My Problems With El-Rufai - Shehu Sani

Shehu Sani

Comrade Shehu Sani, author, playwright, rights activist and a leading figure in the struggle for the restoration of democracuy in Nigeria currently represents Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly. Sani who is also the President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria and the Chairman of Hand-in-Hand Africa spoke to AYORINDE OLUOKUN on President’s Buhari’s war against corruption, increase criminality across the country, his relationship with his state governor and the war against Boko Haram among others.

Q: Some members of the current National Assembly tried to speak out at times without toeing party lines. You have also done so sometimes. When you spoke on the controversies over the contracts awarded through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, you made a statement that the ruling party, your party in its fight against corruption, used insecticide if it involves the opposition, but when it concerns its own members, it uses deodorant. Some people think that was unfair of you to say as a party member?

A: I am a member of APC and my membership is founded on the believe that the party is the only viable alternative that can liberate our country from years of repression, exploitation and blunder by the political ruling from PDP. But we must also be clear to tell ourselves the truth- PDP was not destroyed from outside, it was destroyed from the inside. Some elements within the party (PDP) were marginalized, ostracized and they decided to go out and add strength to an opposition that has been on the field for so long and find it difficult to take over power. So, without the revolt of the likes of Saraki, the governors of PDP and other elements, we would have found it difficult to take over power. And without magnetic influence of Buhari’s integrity, we would have found it difficult to present somebody that Nigerians would believe in. Now, without the resources, resourcefulness and the organization spirit of the likes of Asiwaju, we would have found it difficult to win the election.

And without the cooperation of ANPP in some of the few states the party was controlling in the North, we would still have found it difficult to take over political power. Now, I am a member of a political party, but my politics is driven by my conscience. I have been so long in the street as an activist fighting for justice, freedom and democracy in my country and my participation in politics is to give practical meaning to the realization of those ideals which I hold, which I cherish in the course of our struggle. I raised the issue of insecticide and deodorant on the floor due to the fact that the anti corruption crusade as it is going on now is given some waivers to people close to the circle of power. We have seen how former minister, former governors, contractors of the PDP are arrested, paraded and tried.

And we have also seen, on the other hand, a clear case of indictment, embezzlement, mismanagement, outright blatant corruption on the part of the people who are within the party of the President and they were given waiver, cover, protection. And that is the reality of the bi-polar nature of the anti corruption crusade as it is today. You will find out that each time there is an allegation raised against anybody in the position of power today, what they usually do is to instruct the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate. At the end of the day, that person will be cleared. The Attorney General has become a clearing agent. But if other people are arrested, they are handed over to the Police, EFCC or ICPC and then charged to court. There is no doubt about the integrity, honour and resolve of Mr. President, but the weakness against the ongoing campaign against corruption has to do with the very fact that elements that are in the favoured books of the President are being shielded from properly addressed as corrupt people.

Q: As a member of the ruling party, what would then be your recommendations on how this can be addressed?

A: In most African states including Nigeria, the citizens hardly know the depth of corruption prevailing under any government until that government loses election. Most of the people on trial today were on trial because the party that sustained them, give them the cover and the lever to plunder the state has been pushed out of power. For people who are in power today, Nigerians will not know what is happening under them until when they are out of power. So, the point I am making is this- we have a duty to this country, to our conscience and to prosperity to bring people to trial at the very time in which they commit the offence to save time, save money and give less headache to the next generation of Nigerians. It has always been the case- when you are in public office, you are most likely to get Man of the Year award from the media, you also get all sorts of awards from different organizations and people will rise up to defend you and you are almost a demi- god.

But the moment you are pushed out of power and you are asked to account for your deeds, you will stand alone. Each time you see the governors and public office holders of those days who are on trial today, you see them going to court alone or with few people. Many of those who were defending them, protecting them and raising their profiles as demi gods have fizzled out. So, this government will do something different if it can put its own on trial. There are a lot of things Nigerians needed to know. Who are those who looted this country and transfer the money to Europe and Dubai? We learnt that Mr. President was in Dubai last year. But where is the list of those who have bought property there? How did they get money to buy property there?

We want to know. We also want to know what became of the Paris refund that is being shared to governors; we want to know what became of the bailout funds. We want to know what is happening to governors who refused to conduct local government elections, misappropriate local government funds for themselves. We want to know all these things. We are having a president that is simply alone; alone in his ideas, office and vision. President Buhari is a lonely man in the midst of people who think, act differently from him. President Buhari publicly declared his assets, but none of the APC governors, ministers, and party men have been able to follow his footstep. But when it comes to granting interviews and making speeches, they are all followers of Muhammadu Buhari, but they cannot do what Buhari is doing. Apart from Buhari and his Vice President who publicly declared their assets, no other member of the party is willing to publicly declare his or her asset and that shows you that Buhari is a lonely man.

Q: You have also been involved in one way or the other in the struggle to end the Boko Haram insurgency. Now, the military said they have defeated Boko Haram, but we keep having intermittent attacks by the group on villages, suicide attacks, even attacks on soldiers. Given what you know, to what extent can we really say we have been able to defeat Boko Haram?

President Buhari has been able to achieve what has not been achieved before in the fight against Boko Haram since he came into office. He has been able to displace Boko Haram from their stranglehold on some local governments in the Northeastern part of Nigeria. Under President Jonathan, Boko Haram turned from a guerrilla force to an occupying army, taking over territories, hosting its flags and unleashing its own version of Islamic rule like the ISIS does. But Buhari has been able to push them away to the point that they are no longer holding any Nigeria territory today. But it will be too early to declare victory against a guerilla force that can strike at soft targets. You can dislodge a terrorist group, but what may be difficult for you to achieve is to end their guerrilla attacks because it doesn’t require them protecting or defending any territory. It is just sending one or two people into a crowded place- motor parks, library, markets or a school and then, unleashing terror, deaths and bloodshed.

I think we are quick in declaring victory because we believe that victory has to do with capturing lands. But we don’t also know that by declaring victory, we are also saying that there will be end to attacks and suicide bombing, which is not true. As a terror organization that has transformed from a local to international group; that has international links, defeating Boko Haram is not going to be a one day affair. It will require years of continuous battle and as you can see, a lot of things will lead to the end of all these terrorist groups as a whole. The militia force of ISIS and Al-Quieda in Libya, Somalia, Arabian peninsula, Somalia, Iraq and Syria are the breeding grounds and sustaining points for terror organizations, they trained these boys locally with their fighters.

So, if we can end terror in Libya and Somalia, naturally, it will end their ability to feed the ones we have here locally. So, ending terror in Nigeria will have to do with ending terror in most parts of Africa where they exist now. Secondly, the coordination between Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria has to be permanent – these are some of the most impoverished parts of the world, thereby it is easy to get recruits for terror activities. But a continuous network of intelligence sharing and joint military operations will lead to eventual victory. But most importantly, there must be an economic master plan that will improve living standards of the people in North east, give them jobs, put more money in their pockets to empower them and make it impossible for terror groups to have following. These are some of the issues that we need to look at.

Q: Apart from Boko Haram, Nigeria is faced with a lot of security challenges now- we have the kidnappers, militants, militias, armed robbers holding people to ransom in various parts of the country. The security agencies seemed overwhelmed and there have been suggestions that we should review our security architecture by looking again at the issue of state policing. The issue of state police was also in the manifesto of APC. With what is happening all over the country now, is it not time to consider the issue of the state police again?

If we are to go by the geo-political mapping of flashpoints and crises in Nigeria, you can say mildly that the country is at war. The number of people that are being killed every day is even more than the number of people that are being killed in some of the most troubled global spots we have and the danger of this is the very fact that it has created an atmosphere on insecurity and fear in the minds of so many people. Kidnapping that used to be a South East and South South affair is now in most parts of the North and in parts of the North -west in particular. Guerilla attacks that used to take place in most pasrts of Northeastern Nigeria is now in most parts of Nigeria and the violence of the herdsmen is even transcending that of the Boko Haram now. So, when you look at all these indices, you will see the need for us to reappraise the structural defects of our country.

We need to address the political, social, economic and structural symptoms of all those crises. And the best way for us to do that is to evaluate how all the issues could properly be tackled, looking at the differences and the divergence that exist within the country. Restructuring is very, very important, especially because we cannot continue with this cap in hand federalism in which every month, states move to Abuja to collect money to do their projects. Each part of Nigeria should be able to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. We don’t need 36 states. We should not have more than 6 states in each- each of the geopolitical zones should be a state with Abuja remaining the capital. We don’t need 36 ministers, 36 State Houses of Assembly; we don’t even need two chambers of National Assembly.

Source: The News Nigeria