Former Speaker of the House of Representative, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has warned that the sad fate of Nigerian will be decided after 2023, because the last thing Nigerians need is another four years of hardship and hopelessness.
The former speaker who made the statement during the 10th Convocation ceremony of the Achievers University in Owo, headquarters of Owo Local Government Area in Ondo State, said Nigerians must not make the mistake of electing leaders who have no implementable solutions to the problems facing the country.
He said the prediction that Nigeria may not exist beyond 2023, “shouldn’t scare us. But what scares me is post-2023, if we get it all wrong. What is on the 2023 ballot is Nigeria itself.
He said four things would happen if another mistake is elected as president. He said the country will experience years of conquest, war, famine and death, if all goes wrong in 2023.
”We need a team whose pedigree must match their rhetoric for unity, peace and progress. Our most immediate challenge now is to bring our disparate peoples together and pull down our barriers; otherwise, we cannot build. Issues of development, although absolutely important, are not the most immediate.
”No one without an implementable solution on the questions of unity and justice for us all regardless of ethnicity or creed should have their names on the ballot, period.
“Make no mistake, if we dare get it all wrong in 2023, we would have succeeded in hastening the days of the first four hours – the famous horsemen of the apocalypse on ourselves days that will be marked by conquest, war, famine and death. May God forbid,” he said in the statement.
“The solution is as complex as the problem; that is why it will take visionary leadership with the right political will to win this war.
“Be that as it may, we must move forward as a nation. Stemming the tide of insecurity in Nigeria requires all hands to be on deck. We must all be involved. All Nigerians should consider themselves stakeholders if the war against insecurity must be won.
“Although Nigeria has broken my heart severally, I still love her a lot. This is because of the consequences of a fractured Nigeria not only on the psyche of Nigerians but the black race.
“Nigeria represents a major promise that a black nation can truly attain the status of a global superpower and once Nigeria vanishes, that promise will perish with it.
“Therefore, I will rather be part of a stable and prosperous populous nation with a major promise than a citizen of a fragmented part of Nigeria no matter how well organized it may be.
“I am sure there are so many here who believe as I do. No doubt, the challenges of our nationhood are difficult but surmountable. We must not give up until something gives in or gives way.
“Gladly, all problems come with their solutions embedded in them but only those genuinely looking for the solutions get to find them. Believe me, we can solve these problems if all of us earnestly start looking for the solutions,” he added.