{"id":162972,"date":"2025-05-18T10:39:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T09:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku"},"modified":"2025-05-18T11:44:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T10:44:37","slug":"my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku","title":{"rendered":"My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school \u2013 Atiku"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed that his late father was once jailed for resisting his enrollment in school \u2014 a turning point that shaped his lifelong commitment to education and public service.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Friday at the 2025 convocation ceremony of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, Atiku delivered an emotional address to the graduating class, drawing deeply from his personal history to inspire the next generation of leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school,\u201d Atiku told the gathering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe started from nothing \u2014 sitting on the bare ground, writing with our fingers. That\u2019s how far I\u2019ve come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Atiku, who is also the founder of AUN, described the institution as a, \u201cworld-class citadel of learning\u201d and a legacy that would serve generations to come.<\/p>\n<p>However, he clarified that the motivation behind establishing the university was not directly tied to his childhood experiences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe AUN story is different,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was the American Peace Corps which taught me in 1961 that truly ignited the vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a speech laced with anecdotes and life lessons, the elder statesman emphasized patience as a virtue and a tool for transformative leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPatience is not weakness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a weapon of the wise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on his political journey, Atiku recounted how he rejected an offer to become governor during the military era because it was not earned through democratic means.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we resisted military dictatorship, they offered me a governorship without an election. I rejected it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 1999, I earned it the right way and became Vice President.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also paid tribute to his political mentor, the late General Shehu Musa Yar\u2019Adua, describing him as the epitome of courage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis blood pressure was normal on the day of his scheduled execution. That\u2019s a soldier. That\u2019s courage\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed that his late father was once jailed for resisting his enrollment in school \u2014 a turning point that shaped his lifelong commitment to education and public service. Speaking on Friday at the 2025 convocation ceremony of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":162971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[64,254],"class_list":["post-162972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-atiku-abubakar","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school \u2013 Atiku - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed that his late father was once jailed for resisting his en ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school \u2013 Atiku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed that his late father was once jailed for resisting his en ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-18T09:39:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-18T10:44:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747552513.13347.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school \u2013 Atiku\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-18T09:39:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-18T10:44:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747552513.13347.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Atiku Abubakar\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/my-father-was-jailed-for-resisting-my-enrollment-in-school-atiku\",\"name\":\"My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school \u2013 Atiku - 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