• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Why governors must be held partly responsible for the insecurity in their states, by Yabagi

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Sanni Yabagi is the national chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and a presidential candidate of the party in the 2019 election. In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he said there was the urgent need for President Muhammadu Buhari to be proactive in dealing with the worsening insecurity across the country. He also spoke on several other issues in the polity. Excerpts:

How satisfied are you with the way government is handling the worsening security situation across the country?

The insecurity is a big challenge; our hope is that the President would in this last term in power show that he is in power. This is because I am sure that if he comes out with all that he has and fight, definitely it would be checked. Things would not be as bad as they are today; because currently, it looks as if we have lost the fight.

If you talk to people who are suffering due to the state of insecurity, they would tell you the truth. How can it be beyond governors to deploy necessary security personnel to stop it? What we have now is affecting everything, the economy, investments. If the rate of insecurity is high, there is no way people would come and invest in your economy; because you have to be alive to enjoy your investment, that is why it has to be dealt with. The President has the capacity, experience and know-how to deal with it, but it also has to do with his service chiefs; there should be some changes. Sometimes, when you allow the young ones to come up, they have the skills, ideas to deal with these issues. Someone who has been there for ages; there is nothing to excite him or spur him to think beyond what he has been doing. But when you appoint someone else there, he would be pushed to think out of the box. Definitely, new ideas would come in because he believes the ideas of his predecessor did not work. Truth be told, the men there now cannot help the country.

 

Are you saying the President is not doing enough?

Yes, to me he is not doing enough. Once you challenge people they would be spurred to do more. It is all about promotion and in the military promotion is one of the key motivating tools they use. So, if you don’t have that, there is bound to be a similar problem; like where there is lack of new ideas. The President should be able to retire them, their idea is not working again, even if it is working it is too slow. Can you imagine, in the President’s home state they are killing people without any action from the President, it is bad and it does not make sense to me.

 

What is your view on the activities of IPOB?

IPOB issue is a different cattle of fish. When a leader fails to attend to what you call inconsequential matters, that is what happens. The IPOB issue is political and economic. There is the side of politics; they are people thinking that what is due to them has not been given to them. If the economy is working, I don’t think people would want to leave Nigeria, but because they have seen that nothing would change, that is why they are aggrieved. The political aspect is what the President should solve. But my message to the South-east people is that; if you want to be enthrusted with the leadership of the country, you should not behave like people who lack discipline; you have to exhibit maturity. Today, we are talking about power shift, what people may think is that when we give you power you can dismantle the country. This is why the Southeast must understand that the activity of IPOB is giving them bad name in the political consideration, If they must be considered in the political sphere of the country, that is, in who becomes the next president.

 

Some people are of the view that the President is not hard enough on Fulani herdsmen and bandits?

Buhari being a former head of state of the country, I cannot see why he cannot take decisive actions against them. Either they are Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, that is why we have government; if government cannot take care of insecurity and the welfare of the people it is bad. Whatever is standing in front of the President from taking decisive action against these things; it is time he jettisons it.

 

Do you believe in power shift in 2023?

As a political party, we are for all-inclusiveness; we believe in justice, democracy. We believe in allowing power to have its way. Democracy should have its way, When it is done you can begin to talk about good governance. But what I am saying is the reality of what is unfolding at the national level. I think the Southeast would do well if they begin to show that sense of maturity and seniority, because what is four years in the life of a nation? Because if by four years’ time you are going to have opportunity to rule the nation, why not play smart and say let’s wait until it comes to us, then we can do what we want to do. But if you start now giving the country a bad name without minding the consequence, when the time comes to give leadership, we can say; can’t you see the way these people have been acting. Is it good for the country? Do they share the sentiment of one Nigeria?

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What I am saying is that; if care is not taken, because of the impatience of the southeast, the Yorubas may take it in 2023. But our party believes in fairness and justice. If you want to be sincere, if you say IPOB activities is disruptive, so why do you want to give power to them?

 

But some people may call IPOB pressure group?

You asked earlier why President Buhari as not taking action against Fulani herdsmen, that is why I am saying that some people would also ask; does this mean that Southeast leaders cannot caution these IPOB men? Just like what you said that Buhari is not doing enough; we can now say that the Igbos are treating the IPOB issue with kid-glove too. Just like the governors here are using the OPC, even today they are still using them. It would be well for the Southeast people if they can call IPOB to order, after all, they are your people. Just like we are asking the President to call the Fulani herdsmen to order, they would have to behave.

Some northern leaders said the region would not hand over power to the South in 2023; what is your take?

Whoever said that is speaking for himself; but in our party, we believe in fair play and equity.

Is it fair for the President to say that the governors of Taraba and Benue states should account for the recent ethnic conflicts and killings in their states?

Yes, because they are chief security officers in their states. Administratively, the Commissioner of Police takes orders from the governors; so functionally, IG is under them. The governors should use that power to make sure that what is happening in their states should not happen.  They can say; this Commissioner of Police should be removed from my state. They have to do something about the crisis. The governors do security meetings together with the Commissioners of Police; so if the President asked them to account, I don’t think he is wrong in that.

You were a candidate in the 2015 presidential election, are you going to contest in 2023?

If constitutionally I am not barred from contesting I would. But the constitution guides our aspiration; if they say go ahead and contest I would contest. But like I said, we believe in equity and fairness.

What differentiate ADP from other political parties in the country?

We are different from them. Just like what we are doing now holding youth’s summit. Our aspiration is that; our youths should key into decision making. We give them room to show this, because they have done it outside politics. That is why in our constitution, we have given them 50 percent positions in the party. With all this, they can take part in decision making, so that they can begin to take decisions in who rules us eventually. The ADP is different, look at the composition of the other parties, we are different, and the reason is that we want people who would provide solutions to the killings and banditry. The current leadership in the country is in the past, there are new ways of doing things. Countries that are moving forward have moved against establishment. You can’t take someone from PDP or APC to public office, they can’t perform. Why is Buhari not able to perform? It is because he is surrounded by people who have nothing to offer the country.

There are insinuations that the APC already know who the President would hand over power to in 2023 in the South?

That does not concern us, we believe in democracy and who takes over Nigerians can decide who they want. We have so many parties now and Nigerians would decide. We have to make sure that the electoral laws are amended. We have to make sure that people are involved; if you do that things would change, Nigeria is not an island. But the press should help us to create that Nigeria; other countries went through this system and came out, we had Obama in US and now Trump. Change is possible if we can mobilise people.

Do you believe Atiku would get a favourable judgment from the tribunal?

It is part of constitutional democracy, if Atiku wins or Buhari wins, it would be documented and we would learn from it. We have a country and this country is bigger than all of us, issues of power, goes beyond dynamics that is more than me and you, nobody thought Buhari would rule the country.