Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has congratulated Nigerians on the celebration of the country’s 62nd Independence Day anniversary, saying the nation will rise again.
The former Vlvice-president in a statement by his media office in Abuja on Friday said the celebration of Nigeria’s Independence Day is an event that should reawaken our consciousness towards the consolidation of unity amongst the diverse people of the country.
The PDP presidential candidate said Nigeria has come a long way after our independence 62 years ago passing through different phases of challenges, noting however, that “the democracy that we have is the requisite antidote to the current challenges that we face”.
He said though Nigeria is beset with challenges that range from inadequacies of our economic plans to cover a large percentage of our people who live below the poverty line; to security skirmishes that daily threaten the safety of lives and property of Nigerians, the root cause of these problem is traceable to the increasing lack of unity amongst us.
He, however, assured that as one people and under the canopy of one country sharing in one future, we will surmount our challenges and enthrone the Nigeria of our dreams.
And as we go into the general election next year, Atiku asked all Nigerians to give the issue of building national unity primary attention.
“Nigerians should elect leaders who are individuals with proven track records of being protagonists of unity and peace,” he said.
“I believe that when we fix the issues that continue to compromise our national unity, we would invariably fix issues that upset our peace and security and subsequently create an environment that can encourage economic prosperity.”
The presidential standardbearer of the PDP also called on all friends of Nigeria in the international community to continue to have confidence in the country because, “as a people we never give up”.
