Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says his enduring persistence in contesting for the office of the president of Nigeria is borne out of his passion to rekindle the Nigerian dream.
Abubakar stated this while making his official declaration for the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.
He said his dream for Nigeria was that there should not be any limit to what a Nigerian wanted to achieve if he was willing to work for it.
“I have contested for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria a couple of times in the past. My enduring persistence is borne out of my passion to rekindle the Nigerian dream that I was privileged to live.
He, however, said that the dream was not possible without credible and visionary leadership, adding “that is what I want to offer to Nigerians.”
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He said that presently Nigeria was in dire need of visionary leadership, saying the fundamental principles and purpose as a nation had never been challenged as it was today.
“I offer myself to rescue the sinking ship. Under my captainship, this ship will sail to a brighter course by the grace of God.”
He described the 2023 election as a referendum to decide whether Nigerians want greatness or continuous destruction.
“It is a choice between two paths: the path of unity and progress or the path of division and backwardness.
“We need a new kind of leadership that will steer us to a positive path. In 2023, we want a President who has ideas on how to fix Nigeria. We want a president who understands, ires, and is empathetic.
“As the election is fast approaching, we should not be distracted from the devastating conditions we are in now.”
Abubakar said that if elected, under his presidency, he would focus on five key areas: Unity of Nigeria, Security, Economy, Education, and devolving more resources and powers to the federating units.
Describing himself as the unifier coming to bond the broken union of Nigeria, Abubakar said that his administration if elected would operate an open door for dialogue to hear the grieving voices of all Nigerians.
He also pledged to increase the welfare and number of all security forces as well as the use of modern technology and intelligence to combat insecurity.
He added that if elected, he would create alternative sources of foreign exchange supply to Nigeria and reduce importation to increase the value of the Naira.
“We will provide access to mechanized farming systems and develop the agricultural value chain. We must diversify our foreign exchange sources through exports of processed agricultural products.”