A former Governor of Abia state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu on Wednesday maintained that a two-party structure is the best for Nigeria as it will go a long way in promoting healthy rivalry and virile democratic culture among the diverse Nigerian culture.
Kalu bared his mind on the best political structure for Nigeria to journalists shortly after a closed door meeting with Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger state at Government House, Minna as part of the former’s nationwide peace consultative tour.
According to him “two party system of government, is the best for Nigeria’s heterogeneous nature because it will promote platform for alternative viable opposition and further entrench democratic norms in the nation’s polity”.
Kalu argued that Nigeria and her citizenry should learn to imbibe democratic tenets and de-emphasize on acts capable of polarizing the country based on political differences.
He also lamented the security problem that has bedeviled the country saying that it is serious and should not be handled with levity adding that the citizens of the nation must not keep quiet and watch the country burn.
He said, “I have been going round to tell people that this country belongs to us. I have come to reaffirm the process of bringing peace back to the country, we must not stay and watch our country burning. We must find solution to the problems of the country. I am very disturbed with the way events are going because the insecurity is posing a lot of problems for businessmen.
“We are in a crossroad but people are seeing it as a laughing matter, it is not a laughing matter. It is affecting everyone, especially those of us in the private sector. What we are seeing today is the Indices Capacity Utilization going down. Although, the GDP may be growing but soon, it will reflect. This is a very serious problem. We should not fold our hands and see our country go down, we must come together and proffer solution.”
He added that, “to find a solution to the problems in the country, there should be an in-house consultation between the political leaders, business leaders, civil servants and the populace. We need to resolve differences, disagreements and a lot of irreconcilable issues.”
Responding, Governor Babangida Aliyu said he appreciated his concern for the state of the nation, adding that whatever affects one person, region or tribe in the country affects everyone.
According to him “It is good to know that the critical masses are now being concerned with the state of affairs of the nation.”
He assured that he was working with other governors to ensure that there is peace in the country stressing that the security challenges are being tackled.