Correctional centres better than military cell, Sani reveals
Ahead of the 2027 general election, Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe, yesterday, said Nigeria is ripe for a female president.
Citing an example of the United Kingdom (UK), which has had three female Prime Ministers, the monarch expressed confidence that a female president would perform well for the country.
The traditional ruler made the call at the public presentation of Senator Chris Anyanwu’s autobiography, ‘Bold Leap,’ held at the National Universities Commission (NUC) auditorium in Abuja.
He also cited an example of Dame Virginia Etiaba, the first female governor in Nigeria who was governor of Anambra State from November 2006 to February 2007.
He said: “Anambra State has had a female governor in the person of Dame Etiaba. To change our situation, we need people like Chris Anyanwu who can change the situation because she is still a fighter.
“In Nigeria, we have been talking and talking and talking and I think it is time we began to do something. We have two alternatives. It is either we keep milking the cow until it dies because of our sectional interests, which we tend to protect, and our interest for people going to public service, not to serve the public, but to serve their interest.
“So we keep doing that and bleed the cow to death, or improve the opposite, and place Nigeria above everything else.”
Also, Senator Shehu Sani stated that prison was a better experience for him compared to the military underground cell where he was initially detained in 1995.
The human rights activist also revealed the harrowing experiences of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and late General Shehu Yar’Adua while they were in Kirikiri prison.
In March 1995, Yar’Adua, alongside Olusegun Obasanjo, Lawan Gwadabe, and others were arrested on allegations of plotting a coup to overthrow the General Abacha regime.
Sani and Anyanwu were among the pro-democracy activists and dissidents who were rounded up and jailed by the military junta.
Sani, who was also imprisoned alongside Obasanjo and Yar’Adua, said both leaders were subjected to humiliation and insults by junior soldiers.
