2019: MY VOTE IS…(III)
In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…(FOR and AGAINST) as we head towards the 2019 Elections (the series of which is also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/ and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today we discuss mainly the tragedy that is Drugs Trafficking where Arewa has been the target of traffickers who are mainly from the South East; whether for […]
In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…(FOR and AGAINST) as we head towards the 2019 Elections (the series of which is also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/ and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today we discuss mainly the tragedy that is Drugs Trafficking where Arewa has been the target of traffickers who are mainly from the South East; whether for ‘commercial’ or ‘annihilative’ purposes. Other sundry issues also feature – so readers can still send in their 100-word contributions for inclusion in subsequent weeks (even though some good friends of the Column, such as Lawal Shehu, sent in almost 300!):
COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING: In April last year when this Column ran a six-part series on “Drugs and Arewa”, and the series was replicated on such platforms as Nairaland, I counted, conservatively, about ten thousand abuses and curses from people whose people are mentioned, with evidence, as those plying us – Arewa – with drugs. Apart from some sympathetic comments from here up North, almost none of the cursers and abusers acknowledged the crime of their people, or even sympathised with mine for being their victims. All were, like, you are a bigot, a tribalist, a religious jingoist.
This type of attitude was replicated recently when the ‘Code of Conduct versus Chief Justice’ palaver broke. The same people closed their eyes to the substantial evidence of wrong-doing and insisted that nobody should be punished if s/he comes from a certain part of the country. The South West (the bride of APC Merger with Arewa), is now retorting, ‘Like former Finance Minister Adeosun like former CJN Onnoghen’. And the latter is not even actually ‘theirs’ to start with!
Now, therefore, if people who have no problem with their people criminally supplying hard drugs to my people, and will even try to shout down any nay-sayer, openly root for a certain political candidate, I will immediately adopt the philosophy of ‘The Enemy of My Friend is My Enemy’ – meaning, I will not cast my vote in tandem with those who see no fault in their people ‘killing’ mine; and this is only in drugs trafficking fueling youth addiction in my part of the country. Not to talk of a certain old man of about 80 still unrepentant for murdering Sardauna, Tafawa Balawa, Maimalari and others in the darkness of the night of Friday January 15, 1966.
To wit, for reminder purposes, let us recall a few paragraphs from the series Drugs and Arewa of last year:
“The Katsina State Command of NDLEA said it had impounded a trailer in Funtua loaded with 24,000 bottles of cough syrup with codeine in a trailer from Onitsha to Funtua. Among those arrested are Christian Chukwuma and Obiora Chukwuma…” (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/ndlea-nabs-6-impounds-trailer-loaded-24000-codeine-syrup/).
“A hard drug (intoxicant) supplier, identified as Stanley Arinze, has been arrested by the Kano Police Command for trying to smuggle hard drugs. The tablets worth N19, 200,000 were intercepted after being concealed inside LG Plasma TV cartons in a trailer along Kano Eastern bye-pass. The man, a native of Anambra State, reportedly supplies Tramadol tablets to Kano and Republic of Niger…” (http://www.informationng.com/2017/07/man-conceals-drugs-worth-n19million-in-plasma-tv-cartons-arrested.html and https://www.straightfromnaija.com/man-arrested-with-tramadol-tablets-worth-n19200000/).
“Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja…sentenced a man, Mr. Anthony Chidi Ikeaba, to 14 years imprisonment for unlawfully importing 1.782 kg of cocaine into the country…” (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/man-jailed-14-years-cocaine-trafficking/).
“Officials of the NDLEA at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos prevented two Nigerians from execution in Malaysia. Onovo Sylvester Henry and Ufiri Onyedika Emmanuel were caught attempting to smuggle 2.575kg of methamphetamine to Malaysia where drug offences attract capital punishment. Nnamdi John Kingsley was nabbed while taking delivery of the television sets containing heroin…” (https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/news/10005-ndlea-discovers-heroin-in-plasma-tv).
“Where is that container of Tramadol intercepted a few months ago by a team of patriotic customs officers destined for No. 3, Festing Road, Sabon Gari, Kano? Where are the arrested and named traffickers Mr. Onuchukwu Benjamin Owulu and Mr. Igboanugo Vincent Tochukwu?” (https://blueprint.ng/customs-seizes-container-of-illicit-drugs-declared-as-spare-parts/ and https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/two-pharmacists-in-ndlea-s-net-for-illegal-importation-of-controlled-drugs/130269.html).
And then, if this doesn’t alarm you, nothing else will, ever! “NAFDAC has intercepted 33 containers of Tramadol which were being conveyed to a yet-to-be-ascertained location in Nigeria…The disclosure was made by the NAFDAC Director-General, Prof Adeyeye, in Abuja…” (https://dailynigerian.com/nafdac-intercepts-33-container-loads-of-tramadol/). Note the number – 33, THIRTY THREE CONTAINERS!
Arewa, are we also drugged? Why would Arewa (as in Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Jama’atu Nasril Islam, etc) just sit down and watch people from elsewhere just come and destroy our youths in broad daylight? Why is nobody following up on these traffickers? Where are the prosecutors and the judges who are alleged to be conniving and using technicalities to release – purportedly on bail – these traffickers who more often than not are never arrested again? Can the NDLEA, NAFDAC, Police, etc tell us how the court cases of these criminals are going, if ever? Our fatalistic ‘Allah Zai kare’ fuels our complacence in our abject ignorance. And the judges will just forget to declare the extra dollars in their accounts!
ANONYMOUS: MY VOTE IS…AGAINST THAT FORMER GOVERNOR WHO CRIMINALLY PROFILED NORTHERNERS IN HIS STATE: Once upon a time in a state somewhere in Nigeria, a Governor criminally profiled all Northerners residing and conducting their businesses in his state, whereas no one took a similar action against his people, millions of them, in Arewa. He tagged Northerners as terrorists and demanded they they be profiled and have their ID Cards on their necks, much as Hitler did to Jews. This person is standing for election, or running, alongside someone else. But the danger is this, and Arewa should note, should anything happen to the one, the Yar’Adua-Goodluck conundrum will again be our reality – with perhaps worse consequences. ‘In kunne ya ji…!
MOHAMMED M. MOHAMMED GOMBE ([email protected]): MY VOTE IS…for those willing to stamp out corruption from Nigeria. If we collectively take stock of all man-made evils militating against our progress and peaceful coexistence, number one on the list is corruption. As such it is time to act wisely so as to collectively vote candidates whose thinking, words and actions are geared towards uprooting this monster standing between us and good healthcare, functional infrastructure, sound education, food sufficiency, etc. My vote will never go the way of those who cherish, nourish and uphold corruption until they renounce the path of retrogression and follow that of progress by returning their ill-gotten wealth to its rightful owners, Nigerians.
LAWAL SHEHU ([email protected]): “My vote is for that candidate, even if he were a dictator, who will prioritise Education: One, pay all ASUU requests but do a forensic on each university administration for the last twenty-five years; Two, government should contact countries with established education systems so that each university can be paired with a front-runner; Three, carry out academic audit of those professors who should at best be Lecturers I. Next, Health. Like in Education, audit every teaching, specialist hospital and medical centre from twenty-five years to date. At the same time, give each specialist in government employment ultimatum to focus on full time public service or leave. If this is done, we do not have to worry about health tourism to other countries.”
Hussaina Gummi, Near East University, Cyprus ([email protected]): “MY VOTE IS FOR anyone who brings railway line to Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara. We have always been supporters of this administration, yet it seems we are not part of the blueprint of the next level. Why should we see trains only when we visit Kaduna? Why should we always be the last on the list when, historically, the whole north was part of the Sokoto Caliphate?
COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…AGAINST DRUGS TRAFFICKING, again!