By Foster Obi

I intentionally chose the word bastion because of the stuff Emeka is made of which many people may not know.

As a Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos during the time of Dr Delu Ogunnade of blessed memory, then Dr Ralph Akinfeleye and Professor Onuora Nwuneli, we were told to avoid the first person when writing a story, including opinion as this is unprofessional.

However when writing about a personality like Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba, the current Minister of State for Education, who just obtained his form to contest for the presidential ticket under APC, I opted to break that law to sufficiently pass a message that requires urgency because of the ‘cant and hypocrisy of contemporary times,’ as the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe would say.

When I saw the list of South Eastern Presidential aspirants that keep rising everyday, I have never been impressed by any despite their credentials.

I see a lot of them as pretenders, lone rangers and short term runners and despite experiences, as political neophytes who lack the necessary experience in consensus building, interest aggregation and political mobilization as to qualify to rule Nigeria.

According to Martin O’ Malley, “An election is an opportunity for a new consensus.”

Most of these aspirants does not have popular support because you don’t put something on nothing.

You don’t just wake up because election is approaching and say you want to contest.

How many lives have you affected. What have you done for your people. How good are you when it comes to extending hands of fellowship to other tribes.

It goes without saying that most of the people we see parading themselves as presidential aspirants are just there to negotiate something for themselves and their families and not because of the people.

This is why the entry of Hon. Nwajiuba into the race has changed the scenario.

Among the whole pack from South East, Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba is the only serious candidate.

Although rumour mills had it earlier that he was going to run but knowing him and his make up, he is not the type that would be bamboozled into anything. The signal must be right. N100,000,000 is not N100.00. Thank God for the Support Group that came to his rescue.

Yet Hon. Nwajiuba is not given to political stump, boastful tendencies, demagoguery or political roguery intended to deceive and manipulate the people.

He is also neither given to frivolity, filthy lucre nor some unhealthy lifestyles that some public office holders are known for.

He is a bridge builder who understands that politics is not played on the pages of newspaper but a practical affair.

Judging from the way he obtained his APC presidential form, you will understand that he is different from the pack. Before other people knew what was happening, he was already there. He knows so much about timing and is a student of power.

Never mind that there are politicians jostling to be turbaned in the North to get acceptability, there is no presidential aspirant right now from the whole South that is widely accepted in the North than Hon. Nwajiuba.

Yet he dwells among the Igbo and is more concerned about the plight of South East than all the pretenders parading themselves as being people centric.

I knew Hon Nwajiuba way back in 1995 after I came in contact with his benevolent nature and since then I have come to admire his carriage and lifestyle.

He is more concerned about other people’s welfare than himself and is among the few that has the very interest of Nigeria at heart.

His ties with the North are so deep and Kano for instance is like his second home. If the South East must indeed clinch the presidency, I do not see any other aspirant that the North would support more than Hon. Nwajiuba.

He has his plans mapped out, and I see the South East making it once again to the centre through the aspiration of a visionary like Nwajiuba who is not only as open as a book but a devoted patriot both to the Nigerian course and the well being of the South East.

While some people may have raised concerns about the current state of affairs in his Ministry, I can confidently say that things would have taken a different turn if he was directly in charge.

He is a man that takes orders and would never disobey constituted authority.

One can safely say that Nigeria is about to witness a wind of change if this man who does more than he talks is given the chance to rule Nigeria.

He is a bastion of hope, a bridge builder and a man who has taken time to research Nigeria. He deserves our vote.

Foster Obi is Editor, DFCnewsng.com