Chidi Obineche
A Chieftain of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and a Jigawa gubernatorial aspirant in the 2019 election, Alhaji Danladi Mohammed Auyo has described the three years of President Muhamadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership as disaster which must not be allowed to continue for the sake of the youths who are now endangered species.
Speaking in Lagos recently, the chairman, non indigenes in Lagos state expressed sadness over Nigeria’s economy, security, youth empowerment and agricultural policies of this aministration, saying Nigeria has not had it bad as this since we had independence. He therefore asked the President and the APC to quietly the stage before they are disgraced.
He lamented the hardship inflicted on the poor masses by the bad policies of APC and predicted harder times if the present government is allowed to continue in 2019.
He said his party, PDP will win the 2019 presidential election and also recover the states it lost in 2015
“All the promises made by President Buhari and his party have been jettisoned for self serving policies, “ he said.
It is almost three years since this administration came to power, can you assess them?
There is nothing to assess in this administration because they have failed. They rode on the goodwill of the poor masses to power but they have now abandoned them for their selfish interest. Sometimes I wonder if the hardship imposed on Nigerians is a deliberate attempt to punish the masses for voting them to power.
It has been from one anti- people policy to another. From the removal of subsidy to the closing of Nigeria’s borders, to the entry of essential goods which our local production cannot take care of.
Their agricultural policies is another disaster. Nigeria depends 80 per cent on imported products to survive, closing that gap will not be done overnight. I expected them to have continued the policy of the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Economists would tell you that meeting the rice, sugar and other essential goods of Nigeria would take at least 30years of careful planning and encouragement of local production but because they don’t care about the masses, they jumped into all sorts of frivolities.
There is hunger in the land, people can no longer feed two times in a day, children are dropping out of school, companies are closing shop and there is no end in sight of this madness.
Go to Cotonou, our next door neighbor, a bag of sugar is sold for ten thousand naira while a bag of Dangote Sugar sells for eighteen thousand naira here. So tell me the kind of voodoo economy we are practising. It is good to be self sufficient but it must be done with careful planning as the last administration was doing.
They are now enriching the rich importers to the detriment of the masses who daily go to bed hungry.
Aside those bad economic policies they also chose to dwell on injustice in appointments, this particular policy is breeding hatred, insecurity and strife.Aside Boko Haram they inherited, kidnapping, escalation of ethnic agitation are the order of the day.
Are you surprised at the Buhari Presidency?
No, I actually asked him not to contest in 2015 because of his age. I asked him to play advisory role but those who wanted to benefit from him persuaded him to contest, now he is at the receiving end.
Nigeria is a peculiar nation that requires someone younger and energentic as president, people around the president have taken advantage of his age and his fragility to rape us of our common good but it will all end in 2019 as the PDP is set to present younger people who understand the importance of diversity in a growing economy.
PDP has people who will get the job done in 2019. Alhaji Sule Lamido is one of them. Lamido turned my native state from a rural setting into a commercial hub that it is today, though the man there now does not understand what governance is all about.
Lamido has built bridges across all tribes in Nigeria, so the issue of Nepotism will not arise.He was also a former minister of foreign affairs. So international diplomacy will be easy.
Do you support the letter from Former president Olusegun Obasanjo to President Buhari:
Yes, Obasanjo is an elder statesman just like Buhari. So I believe he has given him the best advice but it is left for him to accept on not, the contents of the letter. Buhari’s presidency is a disaster and the youths must rise to say no to him
You want to be governor of Jigawa State after your last two attempts, why do you think your people will vote you in this time?
The youths of my state and indeed the entire population of the state have understood my plan for the prosperity of the state.
I have anchored my mission statement on agriculture and my people are happy with my plans.
I want to follow the footsteps of our founding fathers like Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo. They anchored the development of their regions through agriculture but they never forgot other sectors of the economy.
Take a look at countries in the west, their farmers are well respected like other business owners, that is the model I want to replicate in Jigawa.
We have millions of hectares of land that cash and food crops can grow on.So we will encourage farmers to come to our state to do business with us.
In fact, I will make Jigawa the food basket of Nigeria.
Our finance minister said our foreign reserve is growing
This is pure voodoo economics to me. How can people be suffering and you are telling us of your savings. They should put the savings to something that benefits the masses.
That is why we need a man of intergrity like Sule Lamido that would not depend on hearsay from any of his ministers before taking decisions. Because president Buhari does not know how the economy works, he swallows everything thrown on him by his ministers.
Look at the government that says it anchors its development on agriculture has not built any dams nor reduced the cost of fertilizer for farmers, it’s a shame and come 2019 Nigeria will be free again