Dr. Dogo Isuwa is the publicity secretary of the Middle Belt Forum. In this interview, he speaks on issues affecting the Middle Belt and the nation at large. He lambasts the leadership of the Northern Elders Forum for opposing the MBF’s relationship with the leaders of the Southern part of Nigeria. Isuwa also condemns the incessant killings in the country, saying most of those responsible for the violence are not Nigerians. Ayo ESAN brings you the excerpts:
Recently, the Northern Elders Forum expressed its reservation to the regular meetings and joint reactions to national issues by Southern leaders and leaders of the Middle-Belt Forum. How will you react to this?
Yahaya Kwande and his leader, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, who is the Northern Elders Forum President, are day dreaming. They are not only dreaming, they are suffering from illusion. Both men are still living in the past, and the earlier they face the reality, the better. The bitter truth, which Ango Abdullahi and Kwande may find difficult to swallow, is that the Middle-Belt is no longer part of the North. It will be very unfortunate if both men have not come to this reality. For emphasis sake, and for further clarification, I’m using this medium to inform both men, and others who still reason along Ango Abdullahi, and Kwande’s line that Middle-Belt is not part of the North. NEF and its leaders should count the Middle-Belt out of their so-called North.
If they are talking about the Middle-Belt being located in the northern part of the country geographically, that is another thing. But aside from that, we have no relationship again with the North Ango Abdullahi and Kwande are talking about. For us in the Middle-Belt, we are an independent entity. Even during the colonial era, and years after colonial era when we were merged with the North, that arrangement never benefitted us. That arrangement was never to the best interest of the Middle-Belt as the so called North oppressed and persecuted our people. Even up till today, that persecution has continued through killings of the Middle-Belt people in Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna and Taraba states, just to mention a few, and Ango Abdullahi, the Northern Elders Forum President has never spoken out against the killings of Middle-Belt people. And now, he and his NEF members are referring to Middle-Belt as being part of their North. What an illusion!
The earlier Ango Abdullahi and his NEF members wake up to the reality, the better, and the bitter truth I want to emphasise here again is that they should count the Middle-Belt out of their so-called North. The Middle-Belt is an entity on its own. Our link to the North was during the colonial era and few years after the nation’s independence. But we are no longer part of the North, we are now on our own. We don’t want any association with the North. We don’t need the North. I can understand Ango Abdullahi, and his NEF members, they need the Middle-Belt because they are used to the exploitation of our people. Northern leaders have always been depending on the Middle-Belt to achieve their selfish objectives, but we’ve now removed that yoke, and there is no going back on our decision to remain an independent entity with no link whatsoever with the North again. We don’t need the North.
Are you now saying the Middle-Belt Forum is not going to review its meetings and association with the Southern Leaders Forum, despite the reservations by the NEF?
Ango Abdullahi, Kwande and other NEF members are on their own. Nobody or group can stop our meetings with the Southern leaders. The Middle-Belt Forum has the constitutional right of freedom of association. Nobody or group has the right to tell us who to associate with or relate with. Moreover, as I said earlier, these NEF leaders, and other groups in the North should count the Middle-Belt out of the North. We are on our own, and we are not soliciting for any association with the North. The Middle-Belt will continue its meetings with Southern Leaders Forum. There is no going back on it, and nobody or group can stop us.
Now, let me say this again so that Ango Abdullahi and others like him, who are still dreaming of the Middle-Belt as being part of the North, that they are under an illusion. Was there not a time when the present day Rivers State, Cross River State, Akwa-Ibom, and today’s Bayelsa states were part of the defunct Eastern region? But do you still see these states still being referred to as South-eastern states? Again, was there not a time when Delta and Edo states were part of the then Western states, do you still see these states being referred to as part of Western state or states in the South-West? From these my explanations, you can see that those people referring to the Middle-Belt as part of their so-called North are day dreamers.
How will you reacts to the present state of insecurity across the country, especially the killings?
The killings are very unfortunate. There is no justification whatsoever for these killings. My heart bleeds each time I read reports of killings of innocent and harmless Nigerians, be it in Bayelsa ,Sokoto, Plateau, Rivers, Borno, Kaduna or any other part of the country. The Federal Government must address the problem quickly, otherwise Nigeria faces disintegration. With all these kidnappings, banditry, terrorism, and other forms of crime on ascendancy across the country, Nigeria may become a failed state. This is the time for genuine patriots to come together, and speak the truth to those in power. This not the time to talk about ethnicity or tribe. We should all come together to fight these evils ravaging Nigeria. It is better for us to remain together as one indivisible entity.
One thing I want to mention here, and which I want Nigerians to note is that most of those people responsible for these killings are not the local herdsmen. Majority of the killers arrested don’t speak Fulfude, which is the language spoken by the local Fulani herdsmen in the country. Some of these killers even speak French. Then the question to ask here is this, how do these foreign killers enter Nigeria? Why are our borders so porous that these foreigners easily enter the country?
In this digital age, and age of technology, why can’t we acquire the technology required to police our borders? I don’t believe that Nigeria’s security apparatus is incapable of flushing out these killers, but what is obviously lacking is the political will of our leaders to do the needful. But we are sitting on a time bomb, and the earlier our leaders do the needful the better for Nigeria. We must not allow the time bomb to explode.
I believe that if our leaders or let me say in this regard President Muhammadu Buhari has given a marching order to our security agencies to take a decisive action against these foreign killers, they would have done so. One thing about these security agencies is that if you don’t give them express orders, they won’t act. Let me give you an instance. In 2014, around Christmas in Southern Kaduna, there was an orgy of killings of indigenes by gunmen. But that same time about 30 trucks of armed soldiers, and mobile policemen were stationed in Southern Kaduna to protect the people and also to maintain peace. But these security people refused to stop the killings by repelling these killers. When they were asked why they didn’t act, the security personnel replied that they had not received orders to repel the killers. But at the same time the security men didn’t allow the people to defend themselves.
What do you think is the way out of the present insecurity ravaging the country?
I believe we need to rejig our security architecture. The service chiefs, I also believe, should be relieved of their offices. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Buratai, and other service chiefs, including the Chief of Defence Staff, have all outlived their usefulness. They should go.
Then again, we need to secure our borders to prevent an influx of these foreign killers. The Federal Government must provide the immigration with the equipment and logistics to function effectively. Then we need to step up our intelligence gathering network. I’m amazed that insecurity is worsening across the country and yet we have the DSS, military intelligence, National Intelligence Agency and others. What are they all doing? They should all up their game. They should be up and doing. Then to tackle insurgency successfully, government must cut off terrorists’ sources of food supply, financial and arms supplies.
Some Nigerians believe the institution of state police will solve the insecurity problem. How will you react to that?
People are entitled to their different views. But for me, I believe that if the men of the Nigeria Police are well motivated, and well equipped, they will be up to the task. If they are given proper training, and adequate number of personnel are recruited, I believe the Nigeria Police will rise to the occasion.
For those people talking about state police, what they don’t know is that we have state police in different parts of the country already. All the 36 states in the country have one form of para-military outfit or the other and these outfits are doing the work of the police. In Kano State, they have Hisbah, in Lagos State, they have Neighbourhood Watch, LASTMA, and others that are arresting people. Hisbah in Kano also arrests and detains people. It is the same across the country. All these security outfits in the various states are doing the work of the police. What they are doing amounts to duplication of police work. Let the Police be well equipped and well-motivated, we will see the results.
The clamour for restructuring has been on the increase again following the series of crises and challenges facing the country. What’s your take on that?
The solution to all these challenges lie in the implementation of the report and recommendations of the 2014 National Confab. President Buhari should be courageous to implement it. If he does, 99 per cent of Nigeria’s problems would be solved. Our elder statesmen across the nation’s six geo-political zones should put pressure on him to implement it. Representatives of all the six geo-political zones in the country took part in the confab; so the decisions taken at the confab were unanimous and acceptable to all Nigerians. It was a well-planned confab, and Nigeria will be saved a lot of headache if the confab’s recommendations are implemented.
