“The President Does Not Care About The Issue Of Insecurity”….. Shettima Yerima
“As we go along to build a nation
of our dreams, every section of the country, at one point or the other, must
also be considered. You do not just consider one side of the country and ignore
others as if they are not part of the country”.
Nigerians have continued to
express their concerns over the increasing level of insecurity across the country,
especially as it relates to kidnapping and criminal activities by armed bandits
in Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states.
Leading the call on the
federal government to immediately, bring to a halt, the insecurity situation
which has cost the nation, losses in both human and properties that cannot be
quantified, Comrade Shettima Yerima, National President of the Arewa Youth
Consultative Forum, AYCF in a chat with Naij News Alert, says the Buhari led
federal government must ensure that security to lives and properties of the
citizenry is guaranteed.
However, what has caught
the attention of Nigerians is the report in several news platforms that the federal
government, through the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.)
had entered into negotiation with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association
of Nigeria, MACBAN, and a purported princely sum of #100bn was paid for a negotiated
guarantee of peaceful settlement.
This has generated varying
comments from stakeholders including the AYCF National President who, despite
having not heard about it from the Presidency, says Nigerians can only preempt
the implications of such an agreement.
According to Comrade
Shettima, “even if they are thinking of it, they may have a rethink”.
“There are implications as
regards taking such an approach which is capable of igniting crisis across the
country because, you cannot continue o compensate evil. You cannot encourage doing
such as thing and I do not also think it is right”, he stated.
“I do not also think that
MACBAN represents the entire North or even the entire fulanis and, as we go along
to build a nation of our dreams, every section of the country, at one point or
the other, must also be considered. You do not just consider one side of the
country and ignore others as if they are not part of the country”.
“So, for us to build a
nation, we must be seen to come with clean hands. Equity must be applied to all
citizens in the country as no citizen is second class in Nigeria. Every citizen
in Nigeria has every right like every other citizen”.
When reminded that a
similar scenario had played out in Kaduna state where the state governor, Mallam
Nasir el-Rufai was reportedly said to have allegedly paid some huge amount of
money to some persons for the sake of peace, Yerima said; “has that yielded any
result? When the ;ate President Umaru Musa Yar’adua was busy giving out amnesty
to militants and compensating them, has that in any way resolved the agitation
in the Niger Delta? You cannot continue to do the same thing over and over”.
“To me, as a student of
struggle, I have always known that government is one of the strongest institutions
in the world. The day a government begins to compromise and do things outside
the Constitution, then you can be rest assured that we are in for doom and that
will surely result in anarchy as people will begin to use blood to write names
on the soil. That must not be allowed to continue in our land”.
“This is not the kind of Nigeria
we all envisaged and this also, is not the democracy we all fought for and
sacrificed for”.
Speaking on the President’s
absence while all of these are happening, the AYCF National leader noted that
the actions and inactions of the federal government under President Muhammadu
Buhari is not alien to them.
He said; “we have known
this from the onset. It is only in a country like Nigeria that you will see
where lives are not valuable. Nobody values lives of the people especially leaders
of the country. They make statements and are bold to look at the faces of Nigerians
and say, ‘we only lost a hundred’ when other countries in the world mourn one
life that is lost. Developed nations today, cannot afford to lose a life,
carelessly. And, anybody who is found wanting, be you the president or minister,
in the course of his duty, resigns to show respect to that soul that they lost”.
He noted that in the case
of Nigerians, you will see the leaders looking at the faces of the people and
abusing the sensibilities of the populace as it does not bother about the
number of lives lost.
“If you have a President
who does not care about the issue of insecurity and decides to go out of the
country, I do not think it is any news because we are used to it”, he stated.
The only reason why Nigerians
have become used to the President’s absence is because, they have found
themselves where there is a lack of the culture of consistency.
“Ordinarily, no leader
should have taken the country for granted where issues of insecurity are where
lives have been wasted. You now assume that you better off, to leave than to
save the lives of over two hundred million Nigerians”.
“What is happening in the
northwest today; something is happening in the Northeast, north central is not
safe from the banditry too. Now, by extension, do we know where this would even
lead us to? Nobody knows!
“If the issue of kidnapping
and armed banditry is not tackled today, where women are being raped daily and
with what is happening between Zamfara and Kaduna states including the hometown
of the President just some few days ago, where his kinsman was kidnapped, who
else is safe? Nobody is safe again, Comrade Shettima lamented.
From what is before us
today, we are already at war with ourselves, the AYCF National President stated
while also observing that the president has not bothered himself with these
developments in the country.
To him, ordinarily, there
is really no story because, to them as leaders, they feel it is right but then,
Nigerians must begin to take their destinies into their hands as such things
must not be allowed to continue and it should not be encouraged
“A responsible leader will
get reports of something happening in his country and will rush back home but
in the case of our own leader, look at what is happening. This should serve as
a lesson to us to begin to think of pedigree and sense of reasoning of the people
we elect to offices to govern us because, if you do not get it right, you will
continue to produce such kind of leaders, over and over which would make
leadership problems remain unsolved”.
Tasked on the issue of
impunity by aides of the President with reference to the redeployment of the
Director General of the NYSC which, is the responsibility of the President and
Commander-In-Chief as stated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Comrade Shettima Yerima reiterated that it was not the duty of the Chief of
Army Staff to do such redeployment as it is an appointment from the Presidency.
“It is the responsibility
of the Presidency to appoint, remove and redeploy such an appointee but there
is too much impunity in the land where things are done anyhow and this now
makes one to wonder if we are still running a democracy or a dictatorial
government by the military. Some of us do not want to begin to think that this
is another military regime as we all know our experiences in the dark days of military
rule and what we went through in the hands of the Khaki boys”.
“What type of government
are we running when somebody would just arrogate so much powers to himself and
do all sorts of things”, he wondered.
“The centre is already
loose as everybody does what he or she likes and gets away with it. It is not
right for the Chief of Army Staff to begin to arrogate such powers to himself
as his functions are limited”, he said.
From all of these recent
developments, this administration is simply telling youths across the country that
it pays to do evil but we must not encourage this in our society.
He concluded by advising
that if truly compensation is being paid to any one group, others who are
victims must be considered as every part of this country has suffered one way
or the other and let it be the same with everybody in the spirit of oneness. It
should be seen that only one section or tribe in the country are more important
than the other. That will not be proper. MACBAN does not represent the interests
of the entire fulani.
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