All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has made a strong case for the return of History as a subject in the country’s school curriculum, saying any nation, which forgets its past has lost a beacon to guide its actions.
Tinubu’s call came in a short remark after reviewing the book entitled “Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria” on Monday at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.
He said the removal of History as a subject to be taught in Nigerian schools was disturbing, and lamented that the move would cut off younger generations of Nigerians from learning about the nation’s history and tradition as well as past mistakes.
“If countries including United States of America teach their students about their histories, why not Nigeria with its rich history and tradition? History helps a people to connect with the past and learn from past pitfalls,” he said.
He described the book written by Prof. John N. Paden, which is an authorised biography of Buhari, as an important one.
According to the APC leader, the book attempts a broad characterisation of the different stages of Buhari’s life and professional career.
“The book explores how his professional career, his personal life and prior experiences in government shaped and prepared him for the momentous assignment he now has. From the book’s pages, we see a man who has lived his life on assignments that always intersected with vital moments in the nation’s history. He was a man on assignment, when, in the military, he served bravely in a civil war to keep Nigeria united.
“He was on national assignment when he became military head of state in a well-intentioned effort to straighten things out, and set Nigeria on a better path. When he ventured into politics and competed for the Presidency, culminating in his 2015 election victory, he was still on assignment, showing that there was no other way for this nation to go but the way of democracy, no matter how difficult the path may be”.
As a sitting president, Tinubu said Buhari “is on an assignment, against time, to undo the wrongs of nearly two decades of bad governance”.
He said Buhari’s credential as a transformative leader, who has evolved into a committed democrat, was secured in Prof. Paden’s narrative. “The Nigeria project, which occupies the centerstage in the book, has been Buhari’s life.”
Tinubu, however, provided more details on how the merger among opposition parties in the country was consummated, leading to the emergence of Buhari as APC presidential candidate and powering him to the presidency in the 2015 election.
The details of that merger were not captured in the book.
Tinubu was one of the four reviewers of the book.
Others were former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador John Campbell; defunct ANPP Chairman and Science and Technology Minister, Chief Ogbonanya Onu; and former External Affairs Minister, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.
