Kwankwaso blames ‘massive corruption’ for insurgency

 Kano State Governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso explained yesterday why there is insurgency in the Northeast.

It is the product of massive corruption, he said.

Kwankwaso, who spoke while inaugurating his  national campaign office in Abuja, noted that corruption had crept into every facet of life.

He said the situation in the Northeast was a clear indication that the country was facing very serious challenges.

Condemning last Monday’s suicide attack in Potiskum that killed 36 pupils he said: “What we saw yesterday and similar insecurity incidents, which we have seen, especially in the Northeast, showed to all of us very that this country is facing a serious challenges, the magnitude of which we have never seen.

“As we are sitting here today, over four million people are being internally displaced mainly in the Northeast. Many of them are here in Abuja and other parts of Northern Nigeria, especially in Kano, where we have a refugee camp with so many people from the affected areas living with their friends and relations.

“Before then, we saw a similar thing in Gombe and Bauchi states. Unfortunately, in the last few days, we have seen fresh attacks in Gombe and Bauchi and this showed clearly that the battle line is moving this way. Instead of the three states where we have emergency situation, we are now seeing it extend to five states.”

He urged to those concerned, especially the security agencies, to do whatever they could to protect lives and property.

He said: “As far as we are concerned, things are getting out of hand and we have to know that the country is sick and therefore, something has to be done and must be done quickly.

“All this in our opinion, is a product of massive corruption that we have seen from the highest level to the bottom in this country. Corruption is a big decease, which this government has to get a way of tackling because the general belief is that they encourage it. If they are not encouraging it, they don’t have the capacity to stop it.

“That is why we have this issue of insecurity because corruption has crept into all sections of our community. We have also seen, as a result of corruption, very high level of youth unemployment; we have seen serious collapse of the educational sector to the extent that our children, especially in the Northeastern part of the country, cannot go to school today.

“Those who have the determination to go to school are being followed and killed in their schools. We saw it yesterday and in the past, especially in the Northeast where our children are being killed in their dormitory and in their class rooms. This is a very serious matter especially for our future”, Kwankwaso said.