Aminu Bello Masari, the governor of Katsina state, has maintained his support for a power shift to the country’s south, stating that it will assist to solidify the country’s confederation system.

During a press conference conducted at Masari’s home on Tuesday, he said this in response to questioning from journalists.

He said, “Let me make my position very clear. This constitution is made for us, not us made for the constitution. Yes, the constitution does not say we must shift power, but if you shift have you violated any part of the constitution?”

“I still believe that, from my personal opinion as Aminu Bello Masari, until such a time when we have stable polity, I think rotation or shifting power from time to time will help consolidate our confederation. I support that and I still maintain my stand and I have the constitutional right to make such comment.”

Masari stated that he was a member of the constitutional conference in 1994/95, during which the Federal Character Commission was established, and that he was also a member of the transition committee in 1999, during which their committee proposed that each zone be given a five-year opportunity through the constitution, but that suggestion did not see the light of day.

As the 2023 general elections approach, he urged politicians, journalists, religious and traditional leaders to put the country’s interests ahead of their own.

He said, “We should see politics as a way and means of producing leadership under a democratic dispensation. Our politics is still very young, even from independence to date, you are talking of 60 years, which is important in the life of an individual, but in the life of a nation, it should be working progress.”

“We should measure where we were yesterday, where we are today and where we want to be tomorrow. The problem is that we are in a hurry that even before we finish crawling, we want to start running.”

Politicians, he said, needed to modify their mindsets because they have to understand the obligations and burdens of leadership, as well as the implications of running for any public office.

“I believe the journalists, in particular, have a very important role to play. For instance, as we approach 2023, the attention being created by the media is the fat salary and allowances of the National Assembly members, not on what the lawmakers are doing or what they are supposed to do. So the media created a situation whereby everybody wants to go there because there is money.”

“But to be fair to the media, some of us in the national assembly are also helping in creating that false impression by changing their ways of life in such a way that even their friends become envious,” the Governor said.