A onetime All Progressives Congress, APC governorship aspirant in Bauchi State, Muhammad Sani Al’ameen has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Governors Forum to develop the political will to tackle the problems bedeviling the country rather than blaming each other for the current woes.
Al’ameen stated this in Bauchi on Monday when he interacted with journalists, lamenting that the major problems of the country included poverty, insecurity, high cost of living, and bad governance.
The politician said Nigerian leaders had failed to meet the yearning and aspirations of the electorate that voted them into power, leaving the masses crying in difficulties in virtually all aspects of living.
He decried the inability of the nation’s leaders to make judicious use of the resources at their disposal to improve the living standard of the common man, saying this has led to the rising level of poverty among Nigerians.
Al’ameen said Buhari is the chief security officer of the country, while the governors are chief security officers of their states, saying both have failed in the area of providing adequate security and public safety which is the primary duty of any government.
He pointed out that security was paramount to ensure the safety of lives and property, without which no sensible human activity takes place.
“But government at all levels are unable to fulfill this covenant with the people, thus allowing bandits, insurgents, and kidnappers to turn the country into a killing field, maiming and abducting people, in schools, market squares and even on their farmlands all over the country,” he lamented.
“Under the current administration, the NNPC failed to remit statutory allocations to states for several months, even monies budgeted for such federal ministries like agriculture, rural development, and humanitarian affairs, are not being deployed in the direction of the people.
“On many occasions the people at the helm of affairs of these ministries were accused of diverting the money, through alleged dubious ways and corruption, but the executives were silent, they didn’t investigate the allegations. They allowed them to continue in office”
The former governorship aspirant said it was high time our leaders emulated leaders of other countries in the world who when they see they are failing in office resigned in the best interest of the country.
Al’ameen urged the political class to provide credible leadership that will rescue the country from sinking instead of the blame games against each other.
He advised those in power to provide exemplary leadership that will ease the hostile environmental where the common man is the only one feeling the harsh socioeconomic condition always.
He prayed for a peaceful general election in 2023, appealing to President Buhari to fulfill his promise of conducting credible, free and fair elections as the very important legacy he will leave for the country.
He said the President must ensure that the autonomy of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is respected , urging for the provision of adequate security to ensure peaceful 2023 elections in the country.