In a gripping revelation that electrified the American University of Nigeria’s 2025 convocation, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar stunned graduates with a tale of survival, courage, and conviction.
“I hid my wife and children in a wardrobe and stepped forward to confront the attackers. They shot at me but missed. I stood up and demanded, ‘Why did you fire?’ That’s what courage looks like,” Atiku declared, drawing gasps from the audience.
The dramatic anecdote was just one of many shared as Atiku inspired graduates with stories of personal hardship, resistance against dictatorship, and undying faith in education.
“My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school,” he disclosed in a podcast produced by AUN’s Communications and Multimedia Design department.
“We started from nothing — sitting on the bare ground, writing with our fingers. That’s how far I’ve come.”
While many believe the American University of Nigeria (AUN) was his response to childhood struggles, Atiku offered a surprising twist.
“The AUN story is different. It was the American Peace Corps who taught me in 1961 that truly ignited the vision,” he explained.
According to Daily Trust, in recounting his political battles, Atiku said, “I’ve faced tribulations. I’ve been hunted, but I never wavered. Patience is not weakness. It is a weapon of the wise.”
He also reflected on his refusal to accept a military-imposed governorship: “When we resisted military dictatorship, they offered me a governorship without an election — I rejected it. In 1999, I earned it the right way and became Vice President.”
Paying tribute to his mentor, the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Atiku said: “His blood pressure was normal on the day of his scheduled execution. That’s a soldier. That’s courage.”
