I am worried about the kind of democracy we practise in Nigeria – Zakari

Larai Mohammed Zakari is a retired comptroller of Immigration and a diplomat of international standard. She spoke on Nigeria’s democracy; the performance of the administration in Adamawa State, and need for Nigerians to vote for credible and qualified people into governance positions. Blessing Adimabua brings the excerpts:

Can you give us an overview of your assessment of Nigeria Democratic journey in the last 26 years?

As far as I am concerned, we have not gone anywhere yet considering the countries I have visited in the course of my working career; because things are very difficult for Nigerians under our so-called democracy. My last assignment was in Italy where I spent four years and some months as a Diplomat in the Nigerian Embassy in Rome. Honestly, if I tell you what I saw in Italy, I can tell you that we have not achieved anything, democratically.

What do you think we can do to strengthen our democratic process?

The only thing we can do as a nation in need of good governance is to choose the right people for leadership roles right from the councillors to the federal level. There should be honesty in our choice of choosing our leaders. There should be no sentiment at all.

Recently in Adamawa State and all over the country, people are decamping from one political party to another. What is your reaction?

You see in democracy, people have the right to choose where they want to belong to, so it is their choice to choose where they want to belong to. As a matter of fact, politics is much more of interest and where you think you can be happy to serve humanity.

There are calls from your people for you to run for an elective office come 2027. Are you ready to answer that call?

You know I just retired last year June, and 2027 is still far for anybody to start talking about running for any elective office now. When the time for politics comes if my people want me, I will do the necessary consultations before making any statement in regards to that.

Can you give us an assessment of the performance of the Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri in the last six years. Are you happy so far with what he has done?

Yes, he has tried to change the narratives in the area of infrastructural development of the state. Come 2027, the state needs somebody that will continue from where he will stop and I believe that the political parties in Adamawa State will present credible candidates that our people can choose from that will perform like the present Governor, Umaru Fintiri.