According to him, Nigeria has had the misfortune of being governed by leaders with no vision and who regard the country as a personal farm to plunder.
He spoke yesterday at launch of the book Neither North nor South, East nor West: One Nigeria at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The former governor said, “The present government and the direction it is leading the country is a repudiation of all that these great patriots lived and died for. Because they are reaping where they never sowed, they do not value the power they hold. Rather, they hold Nigerians hostage by their actions and inactions in full glare demonstration of their cluelessness and anti-people orientation.”
He assured that Nigerians would “Soon enough take their country back. We must reflect on this because the times are challenging. Suddenly, Nigerians see each other as enemies because of the kind of policies and actions the current government has embarked upon. The tide rises high and beats roughly against us. But we must remember that we are not enemies. As a nation, we are each other’s extended family.”
The former governor reiterated his call for unity, saying, “Families talk, resolve issues, and move on to better things. That is why Nigerians must unite to demand to be governed properly and responsibly by those they have elected. It is impossible that we agree on all things.”
On the purpose of gathering, he said, “We can vow that the spirit of closeness and cordiality that permeates this hall shall not be left here when we go. That spirit serves no purpose in an empty venue. We must carry this with us.
“In doing so, we best honour the life and legacy of Shehu Musa Yar ‘Adua. In doing so, turn the name of this book Neither North, Nor South, Nor East nor West from being just a clever title to becoming our national reality. With that thought in mind, I do hereby launch this excellent book and contribution to the civic education of our children.
“We all know General Yar ‘Adua died for Nigeria. More importantly, he lived for Nigeria when most of us did not. Yet, he never became dispirited.
“This man lived for Nigeria and he did so heroically, even to his last day. Here was a man born into the status and privilege of a noble family. If he simply focused on his own interests, democracy would not have any appeal to him. He did not need democracy.
“Yet, he never looked at himself first. He looked at others and realised that they needed democracy. He looked at his people, the poor, the weak, the ones who searched for a champion yet seemed unable to find one. In him, they found what they were searching for. His moral conscience would not allow him to sit in comfort while the rest of his countrymen wandered the alleys of poverty and backwardness. Thus, he deposited all the private advantages and privileges he could have enjoyed into the public undertaking of cementing this nation into a unified, democratic whole.
“It speaks to the measure of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s extraordinary greatness that a military general born of high social station would become one of our nation’s most revered democratic figures. In many ways, he is Nigeria’s parallel to America’s George Washington. He broke new grounds, engendered new political re-alignments between the North and the West and demonstrated to all that strategic thinking is the name of the game.
“ Shehu Yar‘Adua was a brilliant political strategist and visionary. Founding the People’s Democratic Movement, he brought together like-minded democrats from all corners of Nigeria to fight for justice, for good governance, for the people’s right to determine who shall lead them.
“The bonds that he built then, still live on today among so many key Nigerians. The spirit with which he carried himself enriched all who came near him. He mentored so many people, including me. What struck me most was that when he looked at a person, he did not place that person’s ethnicity, religion or region in the balance to weigh the person. He merely looked at the person’s character, abilities and commitment to the democratic cause.”
TheNation
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