Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has stated that President Jonathan had shortchanged the North in the political and economic calculations of his administration.
Kwankwaso who made the statement during a meeting of the Northern Elders Forum held at the Government House said Jonathan lacked the courage and capacity to do the right thing.
His words: “When we met with the President, as northern governors, he told us that the former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, told him that as President he has to look at the issue of the North very critically. She noted that there was an imbalance in terms of patronage, appointments and sharing of resources.
“He assured that he was looking at those comments and that was why he was delaying appointments into boards and so on. Since that meeting, we have not seen anything or changes. So, it is my conclusion that the President lacks the capacity and courage to do the right thing.”
He called the budgetary allocations made to certain regions in the country biased and unfair to other regions.
“We have had enough crises in this country and it is not right to plant seeds for crisis in the future. Look at the Northeast that was allocated N2 billion in the current budget. N2 billion is what Mr. President allocated to non-APC states for supporting him while N111 billion was allocated to the Southeast and Southsouth. This is not close to fairness,” the governor argued.