World over Nigeria produces the most irresponsible presidents –Kukah

Nigeria has been described as a country that produces most powerful and most irresponsible president, who wield so much power and does whatever he likes.

Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr. Matthew Kukah, stated this on Friday in Akure, Ondo State capital, when he delivered a lecture at the annual Ulefunta/Oyemekun Festival, titled, “Building blocks for a good society.”

According to the cleric, an average Nigerian president is a product of circumstances and not of competence or leadership capacity.

He said at the event which held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, “No president in the world has the kind of power the Nigerian president has and as such, no president in the world can be as irresponsible as the Nigerian president.

“His power is so much that he can give an oil bloc to his girlfriend and many others. Thus, you can’t be a man of honour and live in a country like Nigeria and not be angry.”

Further buttressing his argument, Kukah explained that from the first Nigerian Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, to President Muhammadu Buhari, virtually all Nigerian presidents were dragged into the office, unlike the presidency of some countries as the United States, who does not emerge by sheer circumstances.

“What is the problem? The cleric asked, and then said “It is the dilemma of leadership. In America, there are basic expectations of what a president should be. For instance, he must have gone through Harvard as an institution, he must have language and track records, not even wealth. You can’t surprise the system.

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“Here in Nigeria, a local government area chairman wants to be the governor; the governor wants to be the president and the president doesn’t want to go! Many states have two ex-governors representing them at the National Assembly. Governors have control and monopoly of resources of their states and they use the same resources to oppress the people.”

Meanwhile, the Sokoto Catholic Bishop specifically mentioned two former Nigerian leaders he believed are different, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and Alhaji Aminu Kano. These two according to him are “architects of a good society.”

 

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