By Chukwuma Linus
Nigeria is a blessed country, yet the issue of bad governance is one of the multifaceted problems facing the country. Are we into the Nigeria of our dreams? No, not yet.
As 2019 General Election begins to gather momentum, only leaders with detribalized mentality, vision, courage and above all, God-fearing, can command the acceptability and trust to be saddled with pulling this nation back from the brink of collapse.
A critical X-ray of the gladiators presently circling the presidential duel arena singles Atiku out as the one contestant clothed in all the aforementioned indices for our better tomorrow. Such plethora of admirable qualities has manifested in his various endeavors in life as a citizen, an employer of labour and a leader.
Having been tutored in the political ideologies of Late Shehu Musa Yar’adua under whose solid structure Atiku later became the vice president (1999-2007), the Turaki of Adamawa has since equally become a mentor himself, not only in politics but also in entrepreneurship, especially for the youth empowerment.
His life philosophy has always been centred on human empowerment, overall national development encompassing poverty eradication, unity, justice and fairness. These amiable humane dispositions may not be unconnected with his humble background as the only son of poor parentage.
Atiku is one of the few Nigerian leaders that has aspired and is still aspiring for leadership positions, whose genuine love for the youths is very visible judging from his individual accomplishments in creating many jobs, even more than many state governments.
Think then of what he will do as a commander-in-chief, driving the biggest economy in Africa.
His mindset towards our educational system, which is the most powerful weapon of changing the world is classical – he maintained that the education system operated in the first republic provides students the opportunity to either go to the universities, polytechnics, farming or whatever they wanted to do. But suddenly Nigeria moved away from that system of education, to system where you train only job seekers. He firmly believes that “our Nigeria we crave for is possible” noting that only adequate investment in education can combat poverty. Such leadership ingenuity can only be embedded in a leader with socio-political ideas, coupled with a vast local and global understanding of events and issues.
Noteworthy equally, is Atiku’s continued call for restructuring, which has now been generally accepted as the only condition for unity and progress of our great nation.
With the precarious state of our economy a total breakdown deeper than recession in this country is evitable if the masses do not rise to the occasion and challenge the situation by electing a leader whose proven records assure greatness.
Brazenly, I call not to appeal to emotions but that of reasoning of the masses to rise above politics of tribal and religion sentiments, personal aggrandizement and rather eschew seriousness in sticking with just MERIT.
Iterum, Iterum, Iterumque, I will add without fear of contradiction, that with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the president of our nation, Nigeria will regain its stature of true democracy.
Fellow Nigerians, Atiku is the man. Let’s prepare to take full advantage of this opportunity to re-direct our track and destiny.
