Aminu Kano memorial lecture holds in Kano
The 31st annual Aminu Kano memorial lecture took place in Kano yesterday with Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema extolling the virtues of the late leader of the defunct the Northern Element People’s Union (NEPU) and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) whom he described as the kind of person Nigeria needs for progress and purposeful leadership.
Shema, who was represented by his deputy, Barrister Abdullahi Garba Faskari, who chaired the lecture, observed that the lecture came at a time when the nation is in dire need of models to emulate in order to give the right leadership and identify with the needs of the people.
“Late Malam Aminu Kano left behind an exemplary legacy for us to emulate and that is the reason why he was respected and is still being respected as an exemplary leader who stood for the masses”, he said and urged the people to share the information they got about him with others in order to extend the message.
Presenting his paper titled; “Issues of Credible Elections In Nigeria: Towards the 2015 General Elections,” Professor Habu Muhammad of the Political Science Department of the Bayero University Kano, said there would be no credible election unless an institutionalized electoral reform is carried out and a conducive and level playground is ensured for everyone.
He warned against calls for some states in the North-east to be exempted from the coming elections due to the insecurity situation in the area, adding that it would disenfranchise the people. He also pointed that there is no much improvement in the country’s political and democratic culture, partially due to poverty and other reasons.
Also speaking, the former Nigerian ambassador to Libya, Professor Dandatti Abdulkadir who was also a close associate of Aminu Kano, recalled the struggle that led to the formation of the PRP, saying the party was formed out of protests against sidelining Aminu Kano from the leadership of the NPC, and that they got it hard before the then NPC government registered the party.