Browsing: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

Chief Adesoye during his eventful life was a well-known industrialist, philanthropist and educationist. It is difficult to say among the three areas of endeavour, in which one he made the most impact. I would say without contradiction that he made his mark in all of them and more.

Atiku was the highest after President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of political leadership profile. Having deputized President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007, he remains the longest serving Vice President ever in Nigeria’s history. Apart from his successful joint ticket with Obasanjo, he had slugged out with incumbent President Buhari and immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan. He is a business mogul and unlike a number of other politicians, he proudly own up to his stupendous wealth. He has followers across the country and his political structures abound everywhere.

“He used to be a Customs officer.  Going from one port to another should not be an issue or a problem for him. It is in the nature of Customs officials to go from one port to another. When they train Customs officials, they train them to just disappear to nowhere when the storm is tough and rough.  That is the reason why every Customs official is a prostitute… serving or retired. I know some of them. They are always disappearing and appearing. After oil and gas, customs is the other honey pot of Nigeria. My brother, if you taste a little of that honey pot, your tongue will come out. You will always want to taste more.”

As the debate commenced, Henry Trewhitt of the Baltimore Sun asked Reagan about his advancing age. Reagan, who was then the oldest American president looked at the much younger Mondale before him and then turned to Trewhitt and said “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”