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…Says Tinubu should step up moves towards restructuring
By Dickson Okafor
Christopher B. Sarki, National Chairman, Coalition to Strengthen Democracy for Good Governance Initiative (CSDGGI) and former Route Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), is not happy with the position taken by some northern leaders, who advocated for dialogue with the terrorists and bandits daily causing mayhem, killing, kidnapping people and demanding ransom.
In this interview, he proffers solutions to major national issues and urges President Bola Tinubu to put restructuring on the front burner.
Government said every individual, the women who sell sachet (pure) water at motor parks and markets, must have tax identification number. What is the implication of this demand given the hardship Nigerians are going through?
In general terms, the tax reform process initiated by the Bola Tinubu administration is a right step in the right direction. However, the reforms must have a human face. The ordinary citizens are in fact over-burdened by some details that are emerging, and which relate to the citizens in the low income group who are a big burden on them. I don’t know how the woman who sells sachet water, soft drinks, groundnut and biscuits in a kiosk in the local market or the nearby shop on a residential street should be expected to go and register for Tax Identification Number at the office of the Nigerian Revenue Service.
Ordinary Nigerians are facing severe hardship at this time. Then there is the issue of the five percent fuel tax which the government said that it has suspended. The government deserves commendation for listening to the cries of the ordinary citizens who ultimately would have borne the burden of the petrol tax. It is not ideal to impose such taxation on poor Nigerians who are finding it difficult to feed. If government had gone ahead to implement the fuel tax, the people would not have been able to withstand the pains.
When he was not in office, President Bola Tinubu strongly endorsed and canvassed for restructuring and fiscal federalism. If you have opportunity to talk with him one-on-one, what you would tell him about restructuring?
It is surprising that when politicians are outside leadership position they align with popular wishes of the people but when they get elected they renege on such demand. It is common knowledge that Tinubu was a supporter of restructuring and promoter of fiscal federalism. So, if I have opportunity to speak with him one-on-one as the President of Nigeria, I will encourage him to go ahead and restructure the country, especially as he is going ahead to establish state police which is part of restructuring. I will let him know the importance of power residing in the regions as was the case in the First Republic, before the 1966 coup. Before and immediate after Independence in 1960, when the Southwest depended on cocoa and the Southeast depended on palm oil production and the North earned revenue from groundnut. These regions competed in terms development. Then leaders preferred to be elected as Premier of their regions than being the Prime minister because power then rested with people. What obtained then is unlike today where governors run to Abuja to collect monthly allocations. So, I strongly urge President Tinubu to take a bold step to drive the restructuring of the country.
Notable individuals have called on communities to defend themselves by forming strong vigilante groups. The Director General of the DSS supported the idea of communities defending themselves with arms. What is your view on arming communities for self-defense?
By all indications, the security situation has improved under the watch of the Chief Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa. With the present security arrangement the call for on communities to defend themselves is not the answer. Rather communities should pass information to the security agencies of any suspicious persons or groups in their domain. Virtually all communities have formed strong vigilante groups to compliment the military and DSS. If the military and other security agencies are well equipped there is no need to arm communities for self-defense. If it’s done that means we have given up on our security agencies, which to me is not proper. The military, DSS and other security agencies have lived up to expectation hence all they need is further encouragement by the government and Nigerians.
The security successes recorded by the military and other security agencies since inception of the present administration is because the security architecture assembled by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Christopher Musa has been commended by Nigerians and globally for arrest of terrorist kingpins in collaboration with the Armed Forces, intelligence agencies, and other security stakeholders. If you look at the Southeast, conviction and imprisonment of Simon Ekpa in Finland should bring relief to the zone. For six years, the people of Southeast were forced to sit-at-home every Monday by Simon Ekpa and his renegade group of armed miscreants. The zeal deployed by the government for the rendition of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria, should also be applied to capture the leaders of Boko Haram, Ansaru, Lakurawa and other terrorist elements and bandits. The activities of terrorists, bandits and armed murderous Fulani herdsmen are still going on because their sponsors have not touched. Sponsors of terrorism and banditry are known through their utterances in the public space and through the media as they use it to threaten the government. There should be no hiding place for them. On international perception, the United Nations through its Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Simao’ raised alarm at the opening of the Regional Conference on Combating Emerging Terrorist Groups and Strengthening Sustainable Security in the ECOWAS Region and Sahel, organized by the National Terrorism Centre (NCTC) that West Africa and the Sahel, have overtaken the Middle East as the new hub of global terrorism. Because the region accounted for the highest fatalities and most terrorized countries in 2024. But Nigeria is succeeding in eradicating terrorism and banditry in the Northeast, Northwest and North Central with the unrelenting efforts of the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Musa, the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu and other security agencies.
The CDS, Gen Christopher Musa, officers and men of the Armed Forces should be commended for the capture of two Ansaru terrorist leaders, namely, Mahmud Muhammad Usman (a.k.a Abu Bara’a), the self-styled “Emir of Ansaru” and Mahmud Al-Nigeri a.k.a Mallam Mamuda). These two are some of the most wanted notorious terror kingpins of the Ansaru terrorist network who have been on the watch list of the security agencies. They were captured after an intensive operation by the military and security forces that spanned several months. This terrorist group was responsible for masterminding several terrorist operations in Nigeria, high profile kidnapping, and the 2022 Kuje jailbreak.
Northern elders have urged the Federal Government to take decisive action against insecurity and to dialogue with bandits. Does the demand of the northern elders indicate that the military and other security agencies have not lived up to expectation in tackling insecurity?
The security crisis is not peculiar to Nigeria; it is a global and regional challenge. Recently, the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru said military force is not enough to curb the menace in Nigeria because of funding with regards to the economic situation. For this reason and to deal with the huge security challenge, President Tinubu has agreed to the establishment of state police. This step will support efforts to address security concerns across the country and end the menace of insecurity. Already, Gen Christopher Musa has ordered soldiers to dismantle checkpoints and go into the bushes to fish out terrorists and bandits. Already, Battalion Commanders now know that they could face court martial proceedings if there is any attack within their jurisdictions. So, the call on the Federal Government by Northern elders to dialogue with bandits is an insult on the Nigeria military men who are fighting day and night to combat insecurity.
