Buba Galadima is a chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on escalating insecurity in Nigeria, wave of mass abduction of students and what President Bola Tinubu should do to address the challenge, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU reports
What do you think is the main reason behind the government’s failure to prevent these abductions in particular and worsening insecurity in general and what are the questions that still need answers for you about this?
Well, for me, the government has abdicated its primary responsibility of protecting and saving lives and property of citizens and has given 99 per cent of its time to politicking. And governance, especially in a country like Nigeria, is a serious business. It is not how to make money but how much sacrifice would the leaders make on behalf of the people.
If you are a Nigerian president or a governor or even chairman of a council, you shouldn’t have more than six hours for leisure. The remaining must be hands on the wheels. That we are not seeing. This government is only concerned about receiving decampees or trying to destroy opposition political parties.
And I want to tell them for the world to know is that it is not in their interest to destroy opposition because without opposition, there is no democracy. And if there is no democracy, it means we are sliding to fascism, dictatorship of the Mussolini type and this is exactly where they are taking us to.
In fact, it is not even in the interest of the ordinary All Progressives Congress (APC) man not to have an opposition because if there is no opposition, he doesn’t matter to those in authority. So, even the APC people should try to protect opposition for them to become relevant in their own party.
What specific actions do you think the APC government should take to address these mass abductions of students in some parts of the North?
Let me tell you, it still boils back to what I have said. Those in authority must put up their thinking cap and do the needful. They have tried this ‘gragra’ as I would want to call it. It did not work. So, it is now time to use their intellect, use technology, and protect our citizens. I want to tell you something that had happened in China.
Some people sat at the airport lounge, when their flight was called, somebody forgot his bag, small bag, and went to board the aircraft. They asked him for his boarding pass. He looked. The small bag was not there. So, he rushed and reported. And the police said don’t worry, just go.
So, they put their cameras and discovered who picked that bag containing $11,000. In fact, the man is a Cameroonian, and they followed him, the camera followed him to the aircraft where he boarded and took off. By the time he arrived at the next station, security people were waiting for him at the ladder of the aircraft and they just asked him, hand it over.
And the man who left gave them the address where he was going and in the morning, here was his bag. So that illustrates the point I’m making about using technology and being serious. We are not serious. We are only interested in power to make money or to show that we have arrived.
When you say we, it implies that you’re part of the whole sort of mix. How would you have addressed the issue at hand if you were in power and what specific measures would you take differently from what the government is doing?
In the first place, because I cannot make that sacrifice of 18 hours per day for, that is why I am neither electable nor appointable. I’m campaigning for somebody because I thought I can have the authority or the influence to dictate how things should be done because I helped President Muhammadu Buhari get into power and when he said, we cannot participate.
Of course, I assumed Buhari could do it. When he got there, I discovered that he was also one of them. And you know that for sure. And I didn’t hide it while he was on that seat. So, for us in Nigeria, the president should forget about physical security.
This government is only concerned about receiving decampees or trying to destroy opposition political parties
We’ve passed that stage. We have to use technology to detect things even before they happen and set up special squads to deal with issues as they spring up in the next five minutes. These people left Kontogora in Niger State and somebody captured them going towards Papiri in Agwara Local Government Area.
The security should have move quickly before they attacked either the town or schools. Unfortunately, they just wavered. Like they did at the Maga School, how can somebody not tell us anything? There were security people and soldiers in that school. Why did they leave the place? They should be court-martialed and be shot.
What role do you think schools and educational institutions should play in preventing or mitigating such abductions?
In the first place, it is shameful to close down schools. It is shameful on g ove r n m e n t and on authorities at every level. You can’t close down schools. What you should do is to look for how you can protect the schools. I’m sorry that I’ve come here to discuss the truth not politics. Let me digress more.
During former President Goodluck Jonathan’s birthday, I spoke to journalists and I said something. I was one of the greatest critics of the Jonathan presidency because of the way he handled matters at that time. I didn’t know that God will disgrace me to show me that Jonathan was even a saint and a better administrator than those that came after him.
First, insecurity reached its highest some few days to election and Jonathan suspended the election, put off the election and took another six weeks and brought mercenaries. If this government today has that opportunity of chaos, one or two weeks to election, they will allow it to continue, so that they can write figures and announce themselves as winners.
But Jonathan stopped that election and he knew for sure that if there was a free and fair election, no incumbent government can get second term. He’s an educated man with a PhD. He knows that but because of his human nature, he postponed election for six weeks, brought in mercenaries, and within six weeks, those mercenaries stabilized Nigeria and there was no polling booth in Nigeria that elections did not take place.
So, you learn more from your enemy. If Jonathan did that that in 2015; what stops this government from copying what he did has done? After all, hiring mercenaries to deal with this insurgency and other pockets of banditry across the country costs less than 10 per cent of what the military takes today.
Economically, it is better to hire the mercenaries, give them contract, secure this area, we will pay you this and you fold your arms and it is done and the credit goes to you. So, why can’t Nigerian leaders be patriotic citizens of our country? Is it the pride of being in office or finding a solution that protects the ordinary man that can go to his farm? That would have a positive knockon effect on the economy of this country because people would be able to return to agriculture, get their jobs, and have a sense of security.
The tax reform that takes off in January can now get more net to capture a lot of people. Let me tell you, I just saw on the social media, a journalist like you, who talked to the ISWAP commander that killed Brigadier General Musa. And he told him that ‘as I sit where I am, I have the picture of Sambisa, the whole of it. Even if an ant is entering Sambisa, I can see it.’
If a bandit or a Boko Haram fighter has access to those equipment, what stops Nigerian government? And do you remember that some few months ago, at Banki, near the border with Cameroon, they used drones. And in Marte, they used drones to kill our soldiers and officers. Nobody can tell me that the military can’t attack them because of collateral damage.
The Boko Haram and whatever; they don’t stay with those they captured. They live a life of their own elsewhere, while those captured have small people guarding them and the security people know. Look, we have to be serious. We have to put pressure on these elements for them to surrender.
You talked about bringing mercenaries into this country. Would you be happy for President Donald Trump to bring his troops into Nigeria and secure those areas?
Not for the purposes he’s talking about and not for religious purposes. But if he’s going to protect Nigeria, I will vote for Trump 100 million times. You know that I belong to the school of Sam Mbakwe and you know his thoughts before he died. He said he would wish the British will come and colonize Nigeria, at least we can have peace and we can have sanity and reestablish a system.
Do you think that Trump’s comments about insecurity in Northern Nigeria and the targeting of Christians by Islamist insurgents could have served as incentive for bandits to try and extort the Nigerian government for money as the US is putting pressure on the Nigerian government?
You know, it is both sides of the coin. Trump himself I don’t believe that he’s here to protect Christians or Muslims. He wants to put pressure on the Nigerian government, so that he could extract as much as possible because he assumes that France and China are milking Nigeria dry. He’s not talking for you or for me.
He wants to have a piece of the pie and he has done that. Look at what is happening, put pressure on Saudi Arabia, put pressure on Kuwait and get trillions of dollars. The man is a businessman. He can change if they see him well. If they talk to him well, he can praise Tinubu tomorrow.
From your point of view, where do you think things are and where they ought to go now?
Things are bad now. But the President should be very careful in not mortgaging Nigeria because of Trump’s threat. That one we will not accept. But of course, he has to sit up and look for people of knowledge and people who can look at him straight into the eyes and tell him how things should be done, not lesser men who are after buttering their own bread.
