Prof. Ango Abdullahi, a member of the Northern Elders Forum, has endorsed moves by some lawmakers to return Nigeria to the Parliamentary System of Government.
Abdullahi, a former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said this when he received some lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Friday in Abuja, lauding the sponsors of the bill at the House of Representatives.
He said that the Constituent Assembly of 1976–77 was tele-guided by the military to adopt the U.S. Presidential System of Government for Nigeria.
“If you are talking about the failure of the system, it’s totally unfair to say that the parliamentary system failed in Nigeria. It didn’t; the problem was that it had not been given sufficient time.
“So, my personal position is that I’m 100 percent against the presidential system of government; it’s an unsuitable system not only for Nigeria but for any country that is in this reckless, greedy western world.
“Because the democracy the western world is trying to force down the throat of every nation in the world is to serve their interests.
“And check honestly, academically, materially, and so on, to see what happened since 1960 till date. For me, if I’m going to react to your visit, I’ll react in two ways,” he said.
Abdullahi added, “The first level is my own personal conviction. I’m a product of the First Republic, and I cherish being that product, as a teacher who marks exams from A1 to failure.”
Speaking, Rep. Abdulsamad Dasuki (APC-Sokoto) said that the visit was to seek the support of the elder statesman in the move to return Nigeria to the parliamentary system.
“Our target is that we can learn from implementing the bills in phases. The first phase is with INEC, even if it’s not from these particular sponsors.
“We are here to learn; what we are trying to do for Nigeria is to build Nigeria for Nigerians looking at our peculiarities,” he said.
Also speaking, Rep. Wale Raji (APC-Lagos) said that the cost of governance under the presidential system was much higher than that of the parliamentary system.
He said that the presidential system of government was quite expensive for the country, as it had hindered economic development.(NAN)
