Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has underscored the virtue of patience and wisdom, stating that he endured persecution and trials in the course of his political journey.

Atiku, who was addressing the graduating Class of 2025 American University of Nigeria (AUN), recounted how he was offered a governorship seat by the military without election but “I rejected it.

“In 1999, I earned it the right way and became Vice President.”

The former vice president told the students that he was among those, who resisted military dictatorship, and faced tribulations.

“I’ve been hunted but I never wavered,” he declared, adding, “Patience is not weakness. It is a weapon of the wise.”

Atiku said he learnt courage from his mentor, the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (rtd.), whom he said, faced a death sentence with bravery.

“His blood pressure was normal on the day of his scheduled execution. That’s a soldier. That’s courage,” Atiku stated.

He also gave detail of how he survived an assassination attempt in Kaduna, adding: “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.”

He educated the graduating students on how to succeed in business, adding: “Build with integrity. Keep your business independent. Don’t rely on government. Avoid unnecessary confrontation but never compromise your values.”

The former vice president, who said he defied every odd, fought his way through adversity, and rose to establish Africa’s first development university, disclosed that he has plans of writing an in-depth account of his life’s journey, from civil service and business to politics.

Said he: “My father was jailed for resisting my enrollment in school.

“We started from nothing – sitting on the bare ground, writing with our fingers. That’s how far I’ve come.”

He disclosed that the AUN was inspired by “the American Peace Corps, who taught me in 1961; that truly ignited the vision.”