By Kolawole Ojebisi
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has explained why past leaders of Northern extraction in the last 20 years should apologize to the people for the woes they are experiencing.
According to Sani any Northern who had held a political office in the last 20 years must look at himself in the mirror and apologize to the people of Northern Nigeria for letting them down.
The governor stated this in an interview with Daily Trust newspaper on Tuesday.
He stated that he doesn’t have problem with those criticizing the government.
However, Sani expressed displeasure with past leaders from the zone who have now turned critics of the current government.
The governor claimed that the problem of northern Nigeria didn’t start two years ago but in the last 20 years, noting that those in government positions during the period are part of the problem.
He said: “Why did we fight the military in the past? Because we were fighting for the people, we weren’t fighting to contest for the election. We were fighting because we want democracy to be entrenched in Nigeria. I don’t have problem with those criticizing the government .
“But when you’re fighting a government that you were part of, you contributed to the situation where it is today. Anybody from Northern Nigeria who held a political office in the last 20 years, all of us must look at ourselves in the mirror and apologize to the people of Northern Nigeria, we let them down.
“The problem of northern Nigeria didn’t start two years ago, we are looking at the trajectory in the last 20 years. I can give you the statistics and data. I know the poverty index of Northern Nigeria. I know the number of people in Northern Nigeria that are financially excluded.
“People tend to forget when Buhari was in power, he spent hundreds of billions towards social interventions. But I will tell you why the north became poorer even after that because 70 percent of people that live in northern Nigeria, particularly the masses, are completely financially excluded.
Every human being, if you’re a former president, governor, vice president, senator, house of Rep member in the northern Nigeria in the past 20 years, I will tell you you are part of the problem. That’s is why I don’t believe we should deceive the northern Nigeria. That’s is why I don’t believe we should misinform them.”
