Baba, our people say, if an old woman stumbles twice, we must inspect the basket on her head. I will be blunt. By 2027, you will be 81. This is not ageism. By that time you would have spent more than 20 years trying to be president. In 2022, you looked tired. You could be Abraham Lincoln. But Lincoln was young and died at 56. He didn’t run for president for 20 years. Baba, let it go. 

However, it’s your prerogative. You are allowed to run for president in every election cycle till ‘thy kingdom come’. But you must think of yourself. It shouldn’t be a fixation, an unhealthy obsession. It’s good to aspire. But you have one life to live. At nearly 80, the frail ought to retire to easier routines. Then, they can sit out and reflect and write their memoirs from the outside, from the vantage position of a bystander. With the freedom to tell the truth, stepping on toes and not bothering whose ox is gored, for the benefit of coming generations. A freedom that compromise-ridden politics inhibits. Baba, think.

You must think of the country. This country has a large youthful population. The nation has stagnated. It needs energy. You saw Buhari. It wasn’t his fault. Age reduced him to a fraction of himself. His aversion for disorder and corruption had faded sufficiently for crooks to tum rings around him. You can see Tinubu. A big private jet, perhaps kitted with a good bed, is his priority. He shuttles to France frequently to grease his joints. This country doesn’t need another kabukabu president. Biden thought about his party and country and stepped aside. You can do the same. You contested for this presidency with Abiola 33 years ago. You have to move on. 

Baba Atiku, let me tell you something else. This might be one of the problems. You have been everything. Now, nobody knows what you are. Obasanjo once said you were corrupt. But after that cleansing at ‘River Ota’ in 2018, he said you were clean. Then in 2022, he stayed away from you like you were a leper. People can’t define you in a way that gives them hope. The white garment prophetess called you a humble man whose time was imminent. That was in 2019. Baba, you have conjured earth, wind and fire. Baba, you need a break. 

You are not a bigot. You don’t do religious politics. You are a decent politician. You are not violent. You are better than most. But your decency is the decency of an old political organizer who neither by deeds nor words promises a new beginning. Sir, permit my insolence, you invoke a feeling of staleness, constipation, and ‘more of the same’. The nation needs a rebirth. It needs a fundamental transformation. Not little back and forth or diffident paces of incremental progress. We need to regain respect in the comity of nations. We are a nation bleeding its talent, losing its young to other countries. Slogans won’t cut it. You don’t inspire the youth. 

People can read desperation. You can call it determination. A chronic determination to be president without a compelling moral point can’t pass the desperation test. The root of the rot is moral rather than economic. In 2022, you wanted to succeed Buhari. Power rotation didn’t matter to you. These are moral issues. You have been running for president since 2007. Nobody knows what you stand for. After six election cycles with you seeking to be president, Nigerians should know you. But you had often dashed in from Dubai, snatched a ticket, lost, and dashed back to Dubai. You are here today, there tomorrow. You can switch to any party and flock with any birds. That may be a general political problem in Nigeria but you epitomise it. 

Okay, you have friends from across the country. That’s a plus. But Tinubu does, too. Yet his appointments have shown that despite his cosmopolitan outlook, he is an ethnic chauvinist. A small wind has blown, and we have seen the underbelly of the fowl. So the country needs more than a wheeling and dealing politician with friends from all corners of the country. It needs a principled visioner. The pragmatism of a hustler is sometimes called realpolitik, but it won’t help this country. You once had the opportunity in the early 2000s you hired myopically. People of the northeast literally took over the EFCC. Ribadu, Larmode, Magu. It wasn’t you, right? Many Nigerians do not want a government by godfathers prioritizing entrenched interests. That’s the image you portray. 

You flock with all birds. The youth say you don’t inspire them. Like pap without sugar. Eaten only by the hungry for strength, slapping the cheeks and making the eyes water. Some say it’s only you that can dislodge Tinubu. But like Obi said, dislodging Tinubu isn’t the issue. The opposition and any government it might form must be foresighted, selfless and averse to corruption. If Tinubu is dislodged and a new president emerges in 2027 to award a Maiduguri – Calabar forest road to his own business partner without due process, what has the country gained? 

Waziri, your time has passed. The country needs a leader who can inspire the youths to dream. The country needs a leader who, by personal examples, can initiate a national rebirth. The country is tired. Sorry, baba Atiku, your role now should be to help identify and support a candidate who can champion national transformation. It sounds naive, right? 

To be honest you had a captivating manifesto in 2022. You prioritized national unity. But you looked exhausted.. And your campaign lacked imagination. It couldn’t even ‘Atikulate’ again. You picked up millions of votes from those who wanted a northerner and those who wanted the PDP. Nobody doubts your ability to get 7 million votes if Buhari is not in the ring. Don’t allow those votes to make you feel indispensable 

Baba, sit aside like Obasanjo and help identify suitable choices. Sit aside and help demand for electoral reforms. Baba, step aside and help build a strong electable opposition party.