State of the Nation: It’s time to speak to solutions—-Kachikwu, ex-ADC Presidential candidate

.…To host nationwide solutions roundtables
…. Emphasizes on dangers of neglecting minority tribes in Nigeria
….Says people harbouring bitterness from 2023 presidential elections plotting Tinubu’s failure

By Chris Ochayi

ABUJA: A former presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2023 general elections, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, has called on Nigerians to start speaking to the solutions of the enormous challenges confronting the country with a view to moving it forward

Kachikwu, who made the call while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Saturday, urged an end to blame game and focus on preferring lasting solutions to the nation’s problems.

He particularly admonished Nigerians, especially those embarking on street protests to leave the streets now and head to the solutions roundtable.

The former presidential candidate, who declared his intention to host solutions townhalls with other patriotic Nigerians, said, we must start talking solutions if we desire to move this nation forward.

According to him, “In the last ten days our nation witnessed protests that took the lives of over twenty people. There were varied reasons for the protests but chief amongst them was the current hardship being experienced by most Nigerians.

“As expected, the protests took on different dimensions as mischief makers tried to score political points with the pain of Nigerians.

“After all the lives lost, after the debilitating effect on our economy, after all said and done, what next? Are we better off in any way? Can we see the light at the end of the tunnel? Has governance improved? Has our economy improved? Did we achieve anything at all with the protests?

“The jury is still out on this but while we wait for their decision what next?
I believe we need to start talking solutions. We have an obsessive focus on our nation’s problems and the supposed failure of any government of the day.

“This is our style of politics but unfortunately the body polity has also adopted this. We are big on the blame game, big on identifying problems but low on proffering solutions.

“Why? Because we can’t score political points with solutions in a nation that is intoxicated with the nectar of problems. Solutions will never go viral on social media.

“We need to leave the streets now and head to the solutions roundtable. We are in a quagmire and ‘what do we do?’ should be the only question on our lips. Who did it and who caused it can never be as important as what do we do now.

“Let’s use our megaphones to proffer solutions to our many problems. In the coming days I and a few other patriotic Nigerians will be hosting townhalls and spaces devoted to aggregating solutions to our many complex problems from the best and brightest amongst us.

“I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians, all opposition parties, the ruling party and well-wishers and friends of our dear nation to join me at any of the solution roundtables that will be coming up.

“If we desire to move this nation forward, we must start talking solutions. Let’s move from the streets to the solutions roundtable.”

Mr. Kachikwu, while speaking further, noted that, “We need to be speaking about a new Nigeria that does not recognize tendencies or issues that divide us as a people.

“These issues have destroyed us for too long. We transfer these issues from generation to generation.

“The Hausa man has what he refers to the Igbo man as or the Roman as. The Yoruba man has the same for the Hausa and the Igbo. The Igbo has the same for Hausa and Yoruba.

“In speaking to this, one of the tragedies for us as Nigerians is that the three major tribes in their big batting, we completely forget the numerous other tribes we have in Nigeria. They are lost in translation. We don’t recognize them, we don’t even know they exist.

“They are not part of the Nigerian equation because when we speak, we speak about these three major tribes and this is their fight that does not end.

“The new Nigeria we should push in for should never, never thrive on this or promote this, the tendencies that divide us. When you get on Facebook or any of the social media platforms today, it sickens me the vitriolic you hear.

“It’s so vile what you hear Nigerians, supposedly educated Nigerians, say to each other. The last elections we must admit divided us like no other elections have divided us. Let me tell you this.

“If you speak about rigging in the elections, I’ll tell you this. In all our elections, we’ve had rigging. This was no different.

“But why did this election evoke the kind of emotions we saw and we’re still seeing today? Why do we have a large section of Nigerians who don’t want to recognize this president as their president or who want him to fail at all costs? I’ll tell you why.

“We let Nigeria slide to the point where in the last elections, where religion and tribe were so pronounced, where for many of us, all we demanded was that we must have a Christian president. Many others said we must have a Christian president from the southeast.

“It’s the turn of the southeast. Some people say that Emilokon is my turn. We had all these sentiments and for Nigerians, Nigerians were not really concerned.

“All they cared was what I wanted is what must happen. And when what you wanted didn’t happen, it becomes difficult for a lot of us to stomach. There’s nothing we will accept.

“We are so divided because of that election. And it’s difficult to move Nigeria forward because of that. I tell you this.

“If anyone expects this President to succeed or make any headway, where you have almost half of the country who have the sentiments, the person is deceiving himself.

“Can any husband thrive with a wife that hates you? It’s not possible. When your wife is fighting every day before you leave for work, you’re expecting a wife who just hates you, who’s fighting you.

“Can you thrive? You can never thrive. And that’s the situation with this country. When we choose to hate our president, we forget that when we hate our president, we hate ourselves.

“Because the president represents the country. Like it or not, for the next three years remaining, he represents the country and anything he does, in good or bad faith, affects you. So the smart thing is for us to rise above these sentiments.

“I cannot continue to stay in a nation where the only thing available to me is to hate my president and speak ill of my president, and I continue.”