The former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and former Head of States, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, have called on the electorate to have hope that Nigeria will get out of its current challenges if the right steps are taken by elected leaders.
They also charged them not to allow themselves to be used by politicians in the coming 2023 general elections and to shun vote selling.
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They stated these in their separate interface with the media on Thursday at their Hilltop residences in Minna, Niger State ahead of Nigeria’s 62nd independence anniversary.
Babangida called for the reintroduction of history subject in Nigerian schools to equip the younger generation with the knowledge of the past to enable them to understand the importance of the indivisibility of the country and contribute their quota in nation building.
“Politics especially in developing countries is now becoming a matter of resources. Unfortunately, the younger generations haven’t got as many resources as the older generations who have been in politics.
“This is one of the challenges I think the younger generations are facing. But hopefully, with the advent of social media, and technology, I think a lot can be done in order to disabuse the minds of people who are entrenching in developing their pockets in order to play politics.
“The politics should be of ideas. It is a big challenge but I hope one day we would be able to overcome this phenomenon.”
Abdulsalami, in his own remarks, said lack of respect for the country’s constitution remained a bane to the progress of Nigeria’s democracy.
The former leader who said he had no preferred presidential candidate appealed to politicians to desist from abusive campaigns and to respect the constitution.
He said, “No matter who writes the constitution, it is how it is being practiced. There is no constitution that is completely 100 per cent correct. And it is unfortunate that people who participated to draft the 1999 constitution are not being appreciated for the work they did. If you look at the 1979 constitution, and 1999 constitution, there isn’t too much difference.
“When we were trying to draft the constitution for Nigeria in 1999, jurists led by late Justice Niki Toby went round the country to sample opinion on the way forward on the constitution. And thankfully, we were able to give a constitution that has been in operation for the last 22 years. But, no matter what constitution you write, it is the way you implement the constitution and also the way that constitution is respected.”
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