*Says Rotation Of Power Between Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo Is An Insult To The 240 Other Languages That Are Part Of Nigeria
*Says Nigeria Needs People With Character And Integrity As Leaders
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, has said that Nigeria does not need a power shift.
Okutepa, in a statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer, said what Nigeria needs in 2023 is a leadership shift. According to him, rotation of leadership among Igbo, Hausa, And Yoruba is itself an insult to the sensibilities of the 240 Other Languages in Nigeria.
He said, “Nigeria does not need a power shift. Nigeria needs a leadership shift. The leader that Nigeria needs is a leader that can harness the natural and material resources of this country justly, equitably, and fairly devoid of nepotism and corruption.
“Nigeria does not need tribal leaders or tribal warlords. Nigeria needs patriotic and committed Nigerian as a leader that leads by examples for others to follow.
“Nigeria does not need power shift. What we need is a leadership shift. We need a character shift. We need an attitude shift. We need a shift in our ways of doing things. Nigeria does not need Igbo, Hausa/Fulani, or Yoruba power shift. No that itself is an insult to the collective sensibilities of more than 240 other tribes that are parts of the Federation of Nigeria. Nigeria does not need a power shift to any of these so-called majority ethnic nationalities of Igbo, Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba.
“We have trusted powers in the hands of these so-called three major ethnic nationalities since the Independent of Nigeria from 1st October 1960 till date and all we have and have seen is deteriorating political, social, and economic developments.
At 61 Nigeria is still crawling and in the feed bottle stage of development despite abundant natural and material resources.
These three so-called major ethnic nationalities have successfully nurtured corruption and corrupt ways of doing things to official state policy. My take is Nigerians are not interested in who gets power. Nigerians are interested in the use to which power is put.”
The Learned Silk advised that come 2023, Nigerians should go for character and integrity and whose actions cannot encourage agitation for separation.
He added that Nigeria needs leader that has capacity to deal with banditry and kidnapping.
“Therefore come 2023 let us look for any part of Nigeria and elect leaders who can restore or take Nigeria to the map of good governance and development.
“We should avoid power shift talks to leadership talk. Let us shift power from failure to those who can use power for the development of the greatest good of the greatest numbers of Nigerians in the North, South, East and West.
The gathering of ethnic power shift talk is wrong. We should gather to look for leaders within us with character and integrity who can take us to good land flowing with milk and honey in all parts of Nigeria. We need leaders whose actions and decisions will not encourage agitations for separation and balkanisation of Nigeria.
We need a leader that has the capacity to deal with banditry and bandits, kidnappers and all forms of social and political miscreants.
This is what Nigerians want and not power shift for purposes of continuous sharing of our natural resources into private pockets of those in and around power.
We cannot continue to operate a lawless system and expect good results and development. Nigerians need leaders that can enforce the laws of Nigeria and visit offenders with sanctions without fear or favour. It is the leadership shift we need.” Okutepa said