By Olakunle Olafioye
The National President, Arewa United Consultative Forum (AUCF), Alhaji Shuaibu Ado Dansudu, has described the rate at which Boko Haram members are giving up arms and surrendering to the Nigerian government as an indication of the success of the nation’s war against insurgency.
Dansudu, who noted that neither Syria nor Afghanistan succeeded in getting terrorists waging war of insurrection against them in giving up their arms and embrace peace as Nigeria has done, in this interview, speaks on other topical national issues, including the travails of the duo of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho; the chances of the South in 2023; Niger Delta people’s grouse against the just assented Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), among other issues.
In the last few weeks a good number of Boko Haram members have returned to beg for forgiveness and to be reabsorbed into the society. What would you attribute this development to and are you not worried that this set of people may become additional security threat to the nation?
It is very heartwarming to note that some Boko Haram fighters are ready to give up and surrender to the Nigerian government. I am sure that security agencies and Nigerians would devote time and resources to monitor these people closely. As it is, it will be very hard for them to reorganize themselves with a view to wreaking havoc in the country now because all eyes would be on them. They themselves are quite aware that they cannot win the people’s heart and trust immediately. I said it long time ago that Nigeria needed to watch closely in the height of the Libya war because I knew that the arms used in that country would definitely end up in other neighbouring African countries and that was exactly what happened. But now that these people are now coming forward to surrender themselves and their arms, it is a good development for the country. The Federal Government, to a very large extent, has succeeded in living up to contain insurgency in a way most countries that are beset by a similar challenge have not been able to. Look at Afghanistan, for example, the Afghan government was able to hold it against the Taliban for as long as that country enjoyed the support of foreign countries like the US, but the moment they announced the withdrawal of their troops, the Taliban succeeded in overrunning the government. For long, the Taliban came under a serious fight, we did not hear of any single Taliban fighter giving up the fight or surrendering to the government. I am very impressed with the way the Nigerian government and the military have sustained the tempo of the war against insurgency. The result is what we are witnessing now. Even Syria did not succeed the way Nigeria has succeeded in pushing back these enemies. But our major problem in this country is sentiment. The insurgency war has claimed both the lives of Christians and Muslims, but some people have continued to paint it as a war by the Muslim government against Christians and Christianity, which is very unfortunate. Every right thinking Nigerian will attest to the fact that the Muslims suffer more than the Christians as far as insurgency is concerned in Nigeria.
It is being alleged in some quarters that the government is always quick to embrace insurgents who claimed to have repented while the likes of Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu who are believed to be protesting the ill-treatments and the alleged injustice against their people are treated worse than the so-called repentant terrorists who had killed, maimed and carried out heinous crimes against the nation. How would you assess government’s responses in both situations?
Whoever tells you that he is fighting the injustice being meted out to his people is only deceiving you. I don’t see any injustice which the people are complaining about. If you want to fight injustice, it should not be done with arms. The moment you take to arms you automatically becomes an enemy of the state because no government will fold its arms to such security threats. Even the Boko Haram members who claimed to have repented now, the government did not treat them like friends when they took up arms against the country; rather they were treated as enemies of the state. No responsible government will treat any group of individuals who take up arms against the state under any guise as friends. During the struggle for the independence of this nation, the people did not struggle with arms. Nelson Mandela fought for the freedom of the black people of South Africa without carrying weapons. It was because of this that the entire world queued behind them and in the end they got what they wanted, but when you take to arms, you lose the sympathy of the people and the government will descend on you like common criminals. Our people don’t understand what it means to fight for ones freedom, if they do, they would not resort to carrying arms. It is wrong to say that the Igbo are being marginalized. Every ethnic group will have its fair share at the appropriate time. There is no single position in this country that the Igbo have not occupied. During Jonathan’s administration, the Igbo were the ones who dominated the government and occupied every powerful position that was available then, but nobody complained. Sunday Igboho has a slightly different case with Kanu. Igboho’s major mistake is that he tried to personalise the challenge. To fight the herdsmen who he claimed were terrorizing his people, he should have collaborated with security agencies. Look at Amotekun now, they are set up for the purpose of fighting crime and criminality, but the government is not fighting them because they carry out their mandate within the confines of the law. Having said that, I think the Federal Government should, in the interest of peace, pardon both Igboho and Kanu to pave way for dialogue that will culminate in enduring peace.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday signed the PIB into law despite the outcry and call by the Niger Delta people for an upward review of the three per cent allocated for the host communities. Are you not surprised the call was not heeded to?
As much as I am in support of the view that the people of the Niger Delta deserve to be compensated for the degradation of their communities which has made it difficult for some of the people of the region to carry out their daily economic activities, we must not forget that the oil in question is Federal Government’s property. What should be of paramount concern of the people of Niger Delta and the Federal Government now is how to ensure that the people get the fair share of what the government has given to them. If the leaders of the region are judicious in spending what accrues to the region you would be surprised that the contention over what has been allocated to the region would not have arisen. There are too many leakages that is why the ordinary people of the area are complaining about what they are getting now. Without sounding disrespectful, the population of the Niger Delta is not up to the population of Kano State and when you consider what accrues to the region from the government and the oil companies operating in the area, you will agree with me that if the people in Yoruba land have access to such money, the region will develop far better than what it is now. The same thing will happen if the northerners have access to such money. But because the leaders in the region have refused to use the money as expected that is why the ordinary people of the zone don’t appreciate what is being given to the region. If the leaders in the region have been more judicious with what they get, Niger Delta would have become a miniature London by now.
President Buhari, a northerner, will be completing his second term in 2023, but surprisingly neither of the two dominant political parties has come out to zone the presidential ticket to the South. Don’t you think conceding the presidential ticket to the South will go a long way in easing the growing tension in the country?
The southerners are the enemies of themselves, but when the chips are down they will turn round to blame the northerners for their woes. If you would recall, Akintola, the first Premier of the South Western region never got the support of the people of the zone. MKO Abiola did not get the support of his southern people, but he got massive support from the people of the North. In the end, the southerners were discovered to have betrayed him and worked against the realization of the mandate given to him. Then after MKO, Obasanjo also aspired to become the president of the country, but again the southerners rejected him. Obasanjo was so antangonised that he did not win the election at his own polling unit. Had he lost the election, the Southerners would have turned around to accuse the North of working against them. Now, we are shouting and campaigning for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but some Southerners are grumbling. God forbid, if Asiwaju fails, the people will turn round again to blame it on the North. Meanwhile, as we speak now, Tinubu is enjoying the massive support of the people of the North ahead of 2023 in spite of the fact that he is yet to declare his ambition. Whoever the South presents for 2023 whether a Yoruba candidate, Igbo or somebody from the South-south will get the support of the North. It is never the responsibility of the North to decide who the South should present, but I can assure you that the North will be willing to support the South in 2023.