JUNE 12: BUHARI IS TRYING TO GET RECOGNITION AND ACCEPTABILITY"....HASSAN HYAT
“In all this four years, it
has been a government of propaganda and a government of shifting blames”.
“The President should not
withdraw gun licenses for those who have acquired it legally. Those who have it
illegally, already, it is illegal”….. Hassan Felix Hyat.
Hassan
Felix Hyat, incumbent chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP Kaduna state chapter is
indeed, an astute politician and leader with genuine grassroots acceptability.
In this exclusive
interview, Hyat spoke with Emmanuel Onotevure, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief on
burning national issues.
Excerpts:
Sir, how do you react to
the absence of a re-inaugural speech by the President at his swearing-in? Many
Nigerians had expected an explanation from the President’s aides or his media
handlers. How do you feel about this development?
Well, it shows that the
President is having a lot of issues and a lot of shortcomings. And, I look at
it from the angle that if you follow his NTA interview prior to the
inauguration, you will find put that he did not really grasp the matters that
were raised, including, who Mr. President is.
Even when the journalist
that anchored it repeated the question, he still did not grasp the meaning of
that question and people came out heavily to condemn his inability to respond
to the question and, then the following day, he was to make a speech and,
realizing that were empty seats, more empty seats by those expected to occupy
them.
So, I just look at it that, there must have been a lot of frustration and
therefore, that could have made him being unable to tell the nation what he wanted
or what he had in mind, if at all there is anything concrete in his mind, which
I doubt because, you do not need a soothsayer now or a prophet to tell you that
the government is directionless.
In all this four years, it
has been a government of propaganda and a government of shifting blames. If PDP
had brought the economy to be the largest in Africa and handed it over it and
you did not dispute it until it crashed under your very watch and you then come
out to say that the economy was already in bad shape, certainly, you just want
to take the people for a ride. Nigerians can be so tolerant but certainly, they
read in between the lines.
If you told the people that
Boko Haram will be a bye gone issue and you started celebrating and showing us
that you have captured; the flag of a captured territory which was even your
kept territory that you are supposed to take over and you now come to claim
that you have captured.
Now, we all followed you along that line and you now
come to say that you have contained it to a low level and confined it to a
particular zone. Nigerians did not vote you to contain it to one zone but to
eliminate it. Assuming you have succeeded in containing to one zone; the
northeast. What brought about the other issues that came up during your tenure
and flourished; kidnapping and armed banditry all over the country?
Now, it simply means that
something is really very (very) wrong with what people say is the security
architecture. You kept up with people who could not achieve results even beyond
their official mandatory retirement ages. One would have thought that, if they
were giving you results, and the people were saying thank you, it is then that
you will have a justifiable reason to keep them so that they will keep with the
good work. But, the people are condemning them and you are keeping them as if
what they are doing is to your interest. That is the unfortunate thing.
One of the pains that I
feel about the administration is the general feeling of the fulani per se. How
the fulani people will kill and harass people on their farmlands and they will
now come out to say that they are now in power; yes, they are now in power and
that is why they are supposed to justify why being in power, if they really
love him. If they really love him, they are supposed to rally round him and
make his regime the best. He is supposed to call them to order and tell them
that they should partner with him for a safe society so that, anytime another Fulani
man is coming, people will be clapping and be eager but, what they are doing
now is to show that anytime somebody called a Fulani man wants to take over the
reins of this country, Nigerians will be very skeptical. That will be very
unfortunate.
Sir, you just spoke about
banditry and kidnapping that have seeming gone beyond the control of the
security agencies.
What are the solutions that
can be proffered and how can this addressed? Take for instance, in Katsina
state, the Governor cried out. In Zamfara state also joined his counterpart in
crying out but despite all of these, these issues are still increasing despite
the common knowledge that the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces is from Katsina state while the Minister of Defense is from
Zamfara state.
Sir, Nigerians are worried.
What do you think can be done?
I align myself with the
position of the Senate that the President should not withdraw gun licenses for
those who have acquired it legally. Those who have it illegally, already, it is
illegal. So, that is a settled issue but for those who have it officially,
recognized by the laws of the land, the President cannot just wake up and say;
withdrawn. It is a law and he must introduce another bill in order to make it
illegal and I am sure he cannot do that successfully because, as the Senate
said, “innocent people are going to suffer.
Now, back to the main
question, you cannot fight insecurity while there is no unity in the country
and there is no confidence in government.
The police will always come
out to say they want members of the public to partner with them with
information. But, when people give you the information, bandits follow you and
finish you; how did they know that you are the person that provided information
to the police?
It means that the police are
partners with those involved in the banditry and it further means that the
police have bad eggs and as such, they should come out seriously. And by this,
I mean seriously to look at those who are the bad eggs living above their means
and find out the source of their wealth and how they are living above their
means, and deal with them, as a matter of fact. This is because, you wake up
and search people’s houses who have cutlasses for farm work, some have a
dane-gun that he inherited from his great great-grandfather as a hunter and you
go and arrest him under the excuse that he is in possession of illegal arms.
For goodness sakes! All these things that are used to kill people are
sophisticated weapons; what brings in the issue of dane guns when the police say
they have arrested people with sophisticated weapons; how? Are they not shying
away from the truth? I believe that they are shying away from the truth.
The Immigration and Customs
who man our borders must be able to tell Nigerians how manage, rice cannot
enter Nigeria successfully without arrests but guns, sophisticated weapons are
entering the country, successfully.
And, to crown it up, they
are busy telling us, do not eat this type of rive because, it is poisonous. Is
it as poisonous as the guns; the AK47’s? These guns are entering the country
everyday and we have these people in position; how are they buying it and through
what means and where do they raise the money? AK47 guns costs a lot of money.
We all recall the
government telling Nigerians that these people are not citizens of Nigeria;
from where are they coming? In order words, they are illegal aliens. So, what
do you do with illegal aliens? Why can’t Nigeria wake up now and ask all
illegal aliens to leave; deport them? If you want to stay in Nigeria, there are
laws and rules and procedures. You do not just allow people to stay in our
country; moving from one part to the other, killing people without anybody stopping
them. Yet you say they are aliens? Even free movement has its own restrictions
including rules guiding it.
So, if as a Nigerian, I cannot
go to Niger Republic and start killing people because I have the right as an
ECOWAS citizen; I have to be a good citizen, respect the laws of Niger Republic
and also, promote the interest and reputation of Nigeria, what is the
government doing with these neighbouring countries apart that Buhari has gone
to meet with them and they signed agreements, what of the implementation? Is it
the signing of agreement that is our problem? It is the implementation that
will say; “safeguard every soul and the properties of Nigerians”
So, I believe that it is already
high time for the Nigerian government to ask all illegal aliens to leave our
country and let us get back, the correct architecture of our land. Let the
government bring out a concise programme of action in consultation with traditional
leaders and institutions, community and local leaders and the lowest levels of
the society on how to fish out those who are bad eggs in the society and be
able to keep our country safe, for Nigerians.
Sir, you talked about
traditional rulers and the roles they can play. However, the federal government
recently said they have become accomplices with some of these criminal
elements, especially bandits. What is your take?
How many traditional rulers
and religious leaders are working with the bandits? If they truly go into
investigations, even if they are many, majority are innocent and are interested
in the safety of their adherents and subjects; therefore, do not just make use
of one isolated case and becloud it that traditional rulers and leaders are not
helping matters. After all, they are not above the law. So, if one has been
found culpable, such should be dealt with, in accordance with the laws. It does
not stop the government as it will deter others and they will take it as law,
because, if you arrest one person participating in destruction of human life
and property, there is nobody that will come out to say; please, let him go. Nigerians
will not tolerate it and will even be ready to lynch such a person. So,
government should not use that as an excuse, at all.
Sir, a lot of Nigerians have
high expectations from Muhammadu Buhari in his second tenure; that is if the court
allows it. What are your own expectations from the President in 2019?
I must correct you. I do
not believe that a lot of Nigerians are having high expectations. People have already
lost hope and confidence in the president. So, what expectations are they
having? He has confirmed it to them by not reeling out what he has to offer and
we believe that, since he did not say it, we know it is going to be a continuous
journey of uncertainty to where, only God knows.
Finally sir, June 12th
has been earmarked as Democracy Day and the federal government plans to have a more
elaborate celebrations. How do you see that?
I think the whole thing is
they are simply trying to get public recognition and acceptability through the
back door.
The present president,
Muhammadu Buhari was hand-in-hand with the late Abacha and the Nigerian idol of
June 12th died in their hands.
Why is it only now that the president
is talking of June 12th only when he started getting a lot of heat
on the issue of restructuring from the Southwest in particular and then, the issue
of June 12th suddenly cropped up in his mind? Remember, he started
contesting for the presidency in 2003. Was June 12th not there? Did he
tell the nation that June 12th was part of his interest? So, I do
not believe the issue of June 12th as far as I am concerned because,
it is not an issue borne out of concern for Nigerians but as a political weapon
trying to divert attention from the reality on ground.
No comments:
Drop Comment