By Daniel Kanu
Alhaji Yerima Shettima, activist and president, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) in this exclusive chat with Sunday Sun, speaks on some national issues, including state police and its challenge, EFCC battle with Yahaya Bello, off-cycle election, verdict on President Bola Tinubu and the hardship in the country. Excerpt:
The National Assembly is currently discussing the idea of endorsing or settling for state police structure which is believed in many quarters will better tackle insecurity in the country. What is your take on this?
State police is very important and I have spoken about it on many occasions and as it is today I think it is apt. We have advanced beyond just mere rhetoric and imagination as it is today and actions must be taken. We need that practical step; people need to play a strong part if the aims must be well achieved. We cannot achieve much with this central police attitude. We cannot continue as it is today with this central, federal attitude because that is not what obtains in some other parts of the globe as security is a serious issue. In the policing of a community, policing of a state, policing of a nation, everybody must be involved. We need the community police, the state police to complement what the federal police are doing. What we are witnessing today is a new dawn. We never envisaged it this way, but it has come to stay. We must not continue with the present status quo as it is rather we need to improve on it so as to adequately tackle the present security challenge which is far from what we used to face. Security challenge is today more sophisticated as we used to witness, so there is need to incorporate new strategy, both the community and state tactics to beef up the federal power. Intelligence gathering is at different levels that the community, the state and everybody needs to be part of it. And in all, the community police, the state and the federal ones need to be well equipped. In most countries of the world they have both the federal, the state, the community and county police, and even their universities have their own police. All is geared towards ensuring good policing, good intelligence gathering and nobody is left out. Crime is getting more complex and it should be tackled from all levels. All will work together, but they know their boundaries as given by the law. It will make security work to be proactive, rather than just reactionary. As it is today, the federal police are mostly reactionary. They react to crimes that are being committed on daily basis but we want a situation where it will not just be reacting to the crime, but where crimes will be proactively tackled so that we can protect the country better and at the end of the day the country will be better for it and the people will know that their safety is guaranteed. The country needs to get better so that people, Nigerians can go back and sleep with their eyes closed. What is on the ground in terms of a centralized police is not producing the needed result. It is not the best option for Nigeria.
How will you react to the reality of the hardship being witnessed by Nigerians today contrary to their thinking before President Tinubu took over power that his leadership will give them better life that cannot be compared to the Buhari era?
You know in this life for things to get better sometimes you have to pass through hard time before you begin to amend to make it better. Sometimes, you first make your mistakes before correcting them. But to be fair to President Tinubu, without assuming the position of his spokesperson, he inherited bad legacy from Buhari. The fact of the matter is that Buhari’s eight years put the country on its knees and there is nothing to pretend about it. Tinubu inherited all of the problems, the reason things are difficult because you still need time to clear the mess. The earlier we understand this, the better because even the best of reforms do not start producing result immediately. We have to accept the reality and should not expect immediate magic. The reality today also is that we want President Tinubu to perform magic, but ask yourself whether it is possible. Although most of us still have our reservations and we are still watching events, but so far you need to give him benefit of the doubt. I am happy he understands some of the things going on and he is taking action. There is the need for him to rejig his cabinet so that he will work better.
Can you also speak on the issue of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) battle against Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi State?
EFCC is doing media trial of Yahaya Bello. Even before they finish investigation they have already started convicting the person in their media trial and in perception. EFCC will never do deep investigation and complete it, so as to have a good case, but they will not, especially on big cases and you can see them losing high political cases after they have done their media trial and conviction of the individual. How many high profile cases have EFCC won? From the information we have, they never invited Yahaya Bello, they have never given him fair hearing, but already they have gone to the media making noise and that is where they lost the whole battle.. We have gone beyond that. Yahaya Bello is a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should be treated according to the provisions of the law. Here is not a banana republic that anything goes unchallenged. You cannot just do anything you want to do on him because of personal grudges. Why don’t they allow the court to decide first before doing what they are doing? What they are doing has shown that they are biased already and this is bad. You should not do media trial and conviction when the person is still innocent before the court. Nobody is above the law, and I am happy he has filed a legal suit against the anti-corruption agency. Even if he did what they are accusing him of, they should not be a judge in their own case. They must follow the process that is spelt out by the law. This is not a Banana Republic as I said earlier, we are a country regulated, bound by law and order and we must adhere to the provisions of the law to guide our actions. Even when you feel or know that a person or individual committed a certain offence, it is not in your place to do the job of the judge. You cannot be a judge in your own case. I expect the Chairman of the EFCC, who is also a lawyer to know better. You cannot be emotional in matters of the law; you simply need evidence beyond reasonable doubt. EFCC Chairman is not above the law or a tin god, he should also subject himself to obeying the law, and nobody should be an outlaw or above the law. I think Nigerians must wake up to some of these issues. We in the civil society are doing our best and will continue to do it, but Nigerians must not be keeping blind eye over certain issues. Where ever there is injustice, undue intimidation and the like, Nigerians must be active and collectively speak against it.
Soon some states like Edo and Ondo will be involved in the off-season elections. Do you still have the confidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will deliver credible and transparent elections?
Look despite the propaganda against the INEC Chairman, Prof Mamood Yakubu, he has performed creditably well. I have 100 per cent confidence under the leadership of Prof Mamood Yakubu because he has done well and he will still do well. No person that has headed the INEC institution has done what he has done or performed better than him since 1999 till date.
A lot of people have been attacking him, mostly the Obidients, but that will not diminish the good works of Prof Yakubu.