Former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba, has said it would be impossible to have good leadership in the country, because the system currently in place, is corrupt.
Na’Abba who disclosed this in an interview with BBC Hausa, said when certain people get to decide who leads the country and not the people themselves, good leaders will never emerge.
He said there is currently no democracy in the country because it has been hijacked by powerful individuals who decide who becomes what, regardless of whether the people go to the polls to cast their votes or not.
“Democracy should always give room for interaction among people and they should be allowed to vote the right person they want. But this is no longer the case, there is no democracy in Nigeria presently,” he said.
Reacting to a question on his political affiliation, he said, “I spent many years in PDP and later joined APC, but I had to quit them all because they are not practising democracy. No free and fair elections in the whole of the system and I cannot join a party where there is no justice and fairness.”
Lamenting the failure of the present administration to heed to advice, Na’Abba said, “We have severally advised the government either individually or in groups but they do not listen.”
Meanwhile, nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has warned that the country may have just celebrated its last Democracy Day because those in government do not understand the language of the people.
Soyinka who spoke while featuring on Arise Television programme on Monday, said buhari should have understood that the current state of the nation is the people’s way of saying enough is enough to bad leadership, but instead, used his rare interview to threaten, bully and intimidate the people.
He said the demand of the people is very clear, and failure to listen to them, will lead to a situation where even the government itself would not survive.
Soyinka said, “On this so-called Democracy Day, we are embarked on a plane on a nosedive and Buhari had better listen to the various initiatives which have taken place around him.
“Let us have a sense that, in Aso Rock, whoever is in charge is listening, ingesting, digesting, analysing and recognising the fact that the tempo of disintegration of this country has accelerated in the last couple of years beyond anything we have ever known since the civil war.
“The language which Buhari used in his interview recently and his statements from Aso Rock in relation to those clamouring for one thing or the other, especially secession advocates, is an act of criticism.
“It is a critical statement of the situation as it is, and any sensitive leadership must learn to understand and respond to the reasons behind those agitations, not trying to threaten, bully and intimidate the people because they are giving vent to deep-seated grievances.
“Kidnapping has become everyday business and someone comes on air and acts as if all is well, as if we are in a minor hiccup. I am saying this whole nation is about to self-destruct and it is time Buhari and his government listen and take action, otherwise we will not be celebrating another Democracy Day come next year.
“It’s about time Buhari sacked most of those around him; they are not doing him or the nation any service. They are distorting and they are people saying things he wants to hear to him.”
“If he is depending on them, his government is doomed and so is this nation,” he added.
