2023 presidency: Saraki promises peaceful, united Nigeria

President of the Eighth Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday, promised to restore the Nigeria of old, where peace and unity prevailed over religious and tribal sentiments if given the chance to rule the country in 2023.

At a breakfast meeting with media and friends in Abuja, the Kwara State ex-governor officially announced that he was in the race for the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) ticket for the office of the President.

He said the parley was to intimate Nigerians why he is running.

Decrying the state of the nation in the last seven years, Saraki said his experiences in the private and public sectors were handy to fix Nigeria.

He boasted that he left Kwara State better than he met it, and as a Senate President, he defended the integrity of the National Assembly.

Acknowledging that Nigeria’s problems have quadrupled and might prove difficult to be totally solved in the lifetime of a presidency, Saraki, however, believes that steps towards resolving them could begin in earnest.

“The point is that we can be the generation that starts it all. We can be the turning point generation in whose time everything began to change. The generation that despite our differences, was able to unite against poverty and hunger, as both spare no tribe or religion.

“We can be the generation that is ashamed to be labelled as the poverty capital of the world, and therefore, commit itself to do whatever it takes to remove this badge of dishonour on our country,” he said.

Saraki added: “We can be the generation that is collectively embarrassed to admit that we have more children out of school than any other country in the world, and therefore, resolve to ensure that every Nigerian child, regardless of the circumstances of her parents, is guaranteed quality basic education.

“We can be the generation that commits to building a country on the principle of equal opportunity for all – a generation that gives equal chance to everyone – that is deliberate about policies that promote the inclusion of women and youth, as well as people living with disabilities, believing that we are only as strong as the weakest among us.”

As the 2023 poll fast approaches, the ex-Senate President observed that it is another watershed moment in the nation’s political history.