By Cheta Enyoghasi
Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd), the former Chief Security Officer to the late military head of state General Sani Abacha, has urged Nigerian youths to use their voting cards to remove terrible leaders.
Al-Mustapha gave an address on Monday in Abuja at the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) International Youth Day Celebration 2024.
Al-Mustapha criticized lawmakers of being disconnected from the masses.
According to him, the federal government is in crisis due to a lack of connection to communities and an understanding of local government functions, which has resulted in a crippled food supply chain.
He stressed that Insecurity, kidnapping, and leadership failures have had a significant impact on communities, noting that voting out terrible leaders and providing collective protection are crucial to progress of the country.
He said: “They’re not connected to the villages and do not know how the councils and local governments functioned before and that is why the LG system was crippled.
“This is part of the crisis the federal government is trying to handle today. If the LGs were functioning, we would not have the food supply chain cut off because the foods are being produced at the community and LG levels.
“Today, insecurity, kidnapping, barbarism and the failure of leadership have crippled our communities. They cannot even farm. The crop of leaders from 1999 who are not career politicians queued in and hijacked the system and this is the only reason a governor will tell you that the state resources belong to him and say, ‘It’s my money’.
“This situation, we have the capacity to change it and we can change it through only one way. In a democracy, the day of the election is the day of coup and the weapon for coup is your fingers. You change bad leaders by voting them out, not with guns.
“And then, all of you here, you have your weapons, you have your guns – your fingers. Now, if you don’t use it, who would you blame? People rig elections where they’re not popular. Nobody will rig if you cast your votes and work together to protect them. I’m happy that the era of rigging is gone.
“If you see millions of youths on the streets, you will assume that the world is coming to an end. You can’t afford the injustices in Nigeria that have kept us where we are today.
“I read the recent report released by the MBS; our judges are the most corrupt judges in the world. Get your PVC. That is your greatest weapon. Don’t be deterred. Don’t let anyone intimidate you. This is our country”.
