Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi as well as the Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Kassim Shettima, on Monday graced the current Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual conference in Lagos, Nigeria, where they respectively decried the state of the country and spoke passionately about their plans to reset the country and address most of its socio-economic challenges.
Ex-VP Atiku revealed that he has empanelled a committee to draft an amendment to Nigeria’s constitution that would largely address issues of structural deformities in the country. According to the former vice president, the level of disunity in Nigeria was unprecedented, lamenting the country has become more disunited today than it has ever been since 1999.
“Today we are more disunited as a nation. We have never experienced this level of poverty, this type of insecurity and unemployment,” Atiku declared while speaking on the theme: “Bold transitions in the 21st century as far as our country is concerned.”
The PDP Presidential candidate told the conference that the draft amendments expected to address the structural defects in the country’s governance would be tabled before the National Assembly from day one for consideration and enactment into law.
According to Atiku, “we have recognised all these negative developments in our history, what is important is how do we tackle these challenges.
“This is where history and experience beckons on us to make sure that we don’t get it wrong at this point in time otherwise if we get it wrong, I don’t know when we will ever get it right.
“I have been involved in the struggle to return this country to democracy since the military days. In fact, I can even say I was even lucky to be alive because so many of my contemporaries have been killed in this struggle but by the grace of God I survived till this point in time.
“In my brief introduction, I stated that there are five key areas that any leadership. Forget about the party, any leadership must confront these five issues and I enumerated them. The unity of our country is very fundamental and how we achieve the unity of our country is by making sure that we give every part of this country a sense of belonging.
“Somebody asked me how do you give every part of this country a sense of belonging, I referred them to the situation we found Nigeria in 1998 and 1999. As a party, PDP won overwhelmingly. We could go on and form our government just based on our maturity, but we decided that every political party must be part of our administration.
“After we formed national unity, there was calm in the country, the issue of economy and security came in because we had a consensus, we had no problem dealing with the subsequent challenges. I believe we have had an experience, and it is that experience that I said must be brought back.”
“It is only when you have this sense of belonging that you will be able to deal with the issue of security before you now talk of the economy and the devolution of more powers.
“I am a product of devolution of power and I know what the regional governments achieved with those powers. So, that is why I advocated for restructuring, for development of powers to the states and also the local government more resources, more of powers to the state and local government.
“My five points programme were based on experience, they are based on something I have seen and participated in; I am not a trial by error leader.”
On his part, Peter Obi declared that Nigerian is presently in a mess and more disunited, pointing out that the 2023 election would not be based on tribal or religious sentiments, but on character and competence. The former Anambra State governor said Nigeria needs urgent transition from a highly insecure country to one that is secure and free from corruption.
In his presentation, Peter Obi said Nigeria needs urgent transition from highly insecure country to one that is secured, from a disunited country to a united country, from corruption to a successful country and from a lawless country to a country of law and order.
Obi stated that it was important for Nigerians, “to look at where we are today, to understand the gravity of the journey we are going to take if we are going to transit.”
“Nigeria has been qualified to be a failed state, we have the two or three biggest characteristics of a failed state. One is when you are no longer in charge of your territory. Today, we are among the top terrorised countries in the world. We are among the top kidnapping countries in the world, banditry have taken over part of the country and Nigerians are being killed.”
He said the country’s challenges have gotten so bad that the 2023 election would not be about religion or tribe, but about who has the character and competence to deliver the country from its current mess.
“Nigeria is in a mess. We got here simply because of the accumulative effect of bad leadership. The coming election is not about tribe or religion but about character and competence,” Obi added.
Speaking in the same vein, Shettima, who represented the presidential candidate of APC, Mr. Bola Tinubu, said their ticket remains the best because of their skills, capacity and past achievements in office. He urged his audience to align with the vision of the APC candidates, promising that that they would replicate the success recorded in Lagos State all over the country.
Shettima said: “He (Tinubu) is a city boy, I am the golden boy. In Jim Ovia’s words, competence is what people are assessed by. We have mentored men who have excelled in all aspects of human endeavours.
“I urged lawyers to be resolute, firm, to make bold, informed decisions not emotional decisions. Align with the vision of the APC candidates, we’ll create a Lagos experience all over the country. Make informed judgment, and vote for competence, and capacity. Asiwaju is the man to beat.
“When Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu became governor of Lagos State in 1999, there was only one ambulance in the service of the Lagos state government, now Lagos is earning N51 billion every month as its internally generated revenue.
“Lagos is the third largest economy in Africa and the world is in transition. What is important is for a Nigerian leader of the next dispensation must be a leader who has a mastery of financial management capabilities and someone who understands Nigerian psychology and someone who appreciates and understands the complexity of the Nigerian nation.
“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has established an excellent track record for performance. He has mentored men and women who are excelling in different fields of human endeavors and the world is changing and the trajectory of global growth facing Africa and Nigeria will make or mar that transition.”
“As Chinua Achebe said, the problem of Nigeria is purely and essentially that of leadership. Once we get the leadership function right, everything right, everything will fall into place.
“In these days when others are talking of Artificial Intelligence when others are talking of nanotechnology, biotechnology, we need a leader with the skills set, understanding of the global economy to shepherd us in this age. If you get one, you are getting one for free. He’s the city boy, I am the golden boy.
“In the history of Zenith Bank, no one, I dare say, apart from the legendary Ada Umeji, grew faster in the history of Zenith than my humble self.
“I have mentored men who are excelling in different fields of human endeavour. As I said earlier, the world is watching us and the ultimate major measure of a man, as Martin Luther King said, is not where he stands.
“I urge my friends here to be rational, firm and have the boldness and courage to make informed decisions, not emotional decisions. Here we are on the threshold of making history. In the United Kingdom, a young man of Indian descent is about to become the Prime Minister,” Shettima stated.