HURIWA TO UZODINMA-: ARE YOU IN GOVERNMENT FOR FOODS?
…….. Tells Yobe State Governor To Resign And Become Abuja Liason Officer Of Yobe State.
Lamenting that the state of governance in Nigeria has never fallen this deeper into disrepute, the leading Civil Rights Advocacy group:- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has dismissed as illiterate and insensitive a statement credited to the Imo State governor in which he lampooned opposition politicians as hunger infested bunch of people.
In a related development, the Rights group said the governor of Yobe State Mai Mala Buni who admitted spending at least 3 days in every Months since winning office of governor in 2019, can as well opt to become the Abuja Liaison officer of Yobe State so the good people of Yobe State can elect a governor who will govern fully from the State and not someone who visits intermittently like a COLONIAL GOVERNOR ruling from the Federal Capital Territory. HURIWA said it is logically indefensible that someone elected to govern a specific territory within Nigeria to provide good governance and enhance rule of law within his state is frequently in other places outside of his state and yet is paid by the Yobe State people as their governor.
In a statement by the Rights group, HURIWA says the impression created by the Imo State governor Mr. Hope Uzodinma that opposition politicians will die of hunger unless they crossed over to All Progressive Congress (APC) is primitive, jaundiced, unconstitutional and a public disgrace to Nigeria in the community of civilized nations.
“It is clear that Hope Uzodinma is bereft of the values of good governance and is motivated to join politics by his desires not to starve since in his warped imagination, politics especially by the set of politicians who hold Public Offices is to come and eat because food is ready. This wrong perception of politics is the reason Imo State is grossly misruled and there is ballooning poverty, unemployment, collapse of essential state infrastructures, apathy and a rapidly expanding frontiers of distrust by the public on the politicians”.
“It is our humble opinion that the Imo State governor should take few days to read the scholarly books on governance, public policies, constitutionalism and democracy so he understands the place of multipartism, opposition politics and the essence of public service by the governors which revolves around the will to serve and not to be served. We make haste to remind the Imo State governor of what a brilliant brain in Public Policy stated about the import of public policy that it is first important to understand the concept of ‘public” for a discussion of public policy. We often use such terms as public interest, public sector public opinion, public health, and so on. The starting point is that Public Policy has to do with those spheres which are so labelled as public as opposed to spheres moving the idea of private. The concept of public policy presupposes that there is an area or domain of life which is not private or purely individual, but held in common. Public dimension is generally referred to ‘public ownership or control for public purpose.
The public comprises that domain of human activity which is regarded as requiring governmental intervention or common action. However there has always been a conflict between what is public and what is private. So it is obvious that Mr. Hope Uzodinma who was quoted in the media as having taken the ‘Ben Johnson’ way to become the Imo State governor allegedly, is the same character that is spreading the poisonous chalice containing the toxic perception that public office is all about what to eat by the public office holders as against clearly established public good”.
HURIWA tasked Governor Hope Uzodinma to read chapter 2 SECTION 17 of the Constitution to understand the essence of government thus: Section 17-(1) The State order is founded on ideals of freedom equality and Justice
(2) In furtherance of the social order
(a) Every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunity before the law
(b) Sanctity of the human person shall be recognize and human dignity shall be maintained and enhanced
(c) Governmental actions shall be humane;
(d) Exploitation of human or natural resources in any form whatsoever for reasons, other than the good of the community shall be prevented; and
(e) The independence, impartiality and integrity of courts of law, and easy accessibility thereto shall be secured an maintained.
3 The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that
(a) All citizens, without discrimination on any group whatsoever have the opportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood as well as adequate opportunity to secure suitable employment;
(b) Conditions of work are just and humane, and that there are adequate abilities for leisure and for social, religious and cultural life;
(c) The health, safety and welfare of all person in employment are Safeguarded and not endangered or abused;
(d) There are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons;
(e) There is equal pay for equal work without discrimination on account of sex, or on any other ground whatsoever;
(f) Children; young persons and the aged are protected against any exploitation whatsoever, and against moral and material neglect;
(g) Provision is made for public assistance in deserving cases or other conditions of need; and
(h) The evolution and promotion of family life is encouraged.”
Besides, Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria absolutely prohibits discrimination on the basis of party affiliations amongst others just as the Rights Advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) wondered if Imo State truly has an independent state house of Assembly when they have a governor who spreads the toxic idea that politics is about personal aggrandizement.
