Insurgency: This is no time to look for scapegoats - Ndume
Mohammed Ali Ndume represents Borno South Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, Ndume insists the state of emergency declared in the North-East should not be extended because it has failed. He also spoke on the abduction of 234 school girls at Chibok which he describes as horrific and says he is still weeping over the incident. Excerpts:
The emergency rule is almost one year now. Could you tell us the security situation on ground now? The security situation now in Borno is very bad and, to some extent, it is deteriorating. We can say that it’s only the major towns in Borno that are relatively secured because of the activities of the civilian JTF that complement the military presence.
But most of the villages in Borno State have been virtually taken over by the insurgents or deserted by people. If you found any one in any village, it is because that person doesn’t know where to go or is too old to leave the village. To be honest with you, the situation in Borno is far more serious than what most people think. It is best appreciated when people come and see for themselves the situation on ground.
For example, in Gwoza, my own Local Government Area, you can’t move beyond two kilometers away from my residence. You can’t move more than three kilometers away from the General Hospital that is in the town. After the Government Secondary School in Gwoza, you can’t move more than five kilometers without the risk of being attacked, kidnapped or killed by the insurgents.
Does that mean that the emergency rule has failed?
The emergency rule has not achieved its purpose. That is the truth of the matter. Every Nigerian who monitors the radio or television knows that the emergency rule has failed. It has failed to achieve its purpose of halting the insurgents. The purpose of the emergency rule was to give the president extraordinary powers to take extraordinary measures. Unfortunately, it has not achieved the desired result.
The Federal Government has imposed it twice and consequently, we, the people of Borno and Yobe states feel that it is high time the Federal Government re-examined the declaration of the state of emergency and concentrate on those things that will ensure that this issue of insurgency comes to an end. You don’t have to declare a state of emergency before you can address the insurgency
problem.
Are you saying that since the declaration in May last year, there has not been any extraordinary measure?
The measures taken are not enough, which is why the desired result has not been achieved. If the extraordinary measures taken were enough, things would have been different by now. I look at it as a simple issue: state of emergency has been declared, and what that means is that you should put in extraordinary measures in order to address a particular problem, and if that problem has not been solved, then you have to sit back and re-examine.
I hope that is what they would do because as somebody who is from Borno State, I am worried that this security issue is being trivialised, given religious and ethnic colouration. It is very unfortunate. I believe that if we were serious about this security situation, we would have overcome it by now. What do you think should be done now? Troops deployments are not enough. The equipment the troops are using are not enough. The resources available to the troops are not enough. Government is supposed to deploy resources to develop, reconstruct and build up infrastructure in order to endear themselves and give the people confidence. This would reduce the number of youths being easily recruited by the insurgents.
What is your position on the move to extend the emergency rule?
Our position on that has already been made clear. We addressed a world press conference a month ago, saying that the Federal Government should not extend the state of emergency, but instead, intensify efforts that would solve the problem of insurgency. What we are asking them to do is to increase the deployment of security agencies in our area. That doesn’t warrant a declaration of a state of emergency.
We are also asking them to deploy resources in order to build infrastructure that would employ youths and then do all other necessary things in order to bring this insurgency to an end. You don’t have to declare state of emergency to be able to do that. One aspect of the emergency rule that we frown at is the freedom security agencies have to infringe on the rights of innocent citizens. We have been crying out against it. We have states like Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue and some other states with extraordinary deployment of troops, but state of emergency has not been declared in those states.
If we go by the security challenges we face in this country, then it means we will be declaring state of emergencies in almost all parts of Nigeria because I don’t know of any state in Nigeria that doesn’t have one form of security challenge or the other.
How did you receive the news of the abduction of the secondary school girls in Chibok?
As a father of several children, I keep imagining what I would be going through if one of those abducted girls were mine. I know Chibok very well and we, honestly, were not expecting anything like such abduction. It is not easy at all coping with such situation, but we keep hoping every day that some positive news would come out from there regarding the release of the girls.
I have been keeping in touch with people in Chibok on the issue. I was there on Monday and discovered that the figure given initially, which was just the number of science students that were supposed to sit for Physics exams, was 129, but it was actually more than that. The real number is 234 as given by one of the parents, and as at the time we were in Chibok on Monday only 39 had escaped.
You met with so many of the parents of these girls, from your position as their senator, how can you describe their feelings?
They were demoralised, but not just them but everybody there. It’s something that I find difficult to describe or comprehend. When we went there the parents were expecting something positive from us about the whereabouts of their daughters, and when we addressed them, we all started crying. That is because most of us there are parents. When your daughter falls sick and eventually dies, you know that she is dead from a known reason. But imagine a female child, between the age of 16 and 20, taken away to an unknown destination, knowing that they can be abused and maltreated in every imaginable way. It is a very difficult situation that we have found ourselves in.
Many people are still wondering how things got this bad?
I am tired of lamenting because we have passed that stage. I am thinking that we will be concentrating now on how to get over this situation. I believe that the government must now put some more efforts and all the security agencies should encourage people to help in whatever way possible.
The greatest mistake the government made initially when this issue of Boko Haram surfaced was to play politics with it, and up to now I think government is still playing politics with the issue. When the Boko Haram issue started, the government tried to give it a religious coloration. After that, the government started looking for scapegoats instead of solutions, and before you knew it, the situation got out of hand completely. Up till now I believe the leadership of this country is not looking at this problem as they are supposed to.
Instead of looking for a solution by reviewing strategy, they are still trying to pass blames. There’s no country in the world that trivializes security situation like Nigeria.
Every time they talk, even the military, it is to try to push blame on somebody or trying to get a scapegoat instead of solution. It’s very unfortunate. Now, virtually the entire northern region is under occupation and I just hope that the leadership will stand up to the threat and see it as a national challenge. We all have a common enemy and we must fight it together as Nigerians. This war is against all Nigerians, and the earlier we realise that, the better.
Educationally, what is the fate of Borno State 10 years from now in view of the way students are being attacked and schools closed?
What will happen when eventually this problem is over is only known by God, but as it is now the situation is devastating educationally. Virtually, generations of 15 to 25 years have been wiped out in Borno and Yobe states and the educational system has collapsed. Remember that even before this insurgency started, the parts of Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Jigawa states had been adjudged to be one of the poorest places by the United Nations Development Programme. The current insecurity has now worsened the situation.
Only God knows what it will be like, but I just hope government realizes this and starts doing something quickly about the educational angle. In those days, there was a situation like what is obtainable now, but it was not because of insecurity, it was because of shortage of manpower. At one time, the Secretary to the Borno State Government was a Yoruba man and the chief judge was Igbo. I know of so many civil servants who were from other parts of the country and rose to positions of permanent secretaries in Borno State. Such shortage is not what we pray for again.
I believe in Nigeria because it’s a great country, but no matter how great a country is, it should not allow itself to fall down. When a giant falls down, he finds it difficult to stand up again. That is why we are calling on the government not to allow this country to fall down.