Barrister Sule Kwasau is the National Chairman, Association of Middle Belt Ethnic Nationalities (ASOMBEN). In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, he ex-rays President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Year speech, especially on restructuring, insecurity in the Middle Belt, 2019 elections and other issues. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the New Year speech of President Muhammadu Buhari to the nation?
For me, that is typical Buhari speech, it is lacking in depth and it is more of avoidance from addressing critical issues that affect the nation. We in the Middle Belt are disappointed in his speech, as far as we are concerned that is not a speech that should emanate from a leader.
Your association has been hammering on restructuring of the country; do you see this as a key to resolving the myriad of challenges facing the country?
The position of the president on restructuring made us to condemn his speech in its entirety. You cannot talk of Nigeria’s progress without restructuring, this is a normal response of a conservative North to the issue of restructuring, and this however cannot sell in the present day Nigeria and without restructuring Nigeria can never make progress. Mind you the APC manifesto promised Nigerians restructuring and it was on the basis of that manifesto that Nigerians voted for the party in 2015, so how can the president bring us to the middle of the river and abandon us there? I think something must be wrong somewhere, l also think that the President doesn’t have the interest of this country at heart. Restructuring is the key to Nigeria’s progress, most of them are misconstruing the phrase restructuring deliberately. Restructuring is very simple, nobody is asking for the dismemberment of Nigeria as a nation, I think we are better together than when we go our separate ways that every Nigerians knows. For those who are playing politics with it because they want to promote their entrenched interests against the generality of interest of Nigerians are the ones going to the market square to say restructuring is not the problem. The President said the issue of Nigeria is not structure but process, he didn’t go further to explain to us what he meant by process. So for us the Middle Belters and other progressive Nigerians the decision of the 2014 confab report is the one we stand on, that is the key to the progress of Nigeria, without restructuring there will be no Nigeria, it is a question of time.
But some parts of the country are saying restructuring must take place before 2019 election or rather without restructuring there will be no election, does you association subscribe to this?
Certainly, President Buhari came to power in 2015 and is leaving in 2019, if your manifestos had already endorsed restructuring, why have you not restructured, even if you don’t want to go by the 2014 confab report, the promise you made, the contract you entered with Nigerians was that you will restructure, then, why are you not restructuring? Rather than restructuring you are speaking of second term, Afenifere has come out clearly that any party that does not endorse restructuring will not get their votes, so the hand writing is already on the wall, so on the basis of this the present government may find it difficult to return to power come 2019. The decision on restructuring at the confab was made and endorsed by Nigerians from every nook and cranny of Nigeria; it was a pan Nigeria decision. So, why will somebody, if that person is not treacherous participated in the confab and come out later to say that the position of the confab was a flop, it shows insincerity and it tells you the caliber of politicians we have in this country. I think we need state men not politicians, politicians are thinking of the next election. The statemen in this country, some of them are in their 90s have come out to say restructuring is the way to progress in Nigeria, they may not be there to benefit from the restructuring, but they are thinking of the next generation, so why will the president, who is their age mate not do the same thing?
Is your association of the same position that there would be no election come 2019, if there is no restructuring?
There would be no election, we are mobilising ourselves across the country, and we are building bridges across the country, the government cannot keep us down and expect the nation to make progress. As far as we are concerned, we are going to mobilise massively, just look at the insecurity in the country, the president has not addressed it, he is playing the ostrich, the clock is ticking, if care is not taken, there might be explosion in this country if they don’t strategise concerning security arrangement in the country. It appears some people are benefitting from the crises, they are flying a kite to see how they would further unleash mayhem on the country as election gather momentum, anyway nobody has monopoly of violence, that we have been able to restrain our people from defending themselves does not mean we don’t know what to do. We are law abiding citizens and the primary responsibility of government is the protection of lives and property but this government has failed woefully in that regard. Jungle justice is what obtains in this country, but some of us have restrain ourselves from joining the fray because in this 21st century differences can be better resolved on a round table rather than going into the trenches.
Some of your governors in the Middle Belt are actually not in tandem with your demand for restructuring and other positions.
I told you not long ago that we need state men, these leaders are politicians, they can do anything to remain in office, so they are not speaking the mind of the people they claimed to represent. If you want to fill the pulse go to the grassroots. We have been with the people at the grassroots and heard what they are saying concerning those they elected. This government has lost initiative; some of them think Abuja will bring them back to power but they are joking. It is either you do what your people want you to do or just take notice that you will leave at the end of your first tenure in office, enough is enough from these clueless leaders. Some of them have forgotten that it is the people that put them there, they think it is President Buhari that put them there, but they would be shocked this time around. By God’s grace genuine leaders will emerge in 2019, this present leaders have failed woefully, there is no doubt about that, especially in the Middle Belt.
The belief among some Nigerians is that the problem of Nigeria is all about leadership not restructuring, what is your opinion on this?
If you say it is not about restructuring, can you justify Kano State having more local government than Lagos State, whether they like it or not it is all about restructuring. If we don’t restructure, the lopsidedness will continue and we can never build a nation out of this state of chaos we are in. Nigeria is still a state, it is not a nation, and until we enthrone justice, equity, fairness then we will not go anywhere. Federal government has no business in running secondary schools, their own is to bring out policies, and the state is better suited in running secondary schools. You cannot treat people equally unequally. If there is a proper restructuring, no matter how bad a leader is because restructuring is in place, he is bound to do the right thing. Not long ago, Barack Obama said Africa should concentrate on building strong institutions not individuals, so if the structure is correct, if you bring a devil, he will know that if he doesn’t function, he will be kicked out. But as of today, Nigeria leaders are incapable of delivering the dividend of democracy.
How do you think incessant clashes between the natives and Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt can be addressed, in the new year and till now people are being killed in Benue, Southern Kaduna and some other places across the Middle Belt, so what is the way out?
I always get angry when journalists say clash between farmers and herdsmen, a clash to my mind is when two people deliberately come to fight and disrupt the peace but when I am in the comfort of my house and you come to attack me, how can you call that a clash? Is there any information that a farmer left his farm and went to attack a herdsman? The issue is that we don’t like telling ourselves the truth, it is herdsmen terrorism that has brought insecurity and the nonchalant altitude of government, government is not responsive, they are killing Nigerians, as a leader you turn deaf ear to that.
And his aides are not telling him the truth. There is nothing like Fulani herdsmen and farmer clash, this is purely unadulterated terrorism against farmers, minority in the Middle Belt. So government must rise up to its duty, there is a limit to which people can be pushed to the wall and we are hoping that the security agencies will do the right thing, no matter whose ox is gored once you breached the law, you should face the sanction irrespective of where you come from. There is the insinuation that the President has turn a deaf ear because the culprits are his people, so he sees no evil and hear no evil but that is not how you govern a people by using the fault line to suppress others.
What is the way out?
If you said it is the PDP government that brought the Confab of 2014, what have you done as APC government, don’t you think you should restructure and set up a committee on restructuring. I think this government is insensitive. One enthrone justice, a leader should not segregate ands say some people did not vote for you and therefore you will not go along with them. A victor in any election should be magnanimous in victory, so why will you penciled people down and punish them because they did not vote for you, don’t they have a choice, and this is constitutional democracy. Somebody says peace is not the absence of conflict once you enthrone justice in this country there would be peace. This government did not prepare for governance, they told us that we are out of recession, we all know that these are economic jargons , has anybody status improved? Is there constant food on your table? For me, these are the indices that economy is working. I will not condemn this government hundred percent. The agricultural policy with all the hiccups they have, people have really embrace agriculture, a lot people have gone into farming but they need to reconfigure the agricultural sector so that those hiccups that have deny us the full benefit would be taken care of.
The people of the Middle Belt are clamouring that the geo-political zone should be given the opportunity to produce the next president of this country come 2019 since the two major political parties have zoned the ticket to the North. What is your opinion on this?
I cannot speak for the parties but if it is the decision of the parties that the presidency should come from the north and we know that the north goes beyond the North West, the North includes the North East and the North Central. I know that electioneering campaign would soon kick off, many people are declaring their intentions, I have heard of John Dara from the Middle Belt, he want to be President. I believe if there is justice and equity, the North West should not show any interest this time around, they should allow the North East and Central to slug it out and it must go beyond religion, it should be restricted to the North East and North Central, to me that is fairness and equity.
Would you say the government has fair better especially in the fight against corruption?
Far from it, this government came to power under three tripods, to fight corruption, to fight insecurity and the economy. On a scale of one to ten, I will give this government one. Corruption walks on four legs in Nigeria, if it walked on two legs during Jonathan, it walks on four legs under the present regime. No accountability at all, you said you recovered so much from the Jonathan administration, you have not given us account and told us where the money is, whether you have spend it or weathered it appropriated by the National Assembly, nobody is saying anything, that is why I said this government is a government of see no evil and see no evil. Right from day one the anti corruption has failed even Magu has been having a running battle with sister security agencies and the government is not doing anything. If Magu falls dead today does that means there would be no Nigeria to head that agency, I don’t think anybody is greater than any institution in this country, I think the insistence on him to remain there is to serve the interest of some people.
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