From John Adams, Minna

Former governorship candidate of the Action Congress (AC) in Katsina State and former member, House of Representatives, representing Kaita/Jibaya federal constituency, Dr. Usman Bugaje, has described the 20 years of democracy as serious setback, saying the country is worst under democracy.

The former political adviser to former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, also said restructuring in any form was not the problem of the Nigeria, but that bad leadership had hampered its growth. He said knowledgeable and competent leadership would address the many challenges facing the country.

Bugaje stated this  during the second annual Maitama Sule Leadership lecture series organised by the Coalition of Northern Groups in Minna, Niger State.

“If we ask ourselves what have we gained in the last 22 years of democracy from 1999 to date, the answer is poverty and misery. Poverty has more than double and unemployment is at the pick. 22 years into democracy, the scale of corruption and poverty is flabbergasting. We ask ourselves, why is democracy not working, why is it not delivering what we want? Something needs to be done urgently, and that is not about restructuring, but change in leadership.”

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Bugaje said leadership was responsible for the various agitations witnessed in the country.

“The government is not telling the people the truth; the trust between the government and people has broken down. Governance has become more difficult in the last 22 years.”

He, however, regretted that within this period, the revenue that accrued to the country was unprecedented saying: “the country has never had such revenue since independence but poverty and underdevelopment is everywhere.”

He alleged that the level of corruption in the present administration was “endemic.” “It was in this government that a snake swallowed N300million, it was in this government that we saw billion of naira expended on cutting of grass and it is this government that we saw a former governor and serving senator, standing trial for  billions of naira by EFCC, being appointed minister.”