Former SGF, Babachir Lawal
Engr. Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), in this interview, he speaks on latest developments in the polity with focus on marginalization of Northern Christians, Southern Kaduna crisis and other issues. Excerpts:
Ahead of the 2023 Presidency, there is a belief that among the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, only the Igbos have not produced the President since the return of democracy in 1999 and so should be given a chance. What is your take on that?
Nigeria doesn’t belong to Hausa, Yoruba, Igbos or Fulanis alone. There are other tribes. Infact, in the North, we have the Christian North. Anytime, they zone something to the North, the Hausa people appropriate it as if they are the only Northerners. There are other Northerners too as well as there are many tribes and religions in the North. So, this time around when next the Presidency comes to the North, we will assume that it should go to a Northern Christian and not a Northern Muslim. The North is not only made up of Muslims or Hausa-Fulani, there are so many other tribes in the North that are qualified to contest any slot for the North. We’ve always lost out on that. When they go to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and they want make a balance of the religions, all the Christian slots are given to the South and then the Northern Christians come out with zero. It doesn’t mean that Christians in the North are entitled to nothing. Similarly, there are many other minority tribes in the South who are also entitled to any slot that belongs to the South. If they say for example, presidency is zoned to the South, that does not preclude an Itsekiri, Urhobo or Benin man from contesting. So, the country must begin to know that there are other entities that are also entitled to slots of government. Anytime, there is an appointment especially federal government slots, nobody considers the fact that there are Christians in the North. When the appointments are by states, they are forced to pick a Christian from Benue because they believe Christians are many there but nobody knows that in Adamawa, there are preponderance of Christians. So, they end up picking a man from Yola. The same happens in Kaduna. Kaduna has two Ministers and none is a Christian.
Are you in essence saying Northern Christians are being marginalised in the scheme of things?
Nigeria belongs to other entities too that if we do not take their own aspirations into consideration, the unity we are clamouring for might not come. We cannot continue to be second-class citizens inside our country. These are the issues that Nigerians don’t want to face.
Why should Kaduna end up with Muslim governor and Muslim deputy governor? The Speaker is Muslim as well as the Deputy Speaker. Two cabinet ministers are also Muslims. There are about six or seven local governments in Kaduna that are predominantly Christians. Nigeria must look at these issues because the day it will explode, it will surprise everybody. While elders like us are willing to tolerate these things because of peace and harmony, our children may not be able to do so because they can’t accept to be northerners only during election periods and suffer neglect when positions are shared. They say the North has 52 percent of votes, yet have forgotten that out of that 52 percent, 30 percent are Christian votes from the Middle Belt and Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba and Borno. These are solid Christian states. Nigeria doesn’t belong to Muslims alone. We are there too and we are contributing our quota effectively. Until recently, we are the educated Northerners. We suffer the insurgency the most because until now, the insurgency is restricted to Non-Muslim areas until when they run of victims in the Middle Belt or North East and they now went hunting for others.
Do you think the crisis in Southern Kaduna is politically motivated?
Initially, I think from 1980, most of the problems of Southern Kaduna are ethnic. When Ahmed Makarfi became governor, he understood that most of the issues were ethnic than religious and he was able to address it. Roads were being constructed equally in all parts of the state; traditional institutions were strengthened in all parts of the state. Everybody was getting his fair share of the resources that the state has and the matter didn’t get out of hand. Now, bandits have overrun the North and there is nothing to do. The youths are idle. They have lived the good life and they want to sustain that good life but they don’t want to work. Even those who want to work; there are no jobs for them. So, insurgency has gone all over the North and we have been overrun by insurgents, not necessarily religious or tribal. Technically, on my own side, I don’t differentiate between what is happening in Zamfara and what is happening in Southern Kaduna because it is the same group of bandits that are running up and down. They are just following the forests where they can hide and get out of the sights of security agents. My advice is that people in Northern Kaduna should not start to celebrate over what is happening in Southern Kaduna.
Why do you say so?
I say so because by the time they are through with Southern Kaduna, they will move all over the place. When they started in Borno, they said insurgency was restricted to Borno. When they are exhausted with Borno, they move to Yobe; from Yobe they move to Adamawa; from Adamawa, they relocated to Benue and from there, they move to Taraba. After Taraba, they migrated to Nasarawa and Kaduna. So, as you can see, it is no more a Borno issue but that of the whole North. Just recently, I heard that there were bandit attacks in Kogi and Niger. I think the only state that is free from insurgents attack now is Kwara but they are in that axis too. The problem I see in Kaduna is that the state government led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai is not sensitive to the issues. Their utterances simply indicate that they are not sympathetic to the issues. Like I saw a write-up by Shehu Sani today, he said when it happened in Zamfara, government calls it banditry and they sympathized with the affected communities but when it happens in Southern Kaduna, government starts to explain what is happening, rather than calling a spade exactly what it is and sympathising with the people. So, it depends on how government handles the issue at all levels; from the federal to the state to local government and ward levels. I remember when the banditry started in Sokoto and they overran a village, the state governor with all his cabinets went there to sympathise with the victims. They went with blankets, food items and other basic things. In some states, they don’t do that. Rather than do that, they will even insult the communities that are the victims. That is what is happening. Incompetent governors and rulers in the North are responsible. The North is full of incompetent rulers. All they want is to ride in convoys and people are hailing and waving at them. When they come home, people sit on the mats while they are the only ones sitting on a chair because they are governors. They see themselves as Deputy Jesus. They are not interested in serving the people, all they care about is ruling.
How will you assess President Buhari’s government so far?
I like the President, he means well for Nigeria but he has the challenge of subordinates who have different agenda. The President has an agenda that is good for Nigerians, he means well but his subordinates don’t share his vision. They have a different agenda. Majority of the Ministers are only interested in making enough money to go and contest for governorship positions in their states. Majority of the senators are only Interested in making money so that they can go and become governors in their states. So, the synergy of a Senator sitting down with a governor to discuss the issue of development in the North doesn’t exist because already, they are competitors. In the South, governors and legislators are on the same page. When they come to Abuja, they fight for policies and programmes that will benefit their people. In the North, that doesn’t happen. They only wear Babanriga and put one kilogram of starch inside and claim big men. That is the truth. My governor is not in talking terms with all the senators. Two of them are in his political party but they have not been talking. The other one is APC who is struggling for his seat. So, how can my state move forward? And that is what is happening in all the Northern states (Daily Independent)
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