A former Defence Minister, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, Saturday said that one of Nigeria’s greatest problems remained leadership failure, saying that the society and the economy are in tatters.
He spoke in Zaria, Kaduna State, after he was turbaned the Jarmai Zazzau by the Emir of Zazzau, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Shehu Idris.
According to the former Gen. “there cannot be peace and harmony in the country where there is wide disparity between the few rich and a multitude of the poor”.
Among the eminent Nigerians who rained encomium on him at the event were President Goodluck Jonathan, former military heads of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida; Senate president, David Mark, House of Representative speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the governors of Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba states, traditional and religious leaders who stormed the Emir’s Palace in Zaria to honour the former chief of army staff.
Gen. Danjuma told the gathering that he had taken “several risks in his lifetime for the sake of Nigeria’s unity and progress”.
“What has been in short supply are patriotic elder statesmen who would use their experience and wisdom to give the country a clear sense of purpose and direction. When elders become decadent, the youth are bound to become delinquent,” he said, adding that “Nigerians are rather confused and are like flocks scattered on many hills without a shepherd, which is a clear indication of leadership failure.”
Nigeria and indeed northern Nigeria, the Jarmai Zazzau said, is not lacking adequate supply of politicians scheming and screaming for due and undue advantages.
In his address entitled “Rebuilding a Harmonious and Hospitable Northern Nigeria”, Gen. Danjuma averred that Nigeria needed to urgently put its house in order to overcome the various challenges. “This is the time for elders to be circumspect and temperate in their utterances; it is not in our character as northerners to talk too much,” he said. “We need to think more, pray more, plan more, work harder, relate better, and talk less. Battles are better fought and won through wisdom and strategy than through inflammable pronouncements and political tantrums.”
The General said that, at the age of 75, “I thought I have paid my dues. I just wanted to spend the rest of my life in quiet retirement, leaving the public arena for the new generation of leaders to improve on the modest achievements of my generation. It seems to me now that real retirement is only possible in the grave. Our lives and living apparently are inevitably tied eternally to responsibilities.”
Danjuma further declared: “Our society and economy are in tatters. In a highly competitive world, our children are missing out in getting qualitative and functional education. The masses of our people are chained down in dehumanising and grinding poverty, while we continue to maintain a few islands of false prosperity in a turbulent ocean of penury and squalor. There cannot be peace and harmony where there is a wide disparity between the few rich and a multitude of the poor.”
While commending the Emirate for the honour done to him, Gen. Danjuma noted that, by every standard, “Zaria has distinguished itself as a beacon of religion tolerance, peaceful coexistence and educational advancement”.
He therefore urged Nigerians and particularly northerners “to recapture the spirit of Zaria, the spirit of knowledge, tolerance, harmony, peace and prosperity in spite of the many years of mismanaged opportunities and resources”.
“I still believe that Nigeria can be reawakened and be rebuilt to achieve greatness. If we renew our minds and reconcile with one another, if we coordinate our determined efforts, we can make Northern Nigeria self-reliant and self-sufficient, while enhancing the unity and prosperity of all Nigeria, but first we must be at peace,” he said.
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