The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday facilitated with officers of the Nigerian military fighting Boko Haram insurgents in northeast, Nigeria. Atiku in a statement in Abuja expressed his wishes of “happy Father’s Day to every father in Nigeria and beyond.”
He also extended his happy Father’s Day wishes to Nigeria’s demised Founding Fathers who include Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, etc. “May the labours of these our heroes past remind us that this nation was built on a quartet of Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress, founded on Justice,” Atiku declared.
The former vice president prayed that their labours, and the labours of all fathers in Nigeria never be in vain; adding: “may God’s blessings be on the nation and the children they birthed. May extreme poverty depart our land and in the words of the late great Chief MKO Abiola, may we soon bid “farewell to poverty” as a nation.”
Atiku appealed to Nigerians to take a minute to acknowledge those fathers who have left their wives, children and loved ones, to take up residency in bushes, highways and byways in order to fight terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and others threating the security of the country. He extended greetings to every father in the armed forces, police and paramilitary forces.
Atiku, one of the celebrants of the day, admonished fathers to “remember that the greatest gift we can give our children is to believe in themselves.” And so, he asked “everyone to believe in Nigeria, to believe in yourselves and to believe in your children. And finally, to believe that our Founding Father’s vision for Nigeria would come to pass by God’s grace, through our hard work.”