Militias exist in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba axis – Gov Al-Makura

Weekly Trust: You reportedly said the Fulani allegedly killed by soldiers in Keana were not insurgents. Why? Umaru Tanko Al-Makura: The issue of Keana is a peculiar case. My comment is specifically based on whether there is insurgency in Nasarawa or not. On the issue of Keana in particular, I was touched when the paramount […]

Weekly Trust: You reportedly said the Fulani allegedly killed by soldiers in Keana were not insurgents. Why?
Umaru Tanko Al-Makura: The issue of Keana is a peculiar case. My comment is specifically based on whether there is insurgency in Nasarawa or not. On the issue of Keana in particular, I was touched when the paramount leader, Osana of Keana, called to intimate me about the happenings in his domain, meted out on Fulani that had settled there. He told me that some Fulani were attending funeral prayers of the eldest person at the settlement called Rugan Sodangi and that people that appear to be military men came and asked the young men among the Fulani to step aside, eventually shooting them dead.
Emotions were high in the state regarding the incident, so I went to Keana to verify what happened. I was convinced beyond doubt that the settlement had been there for decades and does not typify a place where insurgents would stay.
For me, information gathered that these insurgents’ hideout, where they hide and launch attacks, were in the wilderness between Nasarawa, Benue and Taraba and is inaccessible because there are no roads and settlements to show links to the insurgents. So the killing of these Fulani in Keana may have been a case of mistaken identity, as there were also people among them selling milk; what gave credence to my comment after seeing the settlement and the people there, they don’t look like people coming from nowhere to perpetrate violence.
WT: What is the state government doing then to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to book?
Al-Makura: I am already talking with the military authorities and I am happy that the Chief of Army Staff said they will investigate the incident and I am sure if they have finished the investigation, they would come out with their findings and that would be worked upon.
On compensation or whatever we can do to cushion the loss, we have done much and we are also going to do more. As a responsible administration, anything that puts any of the citizens of the state in distress, the government comes handy and provides some kind of relief. When I went there we made contributions to the community. I assure you that government would support the families of those that lost their dear ones.
On prosecution, it is not for me to say that, I don’t know if we have locus standi on that, the Fulani as a group of families may make moves, it all depends on the outcome of the investigations, then we can all see the needful and right thing to be done.
WT: What do we expect from the White Paper on the Ombatse crisis?
Al-Makura: I can assure you of one thing, justice. Because the essence of setting up that Judicial Commission of Inquiry was to fish out the criminals that perpetrated that crime and we want to follow the due process to ensure that justice is done, so that everybody would be given the universal standard of investigation. Now that the report is out and recommendations made by the responsible members of the committee whose members include time-tested judges, barristers at law, professors and people with pedigree in security circles and people in human rights circles; this is why government is taking the report seriously and has made a white paper out of it.
What is next is to implement the white paper and I am appealing to those concerned at the federal and state levels that the process for prosecuting the culprits has commenced and we seek the cooperation of security and the judiciary in bringing to book those responsible for the dastardly act. Whoever they are, including their sponsors and financiers.
I am seeking the cooperation of the security agencies and the people, as this would involve arrests and judicial processes. I urge the agencies to live up to expectation, this is for us to ensure stability of peace and development of the state against criminality and serve against deterrent for any community or individuals that have propensity for this kind of behaviour.
WT: Some people, including Senator Solomon Ewuga, have gone to court to stop the implementation of the report and the white paper. What do you say to this?
Al-Makura: While not joining issues with individuals as the governor of this state, the question is not about Ewuga, but the Ewugas in our midst. This is not the first time he and others have gone to court as part of measures to truncate the activities of the Commission of Inquiry. I think he is behaving true to type. It is not surprising that someone who has attempted to truncate the process from the beginning would be part of those attempting to stop the implementation of the white paper.
However, the pedigree of Ewuga in the political arena is something else; look at where he has worked before, at a proper time, I would respond to all his entreaties. He has earned himself the appellation of a serial defector and I will not join issues with someone like that who jumps from one party to another at will.
Anytime there is political exercise where he seeks to contest and he does not win in such exercise, he would jump, he has moved round all the parties, this is his third time in PDP, he has also been in the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria, CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) and ANPP (All Nigeria People’s Party), so where is his integrity? He has never won any election in his life.
I want to challenge him on that. I was in the NPN (defunct National Party of Nigeria) before him in 1979, when I was a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC). The last election where I worked for his emergence in CPC for the senate seat was an example, where he was trashed by (Senator Patricia) Akwashiki, it took the intervention of the elders who pleaded for a soft landing for him. Even the outcome of the election was something else.
Let him go and defend himself on what the white paper said about him, whether or not he is a financier of Ombatse crisis. Since the matter is in court, let us leave it at that.
WT: The 19 Northern governors are yet to redeem their pledges to the victims of the Ombatse crisis. What are you doing about that?
Al-Makura: As people who care, the governors have done wonderfully well by coming all the way to commiserate and sympathise with the families of the victims at a time when they were emotionally challenged. They came with goodwill and that show of care and sympathy; they are making efforts to get their pledges redeemed. It should not look as if all that is the required is the compensation. I spent N100 million for the victims and their families when the crisis happened. Other agencies made contributions and my colleagues from Ebonyi among others. So we should not look at the pledges as the only things needed, the gesture and the commitment is important and I am sure it would not take a long time before things would be worked out.
WT: There are reports that most of the ethnic groups in the state have raised armed militias and this has led to proliferation of arms in the state…
Al-Makura: (Cuts in) This is a very pertinent question, I want to be blunt, if truth must be said, it must be now. On this issue of ethnic militias, I want to say that most of the groups you found harbour militias, especially political touts that you can find in various communities, some of these touts turn to militants some of them use arms and perpetrate violence.
Even during primaries, they want to see that their preferred candidate emerges at all cost, it is virtually everywhere and if we have to tell ourselves the truth, political leaders have to admonish their followers and supporters not to take political thuggery too far. If this is not contained now as we move towards 2015, it would lead to serious challenges.
However, as you have limited it to Nasarawa State, let me say that militants in the corridors of Nasarawa and Benue States are in three identifiable groups, they harbour arms and until security operatives go after them, the likelihood of their expanding across the two states cannot be ruled out.
The Fulani marauders that transgress from one state to another, that go through the wilderness must be fished out. They harbour arms, they are not the ones living in towns; there are places we are suspecting as the routes and hideouts where they are. In Benue, we have the ‘soldier patari’ (local militia), these are the people who perpetrate violence and they move between Benue and Nasarawa states.
The one in Nasarawa State, showing their level of militancy even graduating into mercenaries that can be hired, are the Ombatse group. We all saw what happened in Alakyo, it was government’s desire to disarm this group after a security council meeting. We took a decision which gave the security operatives the directive to go and disarm them, when they ambushed and killed many security operatives. Even with their proscription and even their indictment by the Commission of Inquiry, they were still going about as if there was no law in the land. As a governor, I have a limit to which I can contain. I am waiting to see if the operation being taken against insurgents in Benue and Nasarawa states would be taken against the ‘soldier patari’ and the Ombatse groups if we want to have enduring peace.
WT: Is the government having the challenge of identifying the sponsors of these groups?
Al-Makura: We do not want to speculate on identities. We know some of them and there were talks about many others, this was why we set up the commission of inquiry. Some were identified, including Baba Alakyo, and others who were the financiers of Ombatse; we are waiting for the security operatives to act accordingly by the reports on the Ombatse crisis.
In order to avoid justice, some of those indicted are trying to rope all Eggon into the matter. The commission of inquiry did not indict the Eggon, who are wonderful people. Majority don’t support Ombatse; the commission is not against the Eggon, who are also part of the present administration. Only sponsors and financiers of violence among the Eggon have to be brought to book, not the Eggon people. Criminals wherever they are from among any tribe have to be brought to book to ensure peace in the state and by extension, the country.
WT: Your deputy has defected to the PDP and is also going to run against you in 2015. What’s your take on that?
Al-Makura: My deputy is someone I mentored, so he is free if he wants to try to get greener pastures somewhere else. He has the democratic and constitutional right to contest for any position, including the presidency. I wish him luck.
WT: How have you been able to cope with a PDP-dominated House of Assembly?
Al-Makura: We all have our different roles to play in the interest of the people of the state, they have their responsibilities and we as the executive have ours. We mind our businesses; we sometimes have frictions only when there are cases of encroachment on the responsibilities of the executive. We are doing all this to make democracy grow. The frictions were to fine tune how to deliver on our responsibilities
WT: There are people who have been with you on the same platform, but have defected to other parties. What is your take on this?
Al-Makura: We have serial defectors, these are people who never stay in one place unless their biddings are supported; they always want to have it their way, even when this is not in the interest of the state and of the party. Their leaving is good riddance, they were never members of the the CPC or ANPP and even the APC. The PDP would soon cry out when their antics unfold, they were in PDP before.
The APC is not losing anything with their defections. They were causing distraction, so the party can entrench its internal democracy mechanism that would benefit the masses. People are happier now in the party and the state. For me, I remain in the APC and can never go back to the PDP.
WT: There have been crises in APC. Do you think they can be resolved before the 2015 general elections?
Al-Makura: Everyone knows APC has arrived despite some challenges. I challenge any party to take the bold decisions and act like APC. They would not last two months. You have to appreciate the journey the APC undertook before we arrived where we are. APC is different from other parties, it came to be the first of its kind; this is party that transmuted from completely different platforms to be what it; is there were four different parties with different manifestoes and ways of life. They met to forget their differences and come together to salvage the country.