- Okojie tips him as next president
Segun James
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed firmly that with good leadership, Nigeria will eventually wriggle through and survive the present political and economic hardship it is going through.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) top notch who made the assertion last Sunday at the 2016 Silverbird Man-of-the-Year award where he was named the recipient of the prestigious ‘Extraordinary Achievement’ award, said recession and other negative indices confronting the country are surmountable with unity among Nigerians and the right leadership.
Also speaking at the event, the representative of the former Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Very Revered Francis Ishola Ogunmodede, 1st Episcopal Vicar of Lekki Region, who received the award on behalf of the renowned clergy, Anthony Cardinal Okojie, noted that Atiku is a potential president.
Speaking after he was presented with the award for ‘Extraordinary Achievement’ by the Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Atiku said: “I have listened to the speeches of most of the awardees, most of them expressed pessimism about the future of this country. I want to offer the opposite because I am an optimist!
“Recession, depression are economics situations that go through every nation on earth, and I believe Nigerians of all works of life have the capacity to turn around our current economic challenges into prosperity. All what is required is the unity of Nigeria and right leadership to turn around this economic situation into prosperity for most of our people.
“I am going to make my remark as brief as possible so that my remarks are not misconstrued to be campaign. So, I know that the youth of this country are our greatest assets. What we need to do, as many people have said, is to make sure that our empowerment – substantially is directed to human development, and particularly our youth who are 70 per cent of our population. We all at one time or the other were youths who have benefitted immensely from the generosity of this country and its resources.
“I believe that every responsible government should place emphasis on youth development and empowerment so that our prosperity can return to us.”
Atiku also seized the opportunity of the occasion to reassure Nigerians that he remained committed to the progress of Nigeria, stressing: “Let me, on a final note, express a deep appreciation to Silverbird group for giving me this award. I want to say I want to dedicate this honour to all Nigerians. And I promise you to always dedicate myself to the progress of this country, the unity of the country and the prosperity of this country.”
Ogunmodede, in his opinion, said the nation needed a change both economically and politically, adding that “I believe the one who can make the difference is in this hall with us.”
The guest lecturer at the event, Senator Dino Melaye, had earlier insisted that unless there is absolute separation of powers among the tiers of government, the nation’s democracy may collapse.
