Celebrating Atiku The Nigerian Statesman At 77 -By Gozie Irogboli

It is often said that some people are born great; some achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust on them. Nothing excites or inspires forward-looking people more than reflecting on the times and moments of men who have achieved greatness. And that is why one of the greatest companions of those aspiring to be great is the biographies and memoirs of great men. Reviewing the lives of great people is not about praise singing neither is it about idle prattle or gossip but about studying their lives, their accomplishments and identifying ideas, principles, belief, habits and attributes that shaped their lives with a view to learning from them. It is about coming to the knowledge of lofty ideals and values that future generation may leverage on to change the world for better.

One of those who can be said to have achieved greatness in the present day Nigeria, by dint of hard work is Atiku Abubakar who turned 77 on the 25th of November, 2023. In truth, if success is judged by one’s personal accomplishments, obstacles overcome, lives touched and the creative or responsible use of one’s position, then Atiku can be described as a huge success; an epitome of a successful person. Therefore, writing about Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president of the country who has attained a great milestone in life is about celebrating success and identifying with greatness. Available records showed that Atiku came from a poor background but surmounted many obstacles and adversities to achieve success in his life, becoming an outstanding public servant, a shrewd business mogul, an astute politician, a great philanthropist, a charismatic leader and a good family man. No doubt, Atiku’s background and experiences shaped his attitude, habits and philosophy of life. Thus, studying Atiku, a man who braved all odds to have great accomplishments in his life is like learning how to be successful. Therefore, scholars, politicians, political scientists, psychologists, entrepreneurs and management scholars among others will find Atiku’s life story a very interesting specimen for analytical study.

Atiku Abubakar is a man of many parts and many things to many people. He is recognized by many as an archetype of a statesman, a patriot and a democrat. He is also seen by many as a bridge-builder; a bridge between the old and the new, a bridge and a unifier to the various groups in the country. He is widely accepted in every nook and cranny of Nigeria because of his warm detribalized disposition. He is a leader who believes in the unity of Nigeria and who does not discriminate on the bases of tribe, tongue, religion or political affiliation.

Atiku’s success in life can be attributed to many factors which cannot be fully explored in an essay of this kind but suffice it to say that his love for learning which he developed early in his life is a major factor that shaped his life. His learning attitude makes him more liberal than his conservative contemporaries and makes his acquire adaptive skills and ability to manage changing circumstances. He learns from everything and from everybody. He learns from history, his environment, his experience and from the experiences of others. This willingness to learn attitude allowed him to be mentored directly and remotely by great men. His childhood experience thought him to be humble and have consideration for others. His experience in the Nigeria Customs Service and his interface with business men seemed to have stimulated his interest in business while his foray into partisan politics made him understand the true essence of leadership. Again, his interest in learning may have made him an ardent lover of education. I have heard him speak in different forums, counseling the youth to take education seriously emphasizing that it was education that made him whatever that he is in life today. He has also invested at every level of education, building schools, supporting educational institutions and giving scholarship awards to indigent students. He is the founder of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), one of the best private universities in the country. While some of his contemporaries are investing in media propaganda and grooming hooligans and area-boys to advance their selfish political interest, Atiku is investing in education and human capital development.
No doubt, Atiku, who holds the traditional title of the Wazirin Adamawa with twelve other traditional titles across the nation and numerous awards from different institutions and organizations within and outside the country, is a man with a sense of mission who strives for excellence in whatever he does. Right from the time he ventured into partisan politics, Atiku has demonstrated his commitment to the promotion of the tenets of democracy and the rule of law. As a professional, he knows his responsibilities, his rights and boundaries. As the vice-president of Nigeria (1999-2007), he set a standard by making Nigerians to know that the loyalty of the vice-president is to the constitution of Nigeria and to Nigerians and not to the president. He won seven landmark cases to establish this judicial precedent. And as I have observed in an earlier essay, Atiku’s contribution to enthronement of democracy in Nigeria is nonpareil. No politician of the present era has suffered more deprivation or made more sacrifices for the advancement of democracy in Nigeria than Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku who is the 11th vice-president of the country is a courageous fighter who is never afraid to tell truth to power. He believes in civil advocacy as an essential ingredient of democracy and has always been on the side of the people and sometimes to the detriment of his own personal political ambition. At the risk of his life, he was among those that fought the military in the 90s to restore democratic rule in Nigeria. And at a very huge personal cost, he fought to truncate the Obasanjo’s self-succession agenda and he has been at the vanguard of the crusade for the restructuring of the country against the wish of the North, his primary constituency. And he remains the dominant figure in the Nigerian political space in the past thirty years. Some see him as the most qualified or the Nigerian most prepared presidential candidate to the lead the nation while some address him as Mr. Nigeria or the Unifier because of his patriotic zeal and advocacy for peace and unity of Nigeria. Atiku is a power broker, a king maker, a sponsor, a mentor, a godfather in the mould of a statesman not a puppeteer who prey on the people. He is not the selfish rapacious Nigerian political godfather that seeks to exploit his people but a mentor that has supported many to grow in different fields of human endeavors.

In the business sphere, Atiku is a successful entrepreneur that has built a flourishing business empire with cross-sectoral investments in different parts of the country, employing scores of thousands of Nigeria—one of the highest employers of labor in the private sector. He has also mentored business people and supported many business start-ups in the country.
Apart from making money in business, Atiku has invested heavily in philanthropy which he believes is a bounden duty. He has helped communities build mosques, churches, hospitals and supported orphans, widows, vulnerable peoples and people living with disabilities as well as making financial commitments for the eradication of deadly diseases such as polio and HIV/AIDS. Thus, there is no gainsaying that Atiku is an inspiration to many and a blessing to Nigeria.

From the foregoing, it is safe to assert that if our politicians and those in leadership positions can emulate the likes of Atiku and realize that leadership, governance and nation-building are about the people; about shared goals and common aspirations and be more responsible and more people-centered, then our problems as a nation is half solved.

Gozie Irogboli,
An economist, a novelist and a public policy analyst
(goziei@yahoo.com)