Anthony Iwuoma
Jega Attahiru, former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has attributed the woeful state of northern Nigeria to leaders from the area.
He said: “The major indices of these crises manifested themselves from the northern part of this country, whether it is poverty, youth unemployment, security challenges, maternal mortality, out-of-school children, lack of girl-child education and early marriage as well as the challenge of reproduction of our females.
“Anything you can think of, the terrible statistics come from the northern part of this country. And why is it so? That is the key question.”
Jega lauded former northern leaders, such as Ahmadu Bello and Maitama Sule but deplored the latter-day leaders of the region for lacking the qualities and comportment to lead the region out of socio-economic crises.
According to Jega: “Today, we remember the Maitama Sule, the Ahmadu Bellos, Isa Katais and many others. These were people who led and protected the North and ensured that the North developed in accordance with its ability and their own abilities as leaders.
“While we cherish the memories of what had happened in the past, what kind of leadership have we got from the northern part of this country?
“We have so-called leaders who are selfish, who are not selfless, greedy, who have a narrow vision in terms of how this country can develop, not to talk about the region where they come from. They really lack the intellectual capacity to be classified as leaders.”
