Mayhem looms in North over hardship, Lukman warns

Again, the former Vice Chairman (North West) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has warned of impending mayhem in the North over hardship.

In an open letter to northern politicians, yesterday, Lukman blamed the political class for allegedly prioritizing their selfish interests over and above public good.

He noted that until the North wakes up and gets its politicians organised, united, and committed to providing the needed leadership to resolve challenges besetting the region, the lid may soon be blown off.

His words: “We need to caution political leaders in the country that things are about to get out of hand any moment from now, especially in the North. If care is not taken, hungry people who are everywhere in the North will start breaking into homes and looting properties of innocent citizens.

“The other danger is that innocent citizens going about their normal businesses could be attacked on the streets, by hungry people. Regrettably, all we do as politicians is go about doing things the old way, and most times promote primordial sentiments around ethnicity and religion as reasons for our failings. 

“The truth is that northern politicians are the problem of the North, and by extension, the country. Certainly, northern politicians hold the remote control for the explosive in the region.”

Lukman, who resigned his APC membership recently, claimed that now, more than any time in the political history of the country, the North has never been disunited without any semblance of political leadership like it is today.

The stern critic of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration described northern politicians in and out of office as Internally Displaced Persons/Politicians (IDPs), concerned with how they can cheaply access elective and appointive offices and control public resources, that are largely “mismanaged and privatised.”

The erstwhile Director General of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) regretted that the opportunity for northern political leaders to redeem themselves and return the region to rational order, with committed leaders capable of responding to its challenges was blown away during the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari. 

Lamenting the plight of northerners, he said: “Golden eight years between 2015 and 2023 were lost. Instead, the country, especially the North became worse off with a crisis of insecurity taking over everywhere. Problems of poverty, unemployment, and drug/substance abuse, among others become almost peculiar characteristics of the northern region.

Lukman went on: “Unfortunately, here we are under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who got the majority of the votes that won him the presidency from the three regions in the North, but seems to be only interested in taking advantage of the lack of unity among leaders in the region.

“Certainly, not his fault, and if he is uninterested in the challenges facing the region, no one, especially northern political leaders, should complain. So far, one year has passed in the President Tinubu-led administration. No doubt, northern political leaders are becoming weaker and more disorganised.”

Even the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, who is the highest office holder and by that, should have served as the needed rallying point for northern politicians, is anything but a political leader. 

“With every respect, hardly any official of the current administration of President Tinubu from the North, including Senator Shettima, is willing, and able to take the needed risk to defend the interest of the North. Painfully, what is emerging is that most leaders from the North are more concerned about self-preservation in the government,” Lukman alleged.

He added: “Because of self-preservation, already scheming for 2027 has commenced. Within the presidency, there are indicative cold war dynamics and positioning, which is alleged to be responsible for the praise-singing disposition of Vice President Shettima. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has devalued an exalted office almost to the status of a Protocol Office to President Tinubu. 

“Virtually all other northern politicians holding offices in this government, including the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, are absentee public servants, who have been reduced to members of a choir group poorly singing ‘on your mandate we shall stand’ irrespective of the shaky and staggering reality being demonstrated by the mandate holder, with reference to poor service delivery and crashing living conditions in the last one year.”