The political activist and the head of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), Usman Okai-Austin, criticized the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for not maintaining the development initiatives established by his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, in the northern part of the country.
In a recent interview, Okai-Austin, who was the PDP candidate for the federal constituency of Dekina/Bassa in the 2023 elections, argued that the most pressing need in the north is a genuine development, not only political power.
He regretted the persistent problems of poverty, insecurity and the high number of children outside the school, which according to him have not been adequately addressed by northern leaders despite their long -term retention over power.
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“The north wants development, not empty political power. What is the use of political power when the poverty of its people does not relieve? Do we have good hospitals in the north today? Okai-Austin declared.
Okai recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern, demonstrated a strong commitment to address these problems by establishing 157 modern souls of Almajiri throughout the north to integrate Western education with the traditional Islamic system.
However, he said that the Buhari administration, which continued, could not continue the program and allowed schools to be “destroyed.”
Okai-Austin also rejected the narrative of northern marginalization, calling it a smoke curtain used by politicians for personal benefit.
He pointed to powerful northern figures that served in the recent administration, such as Nasir El-Rufai, Babachir Lawal and Abubakar Malami, saying they had the opportunity to promulgate changes but could not do so.
He defined the true marginalization as the difficult situation of unemployed young people, women without access to medical care, farmers who cannot safely access their fields and children who remain in the streets.
However, Kogi’s activist asked for a leadership, urging the youngest generation of the norths to assume a class of leaders who, in their opinion, have used the north as a “negotiation chip” for their own interests.
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