By Joseph Edegbo,
Kaduna (Nigeria) – Senator representing Kogi-West Senatorial District, North Central Nigeria, Dino Melaye, has admitted that himself and the political elite have failed Nigeria saying they are not qualified to be in power.
Melaye stated this while speaking at The Osasu Show Symposium, in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Melaye, who spoke as one of the Panellists at the symposium, themed: “The new economy and its impact on less privileged citizens”, said the government must build public trust to curb societal ills.
“When you speak the truth, you die, when you lie, you die; so it is better to speak the truth and die. I may sound very unpopular, but I will speak the truth. Apart from militocracy, politics is responsible for poverty and hunger in Nigeria”, Melaye said.
“Unfortunately, we the leaders, myself inclusive, have failed this nation and have failed the younger generation, myself inclusive. The reason why we are where we are today, is because there is a disconnect between leadership and follower-ship.
“As I speak to you, the problem why we are where we are, is because of trust. There is no trust between the governed and those governing.
“Once there is no trust between the follower-ship and the leadership, it will definitely have a negative concomitant effect on the economy, and every other facet of our national life.”
“Hunger and poverty have no political party, hunger and poverty have no religion. To have brought people to discuss on the line of APC or PDP is not correct, because the poor PDP man and the poor APC man all go to the same market.
“What we should fix is democracy; democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. What we have is greediocracy; government of the greedy by the greedy, for the greedy.
“We the leaders want to win elections at all cost, so we spend money to win elections. The followership also is greedy, they accept money to vote. So, head or tail, there is a need for attitudinal change, and this is affecting everything.”
“Today, we are talking about the recovery of our economy; we are talking about poverty and how to fight it. The only way to fight poverty, is for we leaders to build trust among the people.”
