A former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday said Nigeria’s problems shouldn’t be left to the governing All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government alone.
Saraki, who doubles as the chairman, Peoples Democratic Party National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee, stressed the need for a bi-partisan approach to finding lasting solutions to national problems, especially in the area of security.
He spoke shortly after a two-hour close-door meeting with ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The former senate president said, “I think that when we talk about kidnapping, when we talk about sense of belonging, these are issues that go across party lines and what is required now is for government to provide leadership in bringing all stakeholders together. Let us discuss and see how we can address some of these issues.
“We are very hopeful for the future of this country; we are very hopeful that everybody will have a sense of belonging. I think it is important that we all must come to the table and discuss. We can tap into a lot of resources, even on the issue of security, there are lot of people with a lot of experience that we can make use of.
“My advice to government this time is that, this problem is a huge problem that cannot be left to just the government and the ruling party. I think this is the time the opposition, the ruling party and our international friends come together because the challenges before us are enormous and we need to address them.”
On the purpose of his visit to Obasanjo, Saraki said, “It is a very useful deliberation; we inform the former president why we are here – the purpose of the committee and that it is important as an elder statesman. The president is someone who has been in our party before and someone committed to the unity, to the success of this country.”
The Punch
