YOUTHS MUST DO ALL IT TAKES TO RESCUE NIGERIA FROM DERAILING. Says Hamid Girei Youths Stand To Suffer Majority Of The Consequences

Hamid Idris Girei

"As youths, we need to come together as one; “united we stand, divided we fall.” One should not sit back in his\her comfort zone and cause crises or division in the country. If we do not come together, we will never make it. We do not have any other country than Nigeria.” Hamid Iris Girei.

“We have an opportunity to change the narrative of this country. Let us all come together be you a northerner, southerner, Christian or Muslim, know that God Almighty brought us all together in Nigeria and He alone knows why. 

“We as youths need to come together as one; to salvage this country as it is derailing. If we allow it to derail, we as youths stand to suffer majority of the consequences. One good thing about Nigeria is that we have everything."

Nigerian youths are clamouring for a change in the leadership, administrative style and governance that has seen the country witnessing one of its worse times in terms of increasing insecurity, bad economy, joblessness, hunger and poverty across the country with lives and properties been lost on a daily basis.

Hamid Idris Girei, a very concerned youth and political leader has therefore, called upon his fellow youths to join forces together in rescuing the country from the path of derailment and bring it back to its glorious path, saying that as youths, they have no other country than Nigeria.

Girei, in this interview, spoke about the chances of his political party; the PPD in the forthcoming general elections including the internal crisis which he believes will be amicably resolved soon.

EXCERPTS

Can we meet you, please?

My name is Hamid Idris Girei.

Sir, the youths in Nigeria, are today, yearning seriously for a good leadership that would bring to an end, all of the sufferings, poverty, insecurity from banditry and all the other criminal vice that are pervading the society including the economic collapse of Nigeria.

To this end, many are rooting for the emergence of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar as President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2023. How do you view this clamour and support for his candidacy?

I think the clamour from the youth is the right description that fits the personality of Atiku Abubakar, following what I will say, stems from his vast experience in the political space of this great nation. Having spent eight years as Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria wherein, he supervised several committees in the management of the economy of the country successfully and these were made possible through his sound engagement of talented, educated, intelligent and highly qualified persons to participate in the running and management of government policies. 

Among these qualified personalities were the likes Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, (as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and he happens to be one of the best to run the apex bank) Prof. Ngozi Okonko-Iweala who ran the Ministry of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Dr. Femi Adeshina, Dr.  Ezekwesili, Nasir el-Rufa’i. This also includes several others who saw to the success of the Obasanjo/Atiku administration.

If you look at these, one would begin to ask why the youths have so much confidence in Atiku. Let us take a look at the other candidates. Many of them are viewed as regional leaders without the needed acceptability that truly cuts across the entire country. However, in the case of Atiku Abubakar, he is fondly seen and referred to as “The Unifier” and a Nigerian with strong ties across the nation spanning from his huge business concerns and his widely acclaimed political clout and relationship of decades. 

In the same vein, this is one man who believes in the engagement and utilization of talented youths irrespective of tribe, religion or ethnicity.

From the way the country has been governed in recent times, youths have not been provided the proper opportunities to showcase their potentialities. There was the absence of the presence of young and intelligent minds within the age bracket of 30-40 years of age in the administration except for persons whose ages ranged from fifty years and above. 

This informs why you hear now hear chants of “Sai Baba” to “Sai Kaka” including complaints and cries that the country has transcended from having an old man leading it, to a grandfather in office. If you look at the personage of Atiku, he is somebody who has vast business concerns that are visible and thriving very well. 

In spite of the growing cases of bankruptcy by business men, he has succeeded in providing quality management control in his business enterprises and even has over two hundred and fifty thousand persons under his employ and that puts him as one of the highest employer of labour in Nigeria, although, this may be challenged but, like I have continue to restate, people are free to verify this. 

Statistics do not lie. The companies are there in Adamawa state and I can provide you with names, namely; AdamawaPlast, Faro, Gado, ABTI America University and others, including RadioGotel, TvGotel and also, a Hotel and a huge farm that is also providing employment to hundreds of indigenous people with few expatriates. This information can be verified by anyone.

What are the chances of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Kaduna state in the forthcoming general elections in 2023? With the high number of youths pushing for the return of the PDP here in Kaduna state and the country generally, many tend to agree with the clamour for a change of leadership but then, how does your party stand?

Let me not exaggerate, the chances of the PDP here in Kaduna is very high and this is obviously due to the caliber of candidates and the PDP been the choice of all. The hardship and pains the people have been made to pass through, these past seven years and counting, is enormous. There is no family or person today that lives in Kaduna that is not experiencing these pains, one way or the other. If you know kaduna very well and, if you see the way the people are suffering in the state, the indications that the PDP will emerge victorious is telling. You can take a drive across the state. Where you see people gather discussing politics, the conversation is mostly bordered on how to kick out the All Progressive Congress, APC and bring a better party to lead and manage the affairs of the state and, which other party is more equipped than the PDP. The clamour and support for the PDP is very high. The people are suffering and they very well know that it is only the PDP that has the understanding of governance to rescue them from the suffering they have been made to go through all of these years. 

“Under the APC, there is no respect for people, no respect for humanity, no respect for elders, no respect for women. Automatically, that simply means that there is no respect for anybody. The APC has totally divided the state.”

Kaduna state is more divided than ever before now and this was as a result of bad leadership under the administration of Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai. As a leader, you carry everybody along and not just one small fraction. Today, looking at the leadership structure, the governor is from Zaria, the SSG is from Zaria, the HOS is from Zaria, the Speaker is from Zaria. Is that how to run a government? It is very shameful! Well, coming to winning the elections in 2023, I have 100% confidence that the PDP will emerge victorious and it will tackle insecurity, hunger, joblessness and all the challenges bedeviling the state. 

Look at the way and manner the governor is sacking teachers and civil servants here in the state. Imagine after putting in 15yrs of service to the state and you just wake up one day to say the person should just go away without his pension or gratuity. Remember, there is that saying; “an idle mind is the devils’ workshop.” The youths are all becoming jobless; many are smoking and drinking all sorts of intoxicants. Why will there not be insecurity in the state? These idle number of youths can easily be lured into any form of criminal vices. The highest thing one can do is jump into the social media space and make noise and certainly, nobody will hear you.

However, come 2023, the PDP will make it, by the Grace of God almighty.

Let us look at the crises in the PDP which cuts across the state and the national level is viewed as not favourable to the party itself especially with the elections close by. How do you see the attempts by the NWC to wade in and reconcile the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar and the governor of Rivers state, Nyeson Wike on one hand and, here in Kaduna state, there is said to be a serious division in the party. One group is reported to be led by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi while the other has Senator Othman Suleiman Hunkuyi who has since emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the NNPP.

Do you think this will augur well for the party? 

For your information, there is no problem in the PDP here in Kaduna state as Hunkuyi is not in the PDP anymore. However, at the national level, I agree there is a problem but, it is not peculiar to the PDP alone as virtually all the political parties have their own in-house crisis and it all depends on how they manage it. 

Now that the BoT and NWC are trying to come in, and by their own understanding, proffer solutions, it is a good omen for the party. On the issue of Wike, when someone loses an election and, from information out there, I heard he spent a lot of money and, to be candid, I am not aware. The information out there in public says that he was responsible for funding the party over these past years but, nevertheless, elections are won and lost. 

In my opinion, after elections, whoever loses needs to be consulted. One thing that I so love about Wike is that he will always speak out his mind and, I strongly believe that the PDP as a family has its own internal mechanisms at resolving issues and it is also my strong belief that in the next couple of weeks, everything will be resolved. If you look at the body language of the former Vice President, he wants a truce because, he is yet to inaugurate his campaign council after picking his Vice Presidential candidate. Also, you cannot fault Atiku for his choice of VP in Okowa because, he has the prerogative and choice; three persons were selected and he is expected to pick one from the lot. Let us be fair to ourselves; you will have to pick the best from the lot and he must be the one who you feel you can work with, with an understanding of your policies as you will most certainly be guided by policy documents; as a party if you want to run a government and if you want to succeed. 

In my own opinion, I will suggest that Governor Wike should calm down because, apart from being one of the leaders of the PDP, he is also an elder statesman, a governor for over seven years and as such, respect the party and most importantly, exercise patience. One good he said which I hold dear was the comment that he is not leaving the party; a party he took part in building and sustaining since 1999. He should also know that Atiku was a formidable part of G34 that formed the party and, they were the ones who registered the PDP; from the PDM to the PDP. Even if he claims to have joined the party in 1998, it was the likes of Atiku that formed it and he has been in politics for the past 42years while Wike was still in the university but then, in politics, you also give people the opportunity to air their views and anger. However, Wike should not allow people to push him around as he needs the structure of the PDP in his state; from governor, senators, reps members, state house of assembly members down to councilors and ward representatives. He needs somebody that will succeed him that will carry on with the ongoing projects executed by his administration. 

Wike indeed has done so much for Rivers state in terms of projects and he remains one of the “Most Performing Governors” in the country and I truly like his performance. I want to implore that they all come together for the interest of the PDP so that, we as youths in the party can learn from them.

What is your message to youths across the country, come 2023?

My message to the youths is that, first and foremost, we need to come together as one; “united we stand, divided we fall.” 

If you look at the concept of the late Nelson Mandela in South Africa, it started as an agitation by bringing the youths together. If we do not come together, we will never make it. On the social media, I take out time to caution some of my friends on the type of language they apply. One should not, because he or she is jobless, sit back in his or her comfort zone and cause crises or division in the country. For your information, most of these crises are caused by youths and they take undue advantage of the social media space to do this. 

Therefore, I want the youths to understand that we have an opportunity to change the narrative of this country. 

Let us all come together be you a northerner, southerner, Christian or Muslim, know that God Almighty brought us all together in Nigeria and He alone knows why. 

If He wants us to have only Christians in Nigeria, He would have taken them to Jerusalem where majority of people there are Christians or to America and in the same manner, take all Muslims to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey where the population of Muslims are put at about 85%. He knows why he brought us all together. 

One good thing about Nigeria is that we have everything. Let us assume the elders have failed; we as youths need to come together as one; to salvage this country as it is derailing. If we allow it to derail, we as youths stand to suffer majority of the consequences. We do not have any other country than Nigeria. That is my message for Nigerian youths. Thank you.