Hon. Aminu Tukur
A prominent politician and a card-carrying member of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State, Honourable Aminu Tukur has voiced his opinion on the problem of insecurity in Nigeria saying it has to do with the attitude of Nigerians.
Tukur who is also a former Senatorial aspirant under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), when he fell out with the former Governor of the state, Mohammed Abubakar said “we are a bunch of insincere elements, docile people who do not have the capacity to think beyond selfish interests.” He added that until Nigerians are willing and ready to assume leadership positions, most of these problems will not easily go away.
In an exclusive interview with Bauchi-based Journalist, Mohammed Kabir Garba, Honourable Tukur who spoke at length on so many issues bothering on insecurity, education and agriculture, he laid the blame on the leaders who failed to do the right thing at the time.
On the issue of leadership, he noted that “the problem of leadership is that those that are being led are a replica of those that are leading. Meaning to say we are a bunch of insincere elements, bunch of people who are so docile who do not have the capacity to think beyond their selfish interests and invariably, any given society that exists beyond such a circle.”
The two-time member of the State House of Assembly and former elected Chairman of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of the state during the regime of late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, he said that politics is a game he plays very well. In his words, he said that “once a politician is alive, he remains a politician.
He also reflected on his days as an astute politician where he carved a niche for himself.
He said he is now hibernating patiently looking forward to 2023 when active politics would commence in earnest.
The federal government has said overtime that Nigerians should go back to agriculture to bring back the lost glory of the era of green revolution.
How feasible is this idea since he is now a reputable farmer? Tukur had this words of advice for Nigerians on how to go about it. He said that “the best solution is to emulate developed nations of the world where less than 20 per cent of the population are farmers. Yet the feed the nation. The failure of the present leadership and past administrations has to do with the fact that they want everybody to be a farmer. And if everybody is a farmer, everybody is definitely going to be an amateur farmer, somebody who does not have the skill nor the idea on how to start it.”
He proffered solution that there should be division of labour to ease the task of food production not what is tenable nowadays across the country.
The senior politician also took a swipe on the way and manner the office of the Bauchi State Government is being run. He cautioned the present government to tow the part of purposeful leadership and embrace everybody in decision making not running a family government which is what obtains in the state.
He advised the government to reflect on what befell past leaders of the state citing the recent government under Mohammed Abubakar who fell out due largely to his recalcitrant ways of doing business.
