The trio of President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan and former chairman of the Independent national Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, has emerged winners of the Leadership Person of the year award for their roles in the 2015 general election in Nigeria.
The award ceremony was held at the Transcorp Hilton congress hall in Abuja on Thursday.
Chairman of the Leadership Newspaper group, Sam Nda-Isaiah, in his opening speech said “Today’s event is basically to celebrate our democracy because… several doomsday pundits (had) concluded that the (2015) election might spell the end of Nigeria as we know it” were it not for the patriotism of the three men being celebrated.
“The story of the 2015 election will be told to many generations,” Nda-Isaiah said, “If you think this is no big deal, you only need to listen to Donald Trump stumping for the American presidency.”
President Buhari, in his speech noted that “the events of 2015 … marked a watershed in the political history of our country.
“It is, therefore, our commitment to this ideal, the patriotic zeal of President Jonathan, the impartiality of the electoral umpire, INEC and exemplary conduct of the political parties … that we collectively disappointed the prophets of doom who had predicted the disintegration of the country…
He added that Nigeria’s democracy has become stronger following the 2015 elections as Nigerians “now have more faith in the electoral system in the sense that their votes would count when choosing political leaders at various levels.”
Buhari called on the media to support government’s agenda “to defeat terrorism and violent extremism in the country, fight corruption and diversify the economy to create jobs for our teeming population and generally improve the standard of living of Nigerians.”
The ceremony also featured presentation of awards to various categories of Nigerians among which were: Young person of the Year – Chibok girls; Governor of the year – Ibrahim Damkwambo of Gombe state; Public service of the year – Boboye Oyeyemi, FRSC Corp Marshal.
Former President Jonathan was represented at the event by Tanimu Turaki, former minister for special duties.