Kwankwaso, who spoke with reporters in his office weekend, also advised the presidency to reduce the level of hatred and bitterness among Nigerians, if the government was actually interested in resolving the problem of insecurity.
According to him, the real cause of insecurity in the country is bad leadership being experienced in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) -led government, noting that the inability of President Jonathan to tackle the issue of insurgency in the North and insecurity in other parts of the country has exposed Jonathan’s incompetence to preside over the affairs of Nigeria.
He said: “Now, they are just using propaganda. Look at the issue of the abduction of Chibok girls. The schoolgirls have been in captivity and they kept arguing —where are the names, who are they, where are the photographs; they didn’t believe that over 200 children were abducted. Haba! Even if it is 20 tortoise or goats! Won’t you look for them? One of the reasons I love this country is that we have people of integrity in all the regions, in all the states like my former colleague, former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili.
“This is somebody who worked at the World Bank, but now she has devoted her time to the cause of these girls. She is not from this part of the country, but she felt she had to take the bull by the horns and that is what we are seeing in developed countries—fight injustice, save people, help them, if you have the opportunity to do so. They sent some hawks to go and stop the protesters. The other day, I went to Abuja, I saw an advertisement, while Ezekwesili was saying ‘BringBackOurGirls’, some people were saying ‘vote for us, we want to stay and maintain the status quo; look at my photograph, I am smiling.’ And they don’t know time is of essence.
“At the moment, the country is in a critical situation, and if this madness is not stopped and if it is allowed to degenerate, and becomes the order of the day, whereby innocent people are being killed every day, then something is wrong with the leadership.
“What Nigeria requires now is a strong leadership that can effectively tackle the insurgency in the North-East, and other topical security challenges,” he said.
Kwankwaso then suggested that one major way to restore normalcy in the northern part of the country was to draw out a Marshal Plan for the region, and urged Jonathan to stamp his feet as the Commander –In-Chief of the Armed Forces, to tackle this security issue.
The governor challenged the President to think seriously about the statement made by General T.Y Danjuma, (rtd), who suggested that President Jonathan lead Nigerians to Sambisa Forest to rescue the abducted Chibok girls.
“What the President must realise is that nobody can run a country by luck. You can win election by luck, but you cannot be lucky all the time. So Goodluck as his name implies should look beyond luck in handling the affairs of this country. What Nigeria requires is a strong leadership that will stop all this nonsense or in the alternative, negotiate from the point of strength with the insurgents,” Kwankwaso noted.