Why I want Atiku Abubakar to be Nigeria’s President in 2019

The Presidency is the most important office in Nigeria and the individual we put in charge of this office should be articulate, democratic, innovative, mentally mature, technology driven, resourceful, tested and he/she must always abide by the rule of law and our constitution. We should never vote for our President based on ethnicity, religion, sentiments, the political party they belong to or the media.

My process of choosing a Presidential candidate is very detailed and rigorous, it should be the same for all Nigerians. I am not supporting a Presidential candidate that is unprepared, Nigerians should not either.
We should not even listen to Presidential candidates that make promises without a detailed plan. Presidential candidates that keep telling us that they will grow our economy, create millions of jobs in 4 years, keep us safe and fight corruption without a detailed plan should be a NO NO.

I also don’t want a Presidency that is disorganized, violates the constitution, violates the rule of law, abuses its powers, can’t protect Nigerians, does not fight corruption and keeps blaming previous administrations for their inability to grow our economy and revenues exponentially.

Atiku Abubakar is my preferred candidate for President. Atiku is the most qualified and prepared to be President of Nigeria to me. He is articulate, democratic, innovative, entrepreneurial, mentally mature, technology driven, tested, well connected globally and resourceful.

Before I go any further, let me make it perfectly clear that I have never met or spoken to Atiku Abubakar, everything I am going to speak on is from extensive and well detailed research.

Our Former Vice President is the only politician in our history with a very detailed blueprint of how he intends to get us on the path to our zenith. Atiku’s 2014 blueprint is a light read, just 100 pages, every Nigerian should read his blueprint, it’s very informative. The blueprint details what he intends to do when it comes to security, education, jobs, healthcare, growing our economy, wealth creation, foreign policy, our diaspora, infrastructure, our environment, creating equal opportunities for all and corruption with a 100 day, 6 month, 9 month, 1 year, 2 year and 4 year timeline.

I have studied all our Presidents, studied every single Nigerian that has ever contested or is interested in the Presidency, none has been as wealthy or is as wealthy through licit means like Atiku Abubakar, that’s a plus for me. I am very confident that he is not trying to get into office to amass wealth or loot our treasury like most politicians in Nigeria. Our Former Vice President was a multi millionaire in dollars years before he was picked by Former President Olusegun Obasanjo to be his running mate in the 1999 Presidential elections.

Atiku Abubakar is the co-founder of Intels, Intels is an oil and logistics company that was created while he was the Deputy Comptroller of Nigeria Customs. It was created in the 1980’s when a foreigner had to partner with a Nigerian to do business in Nigeria. Italian Billionaire, Gabriele Volpi formed Intels with Atiku who was well versed in logistics, port operations, Nigerian law and government relations. There is no law in Nigeria barring a public official from investing or owning a business or businesses you just can’t run said business or businesses. The same rule apply in the United States, Donald Trump owns businesses as President he just can run them himself.

Some of Atiku’s wealth is in Intels and its parent company, Orleans Invest. Every Nigerian should look up Orlean Invest and see what they are into and the great things they’ve done and are doing in and for Nigeria.

Orlean Invest is a global conglomerate that was built from scratch with investments from Gabriele Volpi, Atiku Abubakar, loans from banks and some concessions from the Federal Government. Orleans Invest is one of the largest employers of labor in Nigeria today, majority of their work force are based in Lagos, Abuja and the Niger Delta. Orleans Invest has pumped in tens of billions of dollars into Nigeria, they have built schools, roads, drainage systems, markets, ICT centers, installed solar street lights, empowered women and youths and have provided medical services in the communities they operate in.

Our Former Vice President is a co-owner of a global conglomerate that was built from scratch and today is worth billions of dollars. I want a man like Atiku that has built a profitable multi billion dollar business as the President of Nigeria, he will be able to grow our revenues exponentially with his experience.

I admire Atiku’s business acumen, he is an investor in so many companies, Atiku has taken millions of his earned profits from one business and has invested in banks, telecommunication companies, real estate and education just to name a few. Atiku Abubakar is audacious, ambitious, driven, innovative, a forward thinker and he never quits, these are just a few of the reasons I want him to be Nigeria’s President.

Our Former Vice President is arguably the largest private employer of labor in Nigeria today, he has created over 50,000 direct jobs and hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs. Only Aliko Dangote’s investments in Nigeria can rival that of Atiku’s.

Atiku is also the founder of Adama Beverages, makers of Faro Water. He rakes in millions of dollars from this business annually. Adama Beverages is headquartered in Adamawa State, his hometown. Our Former Vice President knows how to build multi million dollar businesses even in areas and communities that most millionaires and billionaires won’t dare put a business. This is another reason I want him to be President of Nigeria, he sees opportunities where others don’t.

American University of Nigeria (AUN) is his also, AUN is one of the best universities in Africa, it’s one of the few American style universities in Africa. He has said AUN for him is not about profit but about giving quality education to some young Nigerians that will contribute immensely to nation building after graduating. This school is also located in Adamawa, imagine if he had built AUN in Abuja or Lagos, he would be raking in hundreds of millions of Naira (₦) in profit from this venture annually.

Besides being a very successful billionaire businessman, Atiku Abubakar is the greatest Vice President Nigeria has ever had. As Head of our Economic Team he oversaw the sale of hundreds of poorly managed and loss making public enterprises. He doubled our growth rate to 6%, today we are barely above 1%. We were ranked 94th in the ease of doing business index when he was the Head of our Economic Team, today we are celebrating moving from 165 to 145 out of 190 countries.

Our foreign reserves rose from $3B to $43B when he was the Head of our Economic Team, Nigeria was also one of the top 5 most attractive investment destinations in Africa, today we are ranked number 18, number 18 in Africa, what a shame. I want an experienced and tested person to be Nigeria’s President, I don’t want a President that keeps pointing fingers at the previous administration because of the inability of his Economic Team to grow our economy and our revenues exponentially.

With Atiku as the Head of our Economic Team, tens of millions of jobs were created both in the formal and informal sectors. More jobs were created in Nigeria when Atiku was the Head of our Economic Team than any other period in our history.

Our Former Vice President spearheaded the telecommunication revolution in Nigeria. The telecommunication industry employs millions of Nigerians. All the Nigerians you see today employed by Globacom, MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and the Nigerians you see earning a living today by selling recharge cards is as a result of the work done by Atiku Abubakar and his Economic Team.

Just imagine what Atiku would have accomplished and where Nigeria would rank today among the committee of nations if he was President right after President Obasanjo. President Obasanjo did not want Atiku to be President because our Former Vice President would not let him (Obasanjo) usurp our constitution in his bid to get a third term. Atiku is a constitutionalist, he saved our democracy, another reason I want him to be President.

I mentioned earlier all the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philanthropic work his company, Orleans Invest have done in the communities they operate in, he is also a philanthropist in his own personal capacity.

Atiku continues to help out of school children get back to the classroom. Nigeria has about 10 million out of school children, the largest in the world. He has distributed seedlings to farmers in the North East to help them get back to farming after the destruction of their livelihood by Boko Haram. He has given some of the rescued Chibok girls 4 year scholarships to AUN. This year alone he has given AUN scholarships to 2 students from every State in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory, 74 scholarships in total. This shows empathy and compassion, another reason why I want him to be the President of Nigeria.

Atiku Abubakar is a detribalized Nigerian and he is very liberal when it comes to religion. This is another reason why I want him to be President. Nigeria needs a President that will bring the country together, Nigeria has never been this divided across ethnic and religious lines. Our Former Vice President is married to and have children with Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa wives, who better to bring Nigerians together than a man whose household have representatives from both the North and the South.

Now to the biggest misconception Nigerians have about Atiku Abubakar, more than a few believe he is corrupt. He was tagged as being corrupt by Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his cronies but none of the allegations have been proven true. I am a believer of having evidence or proof that someone is corrupt before tagging said individual as corrupt. Our Former Vice President was tagged because he refused to let Obasanjo usurp our constitution.

Most of his opponents, detractors and enemies now point to the The U.S Senate report on kleptocracy that mentioned him sending millions of dollars via wire transfers to his wife in the U.S while he was Vice President as a smoking gun for him being corrupt. Any smart individual that has gone through that document critically would see that Atiku Abubakar actually does things the right way, another reason I want him to be President.

The U.S Senate report on kleptocracy shows one of Africa’s wealthiest and licit businessmen wiring millions of dollars of legitimate dividend earnings from Orleans Invest to his wife in the U.S. Our Former Vice President even did what Donald Trump has refused to do as President, Atiku put his shares of Orlean Invest in a blind trust before he was sworn in as Vice President. Mr. Gabriele Volpi, Atiku’s business partner corroborated this when he was questioned by the U.S Senate Judiciary Committee, the same Committee investigating President Trump today.

Blind trusts are often used when a very wealthy individual is elected to a political office where his/her investment holdings could potentially put him/her in a conflict of interest with a regulatory issue or other sensitive exercise of political power.

Atiku Abubakar is one of the most investigated public officials in Nigerian history just because he wouldn’t let Former President Obasanjo usurp our constitution in his selfish bid to get a third term. Our Former Vice President challenged his boss, President Obasanjo and defended the oath he swore to, he defended our constitution knowing full well it might cost him his job as Vice President. This is another reason I want him to be Nigeria’s President.

Our Former Vice President recently challenged Nigerians that keep calling him corrupt to either come forward with evidence or keep quiet. If there is evidence presented to me that shows Atiku Abubakar is corrupt, I will withdraw my support for him without hesitation.

In a general election between Atiku Abubakar and President Muhammadu Buhari, I am choosing Atiku. Atiku’s Presidency will not be disorganized, he will not violate the constitution and the rule of law, Nigeria will develop at a faster pace and he will grow our economy and our revenues exponentially in 4 years, he has a proven track record.

If our Former Vice President is elected President and he violates our constitution or the rule of law, I will be the first person to call for his impeachment like I have done with President Buhari who I chose over Former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections.

Every Nigerian should have an open mind, observe, listen effectively, think critically and perform extensive and detailed research on everyone that is going to be contesting for the Presidency. Atiku Abubakar is my preferred candidate, I believe our Former Vice President will make Nigeria great. I have made my choice, what’s yours going to be? We have to get it right in 2019, Nigeria can not remain this way.

Written by Nosa Eweka

Nosa Eweka is an Entrepreneur and a Member of the Benin Royal Family, he can be reached at nosaeweka@yahoo.com.