Nigerians have been urged to support the current move of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to restore the Abuja master plan.
A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Prince Chibudom Nwuche, made the call while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Saturday.
He noted that those who have lived in Abuja since the return of the democratic dispensation in 1999, can attest to the deterioration of the nation’s capital city by illegal structures taking over public spaces, green areas illegally allocated by unscrupulous officials to cronies, areas for public facilities like fire services/Police stations were also allocated to individuals.
Nwuche said, “How can areas in a capital city not have available spaces for the construction of fire service and Police Stations?
“This was especially under the immediate-past minister under whose watch parts of Abuja became like slums, the streets are dirty and unkempt, a clear reason why unqualified persons should never be appointed to public offices on the basis of nepotism and tribalism.”
The former federal lawmaker also commended President Bola Tinubu for making the right decision of picking Wike whom he described as a known achiever and who performed exceptionally as the immediate-past governor of Rivers State and brought development, infrastructure to all local government areas and cities in Rivers State.
He described Wike as a detribalised and nationalistic Nigerian, who will treat all Nigerians equally.
According to him, “Wike’s appointment has restored the faith of many Nigerians in our unity, equality as Nigerians and a departure from the nepotism of the past where certain portfolios were reserved for only a part of the country.”
He wondered where those bitterly condemning Wike’s choice were during the past administration where the ministers of FCT did practically nothing but occupied space and allowed the capital city to fall apart.
Nwuche said, “No country that desires development should listen to archaic and unexposed persons, be they clerics, former government officials, among others, who prefer it when only those who share their ethnicity or religious bias hold sensitive offices including the defence and security portfolios in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.
“When one walks into a Nigerian airport, Police stations, immigration offices and the likes, one should see a reflection of our diversity and all tribes fairly represented.
“Not the one where at Immigration Services, Police, Customs and the others, you see a preponderance of one tribe and one religion.”
While calling on people of goodwill to speak up and not allow retrogressives drive down their parochial and divisive agenda, he also urged President Tinubu to consolidate on his development strides by appointing more competent nationalists into positions of authority and removing anyone found to be a tribal or religious bigot in order to set Nigeria firmly on the path of rapid socio-economic development and for her to join the comity of developed nations.
Nwuche added, “We all know the antics of these critics who only see things good when their tribe are appointed into positions, even when those people are destroying our country on account of their incompetence, bigotry and putting a knife to our national unity, they keep quiet.”
He urged Wike not to be distracted by these critics as Nigerians are much wiser after suffering under incompetent leadership for many years, and understand the antics of his critics.
Nwuche equally appealed to President Tinubu to ignore such people and continue on the part of giving every Nigerian a sense of belonging irrespective of their tribe and religion.