Col. Abubakar Umar
In this interview, a former military
governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar, comments on burning
national issues and tells the untold story of the June 12 election
annulment, in this interview with GODWIN OFULUE
What do you think is the cause of the Boko Haram insurgency?
In discussing Boko Haram, I will talk of
the general insecurity in the country. Everything is happening in other
countries and Nigeria is facing its security challenges; Boko Haram
insurgency, kidnapping, robbery, oil theft, Niger Delta militancy,
phenomenal piracy on our seas and youth restiveness. And a new
development, which we are not paying attention to is the Fulani
herdsmen/farmers clashes that are engulfing the northern part of
Nigeria. Cattle stealing has led to many deaths in that part of the
country. These are the major security issues affecting the country; they
are responsible for the seeming inability to deal decisively with the
challenges. It is difficult to know how to solve a problem if one
doesn’t know the cause.
In the case of Boko Haram, for example,
it is very difficult to understand the inspiration of their dastardly
acts. What could have made a person approach some people to engage in
the killing of innocent school kids? Why are innocent people being
slaughtered? Where is the religious justification for throwing bombs at
churches and mosques; killing and maiming worshippers? Such acts are
senselessness and irrational. There are some supporters of President
Goodluck Jonathan who believe that the Boko Haram insurgency is the
creation of some northern politicians, claiming that they threatened to
make the country ungovernable for the President; that it’s the
punishment for his failure to abide by the Peoples Democratic Party’s
zoning agreement, which denied the North the presidency. There was war
during his (Jonathan) completion of late President Musa Yar’Adua’s
tenure and you’ll agree that this war still persists, with the heavy
impact of the insurgency of the socio-economic life, particularly in the
north-eastern part of Nigeria where there has been a state of emergency
in the past six months.
There are some northern politicians who
benefit from the insurgency that has taken the live of a respected elder
like Gen. Shuwa; almost led to the assassination of Shehu of Borno and
the Emir of Kano. Also, there are some northern politicians who claim
that Boko Haram is non-existent; that if anything, the Jonathan
administration can be using security agents to tackle them so that he
can continue to rule beyond 2015. With all these senseless killings, it
is difficult to achieve a unity of purpose in the fight against the
insurgency.
When you take the issue of the Niger
Delta militancy, the struggle started with the agitation for clean
environment and equitable distribution of petroleum resources. But it
was hijacked by criminal elements, whose major motive was personal
enrichment; oil bunkering, pipeline bursting, which led to further
degradation of the environment. The Niger Delta youths also moved into
piracy and oil theft. One can generalise by saying that our security
challenges are as a result of corruption at the centre. For example,
most of the Boko Haram members are youths that could have been valuable
to the country; they have nothing to aspire to and nothing to lose. As
James Baldwin rightly observed, the most dangerous person is he who has
nothing to lose. When we say there is so much deprivation, anger,
insecurity, and we find them very strange, the Boko Haram members are
used to it. It is a way of life to them, which they want to fight. When
we look at the Niger Delta militants, they were chaps that were
unemployed and they watched helplessly how their oil resources were
being cornered by irresponsible, greedy, reckless and immodest elites.
When they (militants) saw the kind of structures in Abuja, they envied
the elites who had such structures and resorted to self help through
militancy, oil theft and so on. Of course, in our kind of democracy,
about 70 per cent of our oil revenue is devoted to recurrent
expenditure; it is devoted to indolent public servants, 85 per cent of
which is for salaries and allowances of members of the National
Assembly. You remember that (the Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria) Lamido Sanusi had to confront the lawmakers.
No comments:
Post a Comment