Follow Us on Google
• Says nepotism permitted in presidential system
• Why I will continue to fight against creation of state police
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
A Chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Alhaji Buba Galadima, has asserted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s only campaign promise was to continue the bad policies of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In an interview with Saturday Sun, Galadima said it was therefore wrong for Tinubu and his appointees to blame Buhari’s policies for the current state of the nation.
The former National Secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), while speaking with Saturday Sun in Abuja, stated that having said he was going to build on what Buhari left behind, Tinubu should not blame Buhari since the president had already taken responsibility for what Buhari did while in office.
Galadima, a former ally of the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, said: “I don’t want politicians to do blame game. Of course, everybody knew that Buhari has destroyed this country in so many facets, but especially the economy and security. Everybody knows that. It is not news. But equally, Tinubu has told us that he was going to build on what Buhari left behind. So, that is the only promise he made, that he was going to start from where Buhari stopped. He can’t blame Buhari. He has already taken responsibility for what Buhari has done.”
Galadima also explained why he would continue to oppose the establishment of state police in the country. He said: “You know you young men, you thought it is pleasure, including governors, because they didn’t know. Most of them didn’t know when there was native authority police. If you see a Hausa man in China or in the United States who migrated, it was because of the use of state police in Kano and Jigawa against citizens. These governors, when they allow state police to take root, they will be the first victims because their successors will ban them from entering their own states. Just imagine a Fubara or a Ganduje, when he was governor, having state police…”
Galadima said those accusing Tinubu of nepotism were wrong, saying that the presidential system encourages nepotism, even in the United States. According to Galadima, “As far as I am concerned, we are running a presidential system of government. It is at the pleasure of the man in office that he should hire those that he personally believes can assist him deliver the dividends of democracy. What will be bad is that if those he hires have no knowledge, have no capacity and don’t understand anything and he puts them there to help run the economy or the security of the country aground. But as far as I am concerned, I don’t care, any Nigerian, as I said during Obasanjo, and I said also during Buhari. So, Tinubu is no exception. He can hire anybody that he believes can help him deliver dividends of democracy.
“You don’t know that United States President Kennedy made his brother, same father, same mother, the Attorney-General of the US? Do you know that Bush was an Ambassador under Richard Nixon and when he became President; his son was also a governor in another state? And when he left, his son contested for presidency and became President of the United States? So, if we are doing as it is done in the United States, done in Europe, why do we blame somebody because he appoints his brother, or his people, or his tribe or his religion? What we should demand of them is accountability and good governance.”
Galadima, an ally of the National Leader of the NNPP, former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, further spoke on the current economic crisis in the country, state of the NNPP, merger talks, 2027 presidency, and constitution amendment, amongst others.
