By Chiedu Ezeanah
I congratulate Atiku Abubakar for winning the presidential nomination to fly the PDP flag in the next election.
I believe he would be by far a better President than the disaster the incumbent President Buhari has been.
I was at a well-attended book presentation/discussion of my friend, Chido Onumah’s collection of essays, We Are All Biafrans, (Paressia Books, 2016) at the Yar’Adua Centre, which had Atiku Abubakar as guest of honour.
For hours after the book review had been presented by the erudite Chidi Odinkalu, human rights advocate and Professor of Law, Atiku Abubakar responded to questions from the moderator, Patrick O. Okigbo III, on the vexed questions of national integration as a condition for national development as well as the necessity for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation for the continued existence of the nation.
An astonishing statesmanly performance it was in the content and forthright delivery of his answers. For an eminent representative of the feudal conservative Northern Nigerian traditional and political establishment, his unreserved support for the long-term campaign by patriots across Nigeria for the restructuring of Nigeria was refreshing and liberating and groundbreaking.
All of Nigeria’s most important newspapers splashed all that Atiku articulated (enjoy the wordplay) at the event. The second guest speaker, the brave and brilliant Oby Ezekwesili, was no less impressive.
In retrospect, I must say that it was at that event that Atiku’s certain journey to winning the next presidential election began. He won so many cynical minds to the restructured vision of the country that he espoused. He won so many hearts for being the first prominent far Northern Nigerian politician to openly associate with advocates of the restructuring of Nigeria’s tragically flawed federation.
I have read up on his position papers on this same issue and I believe there’s a genuineness to his stance which could actually cost him a lot of goodwill for its being unpopular in his Northern base.
Politics should be issue-based and a major issue that cannot be avoided in the 2019 election is redefining the terms and conditions of the continued existence of Nigeria.
Atiku Abubakar took a position on this when it was most unpopular to do so. For this reason, I will support the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2019 presidential election. For an inclusive Team Nigeria, it’s my hope that he will consider the brave and brilliant Oby Ezekwesili as his running mate.
It’s also hoped that Atiku will unite all the opposition parties alongside their programmes behind his platform for the immediate task of challenging the incumbent towards the greater mission of rebuilding Nigeria.
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