Two years ago, I allowed on this page that former Vice President Abubakar Atiku and putative presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party had been seeking “through judicious lectures, signed newspaper articles and other interventions to come across as a progressive statesman who has thought deeply about the country’s problems and has the endowments to fix them.”

“The fact that he is more a candidate of habit than of conviction takes nothing away from his quest.” I added.

This declaration stemmed from the many labels he had worn over the years, abandoning one political party for another and returning to that party again, pitching his political tent in any camp willing to offer him a path to the Presidency.

The judgement that he is driven more by habit than by conviction now seems to me rather harsh. Habit alone cannot account for the single-mindedness with which he pursued that office – a pursuit that consumed much of his fabled wealth and exposed him and his business empire to all manner of risk. You do not enter the fray again and again, with all the attendant dangers, unless you also have the conviction that you can make a difference.

Atiku believed with all his heart that he could make a difference, I have since gathered. He must therefore feel sorely disappointed that he did not achieve his goal. But in Nigeria, there are things worse than losing an election.

He must now brace himself for the mass desertion from the losing party to the victorious one. Those “on ground” tell me that the tell-tale signs of imminent defections are already in the air, and that one does not need to have sharp political instincts to perceive them.

Those contemplating defection were prepared to bide their time as long as there was a chance that the Apex Court would reverse the verdict of Presidential Election Court and declare Atiku president-elect. The wait was all the more indicated since Atiku’s strategists, associates, confidants, publicist, hangers-on and assorted spongers and freeloaders were all over the place assuring their principal and the attentive public that the PEC verdict would not survive even the most cursory examination by the Apex justices

But now that the Apex justices have dismissed the appeal even more stridently, saying it lacked “a scintilla of merit,” the mass exodus can no longer be delayed. Already, Reception Committees at national, state and local levels nave been set up to plan and coordinate what is expected to be the largest political relocation and re-alignment of forces in living memory.

Thousands, nay, tens of thousands of camp followers, who swore by Atiku’s name only last week, I gather, are busy negotiating the terms and conditions of their reception into the PDP – the wording of the announcement, the guest list, the speaking order, the cuisine, the wines, the entertainment, the aso ebi, the stagecraft and, of course, their prospects in the new order; in short, Everything.

They are leaving nothing to chance.

According to someone who has seen it, a memo from the Coordinator-General of the scheme, urges those seeking realignment to submit, for a start, a signed and notarized letter of intent, backed by a non-refundable handling and processing fee in the sum of N100, 000 or the equivalent thereof in U.S. dollars. Family applications will get a 10 per cent discount. File early to avoid disappointment.

An insider tells me that this stipulation had set off a prolonged and impassioned debate in the National Reception Committee. Some had argued that, given the state of the economy and the stalemated negotiations over a national minimum wage of N30, 000 a month, the application fee could only turn away well-meaning but indigent applicants. Others contended that the investment was worth a higher price-tag, and that to settle for anything less would be to de-market the scheme.

The latter are now being hailed as the party’s Wise Men. Such has been the glut of applications in the two weeks since registration opened that the Reception Committee has had to contract the handling and processing to a first-generation firm of computer analysts. By the time registration closes in four weeks, the APC may well have become the wealthiest political party in the world.

Thereafter, screening panels at various levels will review submissions to verify the true names and identities of the applicants and to confirm that, in every material particular, the image on the photographs attached bear true and faithful resemblance to the person whose picture was duly notarized in the application material.

Who can blame those supervising the scheme when the middle name of such enterprises in the national experience, if not the first, is inconstancy?

I am here reminded of an attitude survey conducted at one of the first-generation universities several decades ago. The instrument was to be administered by students at randomly-chosen rooms in the halls of residence. As a control, the researcher scrambled the sequence to include toilets, janitorial rooms as well as classrooms.

Not entirely to his surprise, the most eloquent and insightful responses came from residents of the toilets, broom cupboards and classrooms.

To continue: When all that needs to be verified has been verified and those judged unworthy of membership of the APC have been eliminated, a Grand Reception will be staged simultaneously in Abuja, and in all state capitals and local government headquarters to welcome those who, in the lingo of sports commentators, made the cut.

According to a source who has seen a draft programme of the day’s events, clergy representing the ecumenical spectrum will offer prayers. Inductees, all decked out in party uniform featuring and wielding a thick broom, will solemnly pledge allegiance to the APC and covenant to abide by its cardinal principles, to submit to party discipline at all times.

The Environment might be too large for them to grasp, but can’t they at least spare a thought for the poor palm trees and those who make a living by tapping them?

Following the invocations, a person who has been designated to speak for them will express their collective regret that it took them so long to realize that the political party to which they previously subscribed did not have the best interests of their teeming followers and supporters back home in mind. The epiphany may have come rather late in the day. But isn’t later to be preferred to never?

Besides, the spokesman is expected add, recent developments had shown to the APC under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is the only party that truly reflects and champions the yearnings and aspirations of the of diverse peoples of Nigeria and wishes nothing but the very best for them; the only party that can harness the nation’s huge potential and convert it to actual greatness; the only party that is committed to national unity, religious pluralism, and true national development.

This declaration is expected to generate an applause so thunderous that if the programmer stays faithful to the choreography, it will be heard in the capitals of contiguous states.

Thereafter, The President will deliver an Address of Welcome, formally signalling an end to the Grand Reception and the inauguration of a new political culture.

Nothing in the foregoing will be strange to the Wazirin Adamawa, however. He may even have anticipated it all, having seen it all.

But his response to the judgment of the apex court, aforementioned, must have surprised his friends and acolytes in the news media who fawned over him throughout the campaign and generally cast him as the coming liberator.

And yet, hear him, in this self-serving lament: “The Nigerian judiciary, just like every estate of our realm, has been sabotaged and undermined by an overreaching and dictatorial cabal, who have undone almost all the democratic progress the People’s Democratic Party and its administrations nurtured for sixteen years, up until 2015.”

Every estate, including the news media?