Rail line to Niger Republic ploy to move herdsmen to Nigeria — Rep Fwet

Hon. Dr. Simon Mwadkwon Fwet is the current Member Representing Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives Abuja. In this interview with MUSA PAM in Jos, he said his constituency has continued to witness attacks by gunmen because nobody has been prosecuted. He also bares his mind on the controversial Water Resources Bill, saying it is against peace, progress and development of Nigeria amongst other issues. Excerpts…

Your Constituency has suffered several attacks by unknown gunmen; last week a traditional ruler was killed in Foron, Barkin Ladi LGC and this week another traditional ruler and five others killed in Wereng Riyom LGC, what do you think should be done for lasting peace in Plateau villages?

The murder of the monarch who is the Acting Gwom Rwei of Foron late Da Bulus Chuwang Jang last week was unprovoked as far as I am concerned because he did not deserve to be killed, but I am aware that there are some Fulanis who came and settle in his domain and the monarch wrote a petition to the security agency asking them to investigate the strangers within our community to identify themselves so as to avoid crisis within the area and he was invited by the security agency, Operation Save Haven (STF). They had a discussion and it was that same day after he left home that he was murdered in the night by Fulani herdsmen.

So, one cannot explain it; it’s difficult to say exactly the reason behind the killing of the monarch. Recently I was opportune to attend a meeting at the STF headquarters as a result of an attempt to attack one of the villages within my constituency and others in Jos East.

On that day, the late monarch said most of suspected Fulani herdsmen who come to attack his community find their way from Jos East to Barkin Ladi to carry their nefarious acts. And on that day we all agreed that there is a need for Jos East, the traditional ruler of Jos East was also there, and we told him that it is time to disclose the identity of those people because they always come from there to attack and still go back there. It is expected that Jos East should identify such people so that the killings would stop.

So, basically that is what I know and I am sure by the grace of God we will make sure that people that commit this act will brought to book. We are working with the security agencies at this moment which I would not disclose.

But before then a lot of things have been going on within my constituency, Barkin Ladi and Riyom. All this while, we thought there is peace and I don’t think there is peace as far as I am concerned because killings are still going on unabated within the area; a number of people have been killed within this period that we said there is peace. A lot of farm lands have been destroyed while many homes had been lost by families. Just on Monday, another traditional ruler Da chung Gyang Mwadkwon was attacked and killed together with five others in Wereng Village in my own Local Government Riyom LGC in my constituency. This is barbaric, inhuman, wicked and callous as well as a great setback to peaceful coexistence in the constituency. I am calling on government at all levels and security agencies to rise to their constitutional mandate of protecting lives and property of the citizenry. The insecurity in my constituency is worrisome and needs urgent intervention to be nip it in the bud.

The Governor said some arrests had been made but in most cases when arrests are made, thereafter you don’t know what happens to the suspects. How would you describe such situation?

Yes, it has become a recurrent experience within government circle; they always say we are on top of the situation, or, in order to douse tension they will say some arrests had been made but more often than not you see these people still going round leading their normal lives and activities without any form of prosecution. I think the problem has continued because nobody has been prosecuted.

You are a Journalist here on the Plateau, you know right from 2001 over a decade now we have had people killed, harmed, the stomachs of women were cut in some cases when the foetuses had already developed and they still slaughtered them. Quite a number of people had been arrested and you never see normal prosecution of any one.

At least I cannot recall one that had been published! Or have been found guilty? So, I don’t want to talk about the statement of government on the issue of people being arrested. It is not the issue of arresting people; we want to see the formal prosecution of these people! Because if you just tell us some people had been arrested, of course it is a therapy to make sure you calm nerves and that is the end of it.

As a member, I submitted some names of some criminal elements within my constituency to the security agencies and no trials of these people have been carried out. It’s like the people are left to solve their problems.

But in the case of the monarch’’s murder in Foron, there was a phone call to the monarch and he went out inside of his house because there is a network failure to answer the call, it was at that moment that his attackers killed him. And I think God just sent him outside, because if they had met him with his family nobody knows what would have happened, and the people disappeared after killing him.

One of the critical national issues now is Water Resource Bill which is before the House of Representatives. As a citizen of Nigeria representing your Constituency, do you think if the Bill is passed into law it will be healthy for Nigerians?

I don’t think so. Thank God before the Bill was presented to us after our own recess, the Bill was thrown away. But the ploy that was used was that it was suspended. The argument in the floor of the House that day shows that nobody is interested in the Bill. I believe even the person that sponsored the Bill or made a presentation who happens to be our leader from Plateau, I believe right inside him, within his heart, he knows that the Bill is inimical to the peace, progress and development of this country.

A Bill that seek to allow the Federal Government to take absolute control of water ways, and then quite a number of kilometres from either side of that water ways to be under the control of the Federal Government is already at variance with the Constitution of this country. Because all land matters belong to the state and the state government is keeping that land in trust for the citizens of country.

The Federal Government has no land in the state by the Constitution of Nigeria. And for someone to just wake up overnight and say the Federal Government is going to control all the water ways in this country, the question is for whom? The Bill itself look suspicious, if you look at the statement make by citizens like the Minister of information Lai Muhammed saying there is no going back, I don’t know whether he is a legislator or he is a dictator.

Before we appeared at the chamber that day I have already addressed a lot of discussion on that Bill. I was in about three radio stations in Jos and I said that Bill is as good as dead but with the wisdom of Mr. Speaker, you know Mr. Speaker wanted to present a Bill, the Health Bill, that sought to force Nigerians to take injections or some medication even against their own will, and there was public outcry. Even in the House that day Mr. Speaker found it very difficult to control the House. And in his wisdom he had to subject the Bill to public scrutiny first. He said let him take it to the other side, public hearing of the Bill to see if the thing goes well but at the public hearing I don’t think there was a single person that supported it and that is how it ended. As far as members of the House of Representatives were concerned that Bill was dead on arrival; and you can see the celebration of Nigerians which means it was an unpopular Bill with a lot of suspicious. Let us be frank, the suspicion by the people is that it is an attempt by Mr. President to institutionalise the hegemony of the Fulani ethnic group in all areas in Nigeria. Otherwise who would he give the water ways? Why does the Federal Government want to take control of such places? And people had to come out and say that he wants to do that so that these foreign Fulanis who scattered all over Nigeria would come and settle there, and of course it has a political undertone. This bill has a lot of controversy and as far as I am concerned it’s a time bomb capable of throwing this country into war! So, I think the House of Representatives has done their best. We have taken our decisions and the Bill has been thrown out as far as I am concerned, and I think it has doused some tension. It can never come again by the rules of the house. It can never come again in this Assembly except in another Assembly, perhaps the 10th Assembly and if we’re alive and are still in the 10 Assembly we will still do the needful. You saw the news “the House has rejected the Bill” and if the speaker says he will reintro-duce it, it means he is under pressure from somewhere. But I am telling you we have rejected the Bill.

But the speaker said the Water Resources Bill would be amended and they would reintroduce it.

Well I don’t know what portion they want to reintroduce. You see there is a constitutional lacuna there. The constitutional provision is that land any where in this country is not under the purview of the Federal Government. So, how are they going to amend it? Is it that we are going to amend the relevant sections of the Constitution that has to with who owns land before introducing that Bill,or how would they introduce to be under the control of the Federal Government not the state again? And again check this very well, the extent of land which is about either 6-7 kilermetres from the water ways there is no farming activities there. So, what do you want to do with that? Supposing that I am a farmer and my house is close to riverine area, are they going to take me away and settle me somewhere? How is the means of my livelihood will now be, I don’t know! That’s the case everywhere in Nigeria. So, that Bill is capable of causing war in Nigeria!

Recently the Federal Government said it is going to construct railway from Nigeria to Niger Republic, what is your view as lawmaker?

My perception is that the railway is a plan to ease the movement of herdsmen from Niger to Nigeria. I think that is just the truth. It’s going to aid that. But you see I listened to Garba Shehu trying to defend Mr President or the Federal Government initiative on that rail construction, mind you it’s going to be constructed with the money that is borrowed. So, each and every one of us is going to pay for that rail because it is tax payers’ money they are going to use. And they have not consulted us on why that should be done. You recall during the 2019 elections, Niger people came to Nigeria and they termed it as solidarity to make sure that Buhari won the election in Nigeria and which is a terrible thing. I asked the question then while INEC was addressing us in Hill Station Hotels in Jos, I said that our sovereignty is been tempered with if we have a country you know coming in thousands in solidarity with person we are going to elect as our own President. Are we now saying that the Niger people are going to elect a President for Nigeria or it is going to be a President elected by Nigerians? So, the railway thing is just to kind of continue bringing foreigners into Nigeria to continue the aspect of what they want to do. Some people have argued that it has to do with trade and it’s going to boost our economy and so on and so forth. If you look at the volume of trade between Nigeria and Benin Republic, even Togo and Cotonou is more than a hundred times volume of trade between Nigeria and Niger! So one cannot explain it; he has to just build a rail in a desert for who? And Nigeria has not been linked because there are a lot of cities that have not been linked in Nigeria by rail, I think the one we can boast with is the one we have from Abuja to Kaduna that was even built by the past administration and they are trying to build Lagos to Ibadan now.

So, what is the economic importance or even the socio-cultural importance of that rail from Nigeria to Niger? And some body will come on air and tell us that it is at the border town, Madi, Madi is at center of Niger for Christ save! Garba Shehu was trying to say the railway is between the border town of Nigeria and Niger. Was it that Niger built a road to some level and then there was a meeting point, that is not the case! It is completely a Nigerian thing and I see it as a waste; that is just the truth.

Recently Jwol community within your constituency wrote a petition to the Federal Government and the community and some Fulani leaders were summoned to Abuja for discussion over the matter, has that matter been resolved?

Well, it is true that the school was built in Rankum community and the school has 12 classrooms. It was built within three weeks or so, the worst part is that it was built during the lockdown, at that time when the issue of COVID-19 was at its peak and people were asked to remain indoors and that school was built. The community actually did petition the Federal Government because all this while the community had cried out that the Federal Government is aiding and biding for land grabbing in their community. And the Federal Government has continually denied that it is not aiding the Fulani’s to grab land from any community.

That school issue became a classical example. It became an example that is too obvious to be denied because the school, SDGs is in the office of the presidency and it is SDGs that built the school. So the community said well we accused you of helping Fulani’s to take over our land, you been denying it now you have built a school from your office without recourse to the people of the community because you did not consult the traditional rulers, you did not consult the primary education in Plateau State, even your SDGs office in Plateau State was not consulted, the Local Government was not consulted and you went ahead and built that school; and not just building that school, you put a name that all this while we have been crying out that, that name is wrong and to crown it all and to add salt to injury you decided to name the school after a particular person.

So, the community wanted to know who asked for that school? Why was it built without any recourse to all these categories of persons that I have been enumerated? And secondly,they named it after one man.

The concern is that they named it after one Ardo Mamod, yes, and that Ardo Mamod is the person who claims to be the leader of that community. So they said there is no single school in Plateau State that is named after a particular person. So we want to know the achievements of that man and what he has contributed to Plateau State that a school would be named after him.

We have many sons and daughters of Plateau State that have sacrificed a lot for Plateau as a state; and even in Riyom I don’t have any class named after me. I have been a Chairman of the council there and this is my second term in the House of Representatives no single class or a block was named after me.

But the community wanted to know why that thing happened. So they now said well we now know that the Federal Government and the SDGs are heading to grab our land, and I led the team to SDGs office. We’re there twice and the matter as far as am concerned is settled because the Fulani representatives came and said they’re not in contest of land with our community.

They’re not contesting the name of the school because that school has been in existence, it’s not a new school. They just put down a new structures and they built more befitting class. And they said well they thought we are going to destroy the school and we said NO! The community said NO. Nobody would destroy the school, it is a good thing to build a school, but what we are in contest is the name of the school and the name of the area which they finally agreed that they would be changed and there would be no problem. So, we had to leave Abuja and led the team to Local Government Secretariat to meet with Chairman and the commissioner of primary education, which she sent her representative at that meeting, the education secretary of the Local Government was there, the Chairman of the Local Government Council was there, the Fulani representative of Jwol community was also there and we all agreed that both the name of the area and the name of the school be changed and the education secretary should make sure to effect the name change. And even, the school should be formally handed over to the Local Government because it is a primary school. It is under the purview of the Local Government. So, that is that about it!

As 2023 general elections is coming up a lot things are happening; as a politician the South East geopolitical zone are crying out over marginalisation, how do you want zoning to be as far as presidency is concerned?

Well, as far as election 2023 is clear that if all of us belong to this country I think what is paramount is the issue of justice. We must be just to every part of this country. I am from the middle belt of this country we have ruled this country as middle belters for some time. The North-East and North-West has done it, South West have done it, the South-South has done it. Let me just tell you the truth, it is time we recognised the South East! If we want to claim that we have one Nigeria.

Nobody would want to see a country continue with absolute subjugation and marginalisation of other people. Nobody wants to see that country as his country. What makes us belong is the fact that we have agreed to live as citizens of the same country. So, we have not reached a stage where we will say let the best come. Because you cannot say this is what we’re doing, we’re sharing, these people have gotten, others have got and when it comes to my turn you said you don’t want to give me. It would cause problem.

So, as a politician, I wouldn’t want to see this country in disarray, so let us carry every body along,and if we do that I am pretty sure we would be doing justice to every ethnic nationality in this country. I see no reason why some body would just deny the South East the opportunity to rule this country.

They have contributed a lot to the growth and development of this country, economically I don’t know, let any body not begin to misunderstand me I am from the middle belt of this country and my wife is from middle belt; I don’t have any relation in the South East. They are citizens of Nigeria and if we want peace let us do what would help us get that peace. You see the agitation by Nnandi Kanu, is not a child’s play and sometimes some people will just look at it and what would this people do.

They can do anything. The way we came in as a country following the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, there was no written document anywhere that we append our signatures as people of different geopolitical zones or areas.

So, therefore, some body is aggrieved and feel he or she had not been carried along, he has the right to complain. And if he complained and you don’t want to listen to his complain then let him go because they have asked they want to leave.

So, we must face this matter with care honestly. We must look at it very critically because you cannot beat somebody and stop him from crying. So, your question, I strongly believe as a person that justice should be done. And the justice should be done in such a way that to carry everyone along.  (New Telegraph)

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