I listened with great concern to the recent remarks attributed to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso while receiving Fulani farmers from Adamawa State, the home state of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and the presidential candidate of ADC. He reportedly urged them to tell Atiku to return home, concentrate on his chieftaincy responsibilities and retire from the presidential contest because of his age and repeated attempts at the presidency. He further suggested that “they (he, Kwankwaso and Peter Obi) will take care of him,” if they win the election.

To me, this was not simply political advice. It was a clear mockery of an elder statesman and a former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But what he may have said to mock Atiku Abubakar unwittingly exposed his unseriousness as a vice presidential candidate. By asserting that he and Peter Obi would take care of Atiku Abubakar if they win the election leaves one with the conclusion that their only reason to run, is to take care of Atiku Abubakar and not mitigate the suffering of millions of Nigerians. It shows an un-serious candidate who has nothing constructive to campaign with.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Senator Kwankwaso disagreeing with Atiku Abubakar or opposing his presidential ambition. Politics is a contest of ideas, programmes, competence and vision; and market square “yabbis”. However, political disagreement should not descend into ridicule. Atiku has spent decades serving Nigeria and participating in the democratic process. He deserves to be challenged constructively politically, but he also deserves the respect due to a statesman who has occupied high elective offices in the country.

The argument about Atiku’s age must also be placed in the proper constitutional context. The Nigerian Constitution does not prescribe a maximum age for anyone seeking the presidency, on any elective post at all. The Constitution provides a minimum age and other qualifications for presidential candidates, but it does not say that a Nigerian becomes constitutionally disqualified from contesting because he has reached a particular age. Therefore, whether Atiku is too old or not, should be determined by Nigerian voters and not by Senator Kwankwaso, who in his late 60s, is not a young man either.

The fact that Atiku Abubakar has contested the presidency several times should also not be presented as though it is a constitutional offence. Democracy gives qualified citizens the opportunity to offer themselves for public service. If Atiku believes he still has something to contribute to Nigeria and satisfies all constitutional and electoral requirements, he has every right to seek the nomination of his political party and present himself to the Nigerian people. Coincidentally, Kwankwaso himself, has been in the political scene since before 1999, either as a member Federal House of Representatives, deputy speaker of House of Reps, a governor, a Senator, a minister or an aspirant to one political office or the other. He ought to remember that ultimately, it is the electorate that has the final say in elections.

What worries me most is that at a time when Nigerians who genuinely desire political change should be discussing cooperation and reconciliation, Senator Kwankwaso appears to be deepening the divisions within the opposition. Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso are all major political personalities with significant followings. Instead of ridiculing one another, they should be asking how their differences can be managed in the larger interest of Nigeria.

From my perspective, Senator Kwankwaso’s present political posture increasingly raises questions about whether his actions are serving a broader Northern interest or primarily his personal political calculations. I believe the North deserves leaders who can rise above individual ambition and think about the future of the entire region and Nigeria as a whole.

I have also become increasingly concerned that Kwankwaso’s political strategy could ultimately benefit President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. When opposition forces are divided and constantly attacking one another, the incumbent government becomes the principal beneficiary. If Kwankwaso believes that supporting or accommodating the present political arrangement will position him to succeed President Tinubu after eight years, that is his political calculation. But he should be honest with Nigerians about whose interest his present strategy is designed to serve.

Senator Kwankwaso should also remember that the North is much bigger than Kano. No individual politician can legitimately claim ownership of the political aspirations of the entire Northern region. The North comprises many States, ethnic groups, communities, interests and political traditions. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso may have enormous influence in Kano without necessarily representing the collective aspirations of all northerners. Even that hitherto enormous Kwankwasiya control, has been substantially reduced in recent times.
True Northern leadership should be about unity, reconciliation and national responsibility. It should bring people together rather than encourage one political camp to ridicule another. Atiku Abubakar has supporters across Northern Nigeria and in other parts of the country. Whether one supports him or not, his political experience, national network and decades of public service cannot simply be dismissed because of his age or because he has contested the presidency before. He still has a lot of positive and constructive policies to campaign with, quite unlike Rabiu Kwankwaso his presidential candidate in NDC who see nothing wrong in Tinubu’s removal of subsidy on petroleum products and floating of the Naira. Policies they want to continue with. Policies that have left Nigerians in abject penury.

My appeal to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is therefore simple: let us disagree without insulting one another. Let us speak with maturity deserving of our age and status in society. If Kwankwaso believes Atiku Abubakar is too old, let him present his own vision and allow Nigerians to decide. If he believes another candidate is better qualified, let him explain why. But turning Atiku’s age, chieftaincy title and repeated presidential contests into an object of ridicule does not elevate Nigerian politics. The presidency belongs to neither Atiku, Kwankwaso, Obi nor Tinubu by personal entitlement. It belongs to the Nigerian people, and it is the Nigerian people who must decide who leads them.

• Senator Ehigie Uzamere