From: Femi Oyelola Kaduna
Kaduna residents will be the biggest victims of the looming cold political war between the previous and incumbent administrations in Kaduna State if it is not nipped in the bud.
A citizen activist Yusuf Ishaku Goje stated this in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday.
The statement titled;” Kaduna State: A Fight Of Elephants, The Grass Should Not Suffer!” stated that while overtly the bone of contention is the financial probe findings of the Kaduna State House of Assembly against the previous administration and key actors, the rhetoric from both sides betrays the covert political brinkmanship.
He stressed that History has shown that such political battles by former allies end up distracting governance with the masses at the receiving end. It is usually a needless mixture of investment of time, public resources, and institutions in an unfruitful battle of ego and attrition.
Goje therefore questioned ‘In all of this, where lies the fate of the masses?’
“ For a State that is bedeviled by an avalanche of development challenges, it has no business being distracted by political battles – when the election is far off.
“This is the fact that Kaduna State is only second to Kano in terms of housing the number of multi-dimensionally poor as well as highest maternal mortality in Nigeria, with an out-of-pocket expenditure (84%) on health higher than the national average, 60% of its children suffering acute malnutrition, a substantial number of out of school children roaming the streets, with many of those in school still seating on the ground and above 40% unemployment rate.
“Even though every well-meaning resident of the State must support the further investigation of the probe findings, every kobo should be accounted for, as well as prosecution of all those found guilty by a competent court, we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into the resultant political fallout.
“ No doubt, for the discerning, it is glaring that the permutations, propaganda, and alignments for the 2027 general elections have commenced. Therefore, we must be unwavering in holding the incumbent administration accountable based on its social contract with us.”
