- Abdullahi says Nigeria is far behind in achievements even 57 years after independence - The professor also said the problem started with late ex-military leader Murtala Muhammad - Abdullahi also revealed that President Buhari will not get an automatic ticket as APC's presidential candidate in 2019 Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) Ango Abdullahi has described Nigeria as a failure as the country clocks 57 years of independence on October 1. Abdullahi told Daily Sun in an interview that when compared to other countries that gain independence around the same period, the nation is a failure. He said: “If I was a teacher marking Nigeria from 1960, or a teacher marking Nigeria’s script as one of my students of over these 57 years, I will grade her a failure. “As you said, we will be 57 years and the question is, have all those aspirations been achieved? The honest answer is no. “When you look at it from the point of view of the opportunities available, the resources available, the chances available, both internal and external and you sum all these up, including the human capital, I will say that Nigeria failed to achieved the goals and aspirations it set for itself and for its people. “There are benchmarks with which one can base this conclusion. There are quite a number of countries we virtually achieved independence either together or almost at the same time. “Some of the references used in gauging our development indices are India, in 1948 and Malaysia. Malaysia has really moved faster in their development endeavours. Unfortunately, despite all the endowments, Nigeria has failed to achieve the goals expected of it since independence."