Former Gov. Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State has warned politicians in the country against the unbridled quest to amass wealth that should be channelled into the nation’s development.
Flowerbud News reports that Bafarawa gave the warning on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen on the current political developments in the country.
He expressed concern that some politicians were interested in personal aggrandisement rather than service to the people.
“The politics of Nigeria today is not like that of yesterday. In the past, people joined politics to contribute their quota to the nation’s development but that has changed.
“Many politicians see politics as a small-scale industry, where people can be making money out.”
He said that more than 90 per cent of Nigerian politicians were “political office seekers, hence our democracy has continued to move back and forth”.
The former governor, therefore, admonished politicians and political parties in the country to uphold the principles of democracy.
He expressed regret that the nation’s political class and the parties had no respect for the principles and tenets of democracy.
He said that in every democracy, political parties remained supreme and above the political office holders.
He said that the cardinal principle of every political party in a democracy was usually embedded in its manifesto, which clearly spelt out its programmes and policies.
He said that the manifesto serves as a yardstick for measuring the performance of the office holders.
“This is so that even when the tenure of the governor or president ends, the next government will continue with the party manifesto in order to ensure continuity,” Bafarawa said.
