ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Former national vice chairman, North-West of All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has accused Nigerian elected leaders of operating more like Yahoo-Yahoo fraudsters in diverting public resources and assets to their private use.
Lukman equally claimed there is a high possibility of President Bola Tinubu plotting to appoint a weakening as new National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman to facilitate his complete capture of the commission.
In a statement in Abuja, Lukman said judging by the way and manner President Tinubu has run his administration in the past one year, “there is high chances he would destroy the relative advantages of the economy of the South West region, almost the way former president Muhammadu Buhari left the northern region worse off after his eight-year tenure.”
He lamented that the value of incomes in the country has crashed under Tinubu, arguing that the failings of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 has become less grievous than what APC has turned to be presently, just as he noted that APC has succeeded in turning Nigeria democracy on its head.
The former director general of APC Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), also argued that the reduction of the National Assembly to an extension of the presidency has worsened the situation of things, saying: “the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, is turning out to be an uncommon embarrassment to Nigerians, shamelessly desecrating the institution of the Senate and his colleagues.”
He, however, said getting out of the mess will require strong collaboration of opposition political parties to collapse their structures to wrest power from the APC, but lamented that they are lacking in contemporary Nigerian politics,
“Unfortunately, given the advanced stage of ‘state capture’ at federal level, most political leaders, including the leading opposition leaders, like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, are all operating in isolation to one another.
“APC leaders, such as former vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi, Ibikunle Amosun, Nasir El-Rufai, Rauf Aregbesole, who are more like political orphans on account of being excluded from the President Tinubu government, have been pushed to the peripheral edges of Nigerian politics.
“Although, there are some indicative political activities taking place around some of these political leaders, it has not graduated to the level of commitment to build the kind of strong political parties capable of threatening the APC and President Tinubu, which is needed to guarantee the future of Nigerian democracy.”
On the allegation of fraud by the elected leaders, he said: “More than 25 years since the commencement of the Fourth Republic, there is hardly any achievement that can be pointed at, both in terms of physical development of the country and human development.
“Instead, virtually governments, at all levels, have been captured by so-called elected leaders that operate more like Yahoo-Yahoo fraudsters diverting public resources and assets to their private use. Problems of insecurity in the country, which is a byproduct of the crisis of poverty, unemployment, drugs and substance abuse among young people, are hardly getting the deserved attention of elected leaders.
“Instead of building schools, recruiting teachers and providing books and teaching materials to harness the productive potential of our population, elected leaders are more disposed to outright embezzlement of government resources so much so that, today, there are strong speculations of state governors converting substantial parts of their monthly federal allocations to US dollars at black market rates, which is responsible for why the value of the naira remain weak.”
Explaining the high risk of state capture in Nigeria extending to INEC, he said: “Given that the tenure of Mahmood Yakubu, current INEC chairman will end before the 2027 general election. And with the way President Tinubu betrayed any commitment to appointing competent people into his government, the possibility of appointing a new INEC chairman who will facilitate the capture of INEC is high.”
