Former Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has cautioned Nigerians against voting for moneybags in 2023, as he placed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo above every aspirant for the Presidency, saying he has done wonderfully well in his present engagements.
Aliyu, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, made the statement while delivering his address at the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture Series held at the Government in Kano, on Tuesday.
He maintained that no amount of money would intimidate Nigerians to vote for the wrong candidate.
According to him, “‘riff-raffs or moneybags’ will not get to the highest office in the land, even if they offer money in the 2023 election.”
“Mr Vice President, do you know you are the best candidate in your party?” Aliyu asked after which he described VP Osinbajo as the only candidate that knows the country and has wide acceptance, regardless of tribe and religion.
He lauded Prof Osinbajo, SAN, who also attended the programme as a Special Guest of Honour, saying, the Vice President, has done wonderfully well in his present engagements and he understood the economic and other challenges facing the nation better than any other aspirant.
Lamenting the security problems ravaging the North, he said, “in the North today, children cannot go to school while farmers cannot go to their farms, regretting that the situation had made the region uncomfortable to the extent that, Aliyu said, “the 19 Northern states of Nigeria today was less than one united Northern Nigeria in the days of Sir Ahmadu Bello.”
According to him, there was the need to revive and strengthen the old bonds that once held the Northern re together.
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In his keynote address, Vice President Osinbajo, who graced the occasion as the Special Guest of Honour, there is the need to constitutionally strengthen the position of traditional rulers in a bid to make them play more prominent roles and impact more positively on the society.
In finding a lasting solution to the security issues in the North, Prof Osinbajo, SAN, posited that a strengthened traditional institution in the country would go a long way in assisting the fight against insecurity in the North and Nigeria as a whole.
The Vice President noted that the soul of the North was presently being contested for by some of the evil and destructive forces in contemporary times, but with the traditional institution in the region, he noted that it has a role to play in defeating the forces disturbing the peace of the area.
He referred to the contributions of traditional rulers in the making of the well-structured Emirate System in Northern Nigeria, which sustained peace and security of the region, including providing. an avenue for genuine conflict resolution.
The Vice President lauded, Sir Ahmadu Bello “for his love for the poor, for his humility, and service, for his punctuality, and his generous contributions to mankind as a whole, among his several qualities.”
The host, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, also speaking, appreciated the immense role of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello and commended the role of traditional rulers in the life of the nation.
