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By David Owen
There is no gainsaying the fact that former Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, deserves to be the next President of Nigeria in 2023.
His antecedents speak for him as he possesses the qualities to make him the leader of Nigeria. He dared all odds by confronting his father when he was contesting the 2007 governorship election. He was able to achieve this feat because the former Kwara governor is not someone who shies away from challenges.
He took the bull by the horns, won the election and went on to win another term in office. Also worthy of note is the fact that, after leaving office as governor, he defeated his sister, Gbemi, to clinch the Senate seat. Besides this, Saraki, from all indications, has the energy and vibrancy to address issues confronting Nigeria.
This should be an added advantage for him as Nigeria needs a young, energetic, and vibrant leader who has the wherewithal to think outside the box to solve the challenges facing the country. Another quality that stands Saraki out is his ability to reach out across the political divide, based on his antecedents. Having served as governor and senator, the medical doctor-cum-politician is seen as the bridge between the North and the South.
It is further believed that his North-South ethnic identity should be seen as an advantage rather than a disadvantage in the Nigerian political space. This accident of geography has dogged his quest for the presidency over the years as his political opponents have continued to use it against him. His origin confers ethnic and religious neutrality on one hand and still unites him with the two tendencies. As the PDP goes for its convention, a professor of theatre development, Iyorwese Hagher, has urged party delegates to settle for Senator Saraki as standard-bearer for the 2023 election.
Hager, who heads the Bukola Saraki 2023 Presidential Advocacy Committee, said that a Saraki-led presidency would fetch Nigerians the result-driven governance the country has been yearning for since the attainment of independence in 1960.
The university don said: “Senator Bukola Saraki is the end of the search for the President of Nigeria, come 2023. He is presidential in character, dimension and expression. He is a fine gentleman who is a product of excellent upbringing, socially and politically.
He is very well educated in Nigeria and abroad, with a robust network of associates in high positions across the globe. He has excellent cognate experience in politics as high-ranking bank executive, as special assistant to President Obasanjo, and two-term governor of Kwara State, where he was adjudged the best performing governor as well as chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum,” he said.
As snator, Saraki saved Nigeria from waste associated with the subsidy regime and stood as a bastion in defence of the common people.
•Owens, social affairs commentator, writes from Abuja
