IF ONE could sub-regionalise the multi-dimensional challenges in the North, they could be reduced to the North Eastern and North-Western questions because the North-Central challenges are extensions of both.
Senator Oshiomhole’s televised contribution during a Senate Committee session, and Governor Dauda Lawal Dare’s my-hands-are-tied exposé on insecurity in Zamfara State, reinforced by Dr Kabiru Adamu’s aired contributions on insecurity in the North – all trending in social media – underscore the gravity of the North-Western question.
But one might ask: what sort of unconscionable elite could trade-off regional peace and stability for personal accumulative and political gains? Such an elite must have been groomed in the infamous tutelage of neoliberal dispossession, intoxicated by the juiciness of officially sanctioned takeovers of national assets under the guise of privatisation, concessions, etc, for whom people are mere expendable nuisances to their insatiable greed. Such elites are no more than “protected” stationary bandits bleeding the nation to an inglorious end, archetypal models for rural bandits.
Senator Oshiomhole traces the Question to the abdication of responsibility by the Nigerian State, to decisively contain illegal mining in the gold belt running from Zamfara, through Kaduna up to Niger states, as oil bunkering is being fought to an end in the Niger Delta.
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As the-above-the-law chopper-flying barons weaponize lumpen elements, protecting illegal mines, uplifting billions of dollars of gold out of these states, the nation and the states get poorer, and the surrounding communities daily live with consequential banditry, kidnappings, deaths, rapes, scotched-earth tactics and general societal dislocation.
Governor Lawal Dare’s televised frustration with the terror war reinforces Senator Oshiomhole’s assertions about insecurity in Zamfara State. If a bloody civilian “Chief Security Officer” keeps track of the daily movements of bandits in the state, and if not for a call that stopped them, his ragtag mercenaries from Borno and Yobe states, could have wiped out the Shinkafi banditry axis, one could hardly disagree with his assertion that had he been fully in charge of the war, he could have prosecuted and ended it in 2-8 weeks.
Unfortunately, the banditry war has been politicised in such a way that the political will to end it, is less than the executive drive to win elections. Governor Dare laments that despite mostly unmet requests for military presence in banditry-torn communities, as the state’s Chief Security Officer, he is yet to see the type of massive security presence deployed on 6 polling units by-election in Shinkafi LGA recently.
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In a Channels TV programme, Dr Kabiru Adamu, the Managing Director of Beacon Security and Intelligence Ltd, reinforces Dare’s assertion that there is hardly any security chief, worth his salt, who doesn’t know the whereabouts of the bandits, their business locations, and avers that with strict accountability, legislative oversight, etc, the war on terror could be contained not later than two months.
Since its powerful over-pampered sons have turned their backs against the North-West in preference for filthy lucre, and since nobody could dare challenge them, the North-Western question would for a long time remain unanswered.
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But one might ask: what sort of unconscionable elite could trade-off regional peace and stability for personal accumulative and political gains? Such an elite must have been groomed in the infamous tutelage of neoliberal dispossession, intoxicated by the juiciness of officially sanctioned takeovers of national assets under the guise of privatisation, concessions, etc, for whom people are mere expendable nuisances to their insatiable greed. Such elites are no more than “protected” stationary bandits bleeding the nation to an inglorious end, archetypal models for rural bandits.
Secondly, the terrorised communities with nothing more to lose but their chains, could rise like one man to clear the mines of illegally-smuggled miners, confront the bandits and chart a more human destiny for themselves, thereby deflating the ego of the Nigerian State.
At this juncture, let us ponder over these: could any Southern elites allow a few of them to colonise any part thereof, as the North-West gold belt has been colonised by retired generals, as pointed out by Senator Oshiomhole, without vicious resistance from within? Most likely, the answer would be no. And should there be any such attempt, wouldn’t there be a national outcry against it? Probably the answer would be yes. One could go further, why can’t Northern traditional rulers, politicians, captains of industry close ranks and rescue the North and the nation?
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The most likely answer is: traditional rulers are apprehensive that their stance could be misconstrued by political leaders, and at lower levels some of them are complicit in banditry. And if banditry could advance their political interests, only a few politicians could trade-off such interests for greater good. These tentative hypothetical answers underscore the abnormality of the Northern elites.
Since 2009 when the North-East question reared its ugly head, heralding the more potent North-West question, the North couldn’t in a soul-searching mode frankly confront the reality of its abnormality.
Therefore, the earlier the Northern questions are satisfactorily resolved the better for the nation. But this is impossible without the self-centred and conceited elites trading off their short-term accumulative agenda and short-term political interests for the greater good.
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But it should be in the enlightened self-interest of the Nigerian elites to see to the quick resolution of the Northern questions. Firstly, proceeds from illegal mining could be recycled into politics to overwhelm the polity. Many a Latin American democracy is overwhelmed by illicit funds recycled into politics.
Secondly, the terrorised communities with nothing more to lose but their chains, could rise like one man to clear the mines of illegally-smuggled miners, confront the bandits and chart a more human destiny for themselves, thereby deflating the ego of the Nigerian State.
Thirdly, the North-West mustn’t be allowed to crumble due to the geopolitical implications. It wouldn’t be turned asunder without serious disintegrative echoes and humanitarian crises in the nation.
Fourthly, it is the type of scenario craved for by imperialism, always on the lookout for intervention cutlets. Once the global hegemonists set their feet to broker and enforce peace, the local barons would be displaced from the scene.
Therefore, the earlier the Northern questions are satisfactorily resolved the better for the nation. But this is impossible without the self-centred and conceited elites trading off their short-term accumulative agenda and short-term political interests for the greater good.
Jahun, a public affairs analyst, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State Capital.
