The chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Account, Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, has accused "opportunists' and "desperate" politicians of fuelling disunity and spreading sentiment in the country.
He said these crops of politicians who seem to be in the majority find their way through such dubious means because they have no ideas to market themselves to the voters.
Wadada (SDP, Nasarawa West) stated this during a conversation he held with student union leaders from across six tertiary institutions from Nasarawa State, as well as present and former national leaders of the Nasarawa State Students Association (NASSA) in Keffi.
He said, "Today, some mediocre opportunists have found their way into politics. And in politics, when you go to the people, you must say something. And these mediocre or opportunists don't have anything to say. So they go whipping up sentiments.
"They will say Christopher couldn't do it for you because you are Muhammad, you are a Muslim. And when they go to Muhammad, they tell Muhammad or Esther didn't listen to you because you are a Muslim."
The lawmaker explained that it has become necessary to unmask mediocre and opportunists masquerading as politicians before the students because they are the future leaders of the society.
"Why are we spelling out all these today to our students? You are the fabric, and you are the nucleus, vehicle, pipeline, conduit and cable of every societal growth and development," he stated.
He said the essence of the interaction with the student union leaders was to listen to each other to understand the challenges confronting the students on their journey of educational pursuit.
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He also said that the conversation with students will allow him to proffer solutions to some pressing challenges.
"When we invest in you, we are investing in the society. When we invest in you, we invest in humanity's most important sector. We owe ourselves the duty to tell you only those things that will make you the right future leaders," he said.
While recalling his student's days at Government Secondary School Miango, as well as his unionism days, which prepared him for his present station in the society, Wadada, however, said there is much left to be desired in the conduct of some student leaders of today who have turned to award givers.
"We are where we are today because we leveraged on our youths. We also leveraged our youthful days to package ourselves and deliver to society. There were so many things that we were doing as a students' union that contributed immensely to the level that we are today socially, politically, religiously and traditionally.
"Everything that existed yesterday exists today. But what, then, is the problem? In our days of unionism, nobody was good enough in society for us to organize ourselves and give him or her an award. Student unions in our days never gave anybody an award. Today, student unions are everywhere involved and engaging in giving awards. That is what the day has brought.
"But who are the recipients of these awards? If you give awards to people who deserve the award, it makes society better because it serves as encouragement and motivation. It becomes realistic and respectful. But if you give awards to mediocre people who call themselves politicians, you are destroying society," he added.
