Atiku: 2019 could Be Beacon of Hope for Nigerians with Visionary Leadership

Atiku: 2019 could Be Beacon of Hope for Nigerians with Visionary Leadership

By Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that 2019 could be a beacon of hope for Nigerians as it presents the opportunity to elect a visionary leadership in the forthcoming elections.

The former vice-president, in his new year message to Nigerians, said that in 2018, the country became the world headquarters of extreme poverty, but assured the people that if the country can chart a new course, more Nigerians would be lifted out of poverty.

Atiku said: “I’m convinced that in 2019, if we chart a new course, we can become the world headquarters for hope and extreme devotion to the cause of lifting our people out of poverty.

“2019 is as yet a blank page. As a nation, we must not settle for whatever it brings. Rather, we must take collective action, through our choices, in making it a year where we revive national hope, with visionary leadership that sees our economy and institutions working again as they did in our golden era.

“We can chart a new course and open a new chapter that sees every Nigerian living in peace and prosperity with their neighbour. It can be the year when our youths finally get a job instead of being unfairly tagged as lazy. With purposeful leadership, it can also be the year when we put an end to terrorism and usher in a golden age of peace.”

The former vice-president said that the only type of leadership that can navigate the difficulties currently facing the nation and lead the country to unity and faith, peace and progress, is the one provided by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in Atiku/Obi.

He noted: “But it will not just happen by itself. We have to make changes from the top all the way to the bottom. We already have the vision, the vision of a nation that is a beacon of hope for the black race and the world at large, what we lack and what 2019 can provide, is the leadership that has the capacity to translate that vision into reality.

“In 2019, Nigerians need a leadership that is 100% for 100% of Nigerians, 100% of the time. We have seen where division and sectionalism has led us to. Now let us try unity and patriotism.

“Don’t lose heart and hope. Nigeria is no stranger to overcoming difficulties. In fact, we have an uncanny ability to perform our best when the worst is upon us. I urge my fellow countrymen and women to remember how we became the first nation in the world to defeat and overcome the wild Ebola Virus, when even first world nations were struggling with the scourge.

“That resilience is domiciled in our national psyche and together we shall win forever. We shall win over forces of disunity. We shall win over forces of poverty and backwardness.”

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