A presidential aspirant on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mohammed Hayatudeen, has said the ongoing debate over zoning is distracting Nigerians from the urgent challenges facing the country.
Naijaonpoint reports Hayatudeen, an economist, banker and public policy expert, spoke on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm programme.
In a statement by his media office, the ADC chieftain said the national conversation should focus on insecurity, economic decline, unemployment and poverty, rather than the region where the next president should come from.
Hayatudeen said the country’s worsening security situation and economic hardship had made competence more important than geography.
He said, “Last week, 416 people were abducted and threatened with execution. What has that got to do with zoning? The thousands of our fellow citizens killed over the last three years, what has that got to do with zoning? The mother who cannot afford food, the father who cannot send his child to school, what has any of that got to do with zoning?”
He insisted that Nigeria needed leadership based on competence, character and empathy.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from. What matters is that you have the capacity, the skill, the vision and the deep empathy to deliver for every single Nigerian,” he said.
Hayatudeen argued that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity was connected to years of poor economic management.
According to him, the country’s economy has underperformed for decades, worsening poverty and making citizens more vulnerable.
He said, “Nothing happens in a vacuum. There has to be an underlying cause. The economy has been under-managed and has underperformed for at least 20 years.
“Consequently, poverty has increased five or sixfold, with about 110 million Nigerians now living below the poverty line.”
The ADC aspirant dismissed claims that the current insecurity was mainly election-driven, saying available data did not support such arguments.
“I am a numbers guy. I have compared the data with think tanks abroad and institutions within Nigeria. The evidence does not support that narrative,” he added.
‘ADC Aligns With My Vision’
Speaking on his decision to run under the ADC after previously seeking the presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Hayatudeen said the party’s ideology, leadership and manifesto aligned with his vision for Nigeria.
He said, “Their leaders are forthright, tenacious and experienced. They have the determination to mobilise everything required to contest and win elections at all levels.”
Hayatudeen said the ADC’s focus on addressing the cost-of-living crisis, insecurity, job creation and poverty eradication reflected his priorities and the needs of ordinary Nigerians.
The former banker also expressed concern over what he described as a shrinking democratic space in the country.
He alleged that actions by the government and its allies were limiting citizens’ freedom of political choice.
“What the government has done, through surrogates and instruments of state, is to muzzle the political space, making it difficult for Nigerians to exercise genuine freedom of choice,” he said.
