A former National Vice Chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and political activist, Salihu Lukman, has said that the North lost its chance to be better under former President Muhammadu Buhari. He also carpeted Northern politicians, arguing that the problems in the North were caused by them and by extension, the problem in Nigeria. Lukman, in an open letter addressed to Northern politicians also accused them of speaking in discordant tunes. He accused all the present Northern office holders of being selfish, thinking only of themselves and what other office to occupy in the future. The political activist decried the decay in the North, stating that the zone awaits explosion. According to him, everything in the North shows signs of non-existence.
He said:”The living reality in Northern Nigeria is very explosive. If anyone is interested in finding the practical meaning of the Hobbesian description of life being ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’, just look at what life is in Northern Nigeria. Indices of poverty, unemployment, inequality are beyond description. Conditions of schools and hospitals are to say the least, depressing. The civil service, in virtually all the 19 states, is only a shadow of itself, with hardly any public service activity taking place. Our illustrious and respected traditional institutions have been devalued and reduced to state of hopelessness. Most of our religious leaders and centres are far removed from God’s way of life. Few industries exist in the region. And on account of insecurity, agricultural activities, which is the main stay of the economy of the region, is highly on the decline.”
Analysing the decay in the North further, Lukman said: “No need to go into conventional statistical analysis of out of school children, number of people living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. Not to talk of problems of drugs and substance abuse. Problems of broken homes and abandoned children are quite alarming. As it is, the North is an explosive waiting to explode. We have lost virtually all our homes, our families and our children. Every person with human feeling should be saddened with the reality of what the Northern part of Nigeria has become. Sadly, even the one strength the North is known for, which is strongly united political leaders, has been lost.” Writing on the discordant tunes of the Northern politicians, he said: “More than any time in the political history of Nigeria, the North has never been disunited without any semblance of political leadership like we have in today’s Nigeria. Partly, on account of lack of unity, the quality of political leadership in the North is sharply on the decline. Many so-called politicians are Internally Displaced Persons/Politicians (IDPs), especially once they are out of office. Those in office today are potential IDPs.
Consequently, the worst among us, with hardly any commitment to resolving the challenges facing the North, find their way to political leadership in the North simply because they can cheaply access elective and appointive offices and control public resources, which is largely mismanaged and privatised. “Perhaps, the opportunity for Northern political leaders to redeem themselves and return the North back to rational order with committed leaders capable of responding to the challenges of the region was blown away during the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The painful reality was that no leader in the political history of Nigeria gained the kind of national acceptability former President Buhari had at the beginning of his tenure. The closest was Chief M. K. O. Abiola whose election was annulled by the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. More than any Northern political leader, former President Buhari undisputedly won the votes of people from both Northern and Southern Nigeria, which could have been used to produce new crop of selfless leadership for the country. Selfless leadership is required to put every part of Nigeria on the roadmap to national development. “Golden eight years between 2015 and 2023 was lost. Instead, the country, especially the North became worse off with crisis of insecurity taking over everywhere.
Problems of poverty, unemployment, drugs and substance abuses, etc. becoming almost peculiar characteristics of the Northern region. Unfortunately, here we are under President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who got majority of the votes that won him the Presidency from the three regions in the North but seem to be only interested in taking advantage of the lack of unity among leaders in the region. Certainly, not his fault and if he is uninterested in challenges facing the region, no one, especially Northern political leaders, should complain.” He also spoke on the marginalisation of the North Central and the choice of the former Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje as the National Chairman of APC. He said: “Partly, on account of lack of unity among leaders in the North, President Asiwaju Tinubu has marginalised the people of North-Central in the political leadership of the country. It is quite depressing that President Asiwaju Tinubu could marginalise the people of North-Central in the manner he did without leaders in the North showing any concern. In addition to marginalising the people of North-Central, he imposed Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from North-West as National Chairman of APC, which is the ruling party. Out of all the political leaders of North-West, he finds no one who is better qualified but Dr. Ganduje with all the baggage of corruption allegations and poor political relations with other leaders in Kano State, including the Kano State Government. Partly, because of the poor relations between Dr. Ganduje and Kano State Government, the revered Kano Emirate Council has been plunged into avoidable crisis with no end in sight and President Asiwaju Tinubu is pretending to be uninterested.”