From the Editors Desk: The Personality of Atiku Abubakar

As we prepare our minds to take upon the delicate task of choosing who will rule the country in 2019 for the next four years, Nigerians must sift through words and gauge intent, and the best way to do this is to study antecedents, actions, the strength and conviction of words and body language.

The personality of Atiku Abubakar in the race to the Aso Rock in 2019 truly reflects the yearnings of Nigerians as a savior to salvage Nigerians from their sufferings and the clueless government of the All Progressive Congress government. It is no longer news that Nigerians are more divided now than before, Creepy Economy, Nigerians now live on less than 50 Cent a day which made report suggest Nigeria as the poorest country in the world, Unemployment has risen tremendously, Youth Restiveness, Insecurity has never been seen in such magnitude in the history of the country, Dictatorial and Draconian rule is at its height, Disregard for the rule of law, equality and the principle of separation of power, Press Freedom suppressed, Corruption has taken a new dimension, Electoral Vote Buying is now the new norm in our Electioneering process etc.

From the foregoing, one can easily infer that the current administration where never ready to take over political control of the country neither were they specific on the nature of change they were bringing to Nigeria and Nigerians. In the aftermath of the 2015 election, Nigerians thought they had seen a messiah in President Muhammadu Buhari but little did we know that in four years of his administration, we will be 10 years behind civilization.

To cut a long and an unending story short, Nigeria is on a standstill and we should all concentrate on getting Nigeria to work again and this can only be achieved by the decision we take in 2019 going into the February General election. We as a country will have to decide to either remain stagnated or move forward.

To solve these myriad of issues bedeviling Nigeria, one person comes to mind, Atiku Abubakar.

As the presidential flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a youth oriented individual, the personality of ATIKU ABUBAKAR comes into play. Atiku Abubakar has created a 94-paged policy document to reposition Nigeria and get the country working again. The opening paragraphs of the document read as follows: ‘’ Whilst the elites live pampered lives, the vast majority of the population is trapped in poverty and underdevelopment. The middle class has crumbled under the weight of a rent –seeking economic environment. Few can hope for a decent education; there is not enough jobs; infrastructure and public services are inadequate while basic social security has no real meaning. Too many Nigerians live in fear of violent crimes, communal clashes and savage acts of terrorism. Most feel betrayed by the very  Institutions that were set up to serve and protect them and by corrupt and self-serving politicians.

Indifferent, ill equipped and often brutal security forces and a weak legal and judicial system fuel public distrust of the state and feed into the widely held belief that institutions don’t matter. This must CHANGE!’’.

Prior to his political position as the vice president in 1999, Atiku Abubakar won the 1998 governorship elections of Adamawa state under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But before Atiku could be sworn in as the governor, he was tapped by the PDP’s presidential candidate, Olusegun Obasanjo to be his vice presidential candidate. The Obasanjo-Atiku ticket obviously won them 62.78% of the vote. Going through his political career and as a business tycoon, one cannot but establish his myriad achievements.

Atiku Abubakar unlike other politicians does not boast of having a magic wand to turn the country around over night, but like a good administrator, he streamlines a well thought out goals while creating platforms to achieving those goals and with its desired results. Hence his achievements cannot be overemphasized:

After Atiku was sworn into office as vice president, he presided over the National Council on Privatization. He took up the responsibility of overseeing the sale of hundreds of loss making and poorly managed public enterprise in the country.

Secondly, Atiku launched the South Africa Nigeria Bi-national Commission. He, alongside South African deputy president Jacob Zuma in 1991 launched the South Africa Nigeria Binational Commission.

Thirdly, Atiku is a staunch believer of education as a priority for every Nigeria child hence his establishment of the American University of Nigeria (AUN). Founded in 2004, the school is the only American styled university in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

In the same vein to foster the education in Nigeria, he introduced the Atiku Abubakar special scholarship offer which is tenable in Nigeria and oversea. The school currently runs scholarship programme for the internally displaced children in the country.

Furthermore, he is a philanthropist interested in human capital development: Atiku believes that philanthropy is an investment which has multiplier effect. He sees development as the effort to increase the productive capacity of a society, improve the people’s wellbeing and expand the frontiers of freedom, while protecting the ecosystem for current and future generations. An individual’s success is deemed to be of limited social value if it does not lead to the success of others in the family, clan or community.

In addition, the Atiku Abubakar Foundation for the less privilege is geared at helping the less privilege persons in the society irk a living for themselves through legitimate means.

It is important to note that while Atiku was vice president, the telecommunication sector received a huge boost and by 2007, telephone lines had grown to over 50million. It should be known that in 1999, Nigeria has less than 500,000 telephone lines and through the telecommunication revolution it grew to over 50million. Innovation can fundamentally change our economy.

In Atiku’s word ‘’ I believe that oil is not Nigerians biggest asset, Nigerians are’’.

Flowing from the aforesaid, Atiku’s policy statements to get Nigeria working again has set the ball rolling for the provision of basic amenities for the common man, Restructuring, Economic diversification, Agriculture, Jobs Creation, Security, Education, Infrastructure, Power, works and housing, Youth inclusiveness in governance etc.

In this light therefore, Atiku Abubakar deserves to be Nigeria’s president come February 2019. He alone can get Nigeria working again.