Stephen Olufemi Oni; Ilorin

The National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Prof. Mahmood Muhibdeen Aliyu, has come hard on the current Fourth Republic which Nigerians have been going through since 1999 to date, lamenting that it has fostered the worst type of governance on the people, particularly the downtrodden.

Prof. Aliyu gave the verdict on Friday in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, while addressing members of the Correspondents’ Chapel on the State of the Nation at their ‘Newskeg’ programme.

He said: “The Nigerian masses have been going from one form of hardship to another, while the ruling class is continually urging the masses to be patient or should tighten their belts even as members of the ruling class continue to live fat on our common wealth.

“They continue to loot our treasury at the slightest opportunity available. They steal the nation’s resources (wealth) massively beyond what they ordinarily need or can finish in their live time. Almost
every member of this ruling class in government has one corruption case or the other on their head with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yet they
freely move from one office to another occupying positions which give them the opportunity to continue their looting unabated.

“The current members of the ruling class have been in the corridors of power since 1999, rotating the membership of the two leading political parties, thevA.P.C and the
PDP, recycling themselves in various political positions over the years, some move from HoUse of Reprcsentatives to the Senate; Irom there some become state Governors, and after their eight ycars tenure, some become Federal Ministers, others move back to
the Senate as senators, while the smartest among them move to the presidency. All these they achieve
by rigging elections at every election year through the use of money.

‘They have turned governance in Nigeria into the barbers chair that is rotating. The country remains stagnant in terms of development, it only keeps rolling without making progress. Majority of the citizens remain in abject poverty to the
extent that Nigeria was declared the poverty centre of the World during Buhari’s presidency.”

According to the PRP National Legal Adviser, what the current crop of the ruling class believes in and practices consistently over the years is to massively acquire wealth while in office at all cost and use a small portion of it to buy their way back at the election
period lo continue to maintain their political positions.

He lamented that they have no any
regard for good governance, while accountability, fairness and equity for the populace is never in their
agenda, adding that the current
government has carried the country to the worst level of money politics

He said; “Money politics got to its peak by president Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He started by donating huge sums of money (Millions ol
Naira) generously to state governments and people across the country whenever there was any disaster such as fire outbreak and flooding. The donations ranged from N5Om lo NI00m to state governments depending on how (as we discovered later) he
rated the states in term of future political benefits. He took it so seriously that where he could
not go personally, his wife was there and where his wife could not go, his son would be there. And everywhere, it is the same message of good gesture from the Jagaban across the states.”

Prof. Aliyu said it is only the
Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) that is masses oriented that can rescue the country from myriad of problems bedevilling it.

He opposed military intervention in Niger Republic as being planned by the ECOWAS, saying this should not be a priority of Nigeria that is bedeviled with a myriad of challenges which needed urgent attention rather than wasting resources on foreign mission.

He said: “We’ve not been able to take care of our own security issues adequately. What wisdom do we have to wage war against our neighbour? Honestly from my mind, I’m completely against it. It’s morally, economically, and spiritually wrong.”

End