Buhari, APC responsible for Nigeria woes – Abaribe

• …As Elumelu builds capacity for Delta LGCs Chair, Councilors

By Christiana Ekpa

The Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe has blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressive Congress (APC) government for all the socio-economic woes, bedevilling the country and leading it to precipice.

Abaribe apportioned the blame in Abuja on Monday while fielding questions from journalists at a leadership capacity training, organized by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu for the newly elected Local Government Council Chairmen and Councilors from his Constituency in Delta State.

He accused the APC government of making many wrong choices which were mostly based on the nepotistic recognition and elevation of some ethnic groups over and above others for political appointments.

The Minority Leader said part of the country’s problem is assessing people based on where they are from, rather than their character, stressing that the wrong assessment is mostly done by the current government, leading the country to the brink.

Abaribe said: ‘’I am telling Nigerians today that what we are looking for in Nigeria is an assessment of people not by where they come from, not by whether they are Fulani or not but if they have the character to be part of Nigeria and I think that’s where the real problem of Nigeria is situated because we have made choices and those choices have not been made on the basis of people being the correct people to do one or the other thing.

“We have made choices on the basis of where you come from and this particular government has been most egregious in making these wrong choices and that’s why it is leading us to the precipice today.

‘’I think that what we have come to the GOTNI Center today to talk about leadership is that leadership is based on nothing else but on character. If you don’t have a good character, you can never make a good leader. I believe that we ought to continue to groom our leaders at all levels and I think what significance we have today is that this set of people that are here from the councillors to the local government Chairmen are the first steps of our democratic experience”.

In his remarks, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila,

said the present system in place, with much emphasis on the centralized policy planning and implementation at the federal government level has not served the country well, hence it becomes obligatory to change the status quo in favour of an alternative that serves present needs and meets future expectations.

“At the same time there is an evident need to improve the capacity of those who serve in local government administration across the country. Political leaders cannot give what they do not have. You can only deliver governance and outcomes to the extent of the skills you have and the understanding you possess.

“At such programmes like this an important contribution to the advancement of local government administration in Nigeria and serve a useful purpose in ensuring the democratic government in Nigeria delivers the promise of development for peace and prosperity for all”, he said.

Gbajabiamila who stressed the need to give recourse to the principle of separation of powers, urged the newly elected Chairmen and Councilors to be bold in discharging their constitutional mandates even at the risk of offending some people.