A former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, has said it will be difficult to find honest future leaders among Nigerian youths.
Punch reports that Akande said this on Monday in Ila Orangun during a meeting with the Yoruba Patriotic Movement.
He was quoted as saying, “The core value system is no more in place. We have a mixture of the negative and positive tendencies among the youth. The negative tendencies are more than the positive ones. How do we get sincere and good future leaders in the present society?
Akande also expressed worry over what he described as the military mentality in the political system.
“The military orientation of controlling the political parties after leaving power is still being practised by the democratic government in the country, whereas it is the people of like minds who ought to get together, form their parties and run them the way they deem fit,” he said.
He observed that most current political party leaders learnt politics under the military arrangement.
Akande, who is a former governor of Osun State, stated that when the military left government, its agenda of controlling the political parties was achieved through various electoral regulations.
Akande maintained that political parties should be independent of government legislation, arguing that it should be political and not government structure.
He said, “Political party grew in hierarchy system in those days; whether you are a tailor, bricklayer, carpenter or whoever, you must learn politics through your political party. You cannot just rise up and say you want to become this, you want to become that in the party. You must learn first. Political party was a leadership training ground.
“But the military deliberately killed that system. The military wanted to be controlling the political party after they left power. The military created political party like the NRC and the SDP during Babangida’s time; we would remember the five leprosy fingers of the late General Sani Abacha. After they left government, they made regulations for the political parties through the civilian government.
“Up till date, military mentality still pervades our political system. Unfortunately, those who knew the military plan have left the political party leadership. Majority of the people at the leadership of the political party are those who grew or learn politics in the military arrangement.”
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2017 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
