The All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government has done better in the last three years than the 16 years rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said yesterday.
Tinubu spoke yesterday in Kano as a special guest of honour at the 35th Aminu Kano Annual Memorial Symposium organised by Mambayya House, Aminu Kano Centre for Research and Training, Bayero University, Kano (BUK).
The theme was: “Democratic governance and the imperatives of party ideology and supremacy.”
It was to honour Kano’s most influential politician of all times and the revered leader of the talakawa, the late Mallam Aminu Kano.
Speakers included former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, former governor of old Kaduna State Balarabe Musa, APC chief Usman Bugaje, eminent journalist Dapo Olorunyomi and Dr. Auwal Anwar. BUK Vice Chancellor Prof. Muhammad Yahuza Bello was represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) Prof. Sagir Abbas. The ceremony was chaired by Malam Mahmud Othman.
The former Lagos State governor, who was represented by Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, said: “When someone can do for you in three years what another did not even try in 16 years, any person with an open eye can see the difference between giver and taker, between friend and thief.”
He added: “The Buhari government has spent inordinate time cleaning the rot and plugging the holes in the corrupt system the others had institutionalised as their strategic policy and national direction.”
According to him, “the APC has been working to steer our national ship from this awful direction in order that we may bring the people and their welfare into safe harbour.
Tinubu explained that, “had the billions of dollars and trillions of naira that were stolen by past governments been used for the people, the nation would have been able to acquire the infrastructure and implement the programmes that bring greater development and economic justice to all
“Instead, the select few ate more than their bellies could contain. Distorting the course of justice and hijacking the means of national welfare, they wildly enriched themselves and left the average Nigerian to dine on the passing wind.”
He said more needed to be done. “I envision a time of even bolder action that modernises national infrastructure, implements an industrial plan that revives the textile sector and builds new industries, agricultural reform that provides farmers minimum incomes and greater access to credit.
“Mortgage reform that opens the door to affordable housing for millions of families, pension reform that insulates our aged from poverty and an expansion of the school feeding into every state and local government.”
Speaking on party ideology, Tinubu said ideology and principle must hold supremacy, adding that, “calling for party supremacy by and for its own sake is nothing but an invitation for people to install and then perpetuate themselves in positions of authority in the party.”
Tinubu described Malam Aminu Kano as a leader with high moral conduct, pointing out that, “this great man could have lived an easy life by exploiting for selfish objectives all the opportunities opened to a man of his great ability and social station.
“Instead, he devoted himself to the welfare of the people. He took the harder path because it was the true and correct one. As Aminu Kano did, we must do.”
Bauchi state Governor Mohammed Abubakar who was the Guest of Honour, noted that the questions raised at the symposium could best be answered by studying the life and times of Malam Aminu Kano who he described as upright and down-to-earth.
The Chief Host and Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje who was represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Usman Alhaji Usman, urged politicians to aspire to follow the footsteps of Aminu Kano who he described as a man of integrity, honesty, simplicity and transparency.
In his paper Bugaje raised a few posers such as the difference between power and authority, legality and legitimacy, as well as eligibility and sustainability.
He argued that it was possible to have power without having authority, adding that it was also possible to be eligible, but not suitable for a given position or office.
In order to succeed, he said a leader must be knowledgeable, courageous and selfless; while adding that a leader must be like a shepherd who leads his cattle to a place of pasture and a good place where they can graze.
Olorunyomi said the need for the country to be in accord and be united in purpose.
In spite of the challenges that Rwanda recently went through, he said the country was able to bounce back into a unified entity where law and order reigned because of unity of purpose.
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