A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof Usman Yusuf says the North, especially his native Katsina, is highly critical of President Muhammadu Buhari because it has nothing to show for having its son leading the nation besides “death and destruction”.
Prof Yusuf, who is a professor of haematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation, spoke in an interview published by Saturday Sun.
He was responding to a question on whether the recent barrage of criticism for the president coming from the North would have been accepted if it originated from the Southern region.
Prof Yusuf said that the north is being unfailingly vilified recently for not drawing attention to the failings of the current administration early enough.
Rather, he said, the north is the president’s “greatest critic” because he got a major chunk of the votes that brought him to power from the region.
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“No, you people don’t know the North, especially Katsina. The North is the greatest critic of this president because we have a lot more at stake than anywhere, especially in Katsina. He is our son; we gave him 1.2 million votes, while Lagos gave him only 600,000. Katsina gave him twice what Lagos gave him. What do we have to show for it in Katsina when our son is in the Villa? It is death and destruction.
“Before the coming of this president, we never knew what IDP looked like. Never, IDP is something in the North-East. Now our son is in the villa, we gave him 1.2 million votes. One third of my state, that is 13 local governments out of 24, is under siege by bandits. We never knew what IDP was like, but now the capital city of Katsina is filled with IDPs from those 13 local governments. Look for our history, Katsina people are not known to be quiet; we are militants from way back.
“When we criticise this president, we do it for two reasons: He is one of us, we are not proud of what he is doing, and he is not representing us. We have nothing to show in Katsina, nothing. No infrastructure; all you are seeing are deaths and destruction. Are we going to keep quiet? The youths are saying, why should we vote for anybody come 2023 because ‘we voted our son, and this is what he brought to us.’ Who is going to fix Katsina if Buhari doesn’t? Is it Tinubu or Rochas Okorocha or who? How can anybody care about Katsina if the president, our son that we voted for doesn’t care about his state? This is the president that doesn’t care about his people of Katsina. It is on repeatedly, as bandits burnt 43 persons to death in Sokoto, the president didn’t say anything, but instead he hopped in his plane and went to Lagos for Bisi Akande’s book launch.
“The degree of insensitivity is so shocking that whatever he does doesn’t shock us anymore. We are just praying that we get to 2023 in peace and our people will go and choose the right person. Buhari has been a disaster for us in the last six years,” Prof Yusuf said.
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