Honourable Samuel Mbonu was recently interviewed on Everyday Greatness with Dilianne. He shared his passion and aspirations to become the next president of Nigeria and also left a great piece of advice for the youths.

DA: Was there any incident of note in your early years that fueled your passion for politics?

Hon. Mbonu: My earliest memory of public service is from between the ages of 6-8, when I assisted my father in distributing relief materials to starving families. In fact, I remember one incident when the Relief Center officially ran out of food, and I had to poach food from my mothers own kitchen, to give to a starving family (shh....my family probably didn't know about this..lol).

From that point I was drawn to studying Biographies of famous leaders from around the world. Between the ages of 10 and 12, I had read about 20 Biographies of famous leaders in Africa, and beyond. The fallout with reading so much at a young age was that I developed superior communications skills by default, which has served me well to this day.

To keep a long story short, I was very popular in high school, but became more intensely aware of my leadership traits when I ended up in Washington DC for university education. In Washington I became a popular student leader and was elected a "Senator" to represent students with the Governing Board of the University of the District of Columbia, becoming the first foreign-born student to be elected to that role..
By the time I finished Law School in Washington, I had established so many relationships in the political arena, that my core competences as a bridge-builder among diverse persons became quite evident. I was ultimately appointed a "Commissioner, for Housing & Community Development" in Prince George's Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, in the US, also becoming the first African-born to be appointed to such a sensitive policy-making role, in that public service arena.

At the end of my term as Commissioner, I built a Real Estate & Escrow Investment firm in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Shortly after that, I returned to the public arena to co-found the "Nigeria-American Council", which became at one time, one of the most influential think-tanks, providing policy guidance to US institutions on Nigeria & Sub-Saharan Africa. In running the Council as Executive Director, I developed expertise in policy matters and became a resource to powerful institutions in the US.

Based on my unique experiences and training, many have determined that I am the most uniquely qualified candidate to bring peace to Nigeria, set Nigeria on a path of growth by ridding the nation of incessant strife, diversifying the economy away from oil, and harnessing the youth talent, to power the country into a 21st Century global powerhouse.

I am probably the first presidential candidate not to be branded ethnically, because the whole country is my constituency, from Sokoto to Calabar. I will restore a fair playing ground to "all" Nigerians and not to a clan.
I have a unique and hybrid governance experience, on a practical level. My main expertise was gained while serving as "Commissioner for Housing & Community Development", but I have also explored Nigeria from the outside and from the inside. The other candidates in comparison don't have this peculiar experience, whether they're young or old pale. Nigerians will not want to go anywhere else, after my first term in office.

You can read the rest of this interview by clicking the link below

https://dilianne.com/2018/08/from-public-service-at-age-6-to-presidential-aspirant-hon-samuel-mbonu/

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