A former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (Retd), has welcomed the presidential aspiration of renowned lawyer, Prince Adewole Adebayo.
Abdulsalami said with Adebayo’s ideology, youthfulness and vibrant ambition, Nigeria is on the right path to greatness again.
The former Nigerian leader made this known on Saturday when the media mogul paid him a courtesy visit to his Hilltop Villa, Minna, Niger State.
Adebayo, a leading member of the Steering Committee of the National Consultative Front (NCF), was accompanied by former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, ex-lawmaker representing Anambra South, Senator Ugochukwu Uba, among others.
With the slogan HopeAgain2023, Adebayo is aiming to end the All Progressives Congress and People’s Democratic Party’s duopoly at the helms of affairs.
Welcoming the aspirations of the 50-year-old, Abdulsalami expressed delight that he is thinking of moving Nigeria forward.
He, however, submitted that Nigeria indeed needs the younger generation to take over from the older ones.
“I am so happy that not only you, other young people are showing interest in taking over the leadership of the nation,” Abdulsalami said.
“I am happy that you are thinking of moving Nigeria forward and I believe with your ideology, your youthfulness and vibrant ambition, Nigeria is on the right path to greatness again.
“Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million people is certainly a great country. I thank you once again for finding me fit for this visit and I shall do all that I can to assist in the success of your ambition”.
On his part, Adebayo told the ex-dictator that he came to “Minna to seek your blessings and tap from your wisdom and expertise in Democratic governance and love for fatherland because you willingly gave us democracy when leaders across Africa were holding on to power”.
He added that, “You had the opportunity to hold to power but your focus was to leave an enduring legacy. The Constitution we operate that make Nigeria a democratic nation today, which is the 1999 Constitution, was signed by you and handed over to us as a Country. You are the father of Democracy in Nigeria”.
Assuring the former Head of State of his ability, commitment and zeal to build on the legacies of Nigeria’s heroes past, Adebayo said, “we need to have a template for you to show that we are Nigerians first before any other designations”.
To achieve that template, Prince Adebayo listed five key factors.
One, that the unity and continuity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is paramount to us than any other consideration. Two, that Nigeria is not a country where citizens should strive to be great individually but a nation where citizens want the country to be great.
Adebayo said would rather be an ordinary man from a great country tha a great man from a useless country.
Third, that the labour of our heroes past should not just be a song but a continuous one, because the journey that the heroes started is not yet finished.
In addition, he said the world has become more global. So, because of the innovations going on all over the world, Nigeria need to go global and compete favourably well with the World powers, U.S, Soviet Union, U.K, China, France etc.
Lastly, he said Nigeria should be built on the part where young people will see public service to be more honourable, more useful and more enduring than personal accumulation of wealth.
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