IT might not have been exactly intended so. But that was what the return of Vice President Atiku Abubakar from a month-long vacation in the United States of America ended up achieving for him: a popularity test. Were a grade to be given, it would be nothing short of an A.
From far and wide came the welcoming party. And among them were the high and the low.
Not even the prevention of the people � and they came in thousands � by security agents from reaching the Presidential Lounge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport where the VP�s chartered plane landed, and the knocking down of two girls by a Senator�s car could take anything from the celebration.
And just minutes after driving into his official residence from the airport, an elated Vice President Abubakar threw open his gates to the mammoth crowd, charging them to rise up and fight for �the protection and sustenance of democracy.�
His plane touched down at about 3.45 p.m. several hours after his supporters had begun massing around the airport to receive him.
Only 20 members of his family were allowed to receive him at the airport. Others, including journalists, were restricted to the Gwagwalada/Airport road junction.
The airport was cordoned off by a detachment of the Guards Brigade led by an Army Captain. Also deployed to assist the soldiers were a detachment of the air wing of the police and three armoured tanks stationed at the city gate, the Giri-Airport junction and the Presidential Wing junction of the airport.
Police Commissioner stopped by Army Captain
Even the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Lawrence Alobo, was turned back from entering the Presidential Wing.
When the Police Commissioner identified himself, the Captain, leading the army detachment, told him: �I know you are the CP sir. If you are that important, your name will be number 21 on the list of those to be allowed in.�
The Commissioner quietly returned to the Giri-Airport junction where he supervised the management of the crowd and the passage of vehicles along the Expressway. He was later joined by Deputy Inspector-General Mike Okiro, who ensured that the policemen carried out their duty in a civilised manner.
The 12-seater charter-plane carrying the Vice President and his chief detail touched down at the airport at about 3.45 p.m. The plane, a Falcon 900, was chartered in Milan Italy.
It flew into Luton Airport where it picked up the Vice President, a few of his friends and the security aides who travelled with him on December 20, 2006.
He was received by members of his family and a few of his personal aides who were on the 20-man list approved by the President.
At about 3.58 p.m, the Vice President arrived the Giri-Airport junction where he looked out briefly from his black Range Rover Jeep with number plate BW688 BWR and waved to the crowd. He was then driven in a long motorcade to his official residence.
He arrived his residence at exactly 4.30 p.m. but was forced to come out of the house to address a large crowd of his supporters who had gone to welcome him.
Shortly before the Vice President�s convoy arrived, however, a convoy of cars believed to be that of President Olusegun Obasanjo left the Presidential Villa at 4:28 p.m apparently heading to the airport. The convoy had hardly passed the exit point of the presidential gate when Atiku�s made an entry.
While scores of personalities who could not make it to the airport awaited the arrival of the vice president, there was a light police presence at the villa, made up of an Inspector, a Sergeant and a Corporal who were seen outside the gate.
As the vice president�s car and a few others entered the residence, his security men who had been restored only hours earlier shut the gate to bar the surging crowd from gaining access. The attempt was massively resisted by the crowd. While some scaled windows to gain entry, others persistently banged on the gate and eventually forced themselves in.
And as the glass door to the vice president�s residence was being threatened to be pulled down, he emerged from the inner recess of his house to address the crowd. Indeed, the compound was turned to a mini carnival with scores of praise dancers and other political hangers-on singing and dancing to the beating of drums.
We must fight for democracy, VP tells supporters
Spotting a brown suit atop a black shirt, the vice president in a brief remark that lasted less than two minutes thanked Nigerians for their support while he was away and urged them to rise up for the protection and sustenance of democracy. He said what the country needed at this point was �change� with a view to entrenching democracy. He urged Nigerians to work towards it.
�I want to thank you all for coming. Let me say a few words. I want to express my gratitude for your support during my absence, for standing up for democracy, for defending democracy. If we are ready to fight for the survival of democracy, let us convince ourselves that now is time for change,� he said.
�Can you imagine in a democracy, in a constitutional democracy, where the constitution grants autonomy to each state. We are not in a military regime, and yet governors are ordered not to belong, not to associate.
�We must fight for the protection and sustenance of true democracy because it our right, and it is guaranteed in our constitution. In the next few weeks I will be talking to Nigerians on the need to defend and protect our democracy.
�Thank you and God bless you,� he said.
He is expected to resume work in his office today after about one month holiday in the United States.
His chief spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Vice President Abubakar would go to his office this morning to resume work, although he was not sure by what means he (Atiku) would get to his office as his official cars have been withdrawn.
�We don�t know yet how he will get to the office. Maybe we will go to Mararaba (a suburb of Abuja) to get an Okada (motorcycle) for him. You know there is a subsisting court order that his official property should not be tampered with but I am telling you that rather than for those vehicles to be parked at his office, they were taken to the inner sanctuary of the Villa,� Shehu said.
The Vice President had refused to use any of the official vehicles from the airport to his official residence when he arrived from his holidays yesterday.
Two girls knocked down by Senator’s car
Meanwhile, two villagers were yesterday knocked down during the return journey of Vice President Abubakar from the Abuja airport.
The two girls were knocked down by the vehicle of a Senator from Taraba State who had gone to the airport to welcome the Vice President.
It was learnt that the Senator had, in a bid to beat the heavy traffic on the airport expressway, driven against traffic at Goza Village where his vehicle knocked down the girls.
A senior police officer at the Lugbe Police Division, however, told Vanguard that the driver and the victims were still receiving treatment at the National Hospital in Abuja.
The Police officer said after the accident the driver of the vehicle went to the station to report himself.
Atiku shuns official vehicle
The official vehicles of the Vice President which were seized on the orders of the President while he was abroad were released only about an hour to the arrival of the VP to pick him up at the airport. But the VP declined to use the vehicles and a waiting helicopter.
He opted instead for his personal Range Rover. The official vehicles were subsequently returned to the vehicle pool of the State House.
How Obasanjo stopped AC chiefs �RIMI
Former Kano State Governor and Action Congress chieftain, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, who was part of the welcoming party, yesterday, condemned the Federal Government�s action in stopping supporters of Vice-President Abubakar from receiving him at the airport.
He said the infringement on the rights of Nigerians who went to welcome the Vice-President was another reason to throw out the People�s Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming elections.
Rimi and other AC chieftains, were stopped by the security cordon led by FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Lawrence Alobi, from entering the Bill Clinton Boulevard, the main road leading to the Abuja airport.
AC chiefs’ brooms are weapons �CP
Alobi told Alhaji Rimi that the crowd on the airport road was an unlawful assembly which would not be allowed to proceed to the airport. He further described the brooms carried by the AC stalwarts as a weapon.
But speaking to newsmen after he was stopped, Alhaji Rimi said: �We are here to meet our presidential candidate and the government is raising obstacles in a democratic system. This is absolutely regrettable. It shouldn�t be done. It is stifling of democracy, rule of law and freedom of association and movement.
�The next line of action is that Obasanjo and PDP should be voted out of office, otherwise this will continue. This is a dictatorship which shouldn�t happen. What is there in meeting the Vice-President who has travelled abroad? What is the problem?�
On the criteria for selecting the 20 persons allowed to receive the Vice-President, Rimi said: �The President drew up the list because�first of all they directed that only 20 people would be allowed to enter the lounge and 20 names were submitted and the list was read to Obasanjo at his farm in Otta and he said he didn�t agree with the names on the list because Nigeria has now become his personal property. He said only family members should be on the list and family members of Atiku and his close staff were written on another list.�
Those who were allowed to receive the Vice-President were his son, Abba, 13 family members, his personal assistant, Umar Pariya and five of his aides recently recalled by the President.
The 20 associates of the Vice-President allegedly stopped from receiving him on arrival were. Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, Chief Bisi Akande, Alhaji Muhammed Bello Kirfi, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Tom Ikimi, Chief Dubem Onyia, Dr. Usman Bugaje, Chief Yomi Edu, Hajia Laila Dogon Yaro, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, Alhaji Yahaya Gwadabe, Alhaji Yahaya Kwande, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Princess Funke Adedoyin, Chief Segun Osoba, Alhaji Lam Adesina, Dr. Chidi Nwike, Dr. Ekwesilezi Nwodo and Alhaji Umar Kareto.