Kwankwaso to Jonathan: You can’t govern Nigeria by luck

From Edwin Olofu, Kano

Kano state governor, Engineer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso has said that President Goodluck Jonathan cannot run the affairs of this country by luck, saying that no nation can be governed by luck, because luck has its limitations.

Kwankwaso, who was speaking to a select group of journalist at the weekend, in his office in Kano state Government House, said leadership requires much more than luck, because, according to him, a leader must command respect among the people he is governing.

He added that a leader must exhibit competence and lead by example for others to follow, noting that the current leadership in the country has not shown any commitment of strong leadership.

“Nobody can run any country by luck; you cannot run any serious government by luck, because it has limitations. Leaders should create an atmosphere of love and try to reduce the level of hatred; this will help in ensuring that peace reign in the country.

“Nigerians are more divided along religious and ethnic lines more than ever, which is not good for the oneness of this country; inadequacies of leadership is the cause of all these.” Kwankwaso stated.

On the escalating insecurity situation he said that President Jonathan need to change tactics to be able to win the war against insurgents, adding that the government need to have a Marshall plan to be counter the insurgency.

He urged the federal government to invest more in poverty, education and address unemployment in the North-East, noting that there is a correlation between insurgency and all of them.

“The issue of begging people to give money will not help, but what will help is for government to understand the correlation between insurgency and poverty, illiteracy and unemployment”, he highlighted.

Kwankwaso cautioned the ruling party against the manner they are plotting of taking  over some states of the All Progressive Congress (APC), warning that such plot will boomerang at the end, stating that the government is only exploiting the weakness of the Nigerian Constitution.

“What they are doing, by buying lawmakers to impeach our governors, will surely backfire; for now, they are only enjoying the weaknesses in our Constitution. What they don’t know is that even if they take a state by force, that does not give them automatic victory in 2015”, the governor emphasized.