Rebuilding Nigeria: For Now, Atiku’s CV Makes Him The Most Suitably Qualified -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

The task ahead is not about who becomes the next president after the 2019 general elections but it is about who can clear up the mess in which the country is currently enmeshed in and who would do so in record time. Feelers indicate that most Nigerians do not even understand the situation on ground at the moment and therefore continues to view the coming elections from the prism of political party, petty sentiments and who would spend the most money.

For the average northerner, his choice remains ‘Sai Baba’, and this is whether or not he had food to eat or pocket change to take care of petty bills. He is quick to tell you that Baba is not the brain behind the ugly state of things especially regards the country’s economy. When pressed to give reasons why the price of rice and beans suddenly doubled since Baba’s government came on board, he replies you that it was still not Baba’s fault as Baba does not sell rice or beans.

For the average southerner, his choice remained any good alternative that is not Baba – whoever had the charisma to carry every Nigerian along irrespective of tribe, religion or political affiliation. He is interested in the president that can lead above petty bias, and do the needful in order to keep the country running smoothly. He wants a president with the vision to make Nigeria a strong participant in the global trade and not one that goes cap-in-hand begging for alms or asking for loans. He wants someone he can call ‘Our President’.

Atiku Abubakar.

This is not to say that the line is as sharply divided as I have made it to look. Far from it. Indeed, there northerners who share the same sentiments like their counterpart in the south against Baba and vice versa. Needless to say that this was possible because they had a good idea of what lied ahead.

THE NATURE OF THE TASK AHEAD

It is important that this discussion touched the centre of the subject matter in a little bit detailed manner. Understanding the task ahead and which was why the country was divided at the moment between the so many presidential hopefuls and especially between President Buhari and Alh. Atiku Abubakar is crucial in helping those who are yet to make up their minds to vote in the first place.

Today’s voting system is no longer immune to those who do not vote because once you have been captured in INEC’s data, your failure to vote is a minus to whoever eventually lost in the election and a gain to whoever won. Now, Nigeria is at crossroads and the task that lied ahead for the leader who emerged as winner is outlined as follows:

1. A president who can make the federation more cohesive socially or strongly bound together.

2. An economist who can generate policies that’ll encourage economic progress for every Nigerian.

3. A nationalist whose charisma endears him to everyone. One who can find very simple approach to national peace by using his wide acceptance as leverage to curtailing the use of sentiments of religion and tribe in politicking.

This in brief is the task that lied ahead. When jobs are advertised, those who get it usually do fit into the mold of whatever the employer was looking for. Nigerians are the employer in this case and the aforementioned is what they are hoping to find the right person that could solve it. In my humble opinion, Alh. Atiku Abubakar – for now – is the most suitably qualified for the following reasons:

1. Experience: It is unlikely that the man Atiku who has been in politics since the early 80s should have no grasp of what the politics of this country is all about. Atiku first ran for governor of Gongola state in the year of 1990. In 1992, he was encouraged by the late Shehu Yar’Adua to run for president, where he came third in the SDP primaries. With well over thirty years of experience in politics, it is little surprise the kind of friends he has both within and outside the north.

2. Education: Atiku Abubakar holds a diploma in Law from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University institute of Administration.

3. Acceptability: He is a man whose cosmopolitan mindset is still a subject of envy in the north. Once during the Obasanjo presidency, he told the north that they were the ones marginalizing self and must wake up to participate in the emerging global space.

4. Business experience: As a businessman of international repute, Atiku’s personality alone attracts foreign investments during his time as vice-president. Imagine what will happen if he was C-in-C.

5. Moderate religious views: How many of us saw how he began his presentation during the just concluded primaries. While others prayed openly as if they never prayed in their closets before coming on stage, he simply began his speech by acknowledging protocols.

6. Knowledge of the task at hand: Atiku Abubakar launched the True Federalism campaign in 2017. He has been receiving massive endorsement for his stand on True Federalism. He once said “Political decentralization will also help to deepen and strengthen our democracy as it will encourage more accountability. Citizens are more likely to demand accountability when governments spend their tax money rather than rent collected from an impersonal source.” He has also said: “True Federalism will encourage states to competes to attract investments and skilled workers rather than merely waiting for monthly revenue allocation from Abuja” Many of his speeches have caused positive stir nationwide as Nigerians are supporting the idea of True Federalism which involves allowing states to have control over their resources most especially the South-South and South-East of Nigeria.

7. Good age: Incidentally, he is 72 years but appears a little younger than his actual age. This tells a man who know what to do in order to keep fit and stay healthy. Sometimes food does not do all the magic for healthy looks. The kind of thoughts that you permit in your mind has tremendous effects. Check the man with a live-and-let-live mindset and check the other man with a you-must-do-as-I-say mindset; do they look the same in terms of attitude and the aura they carried? No, they don’t. In fact, the former always looked healthier than the latter – who is always stressed up due to selfish thinking.

8. Intuition: Atiku’s ability to read trends can be seen in his choice of vice-president. He has already stated in clear terms that ‘we are coming to fix Nigeria if elected’. Mr. Peter Obi is no small name in the economic cycle and for him to accept the honor of serving as vice, attests to the deep regard he had for Atiku Abubakar.

Alh. Atiku Abubakar is simply put, an ATIKULATED personality who foresaw a crisis of confidence between the APC and the subject of restructuring the polity and quietly took sides with restructuring. His passion for the country drove him to set up the True Federalism Campaign. Based on the task at hand as of this moment, he is – for now – the most suitably qualified. I don’t know about you, what’s your take?

Happy new month to all the avid readers that patronize this platform. It shall be well with us all and it shall be well with Nigeria.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh is an advocate for attitudinal change, a researcher and authored (THE ORIGIN OF IGBO MARGINALIZATION IN NIGERIA). 08062577718.