A former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Muhammad Sanusi, says those who claim to be fighting for their ethnic and tribal interests are not doing so for altruistic reasons.
He said rather they were only after their interest and the wellbeing of their immediate families.
He stated this at The Platform, an annual conference organised by the Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos, on Thursday.
The 2020 event commemorating the nation’s 60th independence anniversary was held virtually.
Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stated that nobody is genuinely representing the interest of any geopolitical zone.
He said: “I don’t think that the people who say they are fighting for Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba are really interested.
“I mean when they get there at the end of the day, it’s about them and their families.
“There’s nobody out there that is really representing north or south or east.
“They claim to be if you look out there in the cabinet.
“In the history of Nigeria, there has never been a government that does not have people from every part of the country.
“So the first thing to recognize is that we must get away from the sense that holding political office is what makes you representative of a people.”
Sanusi noted that the only way to solve the internecine crises in the country was for every Nigerian to recognize that irrespective of political office, he/she must be a good representative of his/her beliefs, religion and ethnic groups.
He blamed ethno-religious crisis on Nigerian elite fighting for their share of national cake.
“Ethno-religious crisis is not so much from Nigerians, but the Nigerian elite.
“We have identities in Nigeria but the construction of opposing identities, the political process, is basically the Nigerian elite competing among itself for a share of the national cake,” he said.
Sanusi also hailed the decision by the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy, noting that it would yield positive results.
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