Deconstructing Gov Yari’s Expose on Security Chiefs
The grumbles of Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State about the recalcitrance of our security chiefs and President Muhammadu Buhari’s safety sluggishness can’t be waved aside. Yari is embattled because for almost two years, bandits have been moving from one local government to another in his state, killing hundreds of people, unhindered. The latest is the attack at Birnin Magaji Local Government Area on June 13, which claimed 38 lives. Clearly, Buhari and his security chiefs persistently fail the people. Yari, a key member of the APC-led federal government could no longer bear the torment and spilled the beans few days back. This governor told Nigerians that the likes of army chief, Tukur Brutai; Air chief, Sadique Abubakar and IGP Ibrahim Idris no longer obey the President. I concur. For me, these men stubbornly shove aside Buhari’s instruction because they have become too powerful and hardhearted. Our service chiefs have become too big to lead wars.
Yari has his facts and figures intact. According to him, weeks after the President directed that more security personnel be deployed in Zamfara, to stem the killings by bandits, not one reported to the state. He holds the security chiefs responsible for the worsening security situation in Zamfara State. The Birnin Magaji attack occurred nine days after the President ordered the deployment of more security personnel in the state. Even the few security men on ground just watch while the bandits continue to terrorise innocent citizens. “It is disheartening that these killings have continued in spite of President Buhari’s order to security agencies to end the incessant blood-letting across the country. We cannot keep quiet while our people are killed daily,” lamented Yari.
The Zamfara governor has since “resigned” his responsibility as Chief Security Officer of the state since he has no control over Zamfara security machinery. His decision stemmed from the seeming helplessness of the state government and the people over the recurring killings in the state. Yari deplored the prevailing situation where, as the chief security officer of the state, he could not take decisions on strategies for protecting the state and its people, and have them implemented: “We have been facing serious security challenges over the years, but in spite of being governor and Chief Security Officer of the state, I cannot direct security officers on what to do nor sanction them when they err. As Chief Security Officer, the nomenclature is just a name,” he said.
Honestly, Yari has not said anything new about our “powerful” and inept security chiefs. We all won’t forget in a hurry how IGP Idris disobeyed the President’s instruction to relocate to Benue State to curb attacks by killer herders; he was not sanctioned. Buratai and Abubakar have also failed to curb rampaging Boko Haram and killer herders, without sanctions. The truth that must be told is that our security chiefs, with some other guys in this government, constitute a cabal that runs the show in Nigeria. The likes of the Director General, Department of State Security, Lawal Daura; Minister for Defence, Mansur Dan Ali; Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazzau and our Attorney General, Abubakar Malami are members of this powerful cabal. These people are seemingly above the President and above the laws of Nigeria. That was why, despite the glaring ineptitude of the security chiefs, the President persistently renew their tenure.
For now, the likes of Fura Girke, Majira, Kanawa, Yargeba, Takoka, Bargaja, Bundungel, Bantsa, Unguwar Matanda and Makera have become ghost villages in Zamfara State. Most of the inhabitants are too scared to return. A large number of Internally Displaced Persons are now streaming into neighbouring Katsina State. As at yesterday, the IDP camp in Kankara Local Government has over 3000 people. It is a shame that this troubled Zamfara State that produced the current defence minister, Mansur Dan-Ali, is struggling with security issues. It is also a shame that Yari, who is frequently on presidential delegation to foreign countries with Buhari, can’t get the President to act decisively on the security problem in his state. Clearly, the rest of the country should not expect anything good in terms of security from our President.
On the flip side, Yari has also been an absentee governor; this has compounded the insecurity of the state. He is hardly in Zamfara. You will regularly find this governor in Abuja, London or Dubai. That was why elder statesman, Saidu Dansadau, petitioned Buhari in 2016, asking him to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State. Things have not changed one bit.
Dansadua, a Second Republic Senator, remarked then: “The governor hardly stays in the state as he prefers to travel all over the world at the expense of the state resources and safety of the people. He has spent only about 20 per cent of that whole period (five years) in Zamfara State. He had utilised the other 80 per cent junketing from one part of the country to the other and shuttling around the globe. All matters of state that require action are kept waiting until he returns to the state. Consequently, intelligence and security reports are kept in abeyance. For instance, at a period, out of 60 straight days, the governor spent only two days in Zamfara State.”
Many will not forget in a hurry how Yari viciously killed moves by legislators to impeach him last year over his maladroitness. He simply got operatives of the Department of State Service in Abuja to harass and detain the leaders of the revolt. The DSS detained the Speaker, Sanusi Garba Rikiji, his deputy, Muhammad Abubakar Gumi, the Majority Leader, Isah Abdulmumini and the Chief Whip, Abdullahi Dansadau. The remaining 20 members of the Assembly fled to Kaduna to avoid arrest. Prior to this, Yari allegedly used miscreants to attack the Speaker. The intimidation worked, with the lawmakers withdrawing their impeachment notice. Unfortunately, Yari could not use this power and influence to end the killings in his state. What a country!