In this interview, he spoke on some happenings in the country alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti corruption war is tilted against the opposition.
How would you assess the war against terror by the current administration?
I must accept the fact that fighting insecurity in Nigeria is not going to be easy, as long as we have porous borders. Yes, the first thing our president did on assumption of office was to visit our neighbouring Francophone countries to see how he could galvanize a coalition of forces to confront Boko Haram.
Insurgency has taken international dimension and I think those who may have been very instrumental in sowing this seed of discord initially, must have seen that it has gone beyond their capacity and capability. I do hope that the President would fulfil his promise to the nation that on or before December, Boko Haram would become a thing of the past. Do I believe the president? Yes. I believe him; but I know it is not going to be easy because this is not a conventional war.
If it were to be a conventional war, I can tell you the President can say that and stand by it and muster resources to do that. But where you see somebody come into Nigeria through our porous borders and you don’t know his or her intention and goes to one church or mosque with Improvised Explosive Device and get it exploded, it would be difficult to curtail such practice. But I am hoping that our security agencies will live up to the challenge. But I know it is not going to be easy eradicating terrorism or reducing it to the barest minimum. More so, with the attraction in it for our young ones, who are not properly educated being offered or given some incentives.
I was with a High Commissioner recently, and he said Nigerians who were coming for visas in their High Commission are denied visas because some of them who came under the guise of being students or going for studies actually had other ulterior motives. So, we have so much in our hands as regards this terrorist activities. I do hope and pray we can manage this as a nation. Kudos to our security agencies, especially with this new vigour of moving the defence team to the theatre of action, Borno State. It was a very bold move and I can see the renewed enthusiasm on the part of the armed forces to put this issue behind us.
However, I was worried recently when I read an article in the newspapers wherein the Nigerian Army was cautioning some Borno indigenes who were aiding and abetting this issue (insecurity). That really got me worried, that if there are some people who are profiting from this exercise and coming from the local setting, the seat of the action, it would be difficult to get this behind us sooner than we expect.
It’s about 530 days since the Chibok Girls were abducted. We hear the president is negotiating with Boko Haram to get them released. How do you see the move?
Well, it is really a difficult question. Difficult in the sense that if we are really negotiating with the authentic Boko Haram leaders, to say the least, I don’t mind it. Because these girls of ours that are held behind very unfortunate circumstance and in very deplorable condition strictly not in tandem with basic hygienic principles, one would expect to see them come back to their respective parents within the shortest possible time.
So, for me if we can get the authentic Boko Haram people and negotiate with them, fair enough. But this time, let it be real because there are splinter groups in Boko Haram and we were told that the former president dealt with a phantom group and without being told, I know a lot of resources went down the drains with it. At the end of the day, we didn’t get authentic people to deal with. So, if we can get them and have an idea of what they really want out of this nation, ok. But what I am trying to say is whatever may have prompted them into taking arms against the state is not peculiar to them.
For instance, if it is mass poverty, it is not peculiar to the North. We also have a lot of people in the South east, South west, South-south, who are equally poor. But one thing is clear, that for us as a nation, if we are able to get rid of this monster called Boko Haram, it will never rear its head again. There must have to be a conscious effort by those in government in seeing to it that resources of the state are made available to the people as they should. You see poverty is one of the greatest ingredients for Boko Haram to thrive. Somebody says he is allergic to western education or civilization, yet he uses telephone to communicate to people. So, it doesn’t add up for me. But there must have to be conscious effort by the federal government, by the respective state governments in the North in seeing to it that the resources that are accruable to the North are used properly. The common denominator in this problem is lack of basic education.
Could that be why President Buhari said military might is not enough to defeat Boko Haram?
But you and I know that. the President echoed what is obvious. I am happy our President said that. It is not enough. You have to tackle the root cause of this menace. If somebody is properly educated, you can’t tell that person to go and commit suicide under the guise that he is going to inherit virgin somewhere. Which virgin are you talking about? Of course, they know that they are not propagating Islam. We have friends who are Muslims. They are very good people. We see good Christians and phoney Christians. We equally see good Muslims and phoney Muslims. One thing is clear: These Boko Haram people are not propagating Islamic faith. Look at most Islamic scholars, very renowned, well-read. Most of them don’t think in that direction.
Beyond taking education to them, what other measures do you think are necessary because some people think poverty rate is still on the high side?
That is what I am saying. Two things are the common denominators: illiteracy and poverty. Once those things are tackled both by the federal and state governments, we are well out of the problem. When Jonathan started building Almajiri schools, it was unfortunate that most northerners he was doing this for never appreciated what he was doing. But that was a masterstroke to addressing such issue: making education available to the people. That was why the federal government invested a lot in Almajiri schools and expected that it would receive a lot of applause as a result of that. But surprisingly, none. That’s why I began to worry. Are those political leaders in the North actually interested in seeing their wards being educated? If they are, then these almajiri schools should be addressed squarely. The issue of poverty should be addressed. Those preachers who are extremists should also be talked to because every environment has models-those people look up to. I became a pharmacist today because I saw somebody as my model. So, the same is applicable over there. So when a religious scholar goes to mosque or church to preach hatred, what do you expect? There’s need to checkmate what is being said in certain places of worship as is done in many countries because some of them are breeding grounds for discontent and hatred and rancour in the society.
While we are waiting for Mr. President to bring out the list of his ministers, he has already appropriated the petroleum portfolio. How do you see that?
He is not setting a precedent because Obasanjo did that. I don’t know whether ex-military guys are equally schooled in the petroleum industry, in having managerial competencies in the petroleum sector. Obasanjo did that and got away with it. PMB is going to do that. Yar Adua did not do it. May his soul rest in peace. Jonathan did not do that. So, may be it is now becoming a fashion among our military guys who turned later-day democrats. So, good luck to him if he can combine the responsibility of the state with that of ministry of petroleum. Yes. I know he has best intentions in handling it because we are operating a mono economy, that is, the life-wire of Nigerian state is derivable from the petroleum sector. So, he wants to make sure that no kobo goes down the drain. However, the enormous demands of the state would not make it possible for him to function effectively? That is another thing. I am getting worried that we hear very major policy decisions whenever the president is outside the shores of Nigeria. It is becoming the trend now. So, whenever the president is travelling, we should expect him to say something overseas.
Let’s look at the way Mr. President has tackled the issue of corruption. Many think that the approach has been selective. Recently, the Senate president said his trial at CCT was because of the politics that brought him to power where his emergence was against his party’s preferred candidate. Do you share that position with him?
Surely. Any Nigerian who pretends otherwise is not honest to himself. Surely, 100 percent. And there’s going to be moral burden on the chairman of CCT. You could see trending adverts. Somebody had a similar problem brought by CCB before the CCT and the present chairman said such process was not proper.
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