Don’t blame Dogara over IDPs in Tafawa Balewa ― Aminu Tukur

THE member representing Lere Bula constituency in the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon Muhammad Aminu Tukur has berated the Tafawa Balewa Town Development Association for accusing the Speaker of the House of representative, Yakubu Dogara of failing to facilitate a legislation to solve the problem of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Tafawa Balewa Local Government of Bauchi State.

Aminu Tukur stated this while reacting to a press conference by the association on the matter, at the NUJ press center in Bauchi saying that although he is not denying the facts of history of incessant crisis that took place in Tafawa Balewa from 1977 to 2011, government globally is guided by the constitution of the nation which clearly spelt out the functions of each organ of government and trespassing on each other’s job is not allowed.

He stated that “The group deliberately, without ignorance, refused to direct their accusation to the right organ of government that is responsible to ameliorate their problems and targeted a neutral organ by simply attacking the personality of Hon Yakubu Dogara and myself for the fact that we belong to a neutral organ. However, our neutrality does not mean that we are not a part of the solution to the problems raised.”

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“Sometimes in April 2015, we had cause to interact with the present Governor in his law chamber at Sa’adu Zungur Avenue, Gwarimpa Abuja. We resolved to tackle the issue of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced persons across the federal constituency of Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro,” he said.

The lawmaker further said that the immediate past Governor of the State, Isa Yuguda, during his tenure constituted a committee saddled with the responsibility of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced persons, alleging that present Governor of the State deliberately truncated the activities of the committee and failed to reconstitute another one despite several attempts by concerned stakeholders of the State.

He said that in the past, crisis that occurred in the area during the leadership of Adamu Mu’azu and Isa Yuguda was handled by instituting certain authorised bodies to take up the task of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced persons, but the present Governor sees no reason to handle his responsibility rather he has resorted to sponsoring intellectual fools to achieved political stardom.

“For the fact, the person of Speaker of the house of representatives is being dragged in, I am yet to see a provision in the Nigeria constitution which facilitates for concurrent legislation to solve the problem of internally displaced persons of Tafawa Balewa” he added.
In the same vein, Bauchi State Secretary of Miyetti Allah and one of the prominent Stakeholders in Tafawa Balewa Alhaji Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed Communities in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State have been cautioned against politicising the lingering crisis in the area particularly now that 2019 general election is fast approaching.

The caution was given by the Secretary of the Bauchi State chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed, when he addressed reporters in Bauchi while reacting to a press briefing held by an association known as Tafawa Balewa Development Association (TABTODA), which alleged that some politicians are behind the crisis in the area.

He said: “the issue of blaming one person or anybody as being responsible for not the returning of Muslims to Tafawa Balewa does not arise. What the people of the area want now is for the authorities concerned to entrench a lasting peace in the area.”

Sadiq Ibrahim further said that leaders like the State Governor and the lawmakers have the responsibilities of ensuring a sustainable and lasting peace in the area and they have a duty to ensure that all willing citizens returned to their original settlements.”

He added that, “this is because they are their People and it is their duty to unite the people and to help them to live peacefully in their homes as enshrined in the constitution, but to our dismay none of them organizes even a peace meeting that will involve all the stakeholders to enable them close ranks and embrace one another.”

The Miyetti Allah Secretary then faulted the Press conference organized by TABTODA saying, “why didn’t they do it since all these period until this now that is the period that electioneering campaigns have started it is not fair, our communities should not politicise the crises knowing that many lives and properties were lost when the crisis lasted.”

He also cautioned the communities not to allow themselves to be used by politicians against each other because according to him, “for some time now there has been peace in the area, we want to see improvement on the peace from where we are now so that our communities can live in peace” and advised politicians to seek for votes but should not politicise the crises in the best interest of peace.

It would be recalled that last Weekend, Tafawa Balewa Town Development Association (TABTODA) had blamed the inability of the members representing the area at the National and State Assembly, Yakubu Dogara, and Aminu Tukur to bring to an end the plight of the displaced Muslim Community of the town allegations they have denied.