If Southern Govs Say No To Herders, Where Do They Want Them To Go ? – Gombe Gov
Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State is seeking more understanding from his southern counterparts on the fate of herders following the governors’ recent ban on open grazing in their states. He says, in this interview with Correspondent SOLA SHITTU in Gombe that every Nigerian, in or out of government, must be his brother’s keeper. Excerpts:
The issue of security in the country has been a burning one over the years. How do you assess the situation?
We thank God we have been living peacefully and harmoniously together in Nigeria all this while. However, there are instances where some misunderstandings arose which led to destruction of lives, property and even almost destroyed the foundation of the whole nation. I am happy to say that Gombe State is relatively peaceful despite so many things; very cosmopolitan. People of different backgrounds live, work together and see one another as brothers and sisters. It has been like this from the time of my grandparents to my parents and even to this time. Without peace and without mutual understanding, there will be no development. And when there is no development, it means the nation will collapse.
How can we address the security challenges?
We all have knowledge. We cannot claim not to have knowledge. We cannot claim to have not learned from our leaders, especially from the traditional institutions who are the custodians of knowledge passed down from our forefathers. We have the responsibility to combine modern knowledge with that of our forefathers and fashion out a way so that we don’t overstep our bounds and peacefully co-exist to realise our dreams. However, there are some criminal elements among us who do not want the country to move forward because of their greed and selfish ambition. These selfish and greedy groups who are only after their political, economic or otherwise interests now hide behind religion and ethnicity to cause disaffection among the innocent populace, and when that happens, everybody becomes his brother’s enemy. That is the situation we find ourselves in Nigeria today, and it is very unfortunate.
What is the secret of the relative peace being enjoyed in Gombe?
Gombe is relatively different and relatively peaceful. We are at the centre of the Northeast, sharing boundaries with the remaining five states in the region. If you go back to history, precisely from the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 to the days of the old Northern Region down to Bauchi State, we have always had peaceful relationship overtime among people of different religions. We don’t discriminate.
Let me use myself as an example. The house of my late grandfather which you know very well at Jekadafari, the neighborhood of that house is inhabited by Yoruba people from Ogun and Osun states. I grew up with those people and we live together. They are all Christians and in my own family, we are Muslims. During Sallah we share food with them and they eat; and during Christmas time they also share food with us and we eat too. We saw that peaceful coexistence through history up to our own generation. I see those people as my friends, brothers and I relate with them so. Myself and the leadership of this state and indeed the traditional leaders are committed towards maintaining that peace and tranquility that we have. We will not stop anybody and nobody should stop us from practising our own faith but that togetherness shall be maintained.
Things are not going smoothly for the ordinary man on the streets of Nigeria today. Many are complaining that the pain is getting too much for them to bear. Do you share this view?
I agree hundred per cent that things are not normal in this country. This is a bitter truth to swallow. And it is our own making because God has provided for us all that we need to develop as a nation but for the greed of some selfish elites who are destroyers and not producers. Really, if you go down the status lane, you will find that the ordinary man is not asking for too much in this country. They are very hard-working, innocent, humble and self-contented with everything. But the greedy ones who want the whole world to be their own are the wolves among the sheep. They come in various forms to cause disaffection among the people, disturb their peaceful coexistence and make them to destroy themselves.
This fight is everyone’s fight. We must come together, we must join hands and we must struggle to make sure this country succeed because no one else will do it for us.
How did we get to the current situation where there is one crisis or another in the North and, indeed, the entire country?
The origin of all these crises is tied to the elites who are in the position of leadership both traditional and political. If you go to the Northwest in states like Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and the Northcentral like Niger State, the whole of Northern Nigeria is made up of 80 per cent of the nation’s land mass. Nigeria is now gradually in crises which if we are not very careful may consume all of us.
Today, the criminals’ targets are no longer the ordinary and the rich man on the street; they also target emirs and chiefs. Why? Because the public system doesn’t work. And who is the custodian of the public system? It is those of us in government and the traditional institutions. So, from the village heads, the district heads, the emirs to the local government chairman, the governor and even the President, instead of us to follow the laid down tracks, we have deviated. That deviation is the cause of these problems. Instead of us to maintain cattle routes, grazing reserve and maintain forest reserve, we destroyed them. They were either allocated for housing estates or farms. Meanwhile, the ordinary cattle herders are denied where to graze and denied their means of livelihood. As a result, they go into cattle rustling and sell the cattle to another greedy man who wants it for himself. Now we end up breeding rustlers and from rustlers to bandits and from bandits to kidnappers. Now somebody that lost between N20 million and N30 million on cattle can earn maybe N100 million because he is holding an emir or a chief. We must wake up and follow the code of conduct because these two great religions are codified. The Qur’an and the Bible, none of them says we should not be our brother’s keepers. That is the genesis of the problems that we are in now today. Down south, there could be others that are similar but the truth of the matter is that if the Governors in Ondo, Ogun, Osun or anywhere in the south said there should not be cattle grazing or open grazing and you don’t have a grazing reserve what do you expect to happen?
Meanwhile, in the North, and I have told them, I have nothing to hide. We have mechanics, pharmacists, technicians, plumbers or whatever who have lived harmoniously with our people and we cannot say no to them. If you say no to those people, where do you want them to go? And there is no space here in Gombe. As I said, no cattle route, no grazing reserve, nothing whatsoever, so where do you want them to go? This anarchy that is setting in will remain pervasive until we find a solution to it. The task ahead is really a herculean one and each and every one of us has a role to play.
Many people are saying the leaders are the problems of this country. Do you agree with that?
Yes, I attribute the failure of the system, three quarters of it, to leadership. The ordinary man too has his own problem. We must make sure that the codified law and order that we know is enthroned. If it is not enthroned, then there will be arbitrariness, and when there is no law there will be anarchy. If we are not getting justice and equity from the judicial system, that will be the result. So everybody has to look inward and proffer a solution.
Of course we know the problem but the problem will be there until we tell ourselves the bitter truth. At the end of the day, we are all accountable for our deeds. It is not only the governor or the emir but everybody is accountable. That is what God has ordained and nobody can change it. On coming to office, having known all these problems, I cannot run away from them. I intend to remain a Nigerian. I have nowhere to go. I remain here I cannot run away and because of that I have to proffer solutions to these problems. That is why on coming to office, I created the ministry of internal security.
The Nation
