BY JULIET UGAH
For Nigeria to be united and for substantial peace to reign, there must be equity, fairness and justice and the office of the president should be zoned. The two major parties should desist from supporting any aspirant that is not from the South-East, as such will incur physical, spiritual and national curse.
Former Senator representing Kaduna Central in the last senate, Senator Shehu Sani made the recommendation while delivering a keynote address during a two-day seminar organized by the Asaba correspondent chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Delta state.
Senator Sani faulted the present system being adopted by the two leading political parties, APC and PDP where there are plots to push the South east out of the presidency despite repeated calls by stakeholders to zone the presidency to the South east of Nigeria.
The vociferous Senator, who was unhappy with the way Nigeria politicians are seeking power not minding the cry of others, noted that in Nigeria, people prepare for elections like they are preparing for war.
He noted that most political leaders see political office as position to conquer the people instead of position to serve the people. And when they feel they have conquered, they bring people of their ethnic and religious affiliation and put them in positions who will serve to protect their interest.
The former Senator stated that most of these politicians who win election and come to power either through APC or PDP make a lot of mandates and promises, promises that will only take a magician to realise. They make people to be highly expectant but later fail woefully when they come to power.
He advised politicians to preserve democracy that was not voluntarily given but obtained through struggle and sacrifice made by patriotic and heroic Nigerians.
In his words: “Nigeria is a territory that came through a difficult and turbulent government. This democracy was not voluntarily given to us by the military, it was a product of struggle and sacrifice.
“People were jailed and killed for the course of democracy. If democracy is a product of the sweat and blood of our people, we have need as a people to protect and to preserve it”.
He commended the roles played by some activists like Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawahinmi, Col. Abubakar Umar, Beko Ransome-Kuti among others in the realisation of democracy in Nigeria.
“We are so richly blessed. No country in the world has large population of black people like Nigeria. In 1960, the population of Nigeria was 35 million. From 1960 to date, the update number of Nigeria population is 211 million, still occupying the same space as at when the population was 35 million.
“It is not possible to continue operating the same way as at when the population was lesser. There will certainly be challenges. Nigeria’s democratic body in the last eight years has been a challenging one. One that has tested our will as a nation but we moved on and survived”, he added.
He accused the ruling party of failed promises and growing security crisis in the country. He stated that security crisis is growing by the day. He said in Kaduna state, only two out of 23 local government areas are free from bandits and kidnappers. People no longer travel with their minds at rest because of fear of bandits.
He said these bandits kidnap people and request huge amount of money as ransoms, but whenever some of these bandits are caught, they look frail, hungry and famished like typical beggars. Senator Sani asked, “who then collects the huge amount of money paid to these bandits as ransoms?
“Until we get to the root of this, the problem of insecurity will remain unsolved”, he added. He rounded off his speech by beckoning on everyone to get their PVCs and participate in the upcoming election, noting that everyone has a role to play in achieving good governance in Nigeria.
