In this television interview, human rights crusader and public commentator, Senator Shehu Sani, speaks on insecurity, poverty, general backwardness in the North among other issues. He said former President Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria in the hands of both terrorists and bandits. Excerpts:
What is responsible for the resurgence of suicide bombing in the North?
First and foremost, the issue of suicide bombing or terrorism in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, particularly in Borno State has been with us for over a decade now. And everywhere in the world, fighting terror is not a 24-hour operation that can come to an end from one to 24.
To understand what is happening in Borno State, it’s important to go through the journey so far. If you can remember, the killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, sometime in 2009/2010 led us to where we are today. And during the time of former President Goodluck Jonathan, our cities, particularly those in the North were unsafe. Bombings in the mosques, bombings in Churches, in supermarkets, markets were the order of the day.
Then came President Muhammadu Buhari, with Buhari eight years tenure, he inherited terrorism and before he left, he left the country in the hands of both terrorists and bandits. Now under Jonathan the cities were unsafe and then under Buhari, rural areas now became unsafe. And it’s no more about bombing but it’s about kidnapping, it’s about killings, it’s about slaughtering of farmers and attacking schools. And that was the case for eight years. And then the coming in of this administration is what they inherited.
But coming from Kaduna, if I’m going to make an example, I will make an example with my state, and all I know is that in the last more than one year, there has been one school, which is a primary school in Kurida, that was attacked in the Tuku local government. Within the period under Buhari, we have had attacks and high schools, students were kidnapped, ransom was paid by parents and they sold everything they had.
“Then came President Muhammadu Buhari, with Buhari eight years tenure, he inherited terrorism and before he left, he left the country in the hands of both terrorists and bandits”
We had an attack on Greenfield University in Kaduna, students were kidnapped and they had to pay over N200 billion ransom, Federal School of Agriculture Mechanisation in Mando within Kaduna city was attacked, which parents had to pay ransom. And there was an attack on Kaduna State Polytechnic and even the Nigerian Defence Academy was attacked.
And I can also remember that Kaduna – Abuja road attacks and kidnappings almost became a daily tragedy for people who ply that route. And you can also remember the attack on the train in Kaduna.
So, for us, when I say that the situation is comparatively better now than it used to be, I back it up with statistics we have on the ground. The bombing in Borno is a continuation of the terror activities of Boko Haram group and I believe that if you look at the local governments that have been under occupation or domination by terror groups, you will see that Gwoza, at least, has remained as one of the local governments liberated.
I have seen the governor of Borno State most times visiting some of these local governments and I have also seen the fact that some of these terror kingpins were eliminated but you can’t end terrorism within 24 hours.
Some of these attacks by terrorist groups are something we have to live with until the time in which we are going to succeed but terror attacks by female bombers and other attacks on schools and crowded locations of soft targets are something we have been seeing for some time now. It has gone down, but it has now happened. So, it is a message to us that vigilance and continuous effort by our security forces is very important and we shouldn’t be complacent.
To think that when there is silence means everything is gone, sometimes, you cannot differentiate between a sleeping snake and a snake that is dead, so with illustrations like this, these are things we should expect. There should be continuous vigilance to make sure that this never occurs again.
How worried are you about the future of the North in terms of insecurity, out of schoolchildren and weaponisation of poverty?
I come from northern Nigeria, particularly Kaduna State. If there is a place that I would love to see people prosper and live in peace and harmony, and be able to go about their daily business is where I come from. But the situation in the northern part of Nigeria actually is a product of failure of governance and leadership that has happened in this country for over three to four decades.
Political power that ought to have been used by people who come from our own country, to improve on the economy, to better the lives of people to address the problems of poverty, destitution, and underdevelopment in general has actually not been utilised for other purposes.
Yes, we have some of the richest businessmen and politicians in the country, but the levels of poverty you have seen are a reflection of what leadership and the opportunity of power was used for.
In all indices, the North lags behind. And then sometimes you ask, what has all this power been used for? That’s why I think if any person will compare what is happening in the North to South part of Nigeria, he will wonder if actually power has not been toxic to our people.
It has not been used for the benefits of our people for a very long time. Look at the child mortality rate; look at the out of school children statistics, poverty statistics in northern Nigeria, insecurity, banditry in the North West, and then terrorism in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.
Educationally, the North has been backward even from independence. But with efforts made by the likes of Sardauna and subsequent leaders, at least there is some appreciable level of development, but we’re still lagging behind. Now, the next thing is insecurity. Most schools in rural areas in northern Nigeria where schools have closed down were as a result of activities of terror groups in the North East and North Western part of Nigeria.
Then we had someone who took over the reins of leadership from the North. There was so much hope and expectations. We thought this issue of insecurity will be addressed, issue of out of school children, poverty, but eight years later that was not the case.
So, to me, I think the North and our people need to do soul searching. If you want power, you should have an agenda. You should have a programme, you should have policies, you should have known the problems and solutions to such problems. This is what power should be used for.
Destitution in the North is not only a threat to the people but of the whole country. For example, in Zamfara State, if you are kidnapped from Niger State, you are most likely to be transported by bikes. If you are kidnapped from Kaduna State, they take you to Zamfara State to get refuge there, because it has become a hub full of terror groups in the North Western part of Nigeria.
The expectation from many people was that when there is an opportunity to have someone who takes over the reins of leadership that comes from our own part of the country that understands our problem, that the problem will be solved.
At a certain time in the history of this country, all the security apparatus from the Army, Navy, Police, Air Force, Civil Defence, paramilitary groups -our military institutions, like Customs, Immigration, Prison service and even the DSS were all manned by northerners. What has come out of that? The situation has become worse.
The North has the potential of being the richest part of the country. We have the largest landmass, almost 65 percent of Nigeria. We have the population. We have an arable land, we have the best vegetation you can think of and we have resourceful people who can do well for Nigeria and the world. All that is needed is to harness the resources.
But President Buhari appointed all military and paramilitary chiefs from the North, and attracted criticisms for constituting a lopsided government….
I think I will advise president Tinubu to be careful not to make the mistake of President Buhari and I believe he is experienced enough to understand this.
Under President Buhari, you had ministers that were appointed into office for a whole of eight years, his first and second tenure and there was no cabinet reshuffle. There was no removal even where there was removal; it took sometimes a month to 4 months to replace a minister.
That was the way the country was governed. Now, it is important for any person who wants to preside over a complex country like ours, a diverse country and multicultural, multi-region country like ours, to take cognizance of the fact that if he is interested in results, then competence should be his watchword.
And he should appoint people who are competent who can deliver and who have the knowledge of where they are going to be assigned to.
We had a Minister of Education who said he knew nothing about education and he was appointed to serve. But then he was there. We had ministers of FCT, Aviation, not just about that, but they also appoint people in different MDAs where their tenure expired and then they add two more years, and when that expires, they add even two weeks; that is the way the country is.
To me, I think if a leader wants to succeed, the first thing he should do is he must make sure that people who are around him should have something to deliver in line with his vision, in line with his own focus and interest in terms of moving the country forward and delivering the services they were meant to carry out.
Under Buhari, we saw nepotism at its peak. In the case of Bola Tinubu, it’s just one year in office, but I think he is there as a witness to see how people were appointed into office simply for the fact that they were loyalists and they delivered nothing and the government ended up in jeopardy.
If you remember what happened with the Service Chiefs, they were retained in office despite their failure and by retaining them, you destroy the career of those who are behind them for many years. Many officers were retired in order to appoint one person and when that person was appointed and his time was due, he was still retained and in the process, many officers were also dismissed as a result of that.
So to me, I will say that if this country has to move forward, then we must treat the issue of competency as qualification for appointment. Naturally, if you are a politician, the first thing you think about when you win are those who worked for you.
Is the North happy with President Bola Tinubu?
Okay, my tweet is to bring the attention of northern political elites with regards to the situation we are in. This is a country of diversity and people take seriously the choice of whoever is going to lead us. It is wrong in a country like this for one part of the country to dominate political power forever simply because of its population or because of its size. Before we talk about your ambition, you should first of all talk of the nation, talk of the unity of the country. There must be a country before you talk of your ambition.
When I made that tweet, I was not making a specific reference to President Bola Tinubu. But I’m speaking in the principles of rotation of power from 2015 to 2023; a northerner was in the helm of affairs which is in the person of Muhammadu Buhari. So it is fair and just that political parties in Nigeria should fill only southern candidates for them to complete the whole eight years tenure.
There is nothing wrong with the PDP fielding Mr. Peter Obi or Ugwuanyi of Enugu State. There is nothing wrong with APC fielding Bola Tinubu, but what I wanted the political elite in the North East is that for the eight years, which Buhari has served as the president of this country, there has not been any significant political force from the South that challenged his leadership and that it will be in the interest of the PDP to look at this equation and say that now is the time to rotate power.
Whatever your political affiliation, people have the right because the Constitution has not barred any person from contesting elections. But if you want this country united, if you want this country in peace, if you want this country to continue to exist as an invisible and indissoluble nation, I think it’s important that you take the issue of the principle of rotation very seriously.
And that if we have a power being rotated from North to South, a lot of issues that have been brought here will be addressed. For example, before the coming of Jonathan, there were a lot of violence, attack on pipelines and so much crises and then the South South part of Nigeria, but they have now seen one of theirs, as the President; they feel that they’re also part of this enterprise as shareholders in the enterprise and that they have equal stake like any other person.
So, it will be an act of magnanimity for those with ambition from the North, to look at whether the PDP, whether the Labour, or any other party to say, okay, now, let us give them. The North can say, now we’re coming together. We failed to address our problem with the power we had for eight years; it is an opportunity and these problems are real.
For eight years, we would address the Mambilla hydroelectric power; we could address the problem of dredging the River Niger. We couldn’t do anything about Ajaokuta; Kaduna- Abuja route to Kano was left uncompleted and many things were left undone; we were worse off in insecurity and poverty was at its highest level in the North.
Again, is the North happy with Tinubu?
Well, I think that question can be answered by the Arewa Consultative Forum or the Northern Elders or any person who has the command to speak on behalf of the North which of course, there is none.
All I know is that generally in the country, people are feeling the pains of economic reforms; there is poverty, hunger, there is hardship.
But we have been assured that it is the inconvenience of a construction site and you cannot quantify or determine by saying this is the beauty of a building when it is still under construction. So one year is still time, there’s still time, and I believe that is not just enough, but in most parts of the country, people are not happy because of the economic situation besetting the country.
But it’s a natural thing with reforms in Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil and Argentina. But once the result comes with beautiful food, sweet foods, people will change their opinion. So, when you are building a house, there’ll be inconvenience. I believe this is what we’re facing.
So people are not happy because the subsidy has been removed and there’s so much poverty but if the government can address the problem of poverty as they unfold their programmes like the conditional cash transfer and increase in wages, I believe that hopefully things will change.
“When you are building a house, there’ll be inconvenience. I believe this is what we’re facing”
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike asked you when you were in the Senate, how much significance did you make in making Nigeria better?
Wike is my good friend, I would have preferred to reply him in an event rather than on TV, and I think I have attended two events where he strategically placed himself to speak last and make sure that nobody replies and I believe that when an opportunity comes next, I’m going to take him on, but nobody can demean the struggle which we did to free Nigeria from military dictatorship.
Mike Ozekhome was a patriot; if not for the struggle we did to destabilize the military dictatorship in Nigeria and restore democracy in Nigeria, people like Wike couldn’t have been a local government chairman and governor or minister today.
He’s a beneficiary of our struggle and sweat and all that we have invested in it. And there was a certain time I was in Port Harcourt as a political prisoner. Where was he at that very time?
But I think what he said, though people have over blown it, is that there are gains in democracy. It is not only about condemnation and in my own case, what is it? It is about what have we done in the Senate? It wasn’t specific; he was talking in general terms. So, I can take that personally, but I will say that he is a beneficiary of the struggle, which Nigerians have committed and dedicated their life to and I hope he will understand.
But I believe that next time we go to an event since I know his formula of speaking last and then closing the chapter and everybody should go, it will never happen. He will certainly get a reply; he knows me very well and it’s even later I learned that we are age mates, but I believe that he will get my reply next time we find ourselves in any forum.
