Representing parts of a state that have been the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, Senator Ali Ndume, Representing Borno South, has been having fewer reasons to smile since moving to the Senate in 2011. In a chat with Reuben Buhari, Ndume said the Federal Government doesn’t need Emergency Rule in a state before it can successfully tackle Boko Haram.
How bad is the security situation in Borno now, especially with the girls that have been kidnapped from the Chibok Girls’ Secondary School?
The security situation now in Borno is very bad and to some extent is deteriorating. We can say that it’s only in the major towns in Borno that are relatively secured because of the activities of the civilian JTF that complement the military presence and those of other security agencies. But most of the villages in Borno state have been virtually taken over by the insurgents or deserted by people. Any village that you see people in it could be because they don’t have any place to go to, or are too old to leave the village. To be honest with you, the situation in Borno is far more serious than what most people think of. It is best appreciated when people come and see for themselves the situation on ground.
For example, in Gwoza, my own Local Government, you can’t move more than two kilometers directly away from my residence. You can’t move more than three kilometers away from the general hospital that is in the town. After the Government secondary school in Gwoza, you can’t move more than five kilometers without the risk of being attack, kidnapped or killed by the insurgents.
More than a year after emergency rule has been slammed on Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, rather than an abatement of the activities of the insurgent, it seems to be increasing. Has the emergency rule not achieved its objectives?
The emergency rule has not achieved it purpose. That is the truth of the matter. Every Nigerian that monitors the radio or television knows that the emergency rule has failed. It has failed to achieve its purpose of halting the insurgents. The purpose of the emergency rule was to give the president extra ordinary powers to take extra ordinary measure. Unfortunately it has not achieved the desire result. The Federal Government has imposed it twice and consequently, we as people from Borno and Yobe feel that it is high time that the Federal Government re-examine the declaration of the State of Emergency and concentrate on those things that will ensure that this issue of insurgency comes to an end. You don’t have to declare a state of emergency before you can address the insurgency problem.
Does that means that the emergency rule was only declare on paper without any extra ordinary measures on ground?
The measures taken are not enough which is why the desired result has not been achieved. If the extra ordinary measure taken were enough, things would have been different by now. I look at it as a simple issue ; state of emergency has been declared, and what that means is that you should put in extra ordinary measures in order to address a particular problem, and if that problem has not been solved, then you have to sit back again and re-examine. I hope that is what they would do because as somebody who is from Borno state, I am worried that this security issue is being trivialized, given religious and ethnic colouration. It is very unfortunate. I believe that if we are serious about this security situation, we would have overcome it by now.
What are those extra ordinary measures that you feel are not really being implemented in curbing the activities of the insurgents?
The troop’s deployments are not enough. The equipment the troops are using is not enough. The resources available to the troops are not enough. Government is supposed to deploy resources to develop, reconstruct and built up infrastructures in order to endear themselves and give the people confidence. This would reduce the numbers of youth being easily recruited by the insurgents or so called Boko Haram.
And why are the youths easily being recruited?
Actually, the main reason why this insurgency is thriving is because of the massive unemployment amongst our youth. The second is illiteracy and the last is poverty. These are all contributing factors that need to be addressed speedily.
So in essence, even though the insurgents are expanding you are saying that you are opposed to a renewal of the emergency rule?
Our position on that has already been made clear. We addressed a world press conference a month ago saying that the Federal Government should not extend the state of emergency, but instead, intensify efforts that would solve the problem of insurgency. What we are asking them to do is to increase the deployment of security agencies in our area. That doesn’t warrant a declaration of a state of emergency. We are also asking them to deploy resources in order to build infrastructures that would employ youths and then do all other necessary things in order to bring this insurgency to an end. You don’t have to declare state of an emergency to be able to do that. One aspect of the emergency rule that we frown on is the freedom security agencies have to infringe on the right of the innocent citizens and we have been crying out against it. We have states like Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue and some other states with extra ordinary deployment of troops but state of emergencies have not declared in those states. If we should go by the security challenges we faced in this country, then it means we will be declaring state of emergencies in almost all parts of Nigeria because I don’t know of any state in Nigeria that doesn’t have one form of security challenges or the other.
How did you receive the news of the abduction of the secondary school girls in Chibok?
As a father of several children, I keep imagining what I would be going through if one of those abducted girls had been mine. I know Chibok very well, and we honestly were not expecting anything like such abduction. It is not easy at all coping with such situation but we keep hoping everyday that some positive news will come out from there regarding the release of the girls. I have been keeping in touch with all in Chibok on the issue. I was there on Monday and discovered that the figures given initially, which was just the number of science students that were supposed to sit for Physics exams were 129 but it was actually more than. The real number is 234 as given by one of the parents, and as at the time we were in Chibok on Monday only 39 have escaped.
You met with so many of the parents of these girls, from your position as their senator, how can you describe their feelings?
They were demoralized, but not just them but everybody there. It’s something that I find difficult to describe or to comprehend. When we went there the parents were expecting something positive from us about the whereabouts of their daughters and when we addressed them, we all started crying. That is because most of us there are parents. When your daughter falls sick and eventually dies, you know that she is dead from a known reason. But imagine a female child, between the age of 16 and 20, taken away to an unknown destination, knowing that they can be abused and maltreated in every imaginable way. It is a very difficult situation that we have found ourselves in.
People have been asking as to how we got to this situation. It has never been envisaged that a real Borno man or woman will wake up one day and start killing and abducting his brothers and sisters. What went wrong?
I am tired of lamenting because we have passed that stage. I am thinking that we will be concentrating now on how we will get over this situation. I believe that the government must now put some more efforts and all the security agencies should encourage people to help in whatever way possible. The greatest mistakes that government made initially when this issue of Boko Haram surfaced was to play politics with it, and up to now I think government is still playing politics with the issue. When the Boko Haram issue started, the government tried to give it a religious coloration. After that, the government started looking for scapegoats instead of solutions and before you know it, the situation got out of hand completely. Up to now I believe the leadership of this country is not looking at this problem as they are supposed to. Instead of looking for solution by reviewing strategy, they are still trying to pass blames, still trying to blame this person or one region of the country. There’s no country in the world that trivializes security situation like Nigeria. Every time they talk, even the military, it is to try to push blame on somebody or trying to get a scapegoat instead of solution. It’s very unfortunate. Now, virtually the entire northern region is under occupation and I just hope that the leadership will stand up to the threat and see it as a national challenge. We all have a common enemy and we must fight it together as Nigerians. This war is against all Nigerians and the earlier we realize that the better.
In the face of the current activities of the insurgents, what’s the economic situation of Borno state now?
Borno used to be a trading and commercial state since we are neighbors to Chad, Niger and Cameroon. There is a huge movement of manufactured goods in and out of the state. The economic activities around the Lake Chad area was on the high with the fish market at Baga being the largest around, but now everybody has abandoned their businesses including farmers and fishermen leading to drastic fall in supply and increase in prices. Now poverty has started eating deep, if you know Maiduguri in the 80s and you go there now, you will weep for us because many families there today can’t eat more than a meal. Not because they are lazy, but simply because there’s nothing for them to do. That is how bad it is.
Educationally, what is the fate of Borno state, 10 years from now in view of the way students are being attacked and schools being closed?
What will happen when eventually this problem is over is only known by God, but as it is now the situation is devastating educationally. Virtually, generations of 15-25 years have been wiped out in Borno and Yobe States and the educational system has all but collapsed. Remember that even before this insurgency started, the parts of Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and a Jigawa States have been adjudged to be one of the poorest places by the United Nations Development Programme, and the current insecurity has now worsened the situation. Only God knows what it will be like, but I just hope government realizes this and start doing something quickly about the educational angle. In those days there was a situation like what is obtainable now, but it was not because of insecurity, it was because of shortage of manpower. At one time, the Secretary to the Borno State Government was a Yoruba man and the Chief Judge was Igbo. I know of so many civil servants that were from other parts of the country and rose to positions of permanent secretaries in Borno State. Such shortage is not what we pray for again.
I believe in Nigeria because it’s a great country, but no matter how great a country is, it should not allow itself to fall down. When a giant falls down, he finds it difficult to stand up again and that is why we are calling on the government not to allow this country to fall down.
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