52nd Independence: It’s celebration of disaster –Waku

By OMONIYI SALAUDEEN As Nigeria marks her 52nd independence anniversary, the National Vice Chairman of the Arewa
Consultative Forum (ACF), Senator Joseph Waku, has described this year’s event as a celebration of
disaster. He stated this position in an interview with Sunday Sun in his office at Abuja. Lamenting the sorry state of the nation, he said: “It is a celebration of disaster in terms of the economy,
absence of social amenities, insecurity, lack of job creation and political development. A nation suffers
when the leaders promote their ego rather than the common interest of the people. There is no need for
what we are going through today if we have good leadership. This country is well blessed but corruption has taken over the minds of our leaders. If we had continued
with the legacies of Saduana of Sokoto, Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa, Akintola
and others, Nigeria could have been an envy of all in the black race.” He said there was no light yet at the
end of the tunnel in view of the negative effects of bad leadership on the younger generation. “The younger generation too has failed this country. Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe,
Tafawa Balewa, Michael Opara, Akintola and Osadebe were all in their youthful age when they served this
country. And they served with commitment to the development of this nation rather than their personal
pockets. There was no money as it is today but they were able to manage available resources to develop their
various regions,” he added. According to him, it is only by institutionalizing a credible electoral process that
peoples’ aspiration for right leadership can be realised. Waku maintained that the present incessant
separatist agitations threatening the unity of the country was as a result of lack of credible electoral
process. His words: “A country that can not hold free and fair election can never see peace. People’s aspirations
have been shortchanged. Part of reactions to such shortchanging comes in different dimensions. One of
them is agitation for a separate republic by a particular section of the country which recently led to the
hoisting of their flag. Some are calling for regional police. Some are calling for regional government. All this is as a result of disenchantment. We have abandoned the norms of our founding fathers. Because
of our selfishness, we have lost the vision of keeping Nigeria as a united country. Let there be one man
one vote and Nigeria will have hope.”