A Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Comrade Jonathan Vatsa has on Sunday advised the Federal Government and the Arewa youths to leave Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah alone after his Christmas Message, saying that “to address the issues he has raised on the state of the nation is better”.
Vatsa a former Publicity Secretary to APC in Niger state said it is unfortunate that some “political contractors” are also picking holes on what he said was “the truth and sincere assessments of the present situation in the country”, saying that “the country is worst than it was six years ago”.
The Coordinator on Public Affairs to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state in a statement in Minna title “when shall we accept the truth”, pointed out that all the issues raised by Kukah “are the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.
He disclosed that the divisions among Nigerians today is more visible than the one that led to civil war in the country, warning that “every right thinking human being knows that the country is drifting towards anarchy with the current situation”.
Vatsa, a former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, while expressing regrets said, “rather than looking at Kukah’s assessment of the situation in the country and try to proffer solutions to them, the Federal Government and its “paid contractors” are picking holes and politicizing this genuine and sincere observations”.
Comrade Vatsa who’s is popularly known as Mr. Change pointed that the greatest challenge facing the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration is its inability to accept “genuine criticism” which he said “a serious government uses such criticism to correct its mistakes and forge ahead”.
Accordingly, Vatsa said, “there is nothing Bishop Kukah said in his Christmas Message that is not happening in the country today. The insecurity situation in the country today is worst than since independence, the entire country is under siege from criminal elements with the worst scenario in the north.
“Traveling to any part of the North is like passing death sentence on yourself. Apart from the security challenges, hunger and poverty have taken over the country”.
Furthermore, he said “the feeding formula of an average Nigerian has changed. It is either 1-0-0, 0-1-0, 1-0-1 or in some homes its 0-0-0. Huge percentage of Nigerian homes can not boast of three meals a day”.
Vatsa queried that the entire Niger state has lost its peace in the last six years due to Bandits activities, adding that “Niger state has lost its pride name to home of bandits”.
“Every available farmlands have now been turned into burial ground of people killed by bandits, yet we don’t want to take criticism. People must be allowed to air their views”.
He argued that the state government spends more money in fighting insecurity than infrastructural development, saying that “the money the state government spends on security in a month is three times more than the security votes allocated to it”.
