All Progressives Congress (APC) senator, representing Kaduna South, Sheu Sanni, has disclosed that the current economic recession bedeviling the Nigerian nation, if not urgently addressed by the Federal Government, may result in revolution by Nigerians against their political leaders, both present and past.
Senator Sani, who spoke with newsmen to mark the 56th Independent anniversary of Nigeria, at the weekend, said the recession might end up to be the ignition depressed Nigerians had been waiting for over the years to fight their leaders for giving them nothing, but bad governance over the decades, which, according to him, culminated in squandering over $3trillion oil monies within the last 56 years by successive governments.
The lawmaker informed that one of the ways of fighting the recession, was for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to enlarge the scope of its anti-corruption war beyond the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration with the sole purpose of recovering the nation’s monies and resources stolen by corrupt-minded past administrators.
According to him, “We are in recession, but the recession must be tackled headlong by the Federal Government and all stakeholders in the polity towards getting out of it very quickly, else it may lead to revolution, more so, going by what the Nigerian masses have been facing over the decades, as far as governance was concerned. The totality of which was bad governance characterised by unbridled greed and massive corruption by over 90 per cent of the administrators, whether elected or appointed.
“The 2015 election supposed to have ushered us into a new hope of unity and progress for our country.
But I think, there are a lot of mistakes that have been made in the last one year, one of the correction is the need for us to look forward in terms of bringing our people to the promiseland and not look backward on the crises we faced in the past.
“In 1999, Nigerians were full of expectations, this time around we should get things right as a democratic nation, build a new foundation under freedom and constitutional rules and a new country.
“If we don’t succeed this time around, the nation will be heading to revolution, because what Nigerians have done in 2015 by voting for change is to see it happening very positively and it must be delivered, and if not delivered, revolution cannot be ruled out with Nigerians trooping out en masse on the streets to challenge their leaders and saying no to their sufferings. Enough is enough!
“Over the last 56 years, Nigeria has earned over $3 trillion from crude oil sales, but there is hardly 25 per cent of that fund issued to show for the achievement of that large kind of money.”
Sanni, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, stated further that catching both new and old thieves in the current war against corruption would help in not only getting money to re inflate the economy, but rekindling the failing hope of the masses in their country.
He added that ”The fight again corruption as it is now is about recovery and arrest.
If the Government says , the money recovered under Jonathan is not a enough, to service the economy, then, we should move to Yar’dua and Obasanjo administrations too, move to Abdulsalami, Abacha, Babangida, Buhari himself as a military ruler then, and to Shehu Shagari of the second republic.
“We must go after the old thieves, irrespective of the political parties they belonged to now, as the government is going after the most recent ones. For example, there was a senate committee that probed the independent power project, where it was said that, over $16 Billion was looted and we have not seen anything done to the revelation made by the former CBN governor now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi over the alleged $20 billion missing from the NNPC account under Jonathan etc”.