Former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido has blamed the leadership failures of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the security and economic challenges facing Nigeria as a country.
He said prior to assuming power in 2015, the APC and Buhari promised Nigerians so much with their ‘change’ slogan but since taking over the leadership of the nation, things have been going from bad to worse.
Lamido said the ruling party lied to Nigerians during the campaigns to gain access to power and now that they are in power, they still want to blame previous administrations for their own ineffiencies.
The former governor made the allegations on Sunday when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television ‘Sunday Politics’ programme.
Responding to a question on what could be seen as the difference between terrorists in the North-East and bandits in the North-West, Lamido submitted that the names they are called does not change the crime committed.
He explained that regardless of the names by which the criminals are called or their location, their activities remain evil in nature and the current federal government should be blamed for failing to respond appriopriately.
He said: “The issue is that the government must be held accountable and I don’t want to sound too political, it is a matter of life. Attaining political power, the process must be very credible; it must be very transparent. A leader should be able to say, ‘I want to be in government because I will do this, this and that.’ When you ignore this and begin to tell lies and malign and blackmail others…
“When it was their time to get power in Nigeria in 2014 (ahead of the 2015 elections) and (they came up with) their ‘Change’ mantra … They knew they were telling lies. But for then, it was about getting the power. If they get the power, then they begin to ask, ‘what do we do?’ So, the process and the platform must be very honest; it must be very credible.
“It is this character of telling lies to the young generation. When you raise their hopes in trying to get government, and you are in government, by the time you fail to fulfil their needs, of course, there will be problems. So, these are simply the political consequences if telling lies in campaigns.”
Earlier during the programme, Lamido had blamed the government for the rising cases of insecurity across Nigeria, stating that leadership failure is responsible for the rising insecurity.
He said, “What is the root causes of the security problems in Nigeria? Why are our own children – children who are under 25 – taking arms against their own kits and kin, going to villages to harass them, take over their livestock, burn their houses and even rape their women? What is the problem? This cannot alone be moral decadence? What has gone wrong?”
Ading that, “Above everything else, it is about leadership. Leadership is very important. On the issue of Zamfara, why is the state becoming the hub of terrorism in Nigeria. Why?”
