.Warns against marginalisation
By Ummi Ismaeel,
Minna
The former Senator representing Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Sanator Shehu Sani, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria to resist temptation of excluding any part of the country in key appointments because they did not vote for him or support the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He also appealed to Buhari and his supporters to allow the emergence of an Igbo as Nigeria’s president in 2023 for equity and justice.
He said that he was advocating for Igbo president in 2023 because the North has had its fair share of controlling power more than any other region in the over 50 years of nationhood.
Sani’s appeal is coming on the heels of the recent media reports credited to the Chairman of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Mallam Shettima Yerima, who insisted that the north would still produce President in 2023.
But Sani, however, pointed out that excluding any part of Nigeria in the scheme of things for whatsoever reasons amounts to fueling the already tensed situation and igniting anarchy which if fully set would spare no one, including those in position of authority.
Sani spoke at a one-day youth awareness forum, “Niger Open Forum,” organised by The Blue Revolutionaries (TBR) at the weekend.
He warned of dire consequences of blacklisting any part of the country.
He advised:
”Appointments into key positions, every region must be carried along; doing anything on the contrary means simply feeding the anarchy, feeding secessionists, feeding the merchant of crisis in this country”.
He urged Buhari to give sense of belonging to every segments of the country, insisting, “If you exclude the Eastern or the South South part of the country, or even the north central part of Nigeria because they didn’t vote for you, you are simply feeding the anarchy, feeding the secessionists, feeding the merchant of crisis in this country.
“It is expected that when you win elections under any party platform, you are for everybody. We have a pattern in this country where people are excluded and marginalized out of government on the bases that their ethnic or religious groups did not vote for the government in power; that is very dangerous.
“After elections you need a country to rule and you cannot rule one part and abandon the others; so that is my view”.
He also warned that it would amount to laying landmines by any attempt to deny the South the Presidency in 2023, saying the North has had it fair share under President Buhari.
Although it is ‘too premature” to start talking about who succeeds President Buhari in 2023, Sani reminded those championing continued holding unto power by any Northern candidate after the current dispensation that what keeps a nation together is equity, fairness and justice for all.
“There is the need for us to understand that it is not simply about winning elections that keeps a nation, it is about being able to stabilize and balance all the forces that make us as a people,” he said.
On the delay by Buhari in constituting Federal Executive Council (FEC) and other key appointments, Sani said, “I think he should not repeat the mistake of 2015. The most important thing for him now should be to pick his cabinet without further delay.
“There should be no excuses again over failure to perform in the sense that Buhari now has all the ample opportunity.”
Sani commended President Buhari for his decision not to consult state governors before picking his ministers. “From available report, the President is going to appoint his ministers based on merit and not recommendations from state governors; and this to me is quite commendable. This is because he has a legacy to leave behind, when things go wrong it is about Muhammadu Buhari, and if it goes right is about him,” he said.