The emir of Birnin Gwari, Malam Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, has lashed out on Nigerian politicians whom he described as greedy opportunists.
The monarch made the comment in Kaduna during the North-West Conference on the State of the Nation and contemporary challenges in Nigeria organised by Arewa Research and Development Project ARDP and Savanah Center.
He said some politicians have capitalised on illiteracy and poverty among the people to attain power.
“I have said it on so many occasions and so it’s easy for me now to repeat what I have said before. Why do we have failure in politicians running state, local and federal governments? I traced the problem to who we consider as politicians in our localities.
“If you go to every part of the country those who call themselves politicians, stakeholders, party chairmen, delegates majority of them really cannot stand to be called politicians because they are just greedy opportunists.
“That is why we cannot go anywhere successfully because from what I know if you want to be a member of the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senator or governor the game begins from these people.
“They don’t care about their immediate environment. All they want is to make money and you go to them, you give them money to become what you want to become. How can we have a sound political system?
“Our politicians today use two or three things to subjugate our people; they first use illiteracy because they are sure that most of our people are illiterate and they can cheat them. The second one is poverty and the third one which is general is greed; some people are greedy.
“These three things are so terrible in our political system but I don’t know when we are going to have good governance. This is because the majority of the people are illiterate, majority are poor and they are greedy and the people who use them can be politicians who are educated but greedy. So, there is need to bring back sanity in Nigeria’s political system,” he said
He also lamented over the insecurity in the country, highlighting the security challenges confronting the region.
In a keynote address, the convener, Dr. Usman Bugaje, said the earlier the leaders are called to account for their actions the better for the country.
Bugaje said if drastic action are not take, bandits will soon start going from house to house to kill and pick people for ransom.
