Zamfara is not us
For a while last week, Naija was on autopilot. President Muhammadu Buhari was away to an investment summit in the UAE. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo went to Rwanda, to participate in post-genocide ceremonies while outgoing president of the senate; Olubukola Saraki was away in Qatar. They were all on official business, leaving the country in […]
For a while last week, Naija was on autopilot. President Muhammadu Buhari was away to an investment summit in the UAE. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo went to Rwanda, to participate in post-genocide ceremonies while outgoing president of the senate; Olubukola Saraki was away in Qatar. They were all on official business, leaving the country in the hands of an acting chief justice following the forced resignation of the substantive chief justice. Autopilots don’t always work as air crash investigators know.
However, Naija people are used to being run on prayers. Only the likes of Kadaria Ahmed gets disturbed by leadership propped on autopilot. Her home state, Zamfara, like mine has been on autopilot for as long as anyone remembers. Zamfara’s absentee governor Abdulaziz Yari always has reasons to travel although it does not appear he did last week. He shows up in Gusau once in a blue moon. An estimated 150 people were killed by marauders who have used Zamfarians for target practice unchallenged for many years. Long ago, Yari explained while traveling in America that a medical epidemic at home was divine punishment for his people’s sins. He didn’t fancy being punished along but subsequently hired a jet for the lesser hajj, apparently to lobby heaven for the forgiveness of his people’s sins.
Zamfara people either love their leaders or they are ignorant of the effect of choosing bad leaders. In spite of their security challenges, they voted en-masse for Buhari in last month’s presidential elections and rewarded Yari with a sinnate seat. Yari’s detractors, (very unlikely to include Ms Ahmed) are challenging that mandate in court, not asking Allah to nullify it. Only the tribunal would determine whether God answers their prayers.
Apparently, the state that was handed over to Yari in 2005 has been grossly mismanaged. Under him, the home of agricultural products became the land of blood. Before him, it was celebrated for its political sharia and amputation.
While Ms Ahmed and her protesting friends are waiting for the outcome of tribunal rulings and a possible withdrawal of an undeserved mandate, larger than life Yari had resigned as chief security officer of his state. Nobody knows what that truly means. It is unlikely that he no longer gets his jumbo security votes.
Whatever you say of Yari, he has a comrade in Sai Baba who dropped the earned rank of general and picked the less prestigious title of president. The way Buhari has handled the security challenges in Naija; it is obvious he does not believe in the saying – once a soldier always a soldier. His vuvuzelas praise him for partially securing Abuja from bomb blasts. The insurgent group he technically defeated continues to capture and release territory and to kill and maim at will.
Under Buhari’s watch, Benue, once the food basket of the nation became its blood trough burying nearly a 100 souls in a day slaughtered by rampaging herdsmen. Kidnapping is rife everywhere on Naija potholed roads and towns and cities are unsafe. The insecurity has not spared Katsina, Buhari’s home state but his fanatical supporters don’t want us blaming him. They say he is not God and that only Allah protects lives. Buhari goes around with hefty security men, not amulets. Like Yari, the president received an unapologetic vote of confidence in last month’s elections securing a renewed mandate of four more years.
From Dubai, Buhari would not be granting mining licenses except the IG read his body language incorrectly. The Inspector General has halted mining in Zamfara perhaps until they figure out what’s going on. Buhari appoints but only Allah sacks. The mining ban must be hard to sell to foreign financiers with eyes on Africa’s solid minerals. Insecurity and policy somersaults make any other investment opportunities absolutely unattractive.
Zamfara is the land of gold although its people are the poorest in all developmental indices. Some swear that the pogrom ravaging the state is for control of the gold. Miners thrive on no-man’s-land. Artisanal groups largely control the mining using stone-age techniques. A decade or so ago, lead poisoning resulted in the mass murder of children there and the mining sites are still highly contaminated with no remediation plans. Yari has no brains to turn his gold into golden opportunities. His government survives on the rent. Safety comes last if at all.
Osinbajo may learn from his Rwandan trip. Naija’s ethnic fault lines are widening by the day. Government localize pogroms and supporters are happy with it. You hear of Zamfarans dying, Benue is attacked and kidnappers ravage Kaduna-Abuja road. That people are victims rarely matter. Government carries on with business as usual. They are active dodgers of state responsibility.
We are the only citizens in the world that pays so much to underperforming officials and return to spend time fasting and praying for miracles to solve the problems we elected them to tackle. Our penchant for ethno-religious protection prevents us from putting our leader’s feet to fire. Our idiots are always better than theirs. Voting, that globally tested avenue for making change happen is vehicle for us a vehicle for electoral euthanasia – we vote for those who kill us while survivors clap for them.