President Umaru Yar’Adua, on Friday, said that his call for a Government of National Unity should not be misconstrued to mean that he was begging for legitimacy. He said, rather, he opted for the GNU because of his firm belief that the country needed such an arrangement to move forward.
Yar’Adua, who spoke in Abuja while opening the first Governors’ Retreat, said it was regrettable that Nigerian opposition parties never saw anything good in any government they were not part of. He advised that such an attitude be dropped in the interest of the nation.
The President said, “It will be good if the opposition can stop fighting the government in power for no just cause. When I said we should form Government of National Unity and invited the opposition, they said I was desperate for legitimacy. That is not true. I am not desperate for that.
“Nigerian opposition parties must put the interest of the nation first in whatever they do. For the sake of national interest, let us applaud good polices and condemn bad ones. In the Niger Delta, for example, all of us must see the issue of militancy as a national problem. Therefore, national problems must be solved together.
“But rather than do this, some members of the opposition are instigating the militants. The political culture of opposition-at-all cost must be stopped.”
Speaking extempore, Yar’Adua called on politicians to understand that they need to come together after an election and join the winner to move the country forward. He also said that the bad image of state governors was because of corruption, which had led to the conviction of one of them by the courts.
He said this had made Nigerians not to trust their leaders again, and warned, “When the leadership of a country is destroyed, either by perception or by reality, then such country may not progress.”
Yar’Adua told the governors, “Corruption is our problem in Nigeria. It is fast eating into our body; don’t let it destroy us. The problems of Nigerian governors, of which I was one until recently, started when the anti-corruption agencies started focusing on us and found some of us wanting.”
He said it was wrong for any public officer to dip his hand into the public till when there was no budgetary allocation for such expenditure, unless it was absolutely necessary. He assured the governors that they would not have any problem if they follow the rule of law and due process in whatever they do, reiterating that his government would maintain zero tolerance for corruption.
The President tasked the governors on the need to conduct a free and fair local government election and allow a level playing field, irrespective of political party affiliation. This, he said, would show the world that there was hope for democracy in the country.
He also said it would show that the ongoing political reform of his administration had started yielding positive results. Yar’Adua promised that his administration would place emphasis on reform, beginning with having a minimum world standard for elections before advancing to the world best.
He told the governors not to see their tenure as one that would run till eternity; but that it would soon fizzle out, whether they spent four or eight years in office. Yar’Adua said the best legacy they could leave behind was not to be involved in anything that would soil their names or those of their families.
A former military head of state, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar, at the occasion warned the governors not to allow Nigerians to be tired of democracy because of their conduct. Abubakar, who was the chairman of the occasion, advised the governors to steer clear of corruption and things that could make Nigerians weary of democracy.
He said that military intervention in governance in the past had been a mistake, but the blame must be shared by both the military and civilians. Abubakar said, “The blame is that of the civilians and the military. This is because the civilians made change impossible. But we should understand that the worst civilian government is still better than the best military government.”
He asked the governors to focus their attention on security, education, health and other areas that could impact positively on the lives of Nigerians.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Kwara State, Dr, Bukola Saraki, stated that the governors were aware of their credibility problem and were ready to correct it. According to him, the retreat was conceived to discuss areas such as agriculture, health, education, security and others, which he said were of importance to Nigerians.
The governors of Osun, Ondo, Rivers, Cross River, Benue, Anambra and Bauchi states were absent at the opening of the retreat.
Dignitaries at the occasion included former leaders, Yakubu Gowon and Ernest Shonekan while the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, was represented by her deputy, Babangida Nguroje.
Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja
The Punch
Saturday, October 27, 2007
