May 10, 2022

What Nigeria needs at the moment is not just a President but a unifying leader who can birth a new order of national unity, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, told Kaduna State delegates, 0n Monday.

Anyim said he did it before when he was elected President of the Senate at a time the Senate was fractious and almost rudderless.

He recounted: “When I became the President of the Senate, the situation then at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly was similar to what is obtainable now in Nigeria. There was chaos, there was mistrust and the National Assembly was divided along ethnic and religious lines.”

He noted that there was high rate of instability in the leadership of the Senate at that time and no president of the Senate then was sure of surviving the next day in the office.

“But when it was my turn as president of the Senate, I brought everyone together as members of the same family, a member of the same Senate and a member of the same country and we began to reason, think and see ourselves as one Nigeria. It’s the same passion, the same zeal and the same drive which I deployed to unite the Senate, to save the National Assembly from imminent collapse, that I have come to ask you to give me the opportunity to deploy now to save Nigeria from imminent destruction.”

Asking the delegates to hold him by his words, Anyim said:  “I must say that since I left office, the solid foundation I laid then as president of the Senate has remained  indestructible and no impeachment has ever taken place in the Senate since after my tenure”.

He told the apparently excited audience that he has been described variously too as the engine room of President Goodluck Jonathan administration assuring that, “it is the same experience, the same magic and the same propelling force that he is persuaded with to seek their support to restore the same  unity, the same stability and the same consensus among Nigerians as their president”.

Anyim reminded the delegates that the secret of his successes lies on the determination of a leader to build consensus among the people. Stating that he is that one Nigerian who finds home anywhere he goes. He equally assured the Kaduna delegates that his regime cannot leave them behind as he cannot take any decisions without consulting their leaders like Senators Ahmed Makarfi, Aziz Zinge or former Vice President Namadi Sambo.

Because of his humility built on consensus orientation, Anyim said, these people and many others are my direct personal friends who I cannot say no to their requests.

Anyim emphasized repeatedly that the problem of Nigeria is not just where the president comes from nor his religious inclinations but that the problem of Nigeria is indeed that of visionary leadership. He told the delegates that the choice of a bad leader will begin the moment someone who does not understand the real challenges of the nation is elected to lead Nigeria.

He reiterated the fact that his many years not only in government but around the presidency has endowed him with the requisite knowledge to understand the challenges of the nation and how to handle them.

Anyim advised the delegates that the future and survival of Nigeria now rests squarely on their hands as the decisions they make in choosing the next presidential candidate of PDP will determine where the country will be headed to.

“I therefore offer myself as your best choice to bear the Nigeria cross on your behalf,” he said.