Follow Us on Google
•Amnesty to bandits will prolong insecurity in Katsina
The Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, has said that the insecurity in the North may not end soon.
In his words, the politicians are using insecurity as an avenue to empty the treasury, noting that no one queries how security votes in states are spent by governors.
In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the CNG leader noted that President Bola Tinubu should see that the gold refinery is established in the North in order to reward the region for its support in 2023 election.
What is your view on the state of the nation?
Nigerians are suffering. Things are not going the way they’re supposed to be going. Nigerians are complaining from all sectors – economy, security, education, health and all other sectors. Things are not going the way Nigerians are expecting them to be going. Things are always moving backward instead of moving forward. The economy is becoming very bad. Insecurity has become the order of the day. Political manipulation, political deception, political deceit is what we have today.
Nigerians are suffering to an extent that they don’t even know what to do.
They don’t know the next line of action, and they don’t know actually what tomorrow is going to be. The country is shrinking; it is drifting toward disaster. Politics is no longer being respected. Rule of law is no longer being respected. Politicians are doing what they want to do. Political witch-hunt is everywhere; they are emptying the treasury without doing anything for Nigerians.
Today, it has reached a level where Nigerians have to provide for themselves the social amenities they need. You have to provide your potable water. You have to source the electricity that you are to use in your home and business place. You have to arrange the security that will protect you and your property. You have to pay for the education of your children in private schools. You have to go for private hospitals.
Whatever amenity you want, you have to provide it by yourself. The government is not doing the needful, and it is not doing enough.
People are not happy with the way things are going in this administration. People are not happy with the government; they are not happy with the political party that is leading the country.
The Bureau of Statistics says that the prices of food items have come down. Doesn’t it follow that the suffering, the hunger, which you have complained of have been take care of?
There is no doubt that that the prices of food items have dropped drastically, but the farmers are not happy. Nigerians don’t have the money to buy these food items. If the price is down, and the people don’t have the money to buy the items, does that make sense?
We always accuse the administration of bringing policies at a very wrong time. You see, whenever you are going to bring the policies that will subsidise food, you have to do that at the beginning of the rainy season by subsidising the inputs that the farmers are going to use.
For instance, a farmer spends over N1, 000 to harvest one bag of rice, but now a bag of rice is below N1, 000. Are we moving forward or backward? If care is not taken, a lot of farmers will not go to farms this year, and the consequence is that the prices food items will skyrocket.
The government should have an enabling policy, where both the farmers and the consumers will have a stable price that will benefit everybody.
The government should subsidise all inputs that are being used by farmers – fertilizer, chemicals, herbicide, insecticides, etc to an extent that at least the farmer can afford them at a reduced price so that at the end of the day, when the prices of food are reduced drastically, the farmer also will be happy about it.
What is the purchasing power of the Nigerians, which is the most important question? The purchasing power is at zero level.
Yes, there are food items in the market, and the prices are drastically down, but the purchasing power is zero; Nigerians cannot afford them.
The government should bring a policy that will equalise all these three factors, – the purchasing power, the farmer’s case, and the consumer’s case.
Katsina State governor, Dikko Umaru Radda is reported to have granted pardon to about 70 terrorists in order to take back some of the local governments that are in the hands of terrorists. What is your position on this?
I have been saying this times without number. It is either the Katsina State government doesn’t actually have a blueprint to tackle the insecurity menace or is confused about the matter. The governor made a proclamation that the state government will never get involved in anything that has to do with peace accord with bandits. Then the Commissioner of Internal Security stated it clearly, that when they lay down their arms that they might consider them for a peace deal.
So, I don’t know where and when those terrorists laid down their arms in Katsina State, for even the state government to begin to talk about it.
And the state governor stated it clearly, that the peace accord that is going on in Katana State is based on the communities and the bandits, not the state government.
The question is: Now the state governor wants to release these 70 people. Who is releasing them? When has the constitution of Nigeria empowered the community leaders to release people from prison custody or correctional facility? When? Where? How?
If the state government is not participating in the peace accord, or peace deal of Katana State, but the chairman of the local government, then who is participating in the deal?
First of all, before even moving to that point, the governor has to come plain and clear and tell Nigerians the position of Katsina State in the issue of this amnesty, or whatever they call it.
If they are going to do it, let us have the blueprint of how the state government is going to do it, because we have never seen anywhere in this world where somebody will decide to have a peace accord when he isn’t at a weaker point. We expected that the state government will do the peace accord at its own strength, when it is attacking the bandits to an extent that the bandits will be the ones to come down and request to have a peace deal with the state government.
But the peace deal so far being conducted by the state government is not at the instance of the bandit; it is not the bandits actually that are romancing the Katsina State government.
It is the state government, the local governments, or the community that are romancing the bandits.
We have never seen a situation whereby bandits will accept a truce or a peace accord and come heavily armed and feel if they were untouchable, superior to any power, including the state government.
If you are granting amnesty to these bandits by releasing almost 70 of them, what will be the fate of the community people that have been doing local intelligence? Those that supplied the information that led to the arrest of those bandits, what is their fate now? What is the fate of the families of the slain security personnel, who have paid the supreme price to protect the citizens? What will be the fate of their families now? Are you encouraging the security personnel, or are you demoralising them by releasing those bandits?
Are you in any way undermining the judiciary power, or are you supporting the judiciary power by releasing these terrorists?
So, what the Katsina State government is doing is, in fact, un-political, inhuman, ungodly; it’s a catastrophe, and it will prolong the level of insecurity that is underway in the state.
We condemn it in totality. We are not in support of it, and we are calling on the Katsina and all other state governments that they should have a rethink over this peace accord.
We have seen a situation where the former Katsina State governor signed this peace accord with the bandits, but later on they broke the promise. We have seen a situation where Matoa Lem Maradu has also signed a peace accord with the bandits, but today, Matoa Lem Maradu is associating with the bandits. So, the issue of insecurity is completely politicised in northern Nigeria.
That’s why you won’t see the end of this insecurity in the region anytime soon. The politicians are using it as an avenue for re-election; they are using it as an avenue for campaigns, and they are using it as an avenue to siphon and to empty the treasury because nobody will ask you where and how you spent the security vote in your state.
All the money being looted in Northern Nigeria today has been associated with insecurity. That’s why they will never allow this insecurity to come to an end, and they will never allow the people that governed to live in peace.
You see, today Nigeria is bleeding, not because God has abandoned us, but because we, too, the masses, we keep on electing leaders that deceive, leaders that divide and leaders that exploit us. In as much as our criteria for electing leaders would be based on tribalism or religion, or would be based on this person is in this political party, or this person belongs to this political party, we will continue to be in this quagmire.
Our choices of leaders must be based on competency, capacity, capability and integrity.
We must change our thinking; we must change the narratives. Nigerian politicians are not there for the masses. They are there for themselves. They are there to siphon money, they are there to empty the treasury, they are there to grab power, but unfortunately when they get the power, and they don’t even know what to do with it.
Other News
The build-up to 2027 elections has started. What are your expectations?
Nigerians by this time around have felt the pains and they have known the truth. They have felt the pains of tribalism. They have felt the pains of religious sentiment. They have felt the pains of continuing to elect leaders that thrive over our fear, ignorance, and poverty.
So, we expect that by 2027, Nigerians should be conscious enough. They should think wisely. They should not allow politicians to keep on manipulating them. They should think on their own and they should think about the country. They should think about our younger ones that are coming up.
They should elect leaders, as I said earlier, based on competency, capacity, capability, and integrity. They should reject leaders that will romance crime. They should reject leaders that exploit religion. They should elect leaders that believe in the oneness of this country. They should elect leaders that have humanity in their minds. They should elect leaders that have fear of God in their minds. They should elect leaders that believe in the project we call Nigeria.
They should elect leaders based on their pedigree, that is, their political antecedents. What have they achieved when they were in various positions? Do they have any related bribery and corruption cases?
Do they have any scandals with the EFCC or something of that nature?
Are they humane? Are they coming to salvage the country or not?
These are the kind of leaders we are supposed to elect? We should forget about the issue of political parties.
Political parties in Nigeria are just deception. They lack ideology, they lack principles. They don’t even have the ideologies and the principles.
What we need is to have leaders that believe in Nigeria, leaders that believe in humanity, and leaders that want to bring progress in this country. But, inasmuch as people will keep on electing leaders that will deceive people in this country, then definitely we are not going to get it right soon.
What is your take on the defection of Kano State governor, Yusuf to the APC that is has generating ripples?
People are just saying it is a betrayal. Whether it is betrayal or not, but this is just to tell you how Nigerian politicians are always opportunists.
What Governor Abba Yusuf is doing today, is for his political fate in 2027. In the same manner, what Kwankwaso is doing is for the sake of his 2027 arrangements. None of them is doing it for the sake of people of Kano State; they are all doing it for themselves. All what they are doing is how to get an opportunity and chance of either a governor or contest for president. Whatever it is they are doing is for themselves.
This is not the first time that it is happening in Kano. Governor Rimi betrayed Malam Aminu Kano, Kwankwaso betrayed Rimi, Ganduje betrayed Kwankwaso, and today, Abba Yusuf betrayed Kwankwaso, if it is betrayal.
In Kwara State, Olusola Saraki, was the father of Kwara politics, since that Second Republic, and he started nominating people into various political offices. He was installing governors. He made his own son a governor, and in the fullness of time, his son betrayed him when he wanted his daughter, Gbemisola Saraki to become the governor of Kwara State. What is happening today between Wike and Fubara? What is happening today between el-rufai and Uba Sani?
The issue of godfatherism in Nigeria cannot work and will never work because there is power intoxication and the people that are installed are bootlickers; they don’t have the competency and capacity.
We don’t have leaders in Nigeria; we only have politicians and politicians are always opportunists; they are always looking for a slight opportunity to be where they are; they are always looking for a slight opportunity so that at least they could go and empty the treasury. They don’t care what they would be remembered for. They don’t care about that unlike the politicians of the First Republic that wanted history to remember them for the contributions they have done to their society.
So, this generation is not a generation of leaders, but a generation of selfish politicians that always want to promote their selfish interest rather than anything.
So, what is happening in Kano is a typical drama of Nigerian politics, where you have selfishness everywhere. Governor Yusuf is looking for his way out, while Kwankswaso is also looking for his way out.
They are neither fighting for the sake of people of Kano State, for the sake of Nigerian democracy nor for the betterment of Nigeria. They are doing it for themselves; they are looking for ways to retain the power they have.
The federal government said a private investor is setting up a gold refinery in Lagos State, but the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has kicked against it, saying it should be sited in the North where you have the gold. What’s your take on this?
Yes, the NEF is 100 per cent right. This is a government of nepotism. We have been saying it times without number that the government is taking everything to Lagos alone; not even South-West, but Lagos alone. They are moving everything to Lagos. This government is likely to move Nigeria’s headquarters to Lagos. They cannot even do it for other Southwestern states, but everything is taken to Lagos. One of the conditions of setting up an industry is the nearest to the raw materials. I don’t have the history and I have never seen the history that shows that Lagos produces this gold that they are talking about today.
This gold is being produced in Zamfara, and other northern states.
But the federal government, because of it selfish interest has already Yorubanised this administration. Everything is Yoruba; if you are not Yoruba, you will not get anything. All the critical sectors are manned by Yoruba.
Let this administration not create a problem that cannot be solved sooner in this country. Whatever they are doing, let them do it with conscience and integrity. Let them remember that today, it is a Yoruba man who is leading this country, and tomorrow it might be somebody else. If it is somebody else and he decided to act the way this president is acting, will it be acceptable to the Yoruba people? That is the question.
What they are doing is inhuman, and what they are doing is undemocratic. By and large, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu got the chunk of his votes from the north.
What is wrong if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu decided to site this gold refinery in northern Nigeria? At least the raw materials are there in that region.
At least, it is a way of paying his dues to the political favour the people of northern Nigeria did to him. They gave him their votes en masse. We have seen the votes that Lagos people gave to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but he is still trying to set up everything in Lagos.
We condemn it in totality, and we are 100 per cent in support of the position of the NEF that President Tinubu should have a think over this issue and do the needful by allowing the gold refinery to be established in the north.
The year is just beginning. What agenda would you set for Tinubu?
President Tinubu Bola should sit down and listen attentively and listen to the cry of Nigerians. He still has an opportunity, even if it is not to have a second term agenda; he still has an opportunity to write his name in history for Nigerians to remember him for the good job he did to Nigeria and Nigerians. He still has about 16 months ahead and he can still rewrite his history.
But going by the history we have presently in this country, he may likely leave the presidency with a name that he may not like or he may not want to listen after he has left that office.
One, he should face squarely and honestly the issue of this economy. Secondly, he should face squarely and honestly the issue of insecurity in northern Nigeria. Thirdly, he should face the issue of tribalism that he has brought in this country. He should allocate whatever he wants to allocate to where it belongs. His appointment should cut across all regions and all tribes and all religions in the country. He should do it with the fear of God, sense of democracy and a sense of humanity in his mind.
People had expected that after the US air strikes on bandits or terrorists in Sokoto last December 25, that the insecurity in the North would have abated. But it seems to be escalating. What is your position on this?
That US air strike was just a drama; it’s just international politics. Who did the US air strike kill? They killed nobody. They didn’t even kill the terrorists. They struck at a place where nobody was there. What are the names of those people that were killed during that strike? What are the communities that have been destabilised? How many weapons did they succeed in destroying? That was just international politics that got no base.
Trump was making mouth, shouting of insecurity, Christian genocide, and at the end of the day, the bombs landed in a beans farm.
It doesn’t make any sense. In fact, that is the most useless thing that happened to Nigerians in the last year. He didn’t achieve anything.
And we have said it already, and we still condemned it in totality that it will not yield anything. We have seen that America wants to come down to Nigeria because of the gold, lithium and other things we have, so that they will barricade them and take them to their country. That’s what they are doing. Has America solved the issue of insecurity in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya and other places? They cannot solve the issue of insecurity anywhere. What they do is to go to a country in the name of solving insecurity and at the end of the day they will dominate that area.
What is happening today in Venezuela? America has taken control of everything in that country. So, they are putting Venezuela into more crisis than it was before.
That is just international politics and the intent of Donald Trump to come to Nigeria to dominate our economic power. The air strike didn’t yield any result and it will not yield any result. Our issue of insecurity is local and must be solved locally. Our government should be serious about it. We believe that in as much as we have the political will, the Nigerian army and other security agents can perfectly solve this problem of insecurity.
