How Daura people are being misrepresented

 

This morning (09/12/2020) I was confronted by a video clip of a legislator from Katsina state. The young man, who may be in his thirties or forties depending on his body type is supposed to be representing Daura/Maiadua/Sandamu Federal constituency in the House of Representatives. By implication, this man is one of the two people representing President Muhammadu Buhari in the National assembly. Without doubt, like most of his types from the North, Fatuhu Muhammed rode on the back of Buhari to convince the unsuspecting people of Daura, Maiadua and Sandamu that he will support Buhari to change their lot.

The man, who unfortunately is a member of Committee on tertiary education in the house rose to ask his colleagues to agree to tell the executives to sell public universities and retain the Polytechnics. His reason is that “we are having so much problems with ASUU”. He did not elaborate on the word, “we”. Is he referring to the people of Daura, Maiadua and Sandamu, in which case we should ask him the method he used to determine their opinion? We know that ASUU had recently embarked on nationwide parleying with Nigerians at which it explained it’s position and listened to parents’ views as major stakeholders. How many parleys did Fatuhu hold with the masses of Daura, Sandamu and Maiadua to have arrived at this opinion?

Or did “we” in Fatuhu’s submission refer to the committee in which he is only an ordinary member? We shall then ask, where is the report of the committee which would show the homework it has made to arrive at this position? Why is he the one presenting it, when, like he acknowledged in his incoherent submission, the Committee chairman was present?

While reacting to the clip, a colleague from Daura noted that Fatuhu is a nephew of the President. If that is true, the rest of us may wish to know, does “we” refer to the extended Buhari family? We know that some of Buhari’s children were educated outside Nigeria even when he is sitting in the villa as an elected President. Is it the opinion of Mr. President that public universities in Nigeria be privatized so that the “edupreneurs” who buy them would make them as good as those attended by his children in the UK? PMB is a key stakeholder in Fatuhu’s constituency but he has only one vote.

What is the “so much problem” that the Fatuhus know about ASUU that the rest of Nigerians do not that led “them” to conclude that the “best solution” is to sell the universities? I know many Nigerians who criticize ASUU for one thing or another but none of them has spoken so strongly about “privatizing” public universities like Fatuhu did. I am sure that in addition to myself, other Nigerians would love to know this problem that can only be solved by selling our universities.

For any arising matter that requires the attention of lawmakers, I would like to note that there are three questions a member like Fatuhu would ask before taking a position.

The first question is, how will it affect my people? Did Fatuhu ask this question? Poverty is one factor that characterizes our life in the far North. Daura emirate is one of the worst hit places in terms of poverty, hunger and backwardness in formal education. For example,for many years people from other parts of Katsina state rush to rural local governments in Daura emirate to look for hajj seats as in most cases the people there cannot fill their quota of hajj seats due to the high level poverty. If Government closes down its primary and secondary schools in Katsina state, one can be rest assured that majority of our children, and especially those from rural local Governments like the ones Fatuhu is representing, will not go to school. Right now, many children from the North are at the mercy of their state governments to pay for their WAEC and NECO registration. Then, how can a person representing such people rise on the floor of the National Assembly and advocate for the commercialization of education? This is silliness at it’s peak.

The second question is, how has this problem been solved in similar climes? As a legislator has Fatuhu taken time to find out how Malaysia, for example, is able to run it’s public universities and make them among the best? Today, no one goes to a private university in Malaysia except those who are not academically good enough for public universities. Malaysian lecturers are among the happiest set of people in that country. Why are our politicians so lazy to simply read or travel in order to help their people?

For anything a person wants to say, whether or not such a person is a legislator, they would always ask, how will it be received by other people? Regrettably, Fatuhu is so inexperienced to even discuss with his colleagues a priori, which explained why many of them were shouting him down when he was saying it. Of course, there is nothing wrong in being controversial if one is sure of one’s position and has sufficient facts to support it. Unfortunately, the legislator did not prepare adequate arguments to back his position which explains why he immediately sat down the moment his colleagues began to boo him. Did he not ask his “we” of their reasons to believe that the problem of ASUU is so much that there should be no public university in Nigeria?

But who do you blame? Just Fatuhu? I blame the political parties who nominate and send people without preparing them. Although seminars and retreats are organized for legislators from time to time, the emphasis is usually not on the knowledge. Otherwise, we would not be having people like Fatuhu.

Fatuhu as an individual is not worth my pen. I don’t write to vilify individuals. My concern is for the poor people of Daura, Sandamu and Maiadua who are being misrepresented.

Is the North ready to end banditry and kidnapping?

 “Wadannan shuwagabanni mun yi zaben tumun dare. Kada Allah Ya maimaita mana irinsu nan gaba (We chose the wrong leaders. May Allah not give us a repeat of their type in future)”.

That was the last statement made by one of my relations in a telephone conversation I had with him on Friday 04/12/2020. The previous night Kahiyal, a village near theirs was attacked and three herds consisting of more than forty cows of what remained of their cattle were moved by bandits. That was the third time in five days the criminals struck in their area in Bugaje ward of Jibia local Government. In the second attack they moved seven cows and in the first they rustled a combination of cows, sheep and whatever they could find.

 What I didn’t ask my second nephew is whether he was aware that two weeks earlier in a place called Abuja some 600 kilometers away from their village a grey-haired Minister of Police affairs told Nigerians that bandits have been degraded. The emphasis on grey hair is because our Holy Prophet enjoined us to respect it. But in our society of today there are many grey-haired people who are not ashamed of lying, a thing hated most by the Holy Prophet. Examples of such people are many in the present dispensation.

But grey-hair or not, when shall these things come to an end? And who are these bandits? Are they Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani or CAN? The problem of banditry in Northern Nigeria has defied solution because of the high level of hypocrisy involved in the discussions about the identity of this criminal type. When Governor Ortom called for the arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah kautel hore association, accusing them of being behind crimes in Benue state, he was unanimously condemned as an enemy of Islam by the Muslim North. However, much later when CP Nagogo of Zamfara state accused Miyetti Allah of complicity in bandits’ activities in Zamfara state, everybody kept quite. In fact, instead of going to court to challenge the Police commissioner, Miyetti Allah decided to close it’s Zamfara state chapter “until further notice”.

Again, when Governor Masari of Katsina state signed the peace accord with the bandits’ leaders operating in Katsina state, all of them were Fulani. In fact, he repeatedly used the term, “Fulanin daji” to describe the bandits. Few months later, Katsina state Government openly withdrew from the pact accusing the leaders of breaching the agreement. To date, none of the leaders has been arrested.

Furthermore, a cross-section of people kidnapped in the North West testified that their kidnappers are of Fulani extraction. The famous Qur’anic reciter Mallam Ahmad Sulaiman is one of such people.

Despite all these evidences that point directly to where the problem is, many Northerners still believe in the conspiracy theory that it is some Christians from somewhere who are responsible for the banditry and kidnapping currently consuming the North. Some would say CAN or some foreigners from Mali. Others will still mention Jonathan or Obasanjo. A colleague of mine was saying it is Boko Haram and when I disagreed with him he became angry.

With this kind of attitude, how can our problem be over? Can’t we face our problem and solve it once for all? Nobody would say all Fulani are criminals. The President himself is Fulani. At least that is what he claims even though Fulani extremists would not recognize him as such since he doesn’t speak Fulfulde. The Sultan is Fulani and most of the emirs are Fulani. Among our politicians, businessmen, academics, etc. are Fulfulde-speaking Fulani who are contributing positively to the economy of the great Nigerian nation. For Allah’s sake, why can’t all these people come together to address this problem? Why should we continue to deceive ourselves because of a blind group solidarity? If my own son, may Allah forbid, gets out of the way and rob innocent people of their lives and property and attack their dignity, what is wrong in handing him over to face the law? Is it after all of us are dead that we remember this?

When I read the statement accredited to the Sultan lamenting the security situation in the North, I was disappointed. Was the Sultan not playing to the gallery? Is he not one of the patrons of Miyetti Allah? What did he do when the Fulani organization was being accused of complicity in crime? Did he disown it or did he investigate and found out that it was false? And by the way, why did he not meet Mr. President, a fellow Fulani for a frank discussion on this problem?

Let me ask. If we continue to blindly defend this Government despite the continuous deterioration of our security situation, what right do we have to complain if tomorrow a Southerner takes over and decides to abandon us even further? Is it not better to talk to ourselves and take the right action when our own is in charge?

Finally, what is preventing Mr. President from taking action? Those of us who are victims know that the medicine being applied is not the right one for the ailment. The president knows what to do. That he is not doing it is most unfortunate.