A former minister of Sports and Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Wednesday urged Nigerians to vote out the All Progressive Congress in the 2023 elections, saying that the present ruling party has ruined the nation.
The ex-minister said the 2023 general elections offer Nigerians another historic opportunity to make Nigeria work again.
He stated that the dream of making Nigeria great could only be achieved if citizens, through the elections, chased away politicians in the fold of APC.
Abdullahi, Kwara central senatorial candidate of the PDP, in the forthcoming general election expressed this while featuring at the 33rd edition of the ‘Media Parliament’ of the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Ilorin.
He spoke on ‘Retooling Nigeria For the Task Ahead’.
Abdullahi said, “The APC government has brought this nation to its knees. All the things we thought could not happen had happened in the last seven years. There is no way we can exonerate APC from the problems of this country.
“APC has ruined this country. Nigerians should say no to any politician seeking elective office under APC. 2023 presents a historic opportunity to make Nigeria work again.
“Every Nigerian lives in fear today because of the problems of insecurity and poverty. The poorest of the poor are 90 million in Nigeria today. But we seem not to understand the magnitude of the problem facing us. We carry on as if all is well. We are treating cancer with wrapping bandages on it.”
Abdullahi also traced Nigeria’s problem to 1966 when the nation had its first coup plot, and said that no nation can have peace without justice.
He added, “After the civil war our leaders ought to realise that the Nigeria that the British gave us could not work. We should have restructured the country then.
“Another opportunity we missed to make Nigeria a real nation was the annulment of June 12. We diagnosed the issue as if it was a Yoruba problem and decided to make one of them a president in 1999. We had a lot of opportunities in the June 12 debacle but we bungled them.”
Speaking on the lingering ASUU strike, the former Minister called for an urgent resolution to save the nation’s education sector from total collapse.
According to him the issue in contention should be resolved amicably to enable students to resume academic activities.
He expressed worry over the security challenges in the country, adding that all hands must be on deck to bring a lasting solution to the problem.
Abdullahi also urged the youths to contribute their quota to ensure better development of the country.