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Isaac Shobayo
The former Minister of Sport and Youth Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung, has taken a swipe at the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, for saying the Northern Governors are the real elders in the north.
Recall that Governor El-Rufai said last week in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service that the 19 northern governors are the real elders in the north.
“On the issue of elders, there is nothing like elders; I am also an elder; I will be 63 years old this year, 2023, so who are the elders in the North?” We, the Northern governors, are the elders, and we are the leaders of the North. “Age does not indicate being responsible.” Mallam El-Rufai
Commenting on the statement, the former Minister of Sports and Youth Development pointed out that being an elder or in a leadership position is either by appointment, active participation in politics, or maintaining the status of public service.
Dalung said: “Political leadership can never in any way displace the elders of any society. The North is a traditional society; there are elders and traditional rulers; there is even political leadership; the political leadership depends solely on guardianship from the elders.”
“Therefore the statement of Governor El-Rufai is just over ambition exhibited by these crops of governors who have failed to discharge their mandate as governor and abandon governance to the challenge of insecurity, poverty, and unemployment, and they are so reckless in their utterances.”
The former minister, who disagreed with the governors and the governor of Kaduna state in particular, said there are elders in the north and they will remain.
He further explained that it is the failure of the political leadership by the governors in the North that has resulted in the chaotic situation in which the North finds itself.
“In the history of the North, we have never had this set of governors at all; they are the worst we ever had.” “They can never be leaders of the north; the northerners know their leaders,” he said.
Dalung further condemned the postulation in some quarters that President Mohammadu Buhari is ill-advised on the prevailing hardship in the country occasioned by the cash crunch and scarcity of petroleum, adding that the scenario is like blaming a bus conductor for an accident.
His words: “The President takes full responsibility for everything he does; he is the one elected as the president of Nigeria; nobody should be blamed, and nobody should be accused of misadvising the president; that person was not elected.” In any case, even though giving advice is optional, the president should be held responsible for everything he does as a leader.
“He introduced an economic policy that has unleashed hardship on the people, so he should be held responsible and nobody else.”
Dalung added that there is nothing the President Buhari-led administration can do about the precarious situation in the country at the moment, adding that Nigerians have to brace up to face the consequences of the bad leadership.
He said, “The government has just a very few months to go; I don’t see the government having the political will to do anything serious.” So Nigerians will have to live with the consequences of bad leadership. There is nothing the president can do now to change the situation. The present situation will require a massive transformation of the government, which time will not allow.
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