FORMER
special adviser to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on agriculture,
Professor Ango Abdullahi has described the recent endorsement of President
Muhammadu Buhari for second term by the governors of the All Progressive
Congress (APC), as corruption.
Abdullahi
who is also the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) said the action of
the governors has shut out other aspirants who might be interested in vying for
the position of President in the APC.
In an
interview with the Sunday edition of Sun Newspaper, he therefore urged parties
to subject themselves to a system of primary elections that is participatory
for all members for the best candidate to emerge.
“On the
issue of endorsement of President Buhari by APC governors, I see this as
corruption and it’s sad that we are fighting against corruption and we render
ourselves to it. In fact, this the first place to fight against corruption.
With this endorsement people are afraid of contesting elections in their
states. Some governors are promoting this.
“Other
members of the party should be given chance to participate in open or direct
primary to cast their votes for candidates of their choice. This is democracy
in the real sense.
“Honestly,
direct or open primary elections is the best, and it’s not true that the system
is full of confusion and expensive as its critics are saying.”
He suggested
that if direct party primaries are adopted it will reduce corruption and
maneuver by incompetent candidates who want to get their way into elective
office.
He also
disagreed with recent calls for youths to set into elective offices stating that
recent events have shown that the youths are the worst thieves in government.
“I don’t
agree with this view in totality, because from the records we could see that
the greatest thieves in government in recent times are mostly people within the
age of 40 to 55 years either as governors, senators or head of government
parastatals.
“Other
countries in Europe and America including our sister nations in Africa are
effectively lead by aged persons. In fact, many are above 70 years of age. I
think the elderly aged should be an advantage qualification for being president
of a country.
“Someone at
the age of 70 years will not bother to steal money because he knows that his
time in life is coming to an end. Instead, he will concentrate on bequeathing a
legacy to the people, not amassing material wealth for himself.
“This is
unlike the younger ones who are looking for opportunity to become billionaires
to build big hotels in New York, Hawaii, Dubai and so on. These are young men
who steal our money and keep it in foreign banks,” he said opining anybody who
wants to be president must attain the age of 70 years and above.
Abdullahi
also condemned the recent killings across the country urging the government to
go back and rethink about what has brought the crisis and coordinate well with
other stakeholders.
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