IDPs needs better attention than repentant Boko Haram — General Sura (rtd)

Brigadier General John Sura (rtd) is a formidable member of the People’s Democratic Party in Plateau State. In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, the retired Army General speaks about the insecurity in the country, repentant Boko Haram and other topical issues. Excerpts:

 

There’s insecurity all over the country and this is becoming a threat to the survival of Nigeria; what is your take on this?

Unemployment from the youthful side is one of the reasons responsible for this insecurity ravaging the country. If you look at it critically banditry and other crimes across the country to some large extent is as a result of people not having anything to do. Therefore they get employed through the terrorists; they are always willing tools in the hands of terrorists.

Secondly, there’s an agitation for resource control; it is a huge allegation that the present administration needs to look into, and the general feeling now is that one particular section is dominating the rest of the country or they merely produce without anything to show for it. The agitation for resources control has continued to swell because of injustice. To address the myriad of problems facing the country there must be justice, equity and fair play. The government should critically look at all the issues being played up by different sections of the country.

 

The government is planning amnesty for repentant Boko Haram with a wide range of packages, whereas those displaced are presently languishing at various IDPs camps. What is your opinion on this move by the government?

They should be treated with some sort of modifications; the 1000 repentant Boko Haram should be treated as prisoners of war but with modifications. A POW in the Geneva Convention has some privileges like protection against any act of violence, as well as against intimidation, insults and public curiosity. However, the case of a POW is a defined war against the State and areas of conflict stated.

As such, surrendered personnel could be treated humanely and accepted in the society. In the case of repentant Boko Haram, they should be treated as persons imprisoned with hard labour to serve as a deterrent.   Imprisonment with hard labour which defines minimum conditions for detentions such as accommodation, feeding, medical, food and clothing etc should not be inconsonance with the Geneva Convention.

I will therefore suggest that the Boko Haram repentant should be treated lower than the provisions given to the Internal Displaced Persons (IDP). They should be treated to bring true repentance and dignity to human life. They should be used to cultivate agricultural products that they deprived the IDPs to produce. What we are facing in Nigeria is not a conventional war. These people had gone out to kill a lot of people, destroyed people’s properties and coming back to surrender.

I think we should look at it with modification; they must pay for their crime to serve as a deterrent to others. They should pay for their sins; they should not have a conducive atmosphere that those they displaced do not have. People in the IDPs are crying for attention daily with little or no effort to ameliorate their deplorable situation, these are the set of people who need attention and urgent care, not the repentant Boko Haram. There is no guarantee that they would be loyal completely; so the government should be careful in handling their issues.

 

What danger does this portend for the country?

It is a great danger because after the rehabilitation and they return to their respective communities, if there are no resources to keep them going there is the possibility that they may return to the bush to join their members and thereafter return for succour again. Government should ensure that they go through some processes before they are released into society.

 

It has become a normal practise by the government to declare curfew to stem the spread of crisis and to restore normalcy …

(Cuts in) I was discussing the issue with some people last week that we cannot continue to do the same thing all the time and expect a different result. To me, curfew has failed as a way of addressing insecurity within the shortest period. I would rather look at it from this angle that every government must try as much as possible to embrace dialogue as one of the elements of conflict resolution. Anywhere there’s a security breach, the community leaders must be called for dialogue and be given a marching order to go back and put watertight security in place so that there won’t be an infraction between one ethnic group and the other.

Again security agencies should be directed to maintain a kind of strong vigilance; there should be informants both around and within. Curfew is an outdated method of arresting situations; sometimes when you have a curfew in place, you have more killings than when you allow people to watch over themselves. So it shouldn’t be used as a means of stopping a crisis. When there is a curfew, you further impoverish the people because they did not prepare to stay indoors for a long period. Also, the finances of those who work daily to fend for themselves are affected and subjected to untold hardship. Instead, the government should rather identify the flashpoints, condoned off the areas.

 

What is your idea of restructuring?

Restructuring is already on the ground with federal character. If the government addresses all these issues threatening the survival of the country based on federal character and natural allocation of resources, no part of the country will be sidelined. But the agitations are coming out loudly as a result of the lopsidedness in many areas either in the application of resources or employment. The best for us as a nation is equitable distribution of resources in the country based on the formulae spell out by the constitution.

 

Kidnapping, banditry have assumed a dangerous dimension and threatening the survival of every sector of the economy. What is the way out of these menaces?

I strongly believe that if unemployment is tackled, most of these issues will be reduced to the barest minimum but presently everybody is looking at the means of how to help himself to survive one way or the other. First, vocational skills must be given urgent and adequate attention by both the states and federal government. It must be vigorously pursued; our perception of agriculture must be redefined towards creating employment for the youths. The youths must be engaged through entrepreneurship. If they are not, it will be difficult to stop them from engaging in social vices.

 

Do you believe in zoning?

Zoning is not the best for us as a country but for now, it is one of the best options as a result of the prevailing political situation in the country. If the country decided to leave it open for now, some sections of the country might use it to lord it over the minority because of their numerical strength. And for every section of the country to have a sense of belonging, unity and oneness as a nation, we need to embrace zoning for now. We may decide to jettison zoning after the presidency might have gone round.

 

The rate of attacks on communities in Plateau State is increasing daily, how do think this unfortunate situation can be tamed?

The Plateau State crisis is as a result of lack of trust; we have allowed mistrust to come in between us as a people, and we have allowed the issues of religion and tribal sentiment to come in. For anyone to rule Plateau State successfully he must begin to think of how to unite the people of the state.  Unity is the first before we begin to think of forgiveness and reconciliation. Once we accept one another, other issues will be addressed. I also want to say that no attack had taken place in Plateau State without the knowledge of some people within the enclaves but if we are united, the information will get to the security before it happened. Unity is first, after that we can then begin to talk about how to defend ourselves.

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