…says the region is under curse as a result of bloodbath
Yakubu Dogara, former Speaker, Federal House of Representatives, has said that Northern Region has become the largest killing field and the biggest cemetery in Nigeria.
Dogara, who is also the Jhendhm of Zaar land, Jarman Tikau and the former member representing Bogoro, Dass and Tafawa-Balewa Federal Constituency, said, “The more human blood is shed, the more we bring the North under a curse. Unless we repent and the curse is lifted our collective labour and our resources will continue to lay in waste.”
The former Speaker said this during his speech he delivered at the fundraising by Zaar Youth Development Association held in Abuja on Sunday entitled, “The Role of Youth Leadership in Warehousing the Youth Burge in the North for Development and Progress”, saying the North as a region should change the ugly narrative.
Yakubu Dogara, who was represented by Ayuba Baba, the Waziri of Bogoro, said that youth leaders across ethnic and religious lines must learn to build networks, if they must be of any help in efforts to combat insecurity in the North.
“We have a model in Zaar land that is working. Talking about the peace committee between the Zaar and the Fulanis in Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro LGAs of Bauchi State which has ensured that for more than a decade now, no crisis has erupted in this area that was a national flash point and a seat of bedlam.
“By networking with others, youth leaders from our community can share the success story of this alliance with their counterparts thereby enabling others to replicate it across communities in the North”, he said.
Dogara urged youths to build networks across peoples of all faiths and be deliberate about working together – Christians and Muslims, women and men, the youths and the old – in accommodating and defending the interest of each other until they build the North and Nigeria of their dreams.
“Anyone who tells you that we can remain divided and still build a civilization is either a fool himself or is taking you for a fool as he will have no historical parallel to point to. Let’s go back to how we were brought up so that it may be well with us.
Read also: CAN urges Northern leaders to speak against injustice
“The problem with the North is more than unbridled violence. It is more than bandits and terrorists and the ungoverned spaces they occupy. I content that there is something in the North we have refused to see that the bandits and terrorists are harnessing.
“We love to preach about the Pharaohs but always forget to add that since God has not changed, if we repeat what the pharaohs did, we will see what they saw. I pity those that think the solutions to our problems lie with President Tinubu’s policies. What we are suffering from has been the culmination of so many evils that we have perpetrated and tolerated for years.
“Therefore, except we uproot and eliminate violence from the North, no matter how sound President Tinubu’s policies are, they will amount to no more than cultural heroine which may keep a critical mass of our people addicted so long as the effect lasts but such policies cannot heal what ails the North.
“The North cannot continue running a therapy session for pyromaniacs and hope that our region will experience prosperity and development. We cannot lose the battle against violence and still keep our civilization. Since the State controls the coercive apparatus, our collective demand to Governments at all levels must be to free the North of all forms of violence. If we achieve this, we have found the solution to our most urgent problems.
“If we know how important this fight is, we will prevail on the Federal Government and State Governments to deploy all resources accruing to the North in the fight against terror and in rooting out general insecurity from the region.
“Instead of States building flyovers in a region witnessing unremitting blood letting, the resources should be channelled to securing the region and where a State cannot achieve much, they can form zonal alliances and deploy resources in the fight against terror until victory is won.
“We all know that the North bears nearly 90% of the insecurity of the country. If estimates are anything to go by, not less than 100,000 northerners have been killed while over 3 million have been displaced in the Northeast alone.
“No one has the record of Northern lives lost to rural banditry, the farmer-herder clashes and ethno-religious conflicts. The number grows exponentially when we add to this, death occasioned by urban violence unleashed by an increasing army of mostly jobless youths suffering from substance use disorder”, he noted.
Godiya Manasseh Marti, Chairman of the Zaar Youth Development Association (ZAYODA) Abuja Branch, expressed appreciation to the Almighty God for making the event to be reality.
“We gather to support a visionary project that promises to be the game-changer in transportation in our community: the establishment of the ZAYODA Line. This endeavor represents more than just a new business idea; it symbolizes progress, opportunity, and the relentless spirit of innovation and empowerment that defines Zaar Youth Association, Abuja branch under our leadership.
“ZAYODA Abuja has pioneered the empowerment of many Zaar youths who have acquired skills in driving, tailoring, catering, decoration, and so on. With the little funds in our purse, coupled with the support of some of you seated here, we have also been supporting Zaar students in Abuja with cash tokens, and empowering the widows of our fallen comrades with Sewing Machines and Grinding machines, cash supports, and so on”, he said.
