PGF DG advocates unity, good leadership for democratic dividends

Dr Salihu Lukman, Director-General, Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) has said that unity of purpose and good leadership would guarantee citizens’ welfare from all sections of the country.

In a statement on Sunday in Abuja, he said that Nigeria would fulfil her destiny as Africa and world power with leadership that serves as a rallying point for good governance.

The PGF DG added that such leadership should be based on fair representation, justice and equity.

He added that as a nation, both citizens and political leaders needed to come to terms with the reality of staying together for mutual benefits.

He said this was critical to building a nation that guaranteed good livelihood for citizens from the country’s geo-political zones.

He noted that no constituent parts could attain greatness and satisfactorily fulfil the aspirations of its members without the other.

He added that democratic governance, however, offers the opportunity to reorient the country’s politics for continuous engagements, negotiations and agreements.

He further added that for this to happen, the country’s politics must produce political leaders that would embrace all parts of the country as their constituency.

Lukman added that such leaders should engage political leaders from the regions based on capacity to support them to provide new leadership to their people.

“It is important that the point is stressed that politics is about choices and every citizen should have the inalienable right to make political decisions.

“Part of what civilisation require is to respect the choices made by every Nigerian, even if we disagree,” he said.

He noted that the ability to respect one another and the choices we make only stabilised the nation in this season of ethnic contempt, tension and endless conflicts.

He noted that even when opposition made valid recommendations to resolve the challenges of national unity, they were not presented with the aim of winning the minds of elected leaders.

This, he said, made the consideration, adoption and implementing of such recommendations impossible.

“In the same way, when elected representatives initiate actions to resolve challenges facing the country, there is hardly efforts to win the support of citizens.”

Lukman said this reality had stagnated Nigerian politics such that almost everything was about election and everyday became election day.

“Unless and until Nigerian politics is developed in such a way that elections go beyond who emerges as a leader, which happens only every four years.

“Unless election gets to the point when it is expanded to include engagements between leaders and citizens to contract support for initiatives being taken or to be taken in order to address challenges.

“National unity may continue to elude us as a nation and problems of avoidable conflicts leading to loss of lives and property will continue to confront the country,” he said.

Lukman added that issues of equitable representation in the country’s leadership by the six geo-political regions and their constituent ethnic groups might also remain a permanent political demand.

He further added that unless the rhetoric changed, regions might continue to produce leaders not able to respond to specific challenges facing the particular regions where they emerged.

He noted that while it was true that ethnic politics based on regional contests for the leadership of Nigeria would continue, Nigerians should elevate politics to the level of active engagements.