What is in pronunciation?

In 1989, then an undergraduate in Bayero University Kano, I joined a night J5 bus from Lagos to Kano. Most of the passengers were Yoruba. There were two of us who were vividly Northerners, a more elderly person and I. As the journey progressed, the Yoruba were discussing on National issues and I decided to comment. As I began to speak, they started clapping and laughing, “Mallam ya ji turanshi, Mallam ya ji turanshi!”. I had no option but to keep quiet and bear it. Those southerners were not speaking better English or following any rule of grammar or phonetics better than me. What was wrong with me was being a mallam who spoke with mallam’s accent.

What took me to Lagos was associated with a Chevron’s scholarship I enjoyed at that time. The advert for the scholarship was placed in the New Nigerian and Daily Times newspapers in March 1987 when I was in my first year of Electrical Engineering programme. Many of us applied from across Nigerian universities. There was an aptitude test that sieved away others and qualified us for the interview.

When he learned about the interview, a cousin who had already graduated lectured me about dealing with southerners who were controlling the oil companies. That I should dress corporate and as much as possible appear like them. He gave me a suit which he advised me to put on the interview date. I must say up to that point in my life I had never worn a suit. All my clothes were traditional. I thus felt very uncomfortable with his coat and decided to leave it in Kano while travelling to Lagos for the interview. My name is Abdussamad Umar. That was the name on the letter of invitation. That was also exactly me. If they liked they take me. If they liked they leave me. It was up to them. But no pretence, no change of dress and no change of accent.

That is how I appeared in my traditional kaftan when I entered the interview room in the Company’s building in Tinubu square. I had no doubt in my mind that I was well dressed, young and handsome. I looked every inch a Fulani boy even though I spoke no word of Fulfulde. I was told that we are Sullubawa, a special clan of Fulani people who do not speak the language. But when it comes to filling a form where tribe is required I always put Hausa which I speak. The Fulani can go home with their language. As far as I am concerned no human being is more special than another simply by belonging to a particular tribal group.

“Asshalamu alaikum”. That is what the chairman of the panel said to me as soon as I entered and even before he asked me to sit down. He was clad in his traditional Yoruba dress. Could he be a Muslim? I asked myself even as I replied, “Wa alaikumussalam warahmatullahi wa barakatuh”. He bore a Christian name, I understood that when he introduced himself. So there would be no religious solidarity.

The first part of the interview was introduction and it took more time than normal. Katsina state had just been created and there were many documentaries on it and its sister Akwa Ibom state created on the same day by Babangida administration. Kaduna state had 14 local governments, seven from the old Zazzau province and the other seven from the old Katsina province. The old Katsina province was made the new Katsina state while the other province was the new Kaduna state. The seven local governments were Katsina, Daura, Mani, Dutsinma, Kankia, Funtua and Malumfashi. Katsina local government was made up of what later became the six local governments of Katsina, Jibia, Kaita, Batagarawa, Rimi and Charanchi. “Are you from Dutsinma?” one of the panelists asked. “No sir. I am from Jibia”, I replied. “Is Jibia in Daura local Government?” another asked. “No sir. It is in Katsina Local Government”. They asked about the state and my feeling about its creation, etc.

With introduction over, technical questions followed. Somehow, all the questions asked were from my Ordinary level Physics and I answered them accurately. Thus, by the time I came out of that room I was sure that unless there was a mischief which is characteristic of some humans, I had passed the interview. I achieved two things. I earned respect for presenting myself as myself and answered the examinations questions correctly. Two months later, I received the award letter with the first cheque of first year.  Twenty five successful names were later published in the New Nigerian and Daily Times by the company. I was the only one from Bayero University and the only one from the new state of Katsina.

This journey in which Yoruba youth mocked at me was in connection with a cheque I missed. They sent it by a registered mail but because I missed the slip the cheque was returned. They later wrote another letter requesting me to come to Lagos and collect it. The journey from Kano to Lagos and back would cost me sixty Naira and the money to be collected was two thousand naira. So it was okay.

This is how we have been tolerating southerners in our country. Once you are a Northerner, you have no right to speak English. The only sin of Dr. M. T. Liman, Abatcha’s minister of Education, for example, was speaking with Northern accent. Of course he said many unsavory things about Lecturers but his predecessor Prof. Nwabueze did worse. At the end of the day M. T. Liman was nicknamed, “empty–lay-man” by some Southerners and some Northerners foolishly echoed.

With my experiences I have since decided not to worry about the way a person speaks and whether or not they speak good English. The Chinese we rely upon today to produce cheap products for us do not speak good English when they speak it. Most of us in Northern Nigeria speak English the way we hear the Southerners speak it. Do southerners speak with Queen’s accent?

President Buhari has been in power for five years now and many people have decided to mock him at every point he speaks in his natural way. They expect him to speak like a Yoruba or Igbo man. Sadly, some of the mockery comes from his supposed children and grandchildren in the North. What the young Northerners mocking at him do not know is that southerners would do same to any of their favourite Northern politicians be it Kwankwaso, Bafarawa, Zulum or any other.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia

Nothing should happen to the Kebbi young man

Thursday, the 12^th of March 2020 could have passed like any other day in my life except for some social media posts that I saw in the very early hours of the day. There was a bandits’ attack in Magama-Jibia the previous night. Magama was a village five kilometers out of Jibia before Jibia town expanded and made it a suburb. It is also a place where Nigeria-Niger border post is located. There is a big customs barracks in Magama that has proven to be of no use to the people since the current banditry started.

The news of bandits’ attack made me to make very early morning calls to relatives and friends living in both Magama and Jibia main town. After a few calls, I came to realize that the bandits’ attacks were still on in other villages around Jibia. At the end of it all, eight people were killed in Tsamben tsauni in addition to the one killed in Kwari and another in Kaga. But Police and Army? They, just like the state Governor, were informed in the very early hours of the night when the bandits were seen coming on their motorcycles, according to my reliable sources. But no help came until it was over. In fact, it was said that some very few soldiers on the ground went into hiding in Magama when the mayhem was taking place, obviously because they were outnumbered by the heavily armed bandits who came in their tens.

That was the situation I found myself on Thursday. Due to my parental background, there is no ward in Jibia LGA where I do not have a relation, near or far, an acquaintance or a friend. So I have every reason to be worried when such attacks take place. Fulani banditry has claimed lives and property of some of my closest relations since it started. Some of my female relations in the rural areas were raped in past attacks. I thus spent the rest of the day commiserating with myself and my people.

In the evening I switched on to view the news on my television set. My main interest was to know what is happening about the ongoing ASUU strike in which I am participating. The NTA news is no news as it mainly tells you about the Government of the day. The President was shown making a speech at one festival in Kebbi in which I had no interest. He was raising his voice in order to be heard and you would not expect me to make sense out of what he was saying, at least given the happenings in my local government in the day. Ten people would be murdered in a nation and the president is vividly unaware much less send any condolences. That is the very low level to which Nigeria has descended under this Government. Yet, as a Northerner I am expected to continue to blindly give my support.

This morning when I switched the data of my handphone the first thing I saw was a clarification from Femi Adesina on some ‘contorsionists’ who are passing a video clip on social media to give an impression that the President was attacked in Kebbi. I know contorsionist is a player of some sort. But I checked the dictionary on my handphone to make sure. It says, “an acrobat able to twist into unusual positions”. I was not satisfied. I then googled the word. I saw the same meaning. I now dropped the phone and picked my old Oxford dictionary. Okay, there is a figurative meaning. ‘We had to go through all the usual contortions to get a ticket (= a difficult series of actions)’. This means the people Femi Adesina was referring to must have suffered a little to arrive at a conclusion that the action of the said young man was an attempt to attack the President.

I now decided to check other sources to know what happened. I know if no one else, the opposition will look for that video and paste it on Facebook. But just as I was going through my Facebook posts I saw a comment by one Aminu Bello who claimed he was there when it happened. He said, “The man tried to fish out then-Gov Adamu Aleiro and now Senator of Kebbi Central. When asked, the man said thief can’t be close to the Mr. President before him….”. I said this man loves the President but he is giving a different explanation which he claimed is an eye-witness one. However, when I saw the video there was no question and answer session which would have confirmed who, between Adesina and Bello was telling the truth.

My greatest shock came when I read in the Daily Trust newspaper that the man was shot in the foot. From the footage I saw, there was no sound of gunshot. So, what could have happened? Does it mean that this man was later shot after he was removed from the scene and the Daily Trust story sponsored so that when his death is announced later we would be told that he died from the gunshot he received?

My advice to Mr. President is that he should personally investigate this matter and come clean on it. Even if this young man attempted to attack him, he does not deserve death as long as the attack did not take place. He should remember that Kebbi, just like other Northern states is one of the states that was 100 per cent behind him. If it has now reached a level that his people are booing him and even attempting to attack him, all he has to do is looking inwards and correcting his mistakes.

Mr. President should understand that people are not happy with the level of carnage taking place under the watch of a man many of them loved even more than they loved themselves. People are not happy about the level of hunger in the land. Dead people cannot go to farm. So the campaign of his Government about farming does not make sense to his people in rural areas. Or are we no longer his people?

Auno: Is PMB under a spell?

In 2016, one year after Jonathan Goodluck left power, his press secretary Dr. Reuben Abati advised the Nigerian Government to abandon the villa and turn it into a spiritual museum. This is because, according to him, there are evil spirits in the villa who overcome Nigerian presidents and prevent them from taking good decisions. He ascribed the disconnect between the decisions of their Government and public opinion to the influence of those spirits.

Abati concluded that “the APC folks now in power are dealing with the same demons. Since Buhari Government assumed office, it has been one mistake after another. Those mistakes don’t look normal the same way they did not look normal under President Jonathan.”

One year later, after PMB’s prolonged medical vacation in the UK, Garba Shehu told Nigerians that rodents had taken over the office of the President. That, according to Shehu, had forced the President to be working from home. While Nigerians were discussing the issue of rodents, a politician who claimed to know what was happening in the villa told me that, “those are not ordinary rodents. The fact is that any time the President entered that office he will start feeling as if some rats are jumping up and down in his head.”

Politicians can lie. That is why I didn’t take my politician friend serious, even though what he said made sense. How long does it take ordinary Nigerians to clear rodents from their compounds? How did that now become difficult for the presidency of an oil-rich country like Nigeria that can afford the best rat repellents in the world?

But as governance continued under PMB, Nigerians have been wondering what is wrong with their choice leader. Of recent, PMB has been getting it wrong on security and acting contrary to popular public opinions that make sense. If in 2016 it was one mistake after another, in 2020 it is a series of blunders as Nigerians continue to be killed under his watch; and he remains adamant on positions that have failed to yield results.

Take the issue of service chiefs for example. The position of the majority of Nigerians including the APC-controlled National Assembly is that the service chiefs have overstayed and vividly outlived their optimal performance and should go. Their going will give them time to retire honourably with the feeling that they have contributed their best to their country. It will also give room for growth in the Nigerian military and bring fresh blood and ideas on board. But the President has refused to listen for no reason reasonable thinking can grasp. If the President wants to retain them because they are Northerners, there are many qualified Northerners on the line. For whatever good reason he is retaining them, there are handy replacements around.

One thing that has kept me wondering whether or not there is a link between Buhari’s decisions and Abati’s spirits and Garba’s rodents is the Auno massacre. Auno is a popular settlement very close to Maiduguri. Not far from Auno is a famous checkpoint where all travelers going in and out of Maiduguri are asked to show their identity cards. A school/office identity card, a driving licence or a National identity card will suffice. Those who cannot present ID cards are asked to step out of their vehicles and see Oga who is usually sitting in some shade a few metres away. The meeting with Oga is usually very brief unless the traveler cannot talk to Oga “correctly”.

All that is during the day. Once it is time to lock the gate at Auno, it is locked and all the security people will leave the scene. But when is the time of closing the gate? That is determined by the officer in charge. The 6 pm can change at the discretion of the commander who doesn’t have to explain to any of the travelers struggling to enter Maiduguri but locked out by a delay that can be as little as less than one minute. Few months ago I saw a commercial vehicle driver being flogged by a soldier because he pleaded to be allowed to pass through the other lane after his lane was locked at 4 pm. That was at the other gate around Damaturu. Of course there are two such gates on the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway.

The question here is, is PMB not aware of all these? Certainly he will not be aware if he only relies on regular security reports to know what is happening in the North East. This is why it was easy for Boko Haram to attack innocent travelers last week.

The reaction of the President is grossly disappointing, with due respect to His Excellency. The expected decision any good leader would take is to order an investigation. Our President who could not go to Auno to see for himself only blamed the traditional rulers of the state. But the infallible Nigerian military is beyond reproach as far as my beloved President is concerned.

As all of these are happening, Reuben Abati must be somewhere saying, “Sobi I told them”.

But PMB should not abandon the villa yet. He is a good Muslim who has been praying five times a day. He is also very lucky to have close to him Islamic scholars of the likes of Dr. Ali Pantami. The President should first and foremost put his trust in Allah and continue to pray and take necessary action against all “rodents” and “evil spirits” around him. The Buhari who led Nigeria in the 80s and PTF in the 90s is too good to continue to rule Nigeria this way. Something is wrong.

Now that Amotekun is lawful

On Thursday January 9, 2020, state Governments in the South west geopolitical zone comprising of Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Lagos converged on Ibadan to launch a joint security network which they codenamed ‘Amotekun’, the Yoruba word for leopard. The launch was attended by the host Governor Seyi Makinde, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and the Chairman, Western Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr. Rotimi Akerelodu of Ondo State. The Governors of Osun and Ogun were represented by their deputies while Lagos state Governor did not send any representation.

Although Akerelodu stated at the occasion that the “Nigeria Police will oversee and moderate the activities of Amotekun”, neither the Police IG nor the host Police commissioner was present or represented. Among those absent were the Director, DSS and GOC 2^nd Division. They were not represented as well. In short, the formal security establishment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was not represented at the event.

As if trying to preempt the reactions that trailed the launch, Governor Akerelodu did not mince words in affirming his Forum’s commitment to one Nigeria. He said, “The South West states of the Federation believe in the unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its indissoluble sovereignty. We are committed, in all ramifications, to the ideals that will make the country stronger and more united.”

Although the structure of the security outfit was not unfolded at the event, Akerelodu assured his audience that, “Nobody with questionable character will participate in the programme” and that “The conventional security agencies will participate, actively, in profiling the recruits”. As for the aim of launching the security network, Governor Makinde of Oyo said it is “to ensure that both indigenes and settlers living within the boundaries of our various states can carry out their legitimate activities in a secure environment. The security of their lives and properties should be of paramount importance”.

The Amotekun initiative was followed by different reactions from different quarters. Surprisingly, even the Yoruba were not united in their support for Amotekun. Prof Wole Soyinka did not waste any time in telling President Buhari that he was the one that brought about Amotekun by failing to do his job of protecting the lives and property of Nigerians. Femi Falana defended the idea of Amotekun but advised each of the state governors to submit a supporting bill to his state house of assembly to provide an enabling law. However, Prof Ishaq Akintola accused the Governors of turning Amotekun into a ‘Christian militia’ as recruitment into the security outfit has mandated applicants to submit birth certificates registered only in churches. This view was echoed by the Muslim community of Osun state.

Among those who supported the Amotekun initiative is the Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) South West zone, Alhaji Mohammed Labaran. According to him, “it is a welcome development, we don’t oppose it”. Alhaji Labaran however lamented that despite living amicably with their host communities they were not involved in the idea of Amotekun. In a swift reaction, the Publicity secretary of the Yoruba summit group Mr. Gboyega Adejumo stated that Amotekun is about Yoruba, “it is not about you”. He added, “Are you going to ask a thief to support a security initiative? Are you going to ask someone who willfully damages your property to support a security initiative? ”

It is perhaps reactions like that of Adejumo that made the mother body of MACBAN to take a very harsh stance of Amotekun. It described Amotekun as an agenda to displace herders from the southwest and a threat to democracy. It later added that the Southwest stands to lose the Presidency in 2023 if it does not drop the idea.

If MACBAN threatens the South west with losing presidency, it is only exploiting the psychology of the average Northern Muslim. Most Northerners, including those who are victims of excesses of Fulani herders and bandits, feel insulted when Fulani are criticized. That is why when the Amotekun debate started many Northerners suddenly became lawyers who continued to condemn Amotekun as an illegality in Social media, local radio programmes and group discussions.

The fear generally expressed in such discussions is that Amotekun may end up becoming like OPC, a body that attacked and killed Non-Yoruba residents of the Southwest during it’s period of strength. The same people have forgotten that the attacks we continue to experience in the North today is worse than what OPC gave us in the late ninetees.

Yes, the OPC killed tens of Northerners and I wrote to remind Nigerians about it when it’s founder Fredrick Faseun died. However, the record of OPC attacks do not indicate mass raping and kidnapping like we experience in the North West today. Again, OPC did not attack their own, but the bandits operating in the North west attack everyone including Fulani and Hausa. Another difference is that OPC had a leadership that we can talk to, but the criminals we have in the North today are broken into small gangs operating from different remote bases.

So, why should the Northerner leave the danger confronting him and start discussing a lesser evil that is only perceived?

But now the issue of Amotekun is almost settled. After a series of twists between Federal Government and south western states governments, the Federal Government has now agreed that it is lawful to set up a security outfit like Amotekun if an enabling law is provided.

But who needs Amotekun more? Is it the South West or the North West?

For those who have been following events in the devastated areas of Katsina and Zamfara for example, it is well known that either our military is not capable of handling this security challenge or it is not willing to. Even those security detachments that have shown willingness to fight bandits only intercept them before they attack, but in most cases after the attacks have already taken place. Even though in many cases the camps locations of these criminals are known, it is clear to see that the  military is not ready to take the risk of taking the battle to the homes of these bandits. That is why whenever the military is withdrawn the attacks continue.

But what is responsible for this? Is it because our military personnel have nothing to lose when the attacks take place? Most soldiers and policemen operating in some of the worst hit communities do not belong there, do not know the culture of the people and would not lose anything in terms of property or relations when the local communities are attacked.

Is this attitude due to corruption? Many have expressed fears that some of the military commanders may be compromised. I am still looking for evidence. I have seen none.

Dear reader would agree with me that when the local volunteers (‘yan sa kai) and vigilantes were operating in the North West, the security situation was much better. These groups were made up of locals who know the terrain and who can identify local criminals with utmost accuracy. All of a sudden, Governors of the North West met some time last year to ban the vigilante groups. In their place they offered amnesty to the criminals which had proven to be a failure several times before.

Where would a Governor who is struggling to pay minimum wage to his hardworking civil servants find enough money to continuously pay a criminal with an insatiable hunger for wealth? That is why even those criminals who accept to stop crime would stop it when the money is coming and resume when Government money stops. Certainly, this is not an approach that would provide a final solution to the problem of banditry and kidnapping in the North.

Moving forward, why won’t our Governors try Amotekun? It is now lawful.

Katsina: As the peace accord crumbles

Many observers from outside Katsina state now view us with envy for the projects, especially the higher institutions of learning sited in the state by Buhari administration. Two specialized universities, a polytechnic and a few others. President Buhari has also appointed a number of Katsina indigenes to big offices at the centre.

All of the above are true and laudable but they are mainly important to people like me who live in major population centres within and outside the state. For the rural population, especially in the western part of the state, universities, polytechnics and big offices make no sense for as long as they are not able to sleep with their eyes closed.

Three months ago, on the directive of Mr. President, Katsina state Government under Masari entered into a peace agreement with criminals who have been responsible for hundreds of Murders, rapes and kidnappings across the state, particularly in those LGAs that share borders with Zamfara state. Of course, those bandits had already signed and breached multiple peace accords with the neighbouring Zamfara state Government just like they breached an earlier one with Katsina under Masari. But Masari had no choice as he does not command troops. Let us give him that benefit of doubt.

But what were the terms of the peace accord? The only condition I know is what Governor Masari put as ‘dan ba kara’ meaning ‘there must be no repetition of crime’ after the peace accord. The implication of that condition is that the bandits got away with all the crimes they committed including murder and destruction and stealing of property. There was no condition that the armed groups should disband and leave their camps to join the rest of the population. Even the arms surrender was ridiculous. For example, on one of those occasions, the bandits were seen surrendering only two rifles to the Governor. Yes, the same bandits who were known to move about with two to three hundred motorcycles with each motorcycle carrying two to three armed gangsters. And the Governor ironically accepted.

The peace accord had come and gone and the many of us who were against it have now been vindicated. Immediately after the peace meetings, the armed bandits moved about freely brandishing their arms among the people. They sold stolen property freely in our markets and broke shops and confiscated personal belongings like phones and cash from individuals.  Just like they attacked Katsina after negotiating peace with Zamfara, they also attempted to extend their terror to the neighbouring Niger republic. Of course, it has proven to be unsuccessful due to the vigilance of the Nigerien security forces.
For several weeks, those of us who have strong links with people living in the rural areas of Jibia and Batsari are worried about the escalation of violence in those areas. All that used to happen before the peace accord is now gradually returning. As I m writing this note, cases of cattle rustling are fully back. There are many cases of rape and kidnapping for ransom.
 
Another worrisome trend is the marriage between rice smugglers and bandits. Rice smugglers who fail to obtain prior clearance from bandits have their rice and valuables confiscated after being forced to take it to their camps.

This gradual return of full-scale banditry is obviously due to the inability of the bandits to find a fertile ground in the neighbouring Niger Republic just like they found in Katsina after Zamfara peace accord.

My take:

Even for the sake of smuggled rice, since humans do not seem to be as important, Federal Government should take its battle to the bandits’ camps.

This article was published in other places on 19/12/2019.

Governor Masari and his malignment of Katsina people

For anyone who has been following the security situation in Katsina state, the recent press address followed by a BBC Hausa interview by Governor Masari is a gross disappointment and an insult to the people of Katsina state.

First, the claim that Jibia local Government has been peaceful until when recently some rice smugglers invited bandits to chase Customs officers for them shows that he is either not aware of what has been happening in Jibia LGA or he is deliberately covering up the truth. Bandit attacks in which they raped, killed, kidnapped and rustled animals have been on before and after his FG-imposed peace accords in 2016 and 2019. In fact, it became more widespread after the 2019 peace accord.

Daddara district had fewer cases of banditry cases before the accord than after the accord was signed. But because villages are not important to Masari, himself a villager, he only found it necessary to address the press when Jibia township was attacked, obviously because of the high alarm raised after the two attacks in Jibia and it’s junction (Magama). Even as a son of Jibia town, I have blamed stakeholders in Jibia of not raising so much alarm when villages were being attacked.

If I may ask His Excellency my Governor, were the bandits who attacked Sardaduwa, Kafiyal, Farun Bugaje, Garin Rabe, Dan arau, Kukar Babangida, Zandam, Matso-Matso, Mazanya among several other places in both Daddara and Jibia districts invited by smugglers? Perhaps the Governor did not know that all of these places I mentioned were attacked after the 2019 peace accord which he told the Fulani bandits, during one the widely publicized peace meetings, was done at the instance of President Buhari. May be he is hearing some of these names for the first time. Yet, these are the same communities that voted for the Buhari party in 2015 and 2019.

Throughout his press address and the BBC interview Governor Masari did not sympathize with the victims of bandits’ attacks. He commended the defenceless people of Magama for chasing armed bandits which they did with pure courage, but he fell short of acknowledging that two young people were killed in the process. He told BBC that he was in Jibia on Friday to attend the wedding of a politician’s daughter but he did not find it necessary to make a stopover at Magama to condole with the poor families of those young people. Haba Masari! Which kind of leader are you?

By the way, is the Nigerian Customs Service not prepared to fight smuggling? How can it’s men so easily be chased away by Fulani bandits as the Governor himself admitted? And please your Excellency, are the bandits invited by smugglers among those who signed peace accord with you or are they among the twenty percent who did not accept the peace offer? Where are the eighty percent and how do they live? Do you give them salary from the lean resources of Katsina people or do they still practice crime but only when invited by fellow criminals who live in the towns? And you don’t consider that as a breach of the peace agreement you signed with them?

Masari admitted that there are Fulani bandits (yes, ‘Fulani’ that is how he put it) who did not accept the peace agreement, but he quickly said they are now in Zamfara state. Is Zamfara not part of Nigeria? Didn’t he report back to the man who instructed him to negotiate with bandits that some of them have refused to accept the peace offer and are now hiding in Zamfara forest? What has the president done about it? Most elected politicians hide under the inaccessibility provided by heavy security to insult their people. Otherwise with one on one discussion people like Alhaji Aminu Masari cannot defend themselves before the masses of Katsina people.

As far as my Governor is concerned all those claiming that there is a breach of peace in Katsina state are liars. But he quickly contradicted himself by saying that the problem of banditry is all over Nigeria, “so why are we over blowing it in Katsina state?” The Governor may wish to note that there is no state in Nigeria today in which you would find a local Government, nay the whole state, in which bandits attacks take place on daily basis except Katsina state. The statistics given by Dutsin Ma people is “false”. I am only quoting the Governor. Kai Gwamna, kaji tsoron Allah. Let me remind you that Allah will ask you on every life lost, every property stolen and every woman raped in Katsina. If you believe in this, why then do you think because crimes are taking place in other states, it is justified to take place in Katsina?

Of course I am impressed by the renewed promise of the Governor to address the problem of kidnapping which he said he is taking undisclosed steps to end. My advice is that the steps should be new and unconventional, not the same old ones known to the criminals. A state Governor mobilized his people against Fulani marauders invading their farms with their cattle and it is now over. Why can’t Masari mobilize his people against Fulani bandits even if it means being at loggerheads with Federal Government? Is it because some of us are Fulani? But the Governor himself rightly put it that if parting with one’s finger is what will make the rest of the body healthy, there is nothing wrong in cutting it.

Nobody is against anybody here. The rest of us are interested in peace, which should not just be for urban people but everyone living in every nook and cranny of the state.

Education: PMB not leading by example

Late Alhaji Wada Nas was a prolific writer, an astute politician and a former Minister of state for Education and later Special duties in the regime of Late General Sani Abatcha. When the military relinquished power in 1999 he joined the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and was vividly in the train of Buhari campaign when the retired General joined politics in 2002. 

Many people remember him for different things but one thing I always remember Wada Nas for was his advocacy for a law banning Government officials from taking their children to private schools. The Funtua born politician started calling for the enactment of that law when he was a minister in Abatcha regime. But in military regime civilian appointees had limited say as they were not members of the Supreme military council or the Armed Forces Ruling Council whose prerogative it was to make decrees and/or repeal same.

When I saw Nas in Buhari campaign train, it gave me more courage to continue to support the General. At least there will be some level of sanity in the Education sector. The good old days in which an almajiri like me was in the same class as the governor’s child shall be back. The practice of Government officials taking their children abroad while killing our local universities or to private schools while leaving our public schools to rot will soon be over. Wada Nas died along the way but my confidence in Buhari as the best person to solve the problems of the Nigeria’s education sector remained intact. 

Politicking, elections and PDP rigging continued until 2015 when the time came and our votes counted. Our own man had won, not under ANPP or CPC but in the name of another concoction unknown to Late Wada Nas. It is a new party called APC. The nomenclature didn’t matter. We were happy.

During the campaign preceding the 2015 election, Alhaji Aminu Masari, the APC gubernatorial candidate of Katsina state came to Kano to address Katsina indigenes living in Kano. One of the things he promised to do as he told those of us who were in Royal Tropicana Hotel that day was that he will make a law banning all senior Government officials, elected or appointed including himself from taking their children to private schools. If Masari, who was seen as PDP man in progressives skin could do that why not PMB? Thus for people like me, it was a dream come true when PMB became the president.

I must confess that up to May 2015 I knew very little about PMB’s family. I knew he was married to one Hajiya Safinatu who was said to come from Mani in Katsina state. According to the rumuors, when Buhari was in detention after the 1985 coup she kept visiting Maryam Babangida. When Buhari was released and he learnt about it he divorced her and married a 20 year old girl from Adamawa state. How many children did Buhari have from his first wife and from the Adamawa lady? Up to what level were they educated and where? What is the nature of relationship between Buhari’s children and his new wife? Even by way of rumuor I didn’t know.

By the way, what was Buhari’s view about educational institutions being run with public funds? I knew General Buhari the Head of State removed feeding subsidy from public universities. That was just before I enrolled as a Predegree student in Bayero University. Although I didn’t meet the subsidy, people who enjoyed it were not happy with Buhari. But life then was not as harsh as it is now; so it could continue. I didn’t know about anyone who dropped out of the university due to the removal of feeding subsidy but I know people suffered and they were not happy.

When, after PMB took over in 2015, pictures of his children’s convocation in a UK university flooded the public space my disappointment began.  How can someone who has been the masses’ choice in his struggle to become the President feel that the schools being attended by masses’ children are not good enough for his own? Well, he was not the yet the president when he registered his children for degree programmes in the UK, I decided to give him that benefit of doubt.  

This Tuesday, the third of December 2019 I was forced to withdraw that benefit of doubt. The Adamawa wife of Mr. President has posted the pictures of her daughter’s graduation from a foreign university. I wouldn’t want to believe that the mother of this girl registered her daughter against the wish of the President. That would be a total condemnation of the man I love so much. But what message is the President sending by registering his daughter to follow a degree programme in a foreign university when he is the President? That Nigerian universities under his watch are not good? That he doesn’t want his children to mix with the children of people who lost their lives in the struggle to see that he become the president, people who drank gutter water and trekked hundreds of kilometers out of joy that he won election? 

That he spent his personal money to educate her is not a valid explanation. What made his money personal when he has confessed to being a public servant all his life? Umar bn Alkhattab reduced his salary when he realized that it was in excess of his daily needs. Where did Mr. President, a public servant for life get excess money to send his daughter abroad? But even if the daughter is sponsored by a friend or a relation, PMB is not supposed to allow it for the bad impression it gives about himself and his government.

If we add this to the poor budgetary allocation to education since PMB came to power and the way his administration is condemning public universities as parasites who must join the killer IPPIS against money-generating agencies who are exempted, one cannot help being disappointed. 

Finally, is PMB now telling us that Masari, ElRufai  and other ‘boys’ who are known to take their children to public schools are better than him or did they make a mistake?