The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has stated that Nigeria is gradually recovering under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tinubu said after “many years of mis-governance and its myriad consequences,” the country has a fresh opportunity to reshape its future.
He spoke in Sokoto while responding on behalf of honorary doctorate degree awardees of the Usuman Dan Fodiyo University at the Joint 32nd, 33rd and 34th Convocation and 40th Anniversary of the institution on Saturday.
Reviewing the state of the nation before and since the assumption of office by President Buhari last May, the former Lagos State governor said: “We were led down a path in which bad was deemed good and good was deemed inconvenient.”
“We were handed a way of governance in which anything goes and too much went – as if gone with the wind. Our present was squandered and future mortgaged. A few people took as their own what God intended to belong to all Nigerians.”
He added: “This was not the way of Usmanu Dan Fodio. This was not the way to build the nation we seek. It was the way to lay waste to our dreams and to jettison all the lessons that heroes such as Usmanu Dan Fodio and our forefathers taught us.
“Yet, human nature is such that it cannot exist for long without truth and justice. For a period, darkness may descend and a lie may rule. But not forever, society needs justice and fairness as much as the body needs food and water.
“With last year’s election, the national conscience awoke. The people rejected the distorted arrangements of past governments in order to make room for a better future. They had once again found the courage that Usmanu Dan Fodiyo had bequeathed them. They had rediscovered their way and their right to pursue it.
The APC leader, however warned that the process of re-building is not going to be a tea party.
His words: “Be reminded that this will be a battle. No battle is easy. We must be firm in our resolve to reform this nation. We must have the courage to stand fast in the times of difficulty, having faith that the rightfulness of our cause will see us through to the success of our collective efforts and yearnings.
“The truth today is that Nigeria has the greatest opportunity to get it right with a leader like Mr. Muhammadu Buhari.
“Another truth is that Nigeria and Nigerians are suffering under the yoke of corruption. The economy is based on a model no longer sustainable given the realities of today’s markets and global trends.
“There is much to fix. President Buhari is committed to fixing them. But he needs your support and patience. He cannot do it all alone. We must stand beside him or else we may be knocked down and not stand at all.”
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
