National president, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima says he’s not on the same page with Islamic cleric, Dr Abubakar Gumi on the latter’s call on the Federal Government to grant amnesty to bandits kidnapping for ransom around the country.
In an interview with TUNDE THOMAS, Shettima declared: “Bandits and others who are found wanting should be dealt with as criminals. Anybody who is found wanting should be dealt with as a common criminal. Anybody who is found to be dealing with them should also not be spared. Bandits should not be allowed to turn Nigeria into a banana republic where everybody can be a law unto themselves.” He also expressed support for the open grazing laws being put in place by the Southern governors, even as he advised them to go about the issue diplomatically so that the matter would not become a source of friction between the north and the south.
He also spoke on other issues.
How do you react to Sheikh Ahmed Gumi’s comments that to end banditry, amnesty should be granted to bandits same way it was granted to Niger-Delta militants?
No way! No. I’m not in support of that. We must not encourage it. Let us consider the victims of banditry first. Have they been well taken care of? Have they been rehabilitated? Has anything been done for them substantially to compensate them? Why should you now consider amnesty for those people who created the difficult situation in which they found themselves? Why should we make the bandits feel that they are so important to be considered for amnesty? I have a lot of respect for Dr Gumi, and he may have his reasons for saying that, but I don’t think I share his idea on that. I’m not on the same page with him over this. Bandits and others who are found wanting should be dealt with as criminals. Anybody who is found wanting should be dealt with as a common criminal. Anybody who is found to be dealing with them should also not be spared. Bandits should not be allowed to turn Nigeria into a banana republic where everybody can be a law unto themselves. No excuse whatsoever can justify the criminality being committed by these bandits. The bandits should be treated as criminals. We should allow the law to deal with them.
How would you assess efforts being made by the Federal Government to bring the security situation in the country under control?
It is an unfortunate situation, and nobody is happy about what is going on. But it is heart-warming that those in authority are now rising up to the occasion. I wish that they had done what they are doing now much earlier to deal with the ugly situation. However it is better late than never at all. I hope that members of the armed forces will sustain the on-going onslaught against the bandits, and the insurgents. The current efforts being made to tackle the challenge are commendable, and we are seeing the results, compared to what we have been seeing before. Like I said earlier, nobody is happy about what is happening today security-wise in the country. We should not allow some criminals to hold the nation to ransom. Bandits and other criminal elements should be dealt with decisively. Insecurity has made life uncomfortable for people, especially in northern parts of the country, notably in Zamfara, Katsina and some parts of Kaduna states. However, I believe that the situation would not have degenerated to this extent if successive governments in the country, from former President Goodluck Jonathan’s time had exhibited the political will to deal with the situation. It is of recent that we are seeing some concrete efforts being made to tackle the problem. I hope members of the armed forces would sustain the present tempo against the bandits. The insecurity challenge didn’t start with Buhari’s administration; it has been there over the years. But now it is commendable that the military is seriously dealing with the situation.
As a result of insecurity, some eminent Nigerians like Minister of Defence, Major-General Maghasi, as well as Governors Ortom of Benue State, and Aminu Masari of Katsina State have asked Nigerians to start defending themselves against bandits. How do you see such calls?
It will be out of place to encourage Nigerians to start defending themselves. If these governors would be asking Nigerians to defend themselves, then what is the business of Masari and Ortom in Government House? Same also apply to the Minister of Defence. The only reason they are holding political offices is to protect lives and property, and if they can’t do that, they should just throw in the towel. They should quit if they can no longer perform their constitutional responsibilities. It is not only wrong but also a misplaced priority for them to say that Nigerians should take up arms and defend themselves. This is not right. When these governors were campaigning for office, they didn’t tell Nigerians or people in their states that they would be asking them to take up arms to defend themselves. They swore to an oath to protect the people, so why would they now be abdicating their constitutional responsibilities? The moment they know that they can no longer secure lives and property in their states as governors, the best thing is for them to resign from office. Calling on Nigerians to take up arms to defend themselves is an open invitation to anarchy. It will lead to breakdown of law and order. It will even make the situation to become worse. By the time you are asking people to take up arms and defend themselves, indirectly, you are saying that there is no government, and if there is no government, the order of the day would be anarchy, and if there is anarchy, it will become a case of everybody for himself, and that is not what we want. We must not encourage people to do that.
Some Nigerians have called for the creation of state police as part of measures to tackle insecurity. How do you react to that?
I fully support that idea because I’m an advocate of community policing. Let’s create state police as a way of complimenting the work being done by the Nigeria Police. We are a nation of over 200 million people, and the Nigeria police is overwhelmed or overstretched, but when you have state police or community policing, it will make the task of securing Nigerians easier. The idea of having state police will not be a novel or strange one. In other countries like the United States and Germany, they also have federal and state police. I believe that where there is a will, there will always be a way. If we are sincerely committed to having it established, members of the National Assembly, and the executive will work in harmony to make it become a reality. However, my own is to advise; it is left for these two arms of government to take or reject it. There is a renewed clamour for state police, and I believe that government should heed that call. However, while awaiting action on that, we have to embark on massive recruitment in order to increase the present number of police personnel across the country because criminals are gradually overwhelming the Nigeria Police. So I suggest government should come up with a strategy to employ more personnel. We should also recruit more personnel for members of the armed forces, and we can use part of the security votes being collected by the governors who can’t account for the money they are collecting to pay the salaries and allowances of those to be recruited.
What’s your position on the promulgation of anti-open grazing laws by some Southern governors?
Open grazing, to an extent, has been creating problems here and there. It should be banned, and I agree with that. But let it not be seen as if it is an issue between the North and the South. Let the governors find a way to diplomatically address the issue. In as much as some people believe that we should not encourage it, we should be careful the way we go about it so that it would not be seen as if it is something between the North and the South. Let us come up with reasons for opposing it, and then harmonise our positions so that at the end of the day we will all agree on a common position.
Don’t forget that there are some Northern governors who are also opposed to open grazing like the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, and Governor Masari of Katsina State. The governors should not allow the matter to become a source of division between the north and the south. The ban on open grazing is in order but it should not be seen as a gang-up against the north. The issue should not be seen to be a sectional or ethnic agenda because if we allow that to happen, it will not augur well for the country. We shouldn’t allow the issue to become a source of discontentment between the north, and the south. The governors from the north and the south are colleagues. They should not allow the issue to be blown out of proportion as if it is one side that is against another for the sake of Nigeria’s unity.
What’s your position on zoning, power rotation and 2023 presidency?
My position on that is very clear. No to zoning. No to rotational presidency or any other political office. I’m for competency. We should allow the best candidates to emerge for political offices. Zoning or rotation will not allow us to have the best, and this at the end of the day will prove counter-productive. Zoning is not in Nigeria’s best interests. Moreover zoning or rotation is not in Nigeria’s constitution. For those who may want to tell us that they have one agreement or the other on zoning, they are on their own. Such an agreement is not and can’t be binding on Nigerians. In 2023, the president can come from any part of the country. What should be of paramount concern to us is competency. However, some of us are already mobilising to ensure that the youths will have it in 2023.
I believe that the next Nigerian President should be under 50 years of age. Although some people may want to talk about experience, and age, that nothing matters than both but my opinion on that is that, what has been the benefits that we gained from those old people that have ruled this country other than havoc? Let the younger generation take the mantle of leadership, since the older generation have failed Nigeria.
What’s your take on the vote against electronic transmission of results by the National Assembly? How do you see the lawmakers’ decision?
I don’t support it. It is better we have the results being transmitted electronically by the INEC instead of us continuing to do it the analogue way. If we can do bank transactions, and even registration of voters through the internet, what is wrong in having election results being transmitted electronically? We should stop doing it the old way or continue using the same method. We should move up to embrace technology in our electoral system. It is good that they have not yet finalised the matter, so we hope they will still do the right thing on the issue.
Concerns are being expressed about foreign loans being taken by the Federal Government with warnings about its implications for the nation now and in the future. What’s your take on that?
Nigeria may end up running into trouble if the Federal Government refused to stop borrowing. We should not think that these creditors would forgive us our debts again.
By continuing taking these loans, we are mortgaging the future of not only this our own generation but also the coming generations. Government should devise other means of generating funds to execute projects or for infrastructural development instead of resorting to taking foreign loans every now and then. These foreign loans government is taking now have far-reaching effects that may have unpalatable consequences for the country.
How do you see the calls for restructuring? Some say it’s the only way out for Nigeria to get out of the various challenges confronting the nation.
I absolutely agree with that. I’m an advocate of restructuring. We can’t continue to rely on the centre because even the centre can no longer hold. We have 36 states in the country, but most of these states, apart from few ones like Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, and Rivers can’t sustain themselves. They rely mostly on allocations from the centre.
For how long are we going to continue that way? But I believe that by the time we restructure economically and politically, the states will be able to look inwards and explore the resources they have without solely depending on the centre for survival. It is only restructuring that will make Nigeria to become more productive. It is the only way for us to move forward as a nation.