The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has said that it is time to go back to the drawing board for Nigeria to be saved. The convener of the forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said this at the presentation and launching of the book ‘Court and Politics’, authored by Dr Umar Ardo, in Abuja.
He emphasized that it is not the time to point fingers but to go back to where Nigeria had it right. He restated his call for a parliamentary system of government, describing the practice of the Presidential system of over 24 years as a “failed system” for Nigeria.
“The time has come for us to go back to the drawing board, so that this country can be saved. We have failed this country enough and this must stop. We have failed ourselves and we have no reason to complain.
“Particularly politically, we have no reason to complain. This event to me is an opportunity for us to talk to ourselves about our collective failure as a country.
“Today, we’ve just had power failure. 64 years after our independence, Nigeria still generates 4,000 megawatts of electricity, what a shame. 4,000 megawatts is not enough for one big house in another country.
“For those of us who from time to time go to Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage, I should remind you that the Haram (mosque in Saudi Arabia) uses 18,000 megawatts of electricity daily.
“But there is a country with more than 200 million people generating 4,000 megawatts of electricity after 64 years, something is wrong and it is wrong with everybody. Everyone is guilty. If we begin to point fingers, we won’t be able to solve the problem.
“For five years we tried parliamentary from 1960 to 1965 and to some extent in 1966. Now we have been trying the presidential system for 24 years and the failure is so glaring,” he said
Also speaking, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, stressed the need to reform the judiciary, adding that Nigeria must draw lessons from its history to avoid recurring mistakes.
“As a political class, we are not lawyers, but I think our judicial system must be reformed. This is the opinion of the political class. Our system here in the country, be it civilian or military is based on sentiments and emotions into our law and politics.
“I believe that we have all failed and come short of the glory of God and we need to repent so that this country can be good for the next generation.
“Therefore, I recommend this book to be available to all Nigerians in the academia, legal and political, so that we can begin to learn from what happened in the past. No country ever succeeds without a past history,” he added.
By Matthew Atungwu
