Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has linked insecurity and banditry in the country to failure of politicians to speak the truth to power, urging them to be bold and always speak truth irrespective of their political leanings.
He stressed that speaking truth to power in spite of their interests and the risks that might be involved would ensure a better and greater country.
Shaibu gave the charge when he hosted the maiden edition of the Catholic Politicians and Captains of Industry Forum (CPCIF) in Benin City, with the theme: “State of the Nigerian Nation: Catholic Politicians and Captains of Industry Forum Chats Way Forward for the Common Good.”
“If whatever we do reflects our doctrines, we won’t have the insurgency we are experiencing now. If we tell ourselves the truth, we will not have all the crises that are self-inflicted. We are the cause of our predicament.
“But I am happy that we now have a forum that we can use to tell ourselves the truth. We will continue to speak the truth. There are good people in government, just that majority of them are bad and the system is bad too. Until we fix the system and stop talking, Nigeria will remain where it is,” he stated.
The deputy governor, who pledged that the group would continue to speak truth to power, appealed to those who want to defect from their political parties to speak truth to power.
“When things are bad, say they are bad and we must find a way to provide a solution. Let us collectively continue to speak truth to power. If you are in a particular political party and things are not going well, be bold and speak the truth and if the leaders refuse to accept your advice, it doesn’t matter, continue to speak the truth,” he added.
Responding, Chairman of CPCIF, Prof. Pat Utomi, said: “If we all put on our thinking caps, if we look at intelligence, information and trends, we can predict things that will go wrong. And we can intervene to work and prevent those things from going wrong. All the problems we are experiencing in Nigeria today are predictable.
“Let’s also help to facilitate the building of institutions that will essentially socialise the young people into new sets of values that will make the society a better place for everybody.”
