Masari stated this while reacting to questions from a correspondent during a media parley held at his residence on Tuesday.
“Let me make my position very clear. This constitution is made for us, not us made for the constitution. Yes, the constitution does not say we must shift power, but if you shift, have you violated any part of the constitution?”
“I still believe that, in my individual opinion as Aminu Bello Masari, until such a time when we have a stable government, I think rotation or shifting power from time to time will help consolidate our confederation. I support that and I still maintain my stand and I have the constitutional right to make such comment,” he said.
Masari said he was a member of the constitutional conference of 1994/95 during which the Federal Character Commission was provided for, adding that he was a member of the transition committee in 1999. Their committee initially suggested that each zone should be given the opportunity of five years through the instrumentality of the constitution. Still, the suggestion did no see the light of the day.
He called on politicians, journalists, religious and traditional leaders to put the country’s interest above their interest as the 2023 general elections approach.
“We should see politics as a way and means of creating leadership under democratic dispensation. Our politics is still very young, even from independence to date, you are talking of 60 years, which is important in the life of an individual, but in the life of a nation, it should be working progress.”
“We should measure where we were yesterday, where we are today and where we want to be tomorrow. The problem is that we are in a hurry that even before we finish crawling, we want to start running,” he said.
He said politicians needed attitudinal change as they needed to appreciate the responsibilities and burden of leadership and the consequences of coming forward to contest for any elective office.
“I believe the journalists in particular, have a very important role to play. For instance, as we approach 2023, the attention being created by the media is the fat salary and allowances of the National Assembly members, not on what the lawmakers are doing or what they suppose vital media created a situation whereby everybody wants to go there because there is money.”
“But to be fair to the media, some of us in the national assembly is also helping in creating that false impression by changing their ways of life in such a way that even their friends become envious,” Gov. Masari said.
