By Seye Olumide
Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, has described most politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as selfish elites.He made the claim in an interview with AIT yesterday.
Aliyu cautioned the masses and the downtrodden against fighting themselves over issues concerning the elite, saying the latter only cared about themselves. He said: “I want the masses, the downtrodden to see us as what we are, politicians. Most of us are not trustworthy, most of us are selfish, and most of us care for only ourselves because whenever you are part of a system, you don’t fight it.
“I want the masses of this country to understand that we, the elite, are one and the same, we are not enemies, Muslims or Christians, we are the same. Elite in the PDP and APC are one and the same.
“This is what I want the people to understand that at the elite level, we are one and the same. So, please the people of this country should not fight your brother because he’s a Muslim or a Christian, because he is a Fulani or an Igbo man because at our own level, we don’t fight or insult each other, or kill.”
MEANWHILE, former presidential candidate Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, yesterday chided opposition politicians who are employing ethnic rhetoric to gain political advantage against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 polls.
He said such tactics were a waste of time, old and obsolete and harmful to Nigeria’s unity and development. Olawepo-Hashim, in a statement he signed, warned that the continued deployment of ethnic sentiments in political discourse “is a distraction from the pressing issues confronting the nation.”
He, however, called for a shift toward solution-driven engagement that addresses Nigeria’s economic collapse, rampant insecurity and foreign policy failures.
The statement reads: “Those still stuck in the old game of ethnic blackmail should understand that Nigerians have outgrown that playbook. The people are looking for competent leadership, not ethnic champions.”
Olawepo-Hashim expressed particular concern over recent attempts to brand the administration of President Bola Tinubu a “Yoruba government,” dismissing such claims as both baseless and ironic.
