AGITATIONS: A Govt That Wants To Promotes Peace, Uses Force As last Resort….. Hassan Hyat Cautions
In this exclusive interview with Naij News Alert, Hon. Hyat spoke on issues concerning the country, his party, beliefs and the deepening of democracy in Nigeria.
Excerpts:
“The leaders in the country must first and foremost, apologize to the led for their or, our inability to nip these issues of insecurity in the bud, right from the word go, because, security issues are not like any other crime, however how little it is"....... Hon. Felix Hassan Hyat.
"There is adequate integration between the people from all of the three senatorial zones and that is one of the greatest achievements that have made everybody to look at the PDP now, as his own. It has nothing to do with one section or one religion”.
“The PDP is for everybody and, everybody is getting involved. Even if I leave the office today, I will feel very proud that I have been able to bring the party to the level where everybody feels the same”.
Sir, many Nigerians have continued to express fears and apprehension over the current worrisome level of insecurity in Kaduna state and the nation generally. Leaders in the north have been blamed for their lackadaisical approach in nipping this in the bud. Sir, you are a leader and you equally share in this blame.
What is your reaction, sir?
Well, leaders in the country must first and foremost, apologize to the led for their or, our inability to nip these issues of insecurity in the bud, right from the word go, because, security issues are not like any other crime, however how little it is. They must not allow it to go free as there is the tendency of major crimes coming up. It is just a matter of time and, fighting insecurity is supposed to be a holistic approach, across borders. It should not be just in one state or local government. This is because, criminals, if they find an environment that is too hot for them, they will always opt for the softer environment. Therefore, they will migrate. Nevertheless, if there is a holistic approach, wherever they go and find out that the place is hot for them, they will be forced to withdraw completely and abandon that way of life. In our own case, we are not able to do that. Rather, it became a blame game.
Armed robbery started in the then Midwest region and that area was known for armed robbery especially the Benin axis and, instead of looking at it as a crime that will engulf the whole nation, we in the north here, felt that we were sitting comfortably and that it would not affect those of us in the northern region. Now, we have suddenly woken up, after some years to discover that we are now engulfed in it. So, when the Boko Haram insurgency started in Maiduguri, we allowed it to escalate to engulf the whole of the North-east and now, it is in the whole of this country. Kidnapping started on a small scale but today, the forests all across the country, have been taken over by bandits and kidnappers. When the issue of fulani herdsmen started, it was seen to be an issue only located in Southern Kaduna; people did not look at it as an issue that would threaten the whole of the nation with the thinking that, after all there are no fulanis of that magnitude in the South-east. Therefore, they dare not come there. Are they not there now? I think that we got it all wrong by not adopting a holistic approach and, the leaders have to take responsibility, together with those in government. This is because; those in government have not helped matters by running an exclusive government and it is definitely, going to create more and more crisis. There is nothing that you would fight against and succeed in a complex society, when you exclude other people and claim that it is for the common good of everybody. Then, why would you not involve anybody in the fight against anything that is wrong? Is it corruption? You cannot be fighting corruption and say that you are fighting only that that are in the past government of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. After all, those who are in the All Progressives Congress today; the government of the day, can they tell me how many of them were not in the past administration led by the PDP. Therefore, this thing of call a crime a crime, call a criminal a criminal, not minding if he is in Port-Harcourt or Sokoto or, Maiduguri or in Lagos should take the front burner. Call a criminal a criminal and take the necessary action and prosecute within the ambit of the law and everybody will take a cue. Any attempt or whatsoever to give it, either ethnic or religious or regional coloration, is just to prepare us for a worse future and that is what we cannot settle for.
However, it is not too late as we are human beings. We can retrace our steps. You can see the agitation that is going on in the country today. We have the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the Middle Belt Forum, the Yourba Afenifere Group and also, the Ohaneze and the PANDEF; are all composed of prominent personalities who have, at one time or the other, been working together with each other and they know themselves. What has stopped them from convoking a meeting involving such prominent personalities? They should pan out and each group should go back to its own area and ask the youths and agitators, what is the problem and how it can be resolved. That is where the issue of coming together to talk, becomes very necessary. Before we come together to talk, let us all go back to our respective environments and find out; what is the frustration of the young people, the women and children, including the elderly people and identify, what are the problems they are facing.
We have so many groups that are holding meetings today and such meetings start and end with the groups with the issuance of nothing but threats to the survival of the country. Instead of proffering solutions, we are issuing threats to each other.
I remember, Governor Nasir el-Rufai had to interchange words with Prof. Ango Abdullahi when the Arewa Youths suddenly woke up and said they had issued an ultimatum to all South easterners to vacate the north. that was something that was never expected, that any leader should come out and back. As a leader, he was supposed to, immediately, call the youths to order and inquire from them, what was leading them to adopt that stance and then, see what you can do to solve it. Sometimes now, we hear that the Yoruba youths are demanding that all Fulanis should vacate their forests. Everywhere, we are hearing that people are sending messages asking every person that is not from that geographical area to vacate their environment. In a society or democracy where the country is one and everybody has a right to reside in any part of the country successfully, provided he respect the laws of the land.
Nevertheless, I feel that there is still room for us and for our leaders in particular to address these issues. And, I can tell you, as an individual, I have made series of attempts to exchange ideas with some prominent people that we served together as Ministers under the Obasanjo administration, on things of this nature. Everybody is of the belief that, yes, there is the need but, how do we start. However, there are some who told me that, I should give them some time to think. It is important that we come up with something.
Sir, still on the issue of security, there are many here who are standing on the embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Abba Kyari who, until now was regarded as the country’s ‘Super Cop’ and head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General Police, following his indictment by the FBI in the United States of America.
Sir, what is/are your view(s) on this issue, briefly?
The alleged crime is not a crime against the north. So, what has the north got to do with it? Why should somebody just sit down and say, because I am a northerner and that he is a northerner. I read something accredited to the Area Youths who said; “nothing should happen to Abba Kyari”. Were you there when he committed the offense? You do not know what he has done and, as far as the laws of Nigeria is concerned, he is presume to be innocent until, proven guilty. And, all we should be saying is; let there be a transparent process. I believe that, with the transparent process, if he is guilty, he owes the nation an apology. If he is not guilty, we have to stand for him that, no innocent person must be made to suffer and that is all I can say on the matter.
Sir, we talked about agitations in the Southeast and the Southwest regions of the country. It is the views of many that this has created much panic and apprehension across the country with the Federal government intent on using maximum force to quell all of these agitations.
Would you say that the approach by the FG is the proper one? What is your take on this, sir?
The government that wants to promote peace uses force as the last resort. A government that is presiding over a complex society must see the need for dialogue more than any other thing. I am not sure, and I stand to be corrected; the government has failed in the issue of dialogue. It does not promote dialogue. The government does not seem to have patience in dealing with agitators. Not all agitations are criminal in nature. Agitations are nothing but expressing pains and anger over situations that are not palatable to a person or a group of people. Now, if agitations are coming up, every part of the society has an official of government; either at local, state or national level. Now, if there is an agitation in a local government, there are community leaders; the local government should go into it immediately and ascertain what is happening in the community as regards what they hear and immediately, restore peace. But, they leave it to snowball into a major problem for the whole country and then think the best way out is to apply force. It is not every time that the use of force will settle the problem.
And, we have not, as a matter of fact, government has not been able to respond to the submissions of communities in such a way that these problems are being tackled, one after the other. Agreed, the government does not have enough resources to do everything. But, when you allow crisis to engulf the environment, the money that you are supposed to use in solving the problem that the people have brought, you use it in suppressing the people and by that, just postponing it for a rainy day and, at the same time, bringing more people to become aggrieved and thereby, make them feel that they have no right to complain, when they are not happy. You will only create more enemies and more agitators. Today, we are just sitting up in a society whereby, there is no state or region where we do not have agitators. Agitation quite alright are in different categories; they can be localized but, what are having today are nationalized agitations that are all threatening the unity of the country and, government has now come to say that, nobody dismember Nigeria and, that the unity of Nigeria cannot be negotiated.
Now, there are prominent voices that have come out to say that, the unity of Nigeria can be negotiated and that if we do not negotiate, then there is no unity. You see, we have allowed it to reach that level when it was not supposed to. This is a matter of fact. So, I think that the government has to lead on the issue of how to bring dialogue in the society as a way of resolving crisis. We are spending a lot of money; you will wake up and hear that there is a meeting and NGO’s are bringing in peace and conflicting parties to a table of meeting but immediately they finish, they go and by the next day, you see crisis engulfing everywhere again, on the same issue within the same environment. The question is; they arrived at a solution but the government did not do anything.
Therefore, the government needs to be more serious and it should be up and doing.
Sir, let us delve into politics a little. The 2023 general election is just around the corner. How prepared is your party, the PDP, in returning back to power and also, for the party, this time around to push put its best?
Well, you see, I do not want to look at it as an issue of just the PDP. Instead, I will want to look at it as, how will democracy survive and be deepened, come 2023?
I can thank God that I belong to the PDP (Kaduna state Chapter) and that the PDP has taken the bull by getting involved and championing the deepening of democracy. If you look at what happened in the National Assembly, the PDP has made its position known and continuously to make its position known that there is no way you can deepen democracy without making the vote of everybody count.
Moreover, the only way you can do it, is through the transmission of results. In the other methods applied before, we have all cried that there are so many flaws and it has led to the killing of so many innocent souls in the country. However, with the transmission of the results, we will eliminate most of the crises that we have faced in the issue and, it becomes very unfortunate that, INEC that has prepared and has tested the issue of transmission of results in other states successfully, today, after two years, somebody is now saying that INEC cannot do it. INEC is saying it can do it but you are the ones saying that INEC cannot do it. Why are you talking on behalf of INEC? Should INEC come out to tell us that it cannot do it, we will ask them, why. They should be able to tell us, as Nigerians how they were able to do it in some other states and suddenly, they say they cannot do it now. Does it mean they did not improve or, they are going backwards? The INEC we know are trying they best which is, why they have said that they can do it. Therefore, to bring anybody to get involved, to determine the fate of INEC, outside the law, is very shocking and unpatriotic.
I think the APC legislators have seen the handwriting and some of them are crying that what INEC has said has pitched them against their people. If you know that what you did was the right thing, why are you afraid? Another area that the PDP is getting involved is on the issue of collaborating with INEC. We promote public enlightenment for the people to come out and get their voters card. It is a programme of INEC but the PDP is collaborating with INEC to ensure that people go and collect their voters card because, that is their strength in determining who is going to be their leader.
With all of these, we feel that Nigerians are all on the side of the PDP, as far as deepening democracy is concerned and, if Nigerians are on the side of the PDP, it means that the PDP is well positioned now, to capture power again and to promote democracy through the rule of law in our country.
Lastly sir, your stay as Chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has witnessed tremendous improvements with many of the teeming supporters of the party commending you, for the open and transparent style of leadership.
Sir, what would be the legacy that you would love to leave behind, after all of these?
Well, I really felt embarrassed anytime the PDP was referred to as “a party of imposition of candidates”, as a party that can change the names of those who won primaries. Honestly, I felt bad and, when I got the opportunity of becoming chairman of the party, I demonstrated the pains by ensuring that, we hold a free and fair primaries. I stand to be corrected, since I took over the reins of the party in Kaduna state, nobody has succeeded in taking the party to court, for conducting primaries that was full of errors or manipulations and, we were challenged successfully. Nobody has done that. In fact, the first test was in 2018 with the Local Government primaries where in all the 23 local government areas, there was no single court case because of either imposition or, the lack of free and fair primaries. We developed on that and, again, that was why everybody was waiting to see, the wonders we would do when it came to gubernatorial primaries in the 2018 General Elections; we conducted a very free and fair primaries that everybody acclaimed and nobody went out to challenge. People could only, as politicians, whatever you do, somebody must find a fault with claims of manipulations behind the scene. The question to ask them is; was it a manipulation by party officials? Or, if somebody outsmarted you in the processes of getting votes, how do you blame the party officials? We provided a free and level playing ground for everybody and that we did successfully.
Secondly, we had made it sure that, anything that comes up, everybody will be involved. We do not receive information from the national office and keep it to ourselves. If it is an information meant for every party member, we quickly, dispatch messages to the various local governments and, from the local governments to the wards so that, everybody is aware of what is going on and you look at the areas that you would want to get involved and participate, based on your personal interest. On this, I will say we have greatly succeeded in that area also.
Lastly, let me say that, we now have a situation whereby, there is adequate integration between the people from all of the three senatorial zones and that is one of the greatest achievements that has made everybody to look at the PDP now, as his own. It has nothing to do with one section, one religion. The PDP is for everybody and, everybody is getting involved. Even if I leave the office today, I will feel very proud that I have been able to bring the party to the level where everybody feels the same.
In the course of doing this, we have eliminated the issue of people feeling that they can go and grease the palms of party officials and get things to be done their own way. I stand to be corrected as I have said it severally that, if there is anybody who feels or knows, in the depths of his heart, that he has done something to make me compromise, let him come out, and say it. I am not afraid. However, I will not stop people from posting falsehood. If there is anybody, who knows that between him and God Almighty, let such a person come out and I will tell him that it is false; absolute falsehood. I can swear to anything and will be ready to go to any level to tell him it is false.
Nevertheless, you will find people who will go and use some non-existent names or people that you cannot sit with them to say that you are arguing with them to say this person is this or that. I feel these are things that such personalities, who adopt that system of pulling another person down, should be ashamed of themselves. What is truly happening is that you will see people; when they come to me to say they want to contest but that it is not a do-or-die affair because, we know that power comes from God, I immediately tell them that, all they need to do is for them to go to the people.
The good thing about the PDP is that, if you want to contest for the position of governor, you already know not less than 70 percent of those who are going to be delegates now and on ground. So, what do you need from me? You can go to the local governments and the wards and collect the names and telephone numbers of those who are going to be delegates if they alive, up till that time.
You do not need to come to me as you may already, have made up a compendium of delegates that will vote in the primaries that will be coming up. You can go and contact them. We have told every party official that you should not deny anybody who has interest, the opportunity of coming to see you.
Nevertheless, we also caution them that you have to protect the integrity of the party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP by not running from one candidate to the other and by not allowing anybody to invite you because he has money, to book a hotel room for you in Abuja when you are staying in a remote village. If he really wants you and he recognizes the importance of the party, he knows that there is a ward office, a local government party office and a zonal party office and the state office. If he wants people, all he needs to do is to send a message that he wants to meet with this category of people and that he wants the party to give him audience. With that, we will be able to play politics that, democracy will be deepened in our state and country at large.//END//
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