Lamido Slams Northern Governors For Displaying Ignorance During US Trip

Former Governor of Jigawa State and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has criticized northern governors for their lack of knowledge of the Nigerian Constitution over a United States trip.

Naija News reports that the former governor made this statement on Sunday in a post on his verified Facebook account.

Recall the governors from Northern Nigeria travelled to the United States to attend a peace summit organized by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). 

Lamido criticized Northern governors for travelling to the US to attend a lecture on security issues instead of focusing on pressing local problems like agriculture or health. 

He argued that their engagement with security matters, which fall under the Exclusive Legislative List, exposed their ignorance of the Constitution. 

He highlighted the dire state of basic amenities like water and education in their states and accused them of lacking empathy for their citizens. 

Lamido suggested that the governors could have addressed security concerns more effectively by utilizing local institutions like NIPSS or ASCON instead of making a wasteful journey abroad.

He said, “Our Northern governors as concerned leaders travelled all the way to the United States of America to attend a lecture at the American Institute for Peace titled “ADVANCING STABILITY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA”, as to find a lasting solution to the intractable problems of insecurity bedevilling their respective states.

“Their concern, commendable as it were, ended up exposing their ignorance at understanding the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the very instrument which gave them the legitimacy and the authority to be Governors.

“If the Governors had travelled to the US to engage on how to boost agriculture or health issues or any other pressing local problems listed on the Concurrent List of our Constitution, this could be quite understandable.

“But to engage on issues which are on the Exclusive Legislative List, such as security, says a lot about the substance they are made of.

“Security is a very wide subject which their Excellencies must have capacity to grasp. Most urban towns in their states lack portable drinking water, and refuse dumps have taken over some streets.

“Our children attend primary schools under the trees and where there are classes, they take their lessons sitting on the floor, yet the security implications of this cannot be discerned by their Excellencies.

“Deliberate and harshly induced poverty by unplanned government policies have made citizens lose their esteem, honour and self-worth by lining up scrambling to collect palliatives from patronizing and condescending leaders, yet the Insecurity of this is of no worry or concern to them.

“You have governors with no human empathy or respect for dignity or decency in an open show of shame throwing money like confetti from an open Jeep and people scrambling to pick it like the Governor of Niger State. Yet they fail to see the security implications of all these.

“If the governors were serious and wanted to have a lecture on security, they need not have embarked on such a wasteful journey with the accompanying expenditure of flight tickets, hotels with all their aides and above all, the valuable time wasted at the expense of running their states.

“Certainly, they could have gotten more than they wanted from our resourceful institutions such as NIPSS in Kuru Jos or ASCON in Badagry or even NIA.

“These three institutions have more than enough materials, essays, and templates on the problems of security in Nigeria, more than the far-fetched American Institute.”

The former governor blamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NIA for not giving proper guidance to the governors. 

He expressed concern over Nigeria’s tarnished image abroad due to the actions of the governors, suggesting that it reflects poorly on the country. 

“I blame the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NIA for failing to properly guide the governors for this folly. 

“The governors could not have travelled without the facilitation of the Ministry or our Embassy in Washington. 

“Nigeria and Nigerians now carry the image of ‘advancing our shame and embarrassment beyond our frontiers’ caused by their Excellencies!

“One is inclined to believe Rufai Oseni when he recently said, ‘Nigerian madness has no bounds or limits.’ 

“So in Nigeria today, one’s biggest challenge is how one remains sane in this insane country,” he stated.