Donald Duke, a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke says President Muhammadu Buhari was not ready for leadership when he assumed power in 2015.
Speaking during an interview with Deutsche Well Africa on Friday, Duke, who has declared his intention to run for President in 2019, said: “I see such obvious failings; I see a leadership that is steeped in the past and that’s really refused to evolve with a nation that’s predominantly a nation of young, aspiring people, and still doing the things the way they were done many many years ago and did not work.
“I think our leadership in the country today is totally out of tune with the current realities of our nation. There’s a disconnect somewhere. So, when you have a leadership that blames its young people, for instance, of not striving enough, or being lazy, it’s a disconnect because the tools to make them achieve their aspirations have not been provided.
“Look at the state of education. The state of education today is a far cry from what I received. So the elite amongst us try to send their children abroad; that’s a dream. They’re gonna breed a generation of children who are disconnected from home and from abroad.
“We had good schools here that could compete with schools anywhere in the world. We had some of the best medical facilities in the 60s and early 70s, all of that has gone to rot. The President himself receives medical treatment abroad. That is a sad state of affairs.
“We can’t go on this way and keep complaining. Someone has to take the bull by the horns and I intend to that.”
A lover of music, Duke said Buhari was not ready leadership when he assumed power.
“They were not prepared for leadership. Six months to set up a cabinet? Where’d we hear that? President Buhari campaigned for office in two planks: corruption and security,” he said.
“Now, let’s take the scorecard. Corruption is not dead. Persecuting corruption is dealing with symptoms and not the problem. The real problem is you’ve got to create jobs for people. You’ve got to pay them adequately. You’ve got to strengthen your institutions that it make it almost impossible for you to engage in this set of activities; and should you engage in it, you’re sure that there are consequences.
“I could reduce Nigeria’s problem to one word: consequences, and the lack of it. People get away with anything, and so it’s not picking a few largely in the opposition and name and shame them in the press then thereafter nothing happens and they have found a way of now declaring for the party in government and everything peters down. That’s one.
“Security, where are we? Despite the fact that the government has on two or three occassions announced that the war is over and Boko Haram has been defeated, we know it has not been defeated. We know it’s still reigning supreme in the north east; there’re still suicide bombings and kidnappings and all that. And if you visit any of the IDP camps, you will appreciate that we’re breeding the next generation of very disgruntled people.”
