Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State has described the on-going National Conference as a theatre where only stories and folklores would be told to the detriment of the uplifting of the nation and the ordinary Nigerians.
Kwankwaso, who spoke in an interview with BBC Hausa service monitored in Kaduna yesterday, pointed out that the Jonathan-led government was short of ideas on how to further unite the nation and make Nigeria’s democracy a success story.
He said it was irrational for the Federal Government to spend N7 billion on a wasteful venture such as the confab, while only a paltry N2 billion was given to the Northeastern states that were grappling with terrorism and insurgency and their attendant effects.
The governor noted that it was the reason why he (Jonathan) hurriedly came up with the idea of a National Conference where old wounds would be re-opened with a clear intent to cause confusion in the polity.
Kwankwaso further explained that the gathering was unfortunate and ill-timed, because “you see an Igbo insulting a Hausa, Yoruba insulting Fulani, a Christian talking against a Muslim and vice versa.”
According to the governor, he only allowed delegates from his state to attend the confab so that they too would be part of the audience in a broadway-like theatre.
He reiterated that what Nigeria needed was a change in leadership with people of integrity to steer the ships of the state and not a government that had failed and was still coming up with ideas that would not augur well for Nigeria’s unity and corporate existence in the long run.
The confab, he predicted, would end up as a talk show where billions of Naira would go down the drain instead of channeling such whopping amount into useful projects that could benefit Nigerians.
