Judex Okoro, Calabar
The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and a presidential hopeful in next year’s general elections, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has stated that Nigerian elites have perpetuated political fraud against the country and have to be retired next year for the country to forge ahead.
Prof. Moghalu, who is running on the platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) made this known in Calabar during a town hall meeting with the people of Cross River State, as part of his enlightenment campaign ahead of next year’s contest.
According to him, “political power in Nigeria is a game that is played by tribal hegemons. They are all seeking hegemony on behalf of their tribe. This is political 419.
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“These politicians that we must retire in 2019 are only out for one thing, which is their stomach. They believe that they and their children own Nigeria.
“They use ethnicity and religion but when they get the power, even the members of their ethnic group and the members of their religion do not fare better.
“Our elite use power against the collective interest of the nation. So they use us to get to power for their selfish purpose”, he said.
He emphasised that Nigeria is not yet a nation and the quest for real nationhood is one of the fundamental problems facing the country which his presidency is out to address.
“Nigeria is not yet a nation and we can only become great when we become a real nation. Nation building is a process of creating a national identity using the power of the state, hence the first task that faces this country is nation building and this is one of the cardinal programmes of the YPP.
“For a leader to be able to build a nation, we must rise above the things that are limiting us. When our worldview is determined by your ethnicity, then you cannot build Nigeria and become a part of the problem rather than the solution.
“This is why our identity is first and foremost the political identity of citizenship of the federal republic of Nigeria”, he disclosed.