Don laments nation’s woes as politicians jostle for 2023 as Ardo urges Sultan, others to tackle Ganduje

A professor of political science at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ayo Olutokun has expressed concerns that while the nation is enmeshed in several challenges, politicians were jostling for 2023 leadership.

He noted that the country is no longer safe for the citizenry, given the high rate of banditry on Nigerian roads, saying that the silence of politicians was baffling.

Olatokun stated this at the third Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona’s annual Professorial Chair in Governance Lecture, which also marks his 85^th birthday titled: Grassroots Governance: The Soft Underbelly of Nigeria’s Political Architecture.

He argued that no government in the country had worked, given the high rate of infrastructure deficit and insecurity, adding that politicians’ silence towards the issues was baffling.

“We have serious governance deficit and the politicians are not talking about it, their silence is baffling. They are talking about 2023 even as the nation is disappearing under them but they are still jostling for 2023.

“There is serious security challenges. In Abuja, Kaduna and other parts of the country, roads have become a passport to death, and social banditry is the order of day.

“But the politicians are jolting for positions ahead of 2023 and are not addressing the problems facing the country. One will wonder, is this politics for its own sake, just to accumulate power or is it about the people?”

Besies, Oba Adetona has expressed concern over Kano State Governor Abdulahi Ganduje splitting of Kano into several emirates.

Adetona, who said the development called for concerns of major stakeholders, expressed hope that governance at grassroots would be restored to the traditional institutions for optimal development.

Also, Presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in the 2019 elections, Professor Kingsley Moghalu, advocated outlawing of governors’ power to appoint monarchs, with a view to curbing Kano’s scenario.

Moghalu, who alongside, former Presidential candidate of KOWA Party, Professor Remi Sonaiya said communities should henceforth be allowed to choose their traditional rulers to be recognised by the government.

  Meanwhile, a historian and former lecturer, Dr. Umar Ardo, has urged the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa’ad III and Moslems to resist the creation of four additional emirates by Governor Ganduje.

He said the move would destroy the caliphate and accused the royal house of aiding and abetting the governor, adding: “The Sultan, all members of the caliphate, the Moslems and the Fulbe people should not only condemn it, but should also stand resist it and call Ganduje to order.”