Boni Haruna and his burden of loyalty

Boni Haruna and his burden of loyalty
on october 29, 2013 at 8:54 pm in politics
By Mohammed Abubakar
The story of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar
and former governor of Adamawa State, Mr Boni
Haruna, used to be one of Siamese twins or, better
still, the snail and the shell. They were political soul
mates. Their relationship was said to have preceded
1999 when, at the outset of the current political
dispensation, Atiku was unarguably one of the most
important politicians in the country.
Before then, he had operated at the highest level of
politics including being a top associate of Alhaji
Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the founder of the political
machine, Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).
The chubby relationship between Atiku and Haruna
at the time the military decided to return Nigeria to
democratic governance in 1998 must have informed
the decision of the former to pick the latter as his
running mate after emerging as the gubernatorial
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in
their native Adamawa State. They won the election
and became governor-elect and deputy governor-
elect respectively. But fate was to play some role in
the destinies of both men. It was not long after the
election that Atiku was nominated as the vice
presidential candidate of the PDP by General
Olusegun Obasanjo who had been elected the
party’s presidential flag bearer at the Jos
convention. Obasanjo and Atiku’s subsequent
election as president and vice president
respectively led to Haruna, the deputy governor-
elect of Adamawa State but now without a
governor-elect, being sworn-in as governor. This
marked the beginning of the political godfather/
godson relationship between Atiku and Haruna.
Whatever political direction Atiku as vice president
took, Haruna as Adamawa governor followed. The
godfather/godson relationship informed the support
Atiku got from Haruna during the time the opposition
rose against Obasanjo’s third term bid. Atiku had
taken it for granted that he would succeed Obasanjo
at the expiration of his principal’s constitutionally
approved two terms as president only for Obasanjo
to initiate a constitutional amendment process
geared towards third term. Atiku was aghast. The
then vice president mobilised the opposition against
the bid especially at the National Assembly where
the constitutional amendment was quashed. Haruna
as governor was said to have played more than a
passing role in the killing of the Obasanjo third term
bid for which some forces loyal to the former
president never forgave him, and were determined
to extract a pound of flesh from him. The
consequence is alleged to be his arraignment for
abuse of office at the expiration of his tenure.
He was said to have misappropriated some N93m
while in office as governor. Haruna, in his defence,
says there was no such misappropriation.
According to him, the charge shows that only N31m
was alleged to have been misappropriated.
The former governor wants the prosecution to prove
its case beyond reasonable doubt. Now, reports
say Haruna may be back in political reckoning as
plans are said to be underway to nominate him as a
minister by President Goodluck Jonathan. In fact by
the time you are reading this, his name may have
been forwarded to the Senate as a ministerial
nominee for parliamentary endorsement. The move
to make the former governor a minister is said to be
generating ripples in some quarters, and that the
opposition has indeed initiated a campaign against
the Haruna ministerial nomination using the social
media as launch pad. The critics are said to be
contesting the nomination on the grounds that the
former governor has a graft case to answer in
court. Some legal experts, however, fault the critics
on the grounds that the trial does not invalidate
Haruna’s ministerial nomination so far as his
innocence remains guaranteed until he is
pronounced guilty by the court.
They cite the cases of some former governors who
have pending corruption cases against them which,
nevertheless, did not stop their emergence as
senators. And the twist to the case is the claim that
Atiku may have been pulling the strings to abort
Haruna’s emergence as minister following his fear
of losing a strong member of his group to the
Jonathan camp of the factionalised PDP.
Analysts are quick to say Haruna is carrying a
burden of loyalty. According to them, if he has his
own mind to serve his fatherland in the capacity of
minister, his association with the former vice
president should not constitute a hindrance.
“If it pleases the president to seek the service of
the former governor once again, especially against
the backdrop of the transformation Adamawa State
witnessed under his watch, then being an associate
of  the former president should be secondary”, one
of the analysts said. Nigerians are watching how the
rumoured Haruna ministerial nomination will play
out.
*Mohammed wrote from Abuja
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