Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has delivered a stirring message to the American University of Nigeria’s Class of 2025, recounting the personal sacrifices that shaped his life and urged the new graduates to make patience and courage their watchwords.
Speaking during a mentoring session that preceded Friday’s commencement and later on the university-run podcast Deep Dive with Akachukwu, Atiku revealed that his late father was imprisoned for refusing to let him attend school.
“We started from nothing—sitting on the bare ground, writing with our fingers,” he said. “My father was jailed because he resisted my enrolment. That experience taught me that education is the ultimate game changer.”
The AUN founder advised the 2025 cohort to hold fast to integrity, avoid shortcuts and rely on their own ingenuity rather than government patronage. Patience, he stressed, “is not weakness; it is the weapon of the wise,” recalling how he rejected an unearned military-era offer of a governorship and later won the office and the Vice-presidency through democratic means.
Atiku also cited the late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua as his model of unflinching bravery and told of surviving an assassination attempt in Kaduna, when gunmen fired at him after he shielded his family.
“They shot and missed. I stood up and asked, ‘Why did you fire?’ That’s what courage looks like,” he said.
Board of Trustees Chair Senator Ben Obi hailed Atiku as “a true nationalist” whose vision has kept AUN on an unbroken graduation streak since its founding in 2003. Former Adamawa Governor Senator Bindow Jibrilla likewise praised the institution’s impact on the region.
The event closed with Atiku decorating 12-year-old chess prodigy Mary Zira—newly enrolled at AUN Academy underscoring the university’s commitment to nurturing exceptional talent.
Two decades on, AUN continue to graduate students every year, and Atiku says he is readying a memoir that will chronicle his journey “from civil service and business to politics” for the benefit of future generations.
