Facts about banditry/kidnapping in Jibia/Batsari Local Government areas

When we talk about security challenges in Jibia and Batsari LGAs, many people do not seem to understand what we are talking about. A good number of people believe that we are some elements sponsored to spoil the good name of Buhari administration. Another misconception is that security operatives are working round the clock to bring this problem to an end. 

These are some facts people should know about the picture of what is currently on the ground in those areas.

1. There is no single known foreigner involved in banditry, kidnapping or cattle rustling in our areas.
2. Many of the bandits, their leaders and informants are well known to the locals.
3. Locals shut their mouths to save their lives. When I heard that His Excellency the President was going to meet with local victims I thought it was going to be one on one with the villagers in the absence of state government officials and local security chiefs, as that is the only way he would hear the dirty truth from his local people.
4. In some areas, heads of thieves are paid some fixed amounts by farmers to allow them carry out farming activities on their farmlands and protect them from other gangs.
5. The peace initiative in Zamfara state only aggravated insecurity in Katsina. It is widely believed that Zamfara state now serves as a hideout for the bandits from where they come into Katsina state, launch attacks and go back.
6. Most of the time security forces arrive scenes of attack long after the attackers have left. There is nothing like 24 hour surveillance to forestall bandits’ attacks.
7. Security forces are only visible on highways. For example, Katsina – Jibia road which 42 km long has 17 checkpoints of armed soldiers, police, customs and immigration men. In deep areas where crimes take place almost on daily basis there is no presence of security personnel.

My appeal to people like us who have confidence in PMB’s leadership and especially those close to him is to mount pressure on His Excellency to take consistent steps to bring this major problem to an end. Peace is like fuel. Once it is available the masses do not care whether it is locally refined, imported or made available by whatever other means by Government.

Munguno and the ban on “street urchins”

Some days ago, a friend forwarded to me the summary of a law said to be signed by the Katsina state Governor, His Excellency Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari on the regulation of almajirci in Katsina state. The law tagged “RESPONSIBLE PARENTING/ALMAJIRI RIGHT PROTECTION EDIT” seeks to protect the child from abuse, at least according to its authors.

After the definitions, the Katsina edict provides for a commission or a department to be headed by a director to run as an independent department. The law prohibits any parent from sending their child to a Qur’anic school if he is less than 12 years old. The parent shall make provision for decent clothing and feeding for the child while the Qur’anic teacher shall provide accommodation. The child must not come from outside Katsina state unless the teacher undertakes to take his full responsibility. In addition, no child should be taken to a Qur’anic school outside the state unless he is at least 12 years of age. 

The Government on its part shall provide medical facilities to all children in registered Qur’anic schools and make sure that they are registered under the NHIS scheme. Assistance of unspecified amounts shall be provided to all registered Qur’anic schools by the Government from time to time, according to the document.

The move by the Katsina state Government, I would like to believe, was done in good faith. Governor Masari deserves our commendation for it. He has abandoned the futile waiting for Northern Governors Forum or the Central Government to take a decision. I, however, had my humble observations which I didn’t want to make public immediately for two reasons. One, to avoid the wrong notion that I m against everything coming from Government, especially Katsina state Government. Only days ago I criticized the Governor for his approach to security. Two, and more importantly, to wait and see the details of what the Government has in mind.

But just as I was waiting, I saw the National Security adviser on my TV screen making comments about what he called ‘street urchins’. Hear him, ‘The group I spoke about on illiteracy is the almajiri. Ultimately, government will have to proscribe the almajiri phenomena, because we cannot continue to have street urchins, children roaming around, only for them in a couple of years or decades to become a problem to society.’

I was dumbfounded. First, the Federal Government has a big ministry and a litany of agencies in charge of education. It is their responsibility to define what illiteracy is and who is an illiterate. There has been a lot of work, in the past, done by the Federal Ministry of Education and universities like Bayero University and states like Kano on the interfacing of Qur’anic schools with formal schools. But instead of the retired General to refer to the right quarters for the right definition, he decided to opine that anybody who has not gone through the western-style school is an illiterate. The unfortunate thing is that he is in the office he is.

But that may not even be a major problem. Many people understand illiteracy the way the General does. What ordinary Nigerians like me want to hear from the National security advisor and see on the ground are the actions they are taking on the spate of kidnappings, killings and animal rustling bedevilling the North. What are his office and the larger ministry of defence doing about these and about herders moving their cattle into farmlands and destroying farmers’ crops? Even their worst enemy knows that almajirai are not responsible for these crimes. Why will the security team of this administration like to go for soft targets instead of addressing the major security challenges facing the country?

By the way, if these children who are mainly of poor background abandon almajirci where does the NSA want them to go and get the right western education? Certainly since their parents cannot afford private schools the only place they can go are Government schools. Does the NSA know the condition of Government basic schools? Does he know how crowded they are and that majority of children who go to Government schools cannot write a correct paragraph after completing their secondary schools in twelve years? 

The products of Qur’anic schools that many of us deride are better than the product of Government basic schools. At least at the end of the day the former can recite the Qur’an the way it is taught in those schools.

Please do not misquote me. I m not saying all is well with Qur’anic schools. There are big problems with our Qur’anic schools, but most of them are part of our greater problem. Northern Muslims have not been able to change our ways in most of the things we inherited from the past. Our method of farming, for example, is as done precolonially. This applies to both crop and animal farming. Our emirs still spend most of their days sitting in the palace as done five hundred years ago and have not changed their approach to cope with new challenges facing their people. The teaching methods in our traditional Qur’anic schools have not undergone any change for over a hundred years.

The problem of begging associated with children in Qur’anic schools is only one of such problems. The last time Bishop Matthew Kukah wanted to establish almajiri centres all of us rose to condemn it. But it ended there. Can’t we even do what he wanted to do, even if we cannot modify it? What is the matter with us that we can only condemn and praise but cannot go a step further to take any positive action to solve a common problem?

The major concern of majority of Northern Muslim elites about Qur’anic schools is the begging aspect but not the promotion of Qur’anic education. I would thus like to call on Governors like Masari who have concern for Qur’anic education to go further and make policies that will improve the contents of our Qur’anic schools and look into more ways they can prevent our children from abuse.

As for the NSA, I would advise him to concentrate on consolidating the gains so far made on security and liaise with Education ministry, state Governors and religious leaders on matters of Quranic schools.

How Buhari and Masari allowed Katsina to become a killing field

If you judge me as an opposition writer you are not being fair to me. I supported Buhari when he needed support. As a non-political person I never joined his party or any other political party. But since the time he joined politics in 2003 I made sure I voted for him and mobilized those I could mobilize to vote for him. My hopes, like majority of Nigerians, were thus high when he won the 2015 election. My prayer along with others who went on hajj the previous year was answered. Jonathan was defeated. The killing of innocent Muslim Northerners was thus over. 

However, just before the inauguration of Buhari administration in 2015 something happened. I had a discussion with a more experienced colleague which like you may be dismissing this write-up, I dismissed as a hate observation from a PDP supporter. Of course I knew that colleague was not a PDP member and in fact, like yours sincerely he was never in politics. However, my love for Buhari beclouded my sense of reasoning. The person asked how Buhari could provide security for Nigerians while it was the same person who, as a military leader was toppled and arrested from his house with no iota of resistance. The point here is that if Buhari could not deal with saboteurs as a military leader with full autocratic powers how could he possibly do so as a civilian president? Whether my colleague’s observation made sense or not is left for you to say now that my choice president has spent four full years in office.

But I m not here to discuss sabotage. Sabotage or not, Buhari as the president of this country is responsible for the protection of lives and property of all Nigerians. He is answerable before God and then before Nigerians for any innocent blood dropped on the Nigerian territory. This is even more so because Nigerians voted for him for his promise that their security will be his top priority.

But Buhari is not alone in it. Along with him are 36 state Governors each of whom is roughly called the Chief security officer of his state. Let me not take you far. My state of origin is Katsina and I m talking about His Excellency Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, the executive governor of the state. Both Masari and Buhari are citizens of Katsina who took over power when there was relative peace in their state compared to its immediate neighbour, Zamfara. There were however rampant cases of cattle rustling and banditry especially in local government areas neighbouring Zamfara. That those cases will be over in a matter of a very short time was the belief of people like me who had confidence that APC shall be better than PDP notwithstanding that Masari himself was a full blown PDP member who only joined the Buhari political train after falling out with his best friend, the late President Yaradua. 

Not long after the inauguration of Masari administration, he set up a security committee under the SSG, Alhaji Mustapha Inuwa. Mustapha Inuwa was a Commissioner of Education and later SSG when Yaradua was the state Governor. His committee was what could be described as a colossal failure. Inuwa’s committee did not prevent cattle rustling from taking place in any parts of Katsina state. A good number of villages were sacked and Inuwa’s security teams only arrived the scenes, when they did, many hours after the incidents took place. Perhaps they realized that the Government itself was not serious and they decided to stay in the cities and enjoyed their allowances, after all many of them had no families in the state. It was in this period, for example, that I lost an uncle of mine to the rifles of bandits. If you expect me to stop talking about my dear who was the religious leader of his people and the patriarch of my mother’s family so as to cover the failure of Katsina and Federal Governments you are in for a disappointment. 

Somehow, sometime in 2016 Governor Yari of Zamfara state decided to grant amnesty to bandits and cattle rustlers in Zamfara state. That came as a relief to Katsina State Governor who was said to be spending a lot of money to pay security people ‘on patrol’. Thus, like a copycat, Katsina state Government also announced an amnesty for criminals. A 15-man amnesty committee was set up under our Mustapha Inuwa which was mandated by the state Governor to “meet with various gangs of cattle rustlers operating in the state with a view to identifying their grievances, and advice the government, accordingly”. Yes, those were the words of Governor Masari on the 12^th of November, 2016, unfortunately. The implication was that the Government had identified ‘gangs’ of cattle rustlers who had been responsible for the murder of innocent Nigerians and it did know their locations. But instead of applying the might of Government to bring them to justice, it was going to meet them and even listen to their reasons for murdering Nigerians. 

That was not all. The governor continued, “The government decides to employ dialogue after it had used force by about 80 per cent and yielded no much positive results”. In other words, the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with all its Police, Army, Navy, Air force, DSS, NIA, etc. had no strength to subdue bunches of criminals terrorizing villagers in one part of the country. Haba! This was said when the challenges were by far less serious than what we have now. Do we have any hope now?

After the inauguration of that committee, the lies began. Two months after the inauguration of the committee, the SSG announced that 28,000 cattle were surrendered by the cattle rustlers who had now repented. Out of that number, according to him, 24,567 had been returned to their rightful owners and 3513 died before they could be surrendered with some 99 still available. Here, one would be tempted to ask questions. Where is the list of those who repented and where are they now? Had the cattle rustlers been keeping the animals they rustled somewhere safely in expectation of this amnesty programme? This is only possible if there is complicity by some people close to Government. Who are ‘the rightful owners’ who reclaimed their cattle and which method did the committee use to ascertain ownership? I am yet to see their list. The villager victims of cattle rustling could not ask these questions for fear of being with-hunt by Government. After all, they saw some of the suspected cattle rustlers moving with Government protection after the amnesty declaration. 

The meaning of all these is that the security of lives and property of the people of Katsina state was allowed to deteriorate by the Government (this Government) by not solving the problem when it was still at the infancy stage. Now that it has become much worse the Governor is running up and down and is sometimes seen shading tears. A friend of mine called them crocodile tears and many people may have reasons to agree with him. For example, on visiting the Jibia flood site last year the Governor openly shed those tears and promised to tackle the root cause of the flood. One year after, the problem has not been solved and if there is another rain similar to last year’s only the special grace of God will prevent another flood. Somehow, my darling President Buhari has shed tears on a number of occasions and his people in his home state are still being killed on a daily basis. 

Did you say I am insulting Buhari and Masari? That may be your opinion. It is, however, the kind of opinion that has made Nigerians in leadership position to see every constructive criticism as an insult. But like the famous Caliph Umar b. Alkhattab said, “There is no good in you if you do not tell us the truth, and there is no good in us if we do not accept”.

Buhari is a human being; please let’s see him as one

In the year 2003 during the registration exercise for the National identity card in one of the villages of my local government, a man came for registration. The NIMC official asked for his name, age, occupation and other personal details and he gave. He was then asked to put his fingers, one after another on the biometric scanner and he did. Finally he was asked to pose for a photograph after which the officer said, “that is all, you can go”. The man reluctantly stood up, walked a few meters away and came back. He looked into the eyes of the ID card officer and said, “Mallam, nifa Buhari na zaba” meaning, “Mallam, I voted for Buhari”. The officer and other people around responded, “Baba, this is not an election. But when the election comes we too shall vote for Buhari”. They then explained to him what a National ID card was meant for and the difference between what was being done there and an election. The man left satisfied.

Fast forward to 23rd February 2019. When villagers in the far North came to the polling unit, if they were not previously guided on the Buhari’s broom by an enlightened APC man in their village they asked to be shown Buhari’s party. They will vote for him even if their village was sacked by bandits. But Buhari did not help them. No, they believe it is not the fault of Buhari. It is people around him who are collecting money from him but they are not doing the work. But since he gave out money to fight banditry, is he not supposed to check and make sure that the work is being done? “I think Buhari should remove those bad eggs around him”. Thus, heads or tails Buhari is innocent and blameless. Drag farther you are an enemy of Buhari. You know what that means.

But those are villages who are distance away from Islamic and western education. So their behaviour is not totally unexpected. Ironically, even many educated people think that way. Buhari does not make mistake. If you mention his mistake you must be a PDP man, only that you don’t want to say it. There is a friend (a real known friend in and out of Facebook) who always responds to almost any post I make either by way of reaction or comment. However, when I started making posts on the banditry taking place in my local government he boycotted me. He only came back the day I said my family and I will vote for Buhari and Shekarau.

Two days ago when I faulted the power sharing formula of APC another friend sent a private  observation  that the PDP power sharing I mentioned was for looting not for National unity. But, we must always separate the wheat from the chaff. Looting is bad but power sharing that will give each of the two main religious groups a sense of belonging is noble. So if someone is doing it to make stealing easier for him why can’t we do it for the noble purpose?

This type of approach may make Buhari himself to believe that he is always right. Afterall power corrupts and when advisors are not helping matters it corrupts dangerously. I know of Islamic scholars who are close to the President but I don’t know the kind of truth they tell him, if they tell him any truth at all. Otherwise, how can anyone imagine that the killings we witness on daily basis in Katsina and Zamfara will continue for so long without any new strategy to address it from the Federal Government? Does Buhari know that Allah will ask him about every drop of innocent blood spilled while he is in charge? Don’t the scholars continuously remind him of the relevant Qur’anic verses and traditions of the Holy Prophet? Or do they behave like the scholars we saw paying a visit to Kwankwaso who simply mentioned his contributions to Islam without preaching to him on his blunders? But I respect the leader of that delegation, I believe he later met him and discussed the mistakes in private. Similarly, I believe those well known scholars who are close to Buhari are telling him the truth. Please let them continue and insist. We have lost a lot of innocent people who love Buhari more than they love themselves.

Please tell the President that he is not infallible. He is just another human being answerable before Allah on his stewardship as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia

Power sharing: Mistakes APC must not repeat

Nigeria is a great country with a complex history. Our unique history has left us with a very large population, the largest in Africa and one of the largest in the world. To say that we are heterogeneous will be an understatement. We have at least 250 tribes with two main religious groups. Despite being multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious we have been able to live relatively peacefully. This is not by accident. We have carefully managed what makes people in many other African countries fight – power. This, we were able to do by adopting federalism in which each federating unit is carried along in running the affairs of the nation. Our constitution is clear on the appointment of ministers. Each state must produce at least one.

When our colonizers decided to bring us together in what is known as the 1914 amalgamation, little did they know that what they hitherto called Northern and southern protectorates were going to be a blessing for us in disguise. Today we have established the culture of power division between North and south to such a level that if the President is coming from the North the vice President will be produced by the south and vice versa. The same rule applies with respect to the religious affiliations of the President and the vice president. Although these rules are not written in our constitution, any political party that breaks them is not likely going to make it at the polls.

But the office of the President and vice president are not the only important offices in Government. The Government as we have it in Nigeria is made up of three arms, viz. the executive, the legislature and the Judiciary. I will talk about the executive and the legislature; appointments into the judiciary are only for the learned who have gone through formal law institutions and party politics play very little role in them.

Three pairs of offices can be identified in both the executive and the legislature for which, if power is to be truly divided in such a way that Muslims and Christians, Northerners and Southerners will have a sense of belonging then regional and religious factors must be considered. These are President/VP, SGF/Head of Service and Senate President/Speaker. The first two pairs are in the executive while the last is in the legislature.

As bad as the PDP may be, it has been able to share these offices among the two parts of the country and the two religions over the 16 years it was in power. Thus in 1999-2007 we had Obasanjo/Atiku, Ekaete/Yayale and Igbo (a good number of them)/Buhari- Naabba- Masari.  When ‘Yaradua took over we had Yaradua/Jonathan, Kingibe -Yayale/Okeke and Mark/Bankole. The same formula was maintained after Yaradua except for 2011 – 2015 when there was no acceptable Muslim candidate for the office of the speaker from the South and Tambuwal was supported to become the speaker. Many saw it as a compensation for the North West after Buhari was rigged out at the polls.

Of important note in PDP’s power sharing is the rotation of the offices of the President, SP and SGF with power shift. Thus when Obasanjo was in power these offices went to the south and when power shifted to the North, Northerners occupied them. We can also remember that the six offices mentioned above were distributed among the six geopolitical zones.

It is noteworthy that PDP has never announced or debated their sharing formula in public but Nigerians including people like me who are not in partisan politics could see what was happening and were largely satisfied.

What we saw over the last four years was President/VP (N/S, M/C), SGF/HOS (N/S, C/C) and SP/Speaker (N/N, M/C). This is vividly a wrong arrangement for a number of reasons. One, there are three Christians in the four most important offices in the executive. That is why when the President was away for medical treatment, there was visibly no Muslim in the executive corridor. But Nigerian Muslims are easy going; they did not make noise. The question here is, would the Christians ever accept that? Of course it would not happen in the first place. No Christian president will appoint Muslims to occupy the offices of the SGF and HOS at the same time. Secondly, both the speaker and the SGF are Christians from the North East where Christians constitute a minority.

Yes, the Chief of Staff is a Muslim from the North East. But he is only an aide to the president. That he is allowed to become prominent is not good for the personality of the President. Not many of us can remember the names of Chiefs of staff of past presidents even though they were always there.

If APC wants to retain power beyond President Buhari, and many of us will be happy it does, it has to put its house in order and take care of our diversity at the highest level of power play. There is no better time than now that the incoming Federal legislators were supposedly carefully selected to be loyal to the party.

I do not derive any pleasure in pointing at these mistakes and wish the APC had taken care of them and saved Nigerians from public discussions on things that divide them.