The Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima has asserted that corrupt governance was responsible for the crisis of insecurity and banditry in the north.
Shettima spoke as the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association, SCKLA, hailed the Nigerian Army for its peace-building efforts in Southern Kaduna, but called on the army to do more to guarantee a more secure society in the area.
This is even as the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, expressed concern over the upsurge of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the South West and other parts of the country and again, called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently convene stakeholders meeting to tackle the menace.
The vice president, who made the declaration at the 10th Annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation lecture and award hosted by Borno State governor, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum, in Maiduguri on Saturday, said the Sardauna had left a legacy of accountability, fairness and probity which the current leaders had defied.
Shettima, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Hakeem-Baba Ahmed, identified corruption by leaders as one of the root causes of insecurity.
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“The leader cannot engage in corruption if he wants to stand above the common thief, the bandit and the kidnapper,’’ he said.
Aligning with the vice president in his remarks, Borno State governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, also blamed corruption as the reason the country was not getting things right.
He called on those in position of leadership to provide good governance.
The guest speaker and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, called on the policy makers to address abuse of power and insecurity challenges facing the country.
According to him, the reason the Sardauna is being glorified is the value of teamwork, resilience and commitment to the provision of qualitative education, agriculture, and infrastructural development.
The chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, noted in his remarks that good governance was the only way out of the insecurity in the region and the country as a whole.
The 11th Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture is to be hosted by Bauchi State in 2025.
In a similar development, the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association, SCKLA, has asked the Army to secure communities in Southern Kaduna which had been bedevilled by killngs and large scale destruction of property.
The association also called on communities in the area to break away from a past of strife and crisis and embrace tolerance for peace to be sustained.
Chairman of the association, Apostle Dr. Emmanuel Nuhu Kure, who made the call during the 22nd edition of the annual Southern Kaduna Prayer Summit convened by the group in Kafanchan, said leaving the past behind and embracing the future with hope was necessary to allow the people rebuild their land and move forward.