Senator Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, is the immediate past Chief Whip of the Senate. He speaks in this interview monitored on Channels Television on the challenge of insecurity in the country, and other issues, FELIX NWANERI reports
What is the situation in Gwoza at the moment?
I just came back from Gwoza on Sunday; I spent two nights there. I went there purposely to condole with our people after the incidents of June 29, where multiple bombs exploded and killed over 32 people and injured about 85 people.
So, I went there to console the people, but what I’m happy about is the resilience of the people because as we were going back, we got into Gwoza around 2.pm and people who were busy on their farmlands, while the military were there giving them confidence and support.
So, life is picking up in our place and we are hoping that if the rains come down well, people will get out of this problem. Normally, we are subsistence farming people and we are praying to Almighty to give us a bumper harvest this year, and so far, so good.
What could have been a major cause of the suicide attacks?
Well, let me say that we have learnt our lessons. What has happened was destined to happen. But it was, I think, because of overconfidence that these incidents, especially IEDs blowing up have come to an end, and the insurgents or the terrorists took advantage of that.
People are relaxed, otherwise, in those days, people walk through screening by the military when they are going to their farms in the morning and when they are coming back. That was relaxed because we thought that everything is fine.
Suddenly, we had this shock and fortunately, as I said, the military intervened quickly and swiftly and that reduced the casualty level. As you can see, the last suicide bomber was arrested. And when she was about to be arrested, she detonated the bomb and killed one civilian JTF and even a soldier lost his life. So, our people are more vigilant now. As I told you, I spent two nights and I observed that the people are vigilant.
There is a curfew for now and they have also reintroduced some measures of having identity when you go out to farm. Before 8.am, you line up and you get your token and go to your farm. When you’re coming back from 5.pm, you surrender the token at the checkpoint. That is a very good measure and the military are doing patrol at night to ensure that no stranger is lurking around.
I can tell you that if you are outside, what you hear about Maiduguri, you will think that the place is hell but I can say that Maiduguri is safer than Abuja. I said it before that Gwoza is very safe too but my concern is with the level of confidence, whether they are demoralized although they still go to their farms.
Before my arrival, I had a meeting with the brigade commander. They are still doing their investigation but one thing was sure, from the remains of the suicide bombers, their faces don’t look like people from Gwoza. So, be rest assured, somebody would have identified them.
So, as she detonated the bomb, it was then instantly eight people that lost their lives and just nearby, when they were preparing the dead ones for funeral, the second bomber detonated the second bomb and when the people were evacuated to hospital again for treatment, the third bomber detonated at the hospital.
Fortunately, there was no casualty but people sustained injuries. The fourth one was the one that was to be arrested but she detonated the bomb again, killing one soldier and a civilian JTF as a result of the swift reaction of the security agencies.
So, I can tell you that these people are from outside and not really from Gwoza. But we suspect that they connived with people who are informants or whatever because you can’t get somebody coming out directly from the bush or from the Mandara Mountain. No doubt, we still have some security challenges, but the military are up to it.
Have the people learnt any lessons?
Well, let me tell you, this is not an issue of blame. It’s not a blame game. The only mistake that we as politicians make is not accepting responsibility when these things start. And I think I was a victim when I was raising the concern about this Boko Haram in the previous governments. People were politicizing it then but it is not an issue that you will only blame the politicians.
By the time this thing was going on, people were not coming out to expose these people or to provide information that would have led to nipping it in the bud until it started getting out of hand.
Now that is out of hand and we even have external forces joining them; that is the ISWAP from ISIS and other criminals among them, one cannot say that this thing will be brought down to zero level. But as it is, Gwoza is coming back.
Under the government of Governor Babagana Zulum, 10 villages, including Gwoza itself have been resettled, while more will soon be resettled. The state government has made tremendous progress and more would be achieved if the efforts are sustained and he has more support because everything depends on resources available.
You headed the Senate Committee on the Army at a time; what do you think is the right thing to do in order to fix this problem?
Well, I can’t say that I can exactly answer this question straight out but I can tell you that one of the major issues that I had, and which led to my removal as the Senate Chief Whip is my complaint that the President is not accessible.
If he’s accessible, I would have told him this under closed door, not on television, but I can tell you that I made effort. I wrote severally, so that we can discuss some of these things, but I didn’t have the chance.
I bear no grudges now that we don’t have any communication, but definitely, we are moving forward in terms of security but I can’t speak much about what is happening in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna states? We know that the security challenges are still there. What I’m saying is this; security matter is a collective matter. Everybody should come out and talk about it. Everybody should do something; say something, so that we can bring it to an end.
The more we keep deceiving ourselves that it is over or under control, the more it gets out of control. But so far, I can’t say the government is not doing anything. As I said, I can talk about Gwoza because I went to Gwoza and slept. I did not sleep with the soldiers in my house.
I did not sleep with the soldiers roaming around. That means there is improvement in Gwoza. But as for other areas, there are representatives from there, who know what is going on. But in conclusion; every government should take care of the security and welfare of its citizens. So, the government should concentrate more on that because any other thing is secondary.
You are one of those who brought the All Progressives Congress (APC) to power; how would you face Nigerians who are disappointed by the government?
The APC has spent nine years in government, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which was the former ruling party, spent 16 years, and most of the damage started from them. As I told you, I’m not good at blame game. I was at a time in PDP, but it is not a matter of party now.
It is a matter of security and welfare of Nigerians; it’s not a matter of party but a matter of hunger and insecurity that are facing us. So, if we start the blame game, we will not get a solution but President Bola Tinubu as you said, is only one year in office.
You promoted this government from the beginning; did you lie to Nigerians?
If you will be fair to APC, we’re just one year in office. Tinubu’s government is just one year old. So, if you will give him a chance, I’m sure he’s listening to most of these complaints out there. You can see that after we shouted on this issue of hunger, he released 20 trucks of grains to each state.
He also agreed to raise the minimum wage to N70,000. All these are progress, but because of the severity of the problem we are in, people still say that nothing has been done. Everybody was shouting that the fuel subsidy should go and that was what triggered this problem. So, it’s not a single decision. Most Nigerians were asking for it.
And I think the best thing is to encourage Mr. President to listen more, open his doors more and then to do what he needs to do because there are indications that he is winning. He should take responsibility for whatever situation we find ourselves. Unfortunately, globally, there is the issue of hunger, there is issue of poverty and it is global. But then, that is not an excuse.
The President was advised ahead of the #EndBadGovernance protest to listen to the complaints of Nigerians. Do you think Tinubu is a listening president?
I second the motion. Tell him I second his motion that as the president, he should listen to the cry of Nigerians
How would the President prove that he listens?
Let the president talk. I think the president should talk to Nigerians