Divorce Saga: Political Implications For Atiku

The long whispered story of the divorce of Jennifer Atiku Abubakar from her husband was finally given credence on Tuesday as it became the top story for nearly all Nigeria news websites.

The story of Jennifer alleging death threats against her from associates of Atiku Abubakar would indeed shock many persons given the extent to which the couple had travelled and travailed since their relationship came to light. Not few would forget that Jennifer came to be known as Atiku’s wife at the peak of one of the most trying periods of the former Vice President when it was alleged that $90,000 was hidden in Jennifer’s Potomac residence allegedly part of a bribe for the husband from convicted former US Congressman, William Jeffe

Neither Atiku nor Jennifer were convicted over the case. However, the case came to show the couple united in the midst of political travails.

A seasoned lawyer and former television journalist who worked for the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA in the eighties, Jennifer was the fourth wife and her position reportedly moved up after one of the wives exited.

However, sometime in 2017, Atiku reportedly took another wife, a Moroccan, who it appeared seemed to take the shine out of Jennifer.

However, Jennifer has debunked the claim that her problems with her husband and the request for divorce from Atiku flowed from the new wife.

Although we were not informed officially according to northern/Islamic culture, I knew about his Excellency’s new wife from the time Excellency was dating her and when his Excellency eventually married her. I had graciously invited our new wife to my son’s wedding in Dubai in 2018 without any ill feelings and congratulated his Excellency when our new wife delivered a child.

Given that Jennifer is Igbo while the first wife is Yoruba, Atiku’s marriages had given him out as one able to build bridges across the country and a unifier.

In the 2019 election the Yoruba and Igbo wives were deployed to canvass votes in their former homes.

As Jennifer wrote on Tuesday:

 I was already aware that His Excellency had gotten married to our new wife but that did not deter me from supporting His Excellency and indeed, we went through a most rigorous electioneering campaign and garnered massive support for his election in 2019.

Political Implications of Atiku’s divorce from Jennifer.

• 1. The fact that Atiku would no longer parade Jennifer to woo Ndigbo voters would be a major drawback for the 2023 aspirations of the former vice-president. It would also be especially touching given that Atiku is expected to pick someone from the South-South as his running mate.

• 2. That Atiku divorced a Nigerian and an Igbo woman for a Moroccan

woman may raise an issue with some who would complain that like many politicians that he has rejected local content in preference for foreign import.

• 3. The extensive communique from Jennifer is bound to open Atiku to attacks from political detractors who would examine family secrets that had been hidden for long away from the public.

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