No reason to celebrate 54th independence day- Tinubu

No reason to celebrate 54th independence day- Tinubu

No Reasons To Celebrate 54th Independence Day – Tinubu Ex Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu explains why he does not feel optimis... 06:57

No Reasons To Celebrate 54th
Independence Day – Tinubu
Ex Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu explains why he does not feel
optimistic about celebrating Nigeria’s
54th Independence in an elaborate
fashion.
Nigerians suffer from poor
leadership, while the nation is yet to
fulfill its potential, P.M. News
reports with reference to Tinubu’s
statement released today, September
29.
The All Progressives Congress (APC)
national leader started his address
with the following words:
“We commemorate this
Independence Day because the
nation has survived despite its
many challenges. We dare not
celebrate because the nation has
not flourished as it should. 54
years our national trek began with
hope and promise, peace and
unity.
Today, the nation staggers beneath
the weight of trouble stacked upon
problem multiplied by hardship.
Peace and unity seem to have
yielded the moment to violence
and discord. We exist as a political
unit on a map but we do not
prosper as brothers and sisters in
one nation, under one flag and
pursuant to one accord.”
Insisting that he is proud to be a
Nigerian, Tinubu noted however
that “genuine patriotism should not
induce blindness”and urged
Nigerians to focus on the problems
that remain unresolved.
Speaking about the upcoming
celebrations of the October 1
Independence Day, the former
governor said:
This is not a time for fake cheers
and elation at the present state of
things just because the calendar
has touch this day. We need to use
this hour soberly by taking stock
of the obstacles mounting before
us and of the hard direction in
which we seem to be heading. I
fear this direction, if further taken,
will lead us not home but to an
appointment with failure and
national destitution. ”
He also expressed his opinion on the
dynamics of changes in the country
and criticized the acting
administration over hindering the
country progress because of the
adopted direction.
“Nigeria currently is saddled with
the reprobate leadership Awo, Zik,
Sardauna and Tafawa Belewa
feared. We have entered
unchartered territory not so much
because we are expanding the
outer bounds of national progress.
We traverse such ground because
this government leads us into
places where angles fear to tread
and where sensible man should
not go.
“Never has an elected government
in Nigeria employed religion as a
tool to divide the people, setting
Nigerian brother against brother in
a manner that allows this
administration to function at the
basest level of governance while
seeking to establish a political
domination that seeks no greater
purpose than its self perpetuation.
Our nation was supposed to
advance, year by year, toward
greater democracy. Instead, we
rush into the pit of arbitrary,
imperious rule that smacks of
despotism.”
Tinubu also enumerated Nigeria’s
problems and challenges concluding
that those were not reasons for
celebration, but the “troubling
signals” that should awake the
nation.
“The incessant attempts to
stigmatize and physically
intimidate a peaceful political
opposition and the militarization
of elections are features of a
perverse democracy, a democracy
run at gun-point and with a swift
and eager trigger, Brazen assaults
on the judiciary, the flippant and
frequent violation of the
constitution and the rule of law,
and the elevation of corruption to
making it a new and perhaps the
strongest arm of government are
the instruments that now shape
our nation. These things are not
the fare of celebration. They are
the impetus for political reform
and change.”
In his statement Tinubu said the 16
years of ruling by the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) pulled the
country back adding that “the
longer they rule, the less benefit the
people derive”.
He lamented over the politics which
causes division of people saying that
the flourishing can be reached only
through unity.
“It is accomplished by honoring
the principles of democratic good
governance and economic justice.
It is done by persuading the
people they are better off as one
instead of better off tearing at
each other’s throats.”
“Governance is about trust. And
this government is not even
trusted by itself. That is why it
does nothing except feed itself.
This is not the road for a better
Nigeria. We must proceed from
this 54th anniversary to embark on
a common sense revolution that
brings about progressive change
for the benefit of most of our
country men and women, our
youth and the vulnerable among
us.”
Thus, the speaker concluded with
the idea that if Nigerians want to
make a step forward, they should be
ready for a change in order to
celebrate the “Independence Day we
can and should celebrate.”