By Emeka Nze
Abuja
Former Minister of Police Affairs and member Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BOT), Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, has berated those who advocated military solution to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east region.
Waziri, who blamed the rising insurgency in some parts of the region on accumulated bad leadership from successive governments from 1999 till date, insisted that only infrastructural development, youth employment and efforts by the leadership of these states to reduce corruption and run inclusive governments will be the panacea the crisis bedeviling the region.
The PDP chieftain who spoke to journalists in Abuja yesterday said, “There can never be a military solution to this problem unless that aspect of leadership is also tackled. Even when the Niger Delta insurgency was on, substantial reasons for it were economic. Efforts were made to deal with economy indicators in the Niger Delta.”
According to Waziri, blowing hot air will never be the solution unless that aspect of leadership was tackled and people begin to feel the dividends of democracy which was not provided by the present leadership in the most affected states like Yobe.
The governorship hopeful from Yobe state said the bad leadership in the north east states was empirically backed by acclaimed data collection and management institutions posited that these states have become the backwater of Nigeria economy with endemic poverty, pervasive illiteracy, and poor infrastructural development.
“This bad leadership is empirically supported by the statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), World Bank, Central Bank. They show these states and the North-east generally as the backwater of Nigeria economy,” he said.
He took a swipe on the Yobe state governments noting that they succeeded in impoverishing the people as there is no visible development recorded in the state since 1999.
“Coming specifically to my state, I just came back from Yobe 48 hours ago. I have been a lone voice saying that successive governments from 1999 to date have nothing to show vis-a-vi s other states, neighbouring states.
He lamented the not-too-good situation of Yobe state in terms of all round development saying that other states created along with and after it like Jigawa and Gombe, respectively, have surpassed it in all indices of human and physical development.
The former minister however, tasked the policymakers to expedite action towards achieving the much desired development that will enhance peoples’ living conditions.
Speaking further, Waziri chided those who recently went to court asking for the removal of the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, describing them as anti-democratic elements who were hell bent on truncating the relative peace the party is enjoying now and may be possibly playing the script of the opposition APC.
