As ADC presidential candidate, Kachikwu, begs ASUU to return to classroom
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah, said yesterday it was unacceptable that Nigerian universities were still closed after so many months.
Also, the presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress, ADC, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, has pleaded with striking lecturers to consider the plight of Nigerian students and return to the classroom, despite not being provided with their demands by the Federal Government.
Bishop Kukah who stated this at the signing of a peace accord ahead of the Osun State gubernatorial election, asserted that the prolonged strike does not speak well of the democracy the nation professes to be practising.
“This is unacceptable especially as these things are happening in a democracy,” Kukah insisted.
The cleric said it was quite sad that the strike had lasted this long, particularly because democracy had always given the people a platform for negotiation, consensus and several other means for solving such issues as existed between the government and the authorities of the various universities.
He said Nigeria must come to understand that without the universities giving opportunities for academic energy, analysis, and theorizing, it is impossible for the nation’s democracy to grow.
The bishop asserted that the most important thing for political actors at this moment, is to take their responsibilities sufficiently serious.
ADC presidential candidate, Kachikwu begs ASUU to return to classroom
Kachikwu, who made the plea at an emergency National Executive Council meeting of the party in Abuja, lamented the needless suffering and hardship being unleashed on Nigerians by the present administration but promised to reset the system for a better life for all Nigerians once his party took over the reins of power next year.
He berated the present administration for its inability to checkmate soaring insecurity across the country, which has claimed the lives and property of innocent Nigerians and described the government under the All Progressives Congress as a calamity that needed to be done away with by Nigerians in the next election.
Kachikwu is particularly pained by the latest destruction of Kuje Prisons by terrorists without any response by security agencies and the president as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Nigeria, thereby emboldening the criminals to continue with their acts of malevolence.
Kachikwu said: “Under the Buhari administration, Nigeria has witnessed unprecedented calamity second only to the Nigeria civil war. From Taraba, Kogi, Niger, Abuja, Katsina, Zamfara, Borno, Sokoto, Kaduna, Ondo, Imo to Anambra, tales of woe.
“Many a mother is weeping. Many a wife is in sorrow. Many families left to mourn quietly and helplessly. In all this, no one has lost his or her job. No minister, national security adviser or president has resigned. The shame of a nation. Who did this to us?
‘’We reduce the dead to nomenclature such as scores killed, dozens killed, hundreds killed. Don’t we know they had names?
“The terrorists we pamper today will kill us tomorrow. The religion we introduce into politics today will divide us tomorrow. The politics and politicians we avoid today will govern us tomorrow. The hatred we incubate today will destroy us tomorrow. We can’t run away from these truths. Let us act now to save Nigeria.
“Lecturers go back to classes. You have sacrificed before. Sacrifice one more time for the sake of our children. This government can’t afford to pay your demands. They are broke. They can’t give what they don’t have.
“Please go back to classes and save the future of our children. Our medical personnel are leaving the country in droves and nobody cares. Who will staff our hospitals? Who will treat the sick? We must take a stand for Nigeria today. It is the right thing to do.’’
Meanwhile, National Chairman of ADC, Ralph Nwosu, has boasted that the party was on a mission to rescue Nigeria from the current state of somnolence and make it work better for all and give Nigerians a sense of pride and hope.
Vanguard