2015: Why Atiku Deserves Our Attention

Earlier in the day (24/9/14) the former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar made a formal declaration of his ambition to run as a candidate for the highest office of the Land. I was one of those who was overwhelmed by the concept of the whole event.

Nigeria Newsdesk (@NigeriaNewsdesk) led me to the livestreaming of the event. While the event progressed, the twitterspace as usual was flooded with pro and anti support tweets. I rendered my humble opinions concerning the style and Strategy of the event which some twitter acquaintances attacked almost endlessly. One even by his tweet assumed I was being deceived by the whole razzmatazz. Such commentaries move me less for they depict guesses farther from the truth.

However, in a private chat with a colleague- one I respect so much- I saw how some brewing resentments could raise more cognitive dissonance to the fragile reputation of the Turaki Adamawa. Thus, for morality sake I was propelled to write this piece. Since Atiku cannot go back to years behind to rewrite or undo the past some of us ,out of magnanimity , can give encouragement to his noble course. There can't be an entirely bad product, remember? Some things are simply relative. Iwaju to Ko si e ehin ni fun elomi . Hence, this may just take the form of a consumer testimonial.

First, I don't agree that Atiku is becoming overzealous for signalling interest to run for president. It is an intrinsic nature of man to strive for more greatness provided it doesn't disrupt the way of nature. Besides, he sees himself qualified to make Nigeria greater. He has been in the corridors of power before, he's therefore no learner in politics and governance. He may just be the one to set us on that dream path. Who knows? Morever, his ambition only adds beauty to the contest. Healthy Competition only improves Value.

More so, Atiku Abubakar is too liberal to be a bigot. He married a Yoruba woman as first wife and has large friends and associates of different tribes and faith all across the country. Perhaps his long public service life contributes to this nature but he can't be one who can nurse or habour negative tribalism. I doubt it based on those premises

If you have been monitoring presidential hopefuls the past few months and their performances you would agree that Atiku glides as one with the best team(maybe for now). The PR is superb! Atiku knows when to talk, when to write and what to say. I give credit to his team and I give him credit more for gathering the best focus group. May be other Aspirants would borrow a leaf is another question. Nigeria deserves the best in whatever we do. Let's make this Presidential colourful.

One word of advice to the Turaki once again is to be gracious in goodwill to take whatever is the outcomes of the Presidential Primary of his Party. Politics at the peak, most times, is not all about winning because the winner and the runner up will both end up as historical materials in the museum of time. Then how we handled everything will matter most. That is why Awo still possesses more cult followership in death than most of his contemporaries and successors.

Thus, I wish that Atiku uses this few weeks to purge out all the uncomfortable perceptions that some people have built around his figure. Whether there's victory at the primaries or not, Turaki should see it as a win-win for his reputation.

Best of Luck, Turaki Adamawa.
*Showunmi Rex is the Senior Editor @ DeltaForte Magazine ; Contributing Editor @ Hype9ja Ent. Twitter Handle: @remirex.

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Articles by Showunmi Rex