Don’t blame Jonathan for your woes, Turaki tells North

DUTSE—Former Jigawa  State Governor, Senator Saminu Turaki, yesterday, asked the North to stop blaming President Goodluck Jonathan for its perceived problems, saying that the North was its greatest enemy.

Turaki also defended the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, describing it as one that believed in upholding social justice and fairness in the country.

He spoke, yesterday, in his country home, Kazaure, in Jigawa State, shortly after launching the Saminiyya Hallaci programme in the area.

According to him, contrary to insinuations that President Goodluck Jonathan was the cause of the problems of the north, the people of the area were their own major enemies.

He explained that as a northerner, he had suffered more oppression from his fellow northerners as most of those throwing mud at him and his family were from there and not southerners.

Turaki further pointed out that people from the South-South – the president's zone, had been treating him and his associates better than his fellow people, adding that "the people that destroyed the North are northerners, not southerners."

The former governor, however, called for a- two party system in the country, saying that this would pave the way for Nigeria's democracy to be strengthened.

He pointed out that the country was still going through a learning political process, adding that
with a two-party system, democracy would be strengthened as it would be easier to vote out an unpopular government.

He said that the major problem had always been that the party that controlled the Executive also controlled the Legislature and by extension the Judiciary.

His words: "When you have a two-party system, then there would be real democracy, it took America 200 years to reach where they are today; so, it is not done in one day."

The former governor Turaki further described the emergence of the All Progressives Congress,  APC, as a strong opposition and the gale of defections in recent times as good omen for Nigerian democracy.

He likened the present situation in the country to the Ibrahim Babangida era when, as a military president, he formed the National Republican Convention, NRC, and Social
Democratic Party, SDP, which, he described, as "a good trend because, at the end of the day, the country would have two strong parties."