Hassan Saleh, a member of the former All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council and current member, National Campaign Council ahead of the Anambra State governorship election, equally belongs to a platform, One Nigeria Group, seeking foreign attention and assistance for the nation against the scary security situation. He spoke with newsmen in Abuja. TAIWO AMODU brings the excerpts:
What is your take on restructuring that has been in the front burner of the nation›s polity?
Restructuring does not affect unity of the nation. Whether there is restructuring or not, Nigeria still remains an indivisible entity. Restructuring is a political language and rhetoric created by certain people that are not happy with the present government. Most of them are former president, former vice president, former governor. Why didn’t they do the restructuring when they were in office? We have a constitution in this country which is not meant to serve the interest of any particular person on group but all Nigerians. We have the National Assembly where every Nigerian is represented. The politicians that are clamouring for restructuring should fall back to the constitution and to effect restructuring. We should follow due process.
Nigeria is being bedeviled by insecurity crisis. As a chieftain of the ruling party, what other proactive steps should government take to proffer a lasting solution since some ongoing efforts have not yielded total positive result?
One thing that must be given persistent attention apart from the regular efforts is the message of unity and peace. If everybody embraces unity and peace ethos, the tendency for violence will reduce or stop. If all Nigerians see themselves as one, then they would love one another. Then, there would be no crave for terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping and other vices. In order to keep drumming this very important message, a group known as One Nigeria Group has been entrenched to advocate it in this country and at the international level for the sake of Nigerians in the diaspora. Recently, the group went to the United Kingdom when the president was attending an education summit where the UK government was giving $125 million donation to Nigeria for the development of the education sector. Though quite appreciable, but we felt that the gesture was not the best because what purpose would it serve when our students are being kidnapped from schools recklessly and parents are scared of sending their children to school? Solution to insecurity comes first because no development can take place smoothly if there is no security. We need foreign intervention in the fight against insecurity. We call on Western nations to come and support Nigeria in fighting insurgency. They should sell arms to Nigeria. That was one of the messages One Nigeria took to the UK. We went to the parliament. We also went to the Nigeria High Commission and submitted our prayers to the Nigeria High Commissioner to be submitted officially to the UK government.
What was the immediate response from this move?
Immediately, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had a discussion with our president, Muhammadu Buhari, with a promise that the UK government would support Nigeria in fighting the insecurity battle. However, we are calling on other international communities to join in the fight. We will go to the US and the United Nations (UN) too to continue the crusade in getting international support.
Why did you start the appeal with the UK?
We are not particular about the United Kingdom because Nigeria is a number one Commonwealth country. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth, through a coalition, to join forces with the Nigerian Army and fight the insurgency battle. Nigeria can’t be a member of Commonwealth and wouldn’t get the necessary support. What is the essence of being a member and the country is in this kind of crisis and other Commonwealth-member countries are folding their hands and not giving support? We have taken the message to the Queen of England and the Prime Minister. It is not about giving N125m dollars to Nigeria for education support while students who are to benefit from the gesture are not safe in schools.
What similar steps have you taken at the local level?
Very soon, we shall organise local rallies in Abuja to continue the peace and unity crusade. Later, the rallies will be taken to different states. Politicians, lawyers, businessmen, academics, doctors and other prominent people from different walks of life who are the forces behind the One Nigeria Group are ready to crystallize the agenda. They cut across all regions of the country and ethnic backgrounds in Nigeria.
What is your state, Plateau, doing to contribute, meaningfully in proffering solutions to the current insecurity crisis in the state?
The people of Plateau, Christian and Islam brothers and everybody have roles to play. They should rise above hate and ethnocentric tendency and jettison any form of violence. The whole nation should put Plateau in prayers because it is becoming a lone state as it is being avoided by people due to insecurity. Religious leaders, traditional rulers, government, security agencies and everybody should put all hands on deck to ensure return to the home of peace and tourism that Plateau is known for.
There are insinuations that some Nigerians in the Diaspora are brainwashed by home-based separatist campaigners that Nigeria has a bad human rights record. Consequently, they portray the image of the country in bad light abroad. What is your group, doing to pacify or educate those abroad?
We held a rally and a peaceful protest in the UK, particularly because of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) activities by the resident members over there. They de-market the country by portraying her in bad light. But we used the medium to enlighten them on the wrong narratives. Our emphasis was that all our Nigerian brothers and sisters in the Diaspora should redeem their pledges for unity and peace. We emphasised the need for them to be faithful, loyal and honest as entrenched in the National Pledge. They need to understand that in whatever position they find themselves there, they are second or third class citizens abroad but first class in Nigeria. That is why we are urging them to love their country instead of working against it just like the people of other countries where they are living love their countries. If there is no peace in those countries, would they have been able to live there? While enlightening them, many of them admitted that they had been misled by home-base agitators working against government and are being told negative things about the country. We tried to make them understand that no country is perfect but has its own challenges and that Nigeria is not a bad country. All we need do is join hands together and proffer lasting solutions to our problems.
Therefore, government should watch out closely for any act of insecurity sponsorship and bring to book whoever is found culpable in promoting treasonable acts. There should be no sacred cows because insecurity is being used to fight government, especially now that 2023 is around the corner. Nigeria comes first before anybody.
There are pockets of agitation for secession which threaten the peace and unity message you are talking about. What is One Nigeria Group doing about this?
The strength of our country is our diversity. There is unity in diversity. That is is why One Nigeria was birthed to advocate this message to let Nigerians understand that Nigeria does not need the break-up or secession being agitated for by some individuals who don’t even have the support of their own immediate ethnic people. The greatest country in the world, America, is an emigrant nation. The native Americans too are there. Everybody contributes to the progress and greatness of the country in the spirit of peace and unity. Why then should we divide ourselves just because we are from a heterogeneous background whereas our strength is that diversity?
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