Yayale Ahmed

Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, CFR (born 15 April 1952) is a Nigerian civil servant and politician who served as Defence Minister of Nigeria. Quotes As a patriotic Nigerian, I’m worried and disturbed. Worried not because of the fear that Nigeria may break up tomorrow but because Nigerians, who constitute Nigeria as a people, are not sincere with themselves. I am worried because certain things that are happening these days should have been avoided. Ordinarily, Nigerians have faith in their leaders but most of the leaders do not have faith in the nation. So, what is basically wrong is that there is near complete absence of patriotism and the commitment to the nation at the leadership level. When I say leadership level, it does not mean the President or those who constitute government. I mean every leader, including myself. I say so because ample opportunity has been given to all of us to really do something that is positive in terms of changing the fortunes of the less privileged but, over the years, we have really taken a different course of action by taking the interest of ourselves first, then others and the nation last. What I see as various happenings, especially those that will put the nation into threat or disintegration, are many but my worry does not extend to entertaining the fear that Nigeria will break soon. Why I say this is because I have studied the various groupings in this country, past leaderships, those who knew Nigeria, know Nigeria and are passionate about Nigeria and I have not seen a situation whereby some of these critical people have started to show lack of confidence in the federation. The truth of the matter is that we have all wronged ourselves. We have wronged each other. It is not the issue of saying that the North or the Hausa Fulani have ruled this country for more than two thirds of the time and, therefore, responsible for all the crises; it is not the issue of the Igbo trying to secede and coming back; it is not the issue of the Yoruba trying to dominate the economy.