NATIONAL: Common sense, fairness must inform our choice in 2023 – Shekarau

FORMER Governor of Kano State and incumbent senator representing Kano Central, Ibrahim Shekarau, has said Nigeria’s choice for President in 2023 must be informed by fairness and quality leadership.

Senator Shekarau made the statement as he reeled out his achievement in the last one and half year in the National Assembly.

He stated that his top priority is human development and social justice, which centres around the empowerment of citizens especially downtrodden, improved education, health, potable water, and roads among others.

In selection of leaders, Shekarau stressed that Nigerians ought to focus on the ward level from where they could recruit towards the top in order to bring about the leadership that would change the nation’s narrative.

Concerning the 2023 general elections, the Senator said common sense should prevail on the choice of who becomes the President as quality leadership should be the watchword.

“There is one challenge I refer people to, it is when they understand it that they will comprehend the reality. Presently, it is being said that we are up to 200 million in population as Nigerians.

“Is that correct? But do you know that all of the elected people in Nigeria, councillors, chairmen, state assembly members, governors, deputy governors, senators House of Reps members are only 11,000 in number? Now, there are 84 million voters in Nigeria and they are not able to produce 11,000 capable representatives. We are not talking about 200 million but 84 million eligible voters but you cannot vote 11,000 Representatives that you will comfortably go back home and sleep.

“Let me give you a very quick prescription. Each and every one of you here belong to a ward. What interest have you shown to elect the right councillor in your ward? What role did you play to make sure you vote the right chairman in your local government?

“What role did you play to make sure you get the right assembly member? What role did you play to make sure you get the right governor, Senator, House of Reps member and President? Everybody is talking of only 37 people, we kill ourselves because of those 37 people, 36 governors and the President,” he said.

Senator Shekarau went further to ask that “If you take out 36 persons out of 11,000 what will remain? We have 469 National Assembly members to checkmate just one person, Mr President. Don’t ask me how it will be done, but we are 469 and we have had times when Presidents did as they wished.

“If 469 of us fall on the same page even if the president is a devil he will have no choice but to do as we wish. So the ball is in our court.

“So, for you who wants a road or a school in your community, ask yourselves the role you have played in electing your representatives. The solution lies in all of us becoming politically conscious.

He said currently, the Kano State government is not concerned about what is happening in Jigawa and that Jigawa is not aware of what is happening in Kano, stating that in a likewise manner, Kebbi is not aware of what is happening in Sokoto and Sokoto is not aware of what is happening in Kebbi, just as Kwara has nothing to do with Kogi and Plateau has nothing to do with Benue.

“Every state is now on its own in the 19 states of the North. Tell me, how will one voice emerge from the North? There has to be leadership.

“For instance, late Yusuf Maitama, if he spent the whole day talking, a man from Bauchi would not feel concerned because he saw him as being from Kano, whereas when he was minister his responsibilities covered the whole North. So, my vision is that until and unless we share common goals we will never get anywhere.”

The Senator said to the best of his knowledge, there is nowhere in the constitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) where the issue of rotational presidency is mentioned.

“As far as APC is concerned there is no provision but it is there in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The PDP constitution says the presidency will rotate between North and South. But the APC constitution does not have such clause. It is left open.

“If you kill yourselves because it has to be your townsman or it has to be your tribesman or it has to be your religion’s man, what value has that added to your life? Obasanjo was president, did that change the life of the Ogun state person? Jonathan was president, did that change the life of the Otuoke person? Now Buhari is President, did that change the life of the Katsina person? No! So why do we kill ourselves that it has to be my tribesman or religion?”