Former Governor of Jigawa State and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sule Lamido, criticized the Northern governors for their recent trip to the United States, saying it exposed their ignorance of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page on Sunday, Lamido expressed his disappointment, particularly as the trip occurred amid the ongoing insecurity challenges in the Northern region. The Northern governors had traveled to the United States to attend a peace summit organized by the United States Institute of Peace.
“Our Northern governors as concerned leaders traveled 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 bedeviling their respective states,” Lamido said.
He criticized the governors for engaging in discussions that fall under the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution, such as security, instead of focusing on issues within their purview like agriculture or health.
Lamido highlighted the pressing local problems, such as lack of portable drinking water, inadequate educational infrastructure, and widespread poverty, which, according to him, directly affect security. He accused the governors of lacking empathy and failing to address these fundamental issues.
“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,” he remarked.
He suggested that the governors could have benefited more from local institutions like NIPSS in Kuru Jos or ASCON in Badagry, which have extensive materials and expertise on security issues in Nigeria.
Lamido also blamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NIA for failing to properly guide the governors, stating, “I blame the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NIA for failing to properly guide the governors for this folly.”
He concluded by expressing his frustration with the current state of affairs in Nigeria, saying, “Nigeria and Nigerians now carry the image of ‘advancing our shame and embarrassment beyond our frontiers’ caused by their Excellencies!”