Put your individual ambition behind, Wamakko tells northern presidential hopefuls

Presidential hopefuls from the northern part of the country have been advised to withhold their individual ambitions and work hard to salvage the region and country from the PDP’s “bad governance.”
Governor Aliyu Magatakardan Wamakko of Sokoto state gave the advice while responding to former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who paid him a courtesy call yesterday at Government House, Sokoto.
The governor said Nigerians were yearning for good governance, transparent, equitable and just administration that would take the entire country as its constituency.
”In commending your courage, vision and wisdom, let me advise that we should not repeat the mistake of 2011,” he said.
He said Nigeria was bigger than any individual, therefore, as leaders there was need for them to put heads together, put individual ambitions behind and think about the future  of the North and country as a whole.
”Don’t rush on your individual ambitions.
“Sir, recall that prior to the 2011 primaries you and General Babangida met me at my residence in Abuja where I advised that you, leaders, you should unite, put your ambitions aside and work for the unity of the region and country.
”This is the price we are paying now. We don’t want a repeat of such mistakes.”
The governor said the current system had failed, ethnic coularation had taken over the lead of an administration, a section of the country was being given preference to another.
”Our people, in their own country,  are being treated as second class citizens. Just recently Edwin Clark and his boy, Dokubo Asari, made inflammatory statements that are capable of threatening the security of this country but nobody cautioned or called them to order. Even the security personnel were silent.
“But when Malam El-Rufa’i bared his mind, security were everywhere, searching for him. Is that justice?
”If you are from a particular section of the country you are free to say anything you feel like, but if you come from this part of the country your statement is capable of breaching peace and security of the country.”
Wamakko said God  created and made  Nigeria as one country ”and he loved us to be one country, that is why we are living together regardless of our diversity and whatever.”
Speaking on corruption, the governor said the PDP-led government at the centre was promoting and shielding corrupt officials.
”Each time we raise alarm about a particular public officer, instead of taking appropriate action and preparing corruption charges against that officer, the next thing you would hear is that the officer gets promotion’.
”We have since stopped talking about corruption in Nigeria because the authorities concerned are not interested in fighting corruption’.’
Earlier in his address, Atiku said his visit to Sokoto was a mark of recognition and respect he have for the people of the state.
He said he had wanted to start a consultation tour to Sokoto because, during the last presidential primary election, there was no state that give him the votes that Sokoto gave him.
“Sokoto was the first state we planned to visit as part of this consultation tour to all the geo-political zones of the country but we could not make the visit as planned because the governor at that time was away to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The former vice president said the consultation was fruitful because it was overwhelmingly welcomed and the result in all the zones were to join the APC.
He said he had widely consulted with stakeholders, religious leaders, NGOs and even the Christian Association of Nigeria North-east branch had advised him to leave the PDP and join the APC.