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From Sola Ojo, Abuja
Sheikh Ahmed Gumi is a Kaduna-based Islamic scholar and commentator on local, national, and international affairs.
In this interview, he bared his mind on the current economic realities in the country, renewed calls for new Constitution, banditry in the Northwest and the need for governors to invest judiciously on education, health, agriculture and energy, among other sundry issues.
There is a recent concern bordering on the need for a new constitution because many believe that the current Constitution is just a ‘borrowed book’ and does not represent the interest of the generality of Nigerians. What is your position?
I support the drive, but the timing is not right. Any attempt by the government to tamper with the Constitution now is like opening a Pandora’s box. Nigerians are already angry and tensed up. Their brains are not cool now to sit and come up with a constitution that everyone can be proud of. The current constitution is not a problem. The problem is in its implementation. Democracy itself gives equal opportunity to all citizens. But in practice, only a few are getting the dividend of democracy especially here in Nigeria. Now that we are facing a very stubborn economic situation, Nigeria is not in its right senses to tamper with the constitution. If we do, it won’t end well.
Again, a few weeks ago, the Federal Government, through the office of the Defence Ministry, mobilised Security Chiefs to Sokoto as a way of confronting and combating banditry in the Northwest. How did you receive that news?
You see, banditry in this region is a very long-standing issue people are coming to understand better now. It is an issue between the crop growers and animal rearers, which is now turning into an ethnic issue. But, these animal rearers, after the kinetic pressure, are trying to raise the religious card thereby making it difficult to deal with. The past military chiefs under the eight years of Muhammadu Buhari told us that the kinetic approach is about 25 per cent while the remaining 75 per cent was the non-kinetic approach. If they could spend about N14 trillion on kinetic with the results on the ground, can we say the approach is working? If we have spent half of that money on non-kinetic approach, don’t you think we would have gone farther? Buhari spent $500 million on getting 12 Super Tucano propeller jets. These are jets used for military training. If we are to go to war with any neighbouring country with those jets, our enemies would have just been using ordinary handheld greenades to bring them down. If we have spent one-third of that money to rehabilitate the displaced people, pacify the agitation by the animal rearers, there would have been peace. So, we are spending money in the wrong way. Now, if these people relocate to Sokoto to form a new nexus to fight banditry, a wrong message may have been sent to them which I will not like to mention here now. Banditry is a guerilla warfare, different from fighting to protect our territorial integrity. No military has been able to conquer guerilla. America suffered in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Faloja. Israel is suffering in a small Gaza Strip. Tell me where military has conquered guerilla? So, it is like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly. The fly will keep escaping, but the hammer will be destroying things in the house. Even if you eventually kill the fly, will you say that is efficient?
What should they have done differently?
Luckily, I told this government earlier that kinetic pressure will not help it to solve this problem. Look at how we offered amnesty to agitators in the Niger Delta to stop vandalising oil pipelines. I understand, that our economy was at stake. Government think these animal rearers in the forest are not consequential. No, they have destroyed agriculture and displaced people. So they are equally if not important than the militants in the Niger Delta because the geographical area involved is larger than just creeks. Compare the number of local people in agriculture to that of oil. We should deal with them the way we deal with Niger Delta militants. Some people are arguing that Niger Delta militants were not doing what these bandits are doing. That was just because they were not allowed to be under pressure. They also got international support which made it difficult for the Federal Government to just go to the creeks and start bombarding them unlike what we have here. But because of their ignorance, they turned against their fellow masses who they think the government is protecting.
So, what is your specific position on the relocation of these people to Sokoto?
Embarrassing. Honestly, the military has hierarchy and they are so organised to make that hierarchy work. They are divided into brigades, battalions, platoons etc. So, if I relocate my headquarters to address a local problem, you are only telling the world that something is wrong with your hierarchy and soldiers.
Are there any good deeds under this administration so far?
Yes, I think so, a few things quickly. The local government autonomy Tinubu put in place is a plus for him. He should be fast in implementing it so that money can go back to the grassroots. Another good thing he did was the creation of livestock ministry. He should quickly put it to work too. If these two areas are well put to work, bulk of our problems will reduce drastically.
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How would you describe this government in the ways and manners it is managing the economy? Is Tinubu government bad?
Tinubu is trying to rectify the blunders of Buhari’s government. But, I think, he’s doing it the wrong way. He’s doing it in haste without considering the consequences on the downtrodden. Yes, some decision may be painful, yet, people should come first. Long time ago, when someone has a fracture that needed attention, you have to gather hefty men to pin him down to reset the bone. Meanwhile, the person will be shouting pain. Today, there is anesthesia. You only need the doctor, his assistant and a nurse in the theatre to reset the bone. So, what Tinubu needs is to anesthesised the country. One of such was the distribution of 20 trucks of rice to each state which is just like a drop in the ocean. He needs a very strong economic team to assist him in putting the economy on a right pedestal.
But he has been asking Nigerians to be patient and make sacrifice…?
(Cuts in) Yes, but we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. Every action has its level of diminishing return. There is a time to be telling people to be patient. There is a time such plead will get out of control. We don’t want to reach that stage
You used to call Tinubu, Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso friends before the 2023 presidential election. Are you still holding that belief today?
Yes, they are. Forget all these media paparazzi you are seeing. However, Tinubu needs to call them and see how they can come together by way of bringing their idea of governing the country if they had been elected, to the table. Nigeria needs as many experts as we can get now to salvage the situation we have found ourselves.
So, with this socio-political atmosphere, do you think Tinubu can survive 2027 election if nothing tangible is not done before then?
Why not, if he does things in satisfaction of the vast majority of Nigerians. There is still time for him to correct those things. However, with the current economic situation, it will be very difficult. Even his campaign team will not be able to face the country now.
Away from that, how do you think the governors can help Mr. President to deliver good governance to the people especially now that they have more allocation following the subsidy removal?
Governors can do a lot around health, agriculture and education rather than embarking on projects that benefit a few people. For example, we have a Shoprite now in Kaduna, courtesy of the immediate past administration in the state. But so many petty traders were displaced for that big supermarket to come to be despite the fact that microeconomy is the key driver of the economy. Supermarket is good, right, but do you need to destroy several lives for a few? So, governors should focus their attention and energy on things that benefit everyone especially education, health and agriculture. If governors can concentrate on them, the Federal Government work will be easier and Nigeria will heal fast. Every Nigerian used to benefit from subsidy, but not every Nigerian benefit from palliative. Not everyone will benefit from the so-called minimum wage too because not everyone is employed by the government. The best is for him to go and learn how subsidy and social welfare work in England, America, Germany. Qatar and Dubai, don’t even tax their citizens, yet they are doing fine. He needs to learn how other countries subsidise education, health, agriculture and energy without being hijacked by a few people as they claimed. With that, everyone will be fine and that will mean you don’t need to give palliatives or increase salaries often.
What is your key message to Mr. President and Nigerians alike?
My message to Mr. President is to get intelligent economic team together to help him. This team must comprise intelligent Nigerians, including those that have diverse political view with him. Most of those around him now are not interested in project Nigeria, but on how to fill their pockets. One good thing about him is that he doesn’t have a cabal like his immediate predecessor. So, if he can get experts from every field irrespective of their political persuasion, I think Nigeria will move forward. To the citizens, we have to understand that leadership is not just the Federal Government. We should not take prayers for our country for granted irrespective of our persuasion. God has put us in this country to be its custodians. So, we should try to be faithful, try to help one another.
