Why Candidate Atiku Abubakar NOT PDP Has My Vote
Sometime in 2015, Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) under the former management had invited our company to Yola to explore the possibility of a partnership for embedded generation to augment electricity supply from the national grid to their franchise area. And this began the first of many trips to Yola for me. After necessary assessment, the premises of American University of Nigeria offered significant advantage over other possible locations for the siting of what would have become the first 7.5MW Solar PV embedded generation in Nigeria. While it was unfortunate that the YEDC management then couldn’t actualize the dream before declaring the force majeure, the unintended consequence for our firm was the opportunity to bid alongside other companies for what is still standing today as one the biggest live solar PV project in any Nigeria University.
Several trips to Yola later with countless hours spent interacting with the community and executing the 120kVa project opened my eyes to how much lies has been sold to Nigerian about the man — Atiku Abubakar. Let me break it down for those who may still be wondering what I am talking about, to most average Nigerians, the name — Atiku Abubakar is synonymous with corruption! And the propaganda machine will always capitalize on the knowledge that most of us will never interrogate these lies, just like I didn’t for many years. Personally, I am not projecting Atiku as a saint, I’ve lived long enough in Nigeria to know that it’s impossible to make omelet without breaking some eggs — but let me just state facts as it is, there is no court of any jurisdiction including when “Baba” held sway with all the powers that has ever convicted him of any crime.
In his piece last week Segun Adeniyi as usual was spot on in the piece he titled Of Atiku and Other Deservationists” and I totally agree with him that it is a misnomer and an aberration of all that is sensible to ever think that public offices are a reward or a deserved right, but he completely echoed my mind when he said “….Yes, I am one of those who believe that in terms of experience and exposure, Atiku is perhaps the most prepared of all the aspirants for the number one job in the country today”! Before I go any further let me state that I have never received any personal gratification from Atiku Abubakar (by the way, we competed and won the bid for the project fair and square).
Having set forth the background as I have done, let me now take time to list the major reasons why I believe candidate Atiku Abubakar is not just the most prepared and most qualified to get my vote and NOT PDP.
The landscape of Nigeria now is vastly different from the Nigeria of 2014/15. While many of us were incensed by the profligate years of GEJ that we turned a blind eye to some warning signals about the then candidate Mohammadu Buhari, the situation in Nigeria today has pushed us to a position whereby the number one (#1) criteria for whoever want to be President of Nigeria in 2019 should be a candidate who is absolutely committed to the Nigeria project enough to appreciate the need for equity, fairness and justice among ALL the federating units. A pan-Nigerian believer who will inspire hope, trust and mutual respect between the tribes and religions! The ethnocentrism within our nation today has set a dangerous precedence that’s further frayed the fabric of our national unity in a way that is already significantly colouring the perception of the next generation and one way to arrest this anomaly is to elect a leader who fundamentally at his core loves and believe in people without seeing race or tribe or even religion and I can tell you for a fact that H.E Atiku Abubakar represent all that and more.
While it may be easy to attribute his call for restructuring as political platitude or populist appeal, an objective assessment of the man who as a young custom officer of 25, married a “Yoruba girl” and an Igbo woman much later in life is definitely racial blind. When you review his core team either in business, or even while he was serving as the Vice President you will see a man that does not see ethnic or religious difference but rather see people and competence!! Aside from having Bishop Matthew Kukah and Bishop Desmond Tutu on the Board of AUN, I am aware that there is no purpose built mosque within the American University of Nigeria.
When AUN was founded in 2005 H.E Atiku Abubakar was still the vice president, which means he could have acquired as many acreage of lands as needed in Abuja to build the only American University in Nigeria (where we crave everything American) not only this, or even leverage his influence to get choice property in Lagos for the University. But understanding the power leveraged investment and the direct impact on his immediate constituency, AUN and Atiku Abubakar’s many other businesses including a fully automated beverage company within the State which at about USD500m, creating about 50,000 direct jobs but about 250,000 indirect jobs. To break it down, the because of the University, a printing press that can print top quality materials, properly managed hotel, etc. has to be built to serve the University, but none of these exemplify the indirect jobs like the Use me cabs that has provided jobs and decent income to families that would have otherwise been impoverished. According to Wikipedia, Adamawa’s state GDP is valued at US$4.582billion which means the Waziri Adamawa alone is contributing over 10% of the State’s gross domestic product! For those who will be quick to say — big deal after all it was our money, please point out what all the others who once superintend over our national resources have done to benefit their people including IBB!!!
Therefore my second reason why Atiku Abubakar and NOT PDP will have my vote is because there come 2019 election, next to security of life — economy and the standard of living is a close second issue of national importance!
The third reason why H.E. Atiku Abubakar stand head and shoulder taller than other candidates in the forth-coming 2019 election is because we have very weak national institutions. It is a known fact that the rot in our system has created scenarios whereby office holders are loyal not to the system or the constitutions they promised to uphold. Therefore it is important to elect a man who as a private citizen has a towering reputation of inspiring confidence, loyalty and followership in the military, judiciary, civil service etc. But beyond this, he has the leadership insight and discipline to build sustainable institutions. I am convinced that a vote for the former Vice President, will ensure that in the next few years, our Civil Service, Police, Judiciary and even the Military will be restored back to the glory days when citizen serve with pride for the fatherland and not for pecuniary pleasure and the whim of politicians and their cronies.
While I will not join issues with the “it’s the turn of the youth” or “anybody but APC/PDP” camp, the truth is that the realities of serious economic hardship and prevailing insecurity in our nation today has foreclosed the possibilities of certain idealism. H.E Atiku Abubakar has demonstrated his ability to delegate with authority, identify talents (including some of the reformers we celebrate today). In my little experience, AUN is one of the very few private Universities with proper corporate governance system without an overbearing founder!
Finally, as I attempt to conclude this piece, I remembered how the phrase about who was ready to be “President on day one” was made popular during the 2008 presidential debate run of Obama and Hillary and eventually a 71year old John McCain (RIP), it took on a new significance for me, when it took President Muhammadu Buhari over 6months to constitute his cabinet and 3years later, GEJ administration and the fall in oil prices is still being blamed for every failure of his administration.
While I hope my argument has convinced someone about the preparedness and competence of H.E Atiku Abubakar as president in 2019, even if you will not vote for him, let this kick-start intelligent discourse about the capacity and competence of your preferred candidate as we get closer to 2019 election.
God Bless Nigeria.
