What Abubakar Rimi Did On My Wedding Day —Jim Nwobodo

What Abubakar Rimi Did On My Wedding Day

OpenLife Nigeria reports that as the 2023 general elections gather momentum, stakeholders are currently engaged in robust conversations on the direction things should go.
Speaking in an interview earlier published in Vanguard newspaper, Chief Jim Nwobodo, former governor of Anambra State between 1979 and 1983 says the choice of Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP by delegates was a right decision.
He de emphasized emotional attachment to north south dichotomy saying that Nigeria is one. Among other views, Nwobodo  illustrates his point with his experience with late Abubakar Rimi, former governor of Kano State who was his best man on his wedding day.

You are also a stakeholder in the Igbo agenda in Nigeria. What have you, I mean the Igbo leaders done within that region to make sure that this thing is nipped in the bud?

You see, I have been a governor. I was governor of three states: Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi and we had peace because we had a president who was careful, and bothered so much about the safety and security of his people; so we pulled the way we wanted and nothing happened. We disagreed, nothing happened but we had one Nigeria. Today, do you say we have one Nigeria? I am asking you as a pressman. It is no longer the Nigeria I know. This was a beautiful country. I was born in the North, I schooled in the West, I worked in the West and also became governor in the East. When I got married, a Fulani governor was my best man. Abubakar Rimi from Kano was my best man. We went to the church together. You know what it means to make somebody your best man. We were so close that he was my best man and we went to church and we sat together on the front seat. The only thing remaining for Rimi to do was to take Holy Communion and I told him no, you cannot take Holy Communion but he said if you brought me here I should take it and I said no, please, no, don’t be angry. You can’t take this one.

But he was there with me as my best man. We had one Nigeria. There was no difference between a Fulani man and an Igbo man. I think something must be wrong.

How can we get it right?

That is why I am saying that Atiku’s victory in this convention is victory for Nigeria.

Would you call on Igbo and all Nigerians to vote for Atiku to make sure he wins?

Why not? If no Igbo man can make it, since no Igbo man can make it in APC, we will work with what we have, after all we are one Nigeria. We are not enemies; we are brothers belonging to one country.

President Muhammadu Buhari has only one year to stay in office and then wind up. You have been around for a long time. What advice would you give him with regards to his parting legacy?

I know Buhari very well, in fact, he is supposed to be a friend but power and people around him have made it difficult for us to meet as we used to meet but we were quite close before and I believe that, he is a principled person but something has gone wrong somewhere. He is no longer the Buhari I know.

The legacy I would like him to leave is first of all, security of lives and property. He should do everything to reduce the amount of killings in Nigeria; you see, life is sacrosanct, don’t joke with people’s lives. Every life is important. So, let him focus on security and ensure that people are safe wherever they are and that people are free to go to any part of Nigeria and live anywhere in Nigeria. You see, the Igbo are the most highly travelled. There is no nook and cranny you go to in Nigeria that you will not see an Igbo man. I believe that he can do that if he decides to. As a parting legacy, he should bring peace, unity, love, faith in Nigeria. He should also bring about safety of Nigerians, security.

Even though Nigeria is facing serious, multifaceted challenges, do you see it emerging strong, becoming a strong country?

It will. Give Atiku a chance, let him manage this Nigeria. You will see a lot of difference. Buhari can start it off now and wherever he stops, Atiku will take over.

The younger generation wants power as well. They are blaming old politicians for the rot in the country…

At the last presidential convention of the PDP, there were many young people there. Did they win? I am congratulating Atiku that he has done so well and I think the person I really thanked very much is the Governor of Sokoto State, Tambuwal, who seeing the handwriting on the wall, withdrew and asked his people to vote for Atiku. If he felt he was better than Atiku, he would not have withdrawn.

You see, the youth and age go hand-in-hand. What about the character of the person? If you have a good person, whether he is young or old, he still remains good. If you are bad, whether you are young or old, you are bad. So, what is important is the character, the innate character of the person.

Now, the South is up for a Vice Presidency slot. Who would you suggest Atiku should pick? How would you advise him?

I wouldn’t advise him. He should pick anybody he likes. It is none of my business. I have no suggestions to make. He is the presidential candidate. He should pick somebody he thinks he can work with.

So, you are confident PDP will bounce back?

Of course, we are going to bounce back with him. But it is not about the party really, I think it is about giving Nigeria a direction. You see, the party is important. The calibre of leaders in a party matters a lot. Atiku has emerged and it is his ball game now but I believe he can handle Nigeria.