By Luka Binniyat
KADUNA— Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) has called on the National Assembly to stop creating new states, saying it would only add up to cost of governance and not development. Gowon also called on the National Assembly to introduce the collegiate system into the 2015 presidential elections.
Gowon spoke in Kaduna, Wednesday, through Alhaji Mohammed Aliko, Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, at a conference on the North and Strategies for Sustainable Development, organised by the Arewa House Centre for Historical Documentation and Research, Ahmadu Bello University.
Meanwhile, at the same forum, Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State has, however, asked northern leaders to stop encouraging religious and ethnic intolerance and work to adequately address the tolerance level among Nigerians.
The governor asked the organisers of the conference to recommend ways through which the North can cultivate trust and confidence, not only between different ethnicities, but also between the government and the governed, and how to create hope.
for future generations.
Yakowa said: "We must give credit to Nigerians and to God that Nigeria still remains a country, albeit beleaguered by towering insecurity challenges.
"In this difficult time, we must work assiduously to adequately address the tolerance level among our people, if we must succeed."
