A Vote For A Coalition Against Bad Governance And Inept Leadership (6) -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

Dear distinguished readers, I thank you most gratefully for the messages – criticism, comments and suggestions on this series and I promise to continue and to tidy up the series conclusively. Clearly, the unfolding scenario in our political sphere confirms our fears and justify the need to consolidate every effort to remove the moribund All Progressives Congress (APC) regime from power. I am not a pessimist and will never be. But we don’t need a prophet to foretell the doom ahead of this nation if we allow the government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stay a day longer beyond May 29, 2007.

Evidently, the storm is gathering; we have all seen the signs. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is perfecting the plot to subvert the will of the people by his plan to appointing his kinsman as the next Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman after the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent chairman, Prof. Mahmood. His tribe’s woman is the Chief Justice of the Federation and his people control most sensitive positions in the country’s security apparatchik. The judiciary and the National Assembly have been compromised. The state governors have been cowed. The trade unions and the pressure groups have been bought over and the opposition has been arm-twisted into submission. Attempts have been made to arrest and detain members of the opposition coalition as I had earlier predicted in this series. And now he is going ahead with the dangerous tax reforms fraud that will put the entire populace at his mercy and give way for him to buy everybody during the election in 2007.

Given this scary scenario, the choice obviously lies with the Nigerians; whether to fold their arms and allow Tinubu and his gang of political fortune seekers to have their way or fight for a change. And, to fight for a change means aligning with the coalition of democratic forces to effect a change in the leadership of the country. And as it stands now, the only credible coalition platform that is capable of unseating the apartheid APC regime is the African Democratic Congress (ADC), given the array of political bigwigs in the fledging party.

My emphasis in all of these is that Nigerians should rally round the ADC to salvage the nation from total collapse. And members of the ADC should bury their differences (tribe and creed), stay focused and work together for the interest of the nation. And one sure tool to achieve electoral victory in the 2007 presidential election is to field a credible candidate with clout and pedigree. And for obvious reasons, the candidate I identified for this all-important mission of rescuing Nigeria from the APC is the erstwhile vice-president of the nation (1999 – 2007), His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, GCON. Atiku is a charismatic leader and a seasoned politician. He is a statesman and a patriot that enjoys goodwill and acceptability across the nation.

As I have indicated earlier, I will in this series present an objective and unbiased assessment of Atiku’s story. I will highlight the inspiring story of the Jada-born shepherd boy who rose from nothing to become the number two citizen of the African most populous country, his early life, career in the civil service, business investments, foray into partisan politics, and investments in social services and philanthropy, sacrifices for the enthronement and growth of democracy in Nigeria, his fight against corruption, his landmark achievements and role as the vice-president of the country, his role in civil advocacy and political philosophy.

One other interesting thing about Atiku, the respected Wazirin of Adamawa is that he believes strongly in youth empowerment; something he had pursued with unwavering commitment. He believes that the future of the country is in the hands of the youth. Much as he believes in youth empowerment, he believes that the youth should be properly guarded in all that they do to avoid failures. As a business mogul and a human resource manager, he has the knack for identifying young talents. It is on record that people like Nuhu Ribadu, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Garba Shehu and many others were mentored by Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku believes that the nation’s future is not dependent on just natural but its human resources and hence he strongly emphasizes human capital development. On daily basis, he bemoans the state of the nation’s educational system, with decayed, dilapidated infrastructure, millions of out-of-school children, falling educational standard and brain-drain. That is why while some of his contemporaries invest in media and propaganda, Atiku invested in education not as business but as part of his corporate social responsibility in order to produce critical thinkers and future leaders. Atiku’s investments in education and humanitarian services will be the subject of the next article in this series.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com

An actress, social activist, politician

London, UK