I am a Nigerian who loves his country and am
hopeful about what it can become. I have seen and
conducted myself as a patriot long before I thought
of myself as a politician. I shall always walk this
line and no other.

After all the political calculations are made and the
dust of competition has settled, it must be this
nation and its people who stand first and foremost.
The question becomes whether we stand strong,
able to shape ourselves into our best future or will
we stand frail and trembling, burdened by the
abject failure to surmount the multiple problems
confronting us.

It against this backdrop that I assess any action I
take. Here I come to my name being placed in
consideration as the Vice Presidential candidate for
our party, the APC. I have labored hard to move
this party from being merely an idea in the minds
of a few into being a political organization that
might win this election and govern the nation in
way that gives the people the hope and opportunity
they seek. Nothing is more important to me than to
realize this dream not for myself but for the people
of this land I so love.

I helped to build this party, giving no thought to
seeking an elected office because of it. My
contribution to the party was never based on the
expectation of a later political handout. Nigeria is in
trouble and we are well past the moment for such
narrow, selfish games.

There came a time during the course of the events
when our Presidential candidate, General
Muhammadu Buhari offered the Vice Presidential
slot to me. Being a normal human being, I was
deeply moved and honored that he would consider
me for the position. Being a patriot, I had to weigh
my potential candidacy in all of its dimensions.

I have concluded that the interest of the party, our
campaign and of the nation are better served if I
retain my position as the National leader of the
APC, allowing me to be a bridge builder across all
divides. Although, I declined the position, I want to
thank General Buhari for extending the honor to
me. Despite all the noise and opposition around my
possible selection, he stood firm and steadfast. He
showed the traits of a leader in holding to a
decision he believed was right despite the errant
plots against it.

When my name was raised, the political hatchet
men tried to chop it down with rumor and lies. Over
the years, I have developed a thick skin. The
personal attacks did not bother me. I am used to
them. While I have a thick skin, I don’t have a thick
mind. There has been one form of attack that has
troubled me. That is the attack based on religion.
The PDP and others have stoked fear of a Muslim-
Muslim ticket.

I have removed myself from consideration so what
I now say cannot be seen as self-serving. I plead
with the people of this nation to never allow the
power lust of cynical politicians to set brother
against brother, neighbor against neighbor. If you
look at those politicians who raise this issue the
most, they are the least devout and faithful to any
religion other their self-interests.

Nigeria has too many secular problems –
insecurity, economic collapse, poverty , corruption
and misgovernance – to allow inept people to use
religion to keep us from solving these challenges
for the benefit of all.

Those who exploit religion should be wary. For
there really is a God and he does not like it when
you play with his people or use His name to do the
opposite of what He intends.

I ask the people to remove religion from the
electoral equation now that the tickets of both
parties are mixed. I ask you to select the ticket
best able to end the downward slide that Nigeria
has endured since this government took over. I
ask you to remember that too many Christians and
Muslims are poor. Most of all, I ask you to
remember that the true religion of the PDP is
poverty, APC come to bring prosperity to the
people. Please vote for that.

The Nigeria I see is a nation that shall overcome.
The Nigeria I see is a nation ready to sweep aside
the broken ways of our recent past and the
government and politicians who impose distress
upon us. The Nigeria I see and seek is one where
each person, every man, woman and child may
live free of terrorism, free of the despair of poverty
and free of the fear that the government meant to
serve and protect them has turned its back to
them in cold and utter indifference.

I see and seek a Nigeria where progressive
democratic governance creates the political and
economic space needed for each of us to
contribute to rescuing and retooling this
nation. And, in the process of this benign
endeavor, may each and every one of us share in
the sound promise and good prosperity that shall
describe the architecture of our national revival.

However, not everyone that shouts the name of
Nigeria believes in this vision. There are many who
would have you laid low and our future tossed
asunder that they may persist in reaping the unjust
reward of their selfish ways. There are wolves in
sheep clothing and even jackals in wolf’s clothing. I
have seen them but not as residents in some
strange zoo. They populate the halls of this
diminished government and the party from which
this government was born.

We have come to the field of fateful choice. We
have been brought to test the scales of weighty
decision. Shall we lift this nation upward so that
from its higher vantage point we may clearly see
the road to our better destiny? Or shall we continue
to march the march of fools into the dark of
darkness. The current path has but one end. It
shall take us into the den of national collapse. We
have gone far enough down this wicked avenue to
be aware of what its continuance portends.

We must awaken of our own accord, my dear
people, before the bell of doom rings upon us. If we
wait until that moment, we would have waited too
long. Our future, our fate, our destiny would have
been cast into the snare of utter misfortune. This is
not the song of greatness. It is the poetics of ruin.

For me, political ambition will never triumph over
patriotic conviction. This delicate moment affords
no space for emotion to intrude to blind us from
what is best. The APC is the best and only vehicle
to enact the progressive and broad change this
nation cries for. I eagerly lend myself to this fine
cause without me having to be on the ticket.

This is a time for cohesion and an overriding sense
of mission. We must defeat the foe before us and
resist all temptations intended to entice us to fight
among ourselves.

I sincerely commit myself to the rescue agenda of
General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo.

I declare to you, I will work and dedicate myself so
that our ticket succeeds and wins the 2015
election -- not for his good, not for my good, not
even for the party’s good but for the good of the
nation we inhabit.

Some may call what I have done a sacrifice. I call
it otherwise. It is my patriotic contribution and
duty. I do so with a happy and uplifted heart and
clear conscience because I have committed
myself to seeking the best for this nation before
seeking what is good for myself. This is the creed
of statesmanship I chose to follow. May this be the
creed of our party as General Buhari leads us to
historic victory in the 2015 elections.

May the light of a bright future always shine on you
and on our beloved nation, the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.


-Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
December 17th, 2014

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