Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lt General Jeremiah Useni, has said that the influence of bad advisers working under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari was constituting a threat to good governance and democratic practice in the country.
Senator Useni stated this in an interview with journalists in Jos yesterday. He said unless those responsible for misleading the administration and that other Nigerians resolve to do the right thing at all times in their given areas of responsibility, the country may continue to experience problems
Useni said, “As a President, Buhari does not do everything by himself, he has advisers. If you have advisers and they advise you properly, you will do proper thing but when you have bad advisers, you will have problems. What am saying is that they are good and bad advisers.
“So if there is anything going wrong at all under the administration, it must be based on bad advisers and not that him as an individual will try to see that things are done badly. So, I think there is a mix up because some people do not understand what democracy is all about and only think it is all about lying to the people and not telling them the truth.”
Useni, who contested the Plateau Governorship election in 2019 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party added, “I tell people that politics is not for people given to falsehood but sincere individuals who are desirous of helping the people and the society to solve their problems. Everybody tries to blame Mr. President for every wrongdoing going on but he is just but one man. He is not the Minister for Agriculture for instance or other ministries.
“In the judiciary for instance, when somebody is to be locked up or given just sentence but the people in charge decided to do a different thing, it means that anything can happen and we will continue to have problems. So I think everybody should be determined to do the right thing for good governance and our democracy to thrive in the country.”
He said that the country stood the chance of defeating the insurgency if only Nigerians could show more cooperation with the military and other security operatives by providing them with relevant information to enable them discharge their responsibility effectively.
Useni whose Governorship election petition was still pending before the Supreme Court expressed confidence that he would obtain a favourable judgement from the apex court any time ruling on the matter is delivered.
