From Dan Amasingha, Minna

A former member of the National Assembly, Dr Usman Bugaje has stated that restructuring is not the solution to Nigeria’s problem, stressing that competent leadership would address the many challenges facing the country.

Bugaje said that for the country to get it right, the next group of leaders should have knowledge, experience and character which he stated that the crop of leadership currently leading the nation lacks.

Delivery a lecture at the Maitama Sule Leadership lecture series organized by the Students Wing Coalition of Northern Groups in Minna, Bugaje stated that 20 years into democracy, the trust between the government and the citizens have died.

“20 years into democracy, the scale of corruption and poverty is flabbergasting. We ask ourselves, why is democracy not working, why is it not delivering what we want? Something needs to be done urgently and that is not about restructuring but a change in leadership.”

According to the former gubernatorial aspirant in Katsina state, he urged youths not to vote and support any politician blindly, stressing the need for them to go for people who have knowledge, experience and character.

“In Nigeria today, politics is not stable. The APC and PDP are the same, that is why one would defect from one party to another and be comfortable there. I want you youths not to go into the 2023 elections blindly. We cannot continue with this type of politics, we can’t continue with this kind of democracy.

“The greatest task ahead of us is to elect leaders who have knowledge, experience and character to lead us because the majority of the leaders we have now have no knowledge, experience and character. We should not be fools to allow the same type of people to lead us.

“Our leaders have not solved insecurity, poverty, corruption and unemployment, so it is time for a change. We will not allow political parties to bring the same type of people to rule us. Political parties have to ensure that there are criteria for leadership recruitment, if any party does not have any criteria, they should be forgotten,” Bugaje stated.

Bugaje, who is the convener of Arewa Research Development Projects (ARDP), further called on the youths to mobilize en masse and vote for the right leader during the 2023 elections.

In his keynote address, a member of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr Saddiq Umar Abubakar said that for the next election, the north would support any Nigerian that has character, knowledge and leadership qualities irrespective of the state he comes from.

“We are not particular about a northern leader, Muslim or Christain leader, the leader we will support would have character, capacity and knowledge to drive the nation. We will vote any Nigerian of any extraction who has the competence, courage, and knowledge to move Nigeria forward,” Abubakar said.

Saddiq asked Nigerians who blame the north for most of the woes of the country to respect the north as the people have sacrificed a lot for the development of the country.

“We want Nigerians to respect the north; we want to be respected in this country where we have contributed so much. It is unfair to blame us for the problems of the country,” Saddiq said.

The North-Central Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Comrade Muhammad Muhammad said that the purpose of the lecture is to set an agenda for the way forward in leadership and governance in northern Nigeria.