… Says there are ample evidence Buhari ran corrupt government in his 8 years in office
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Convener, Arewa Think Tank, a Non-Governmental Organisation, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, has strongly advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to probe the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari over allegations of monumental frauds in different departments of government.
Alhaji Yakubu noted that there are ample evidence that Buhari ran a corrupt government with impunity, considering revelations of financial recklessness coming from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and in particular, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In this exclusive interview with Sunday Sun, the Arewa Think Tank leader said that the only way to discourage corruption in the national system is to probe Buhari’s government, saying that failure to do so, Tinubu will incur the wrath of Nigerians.
He also spoke on the need to boost food and groundnuts production, wishing that the famous Kano groundnuts pyramid will be revived, as well as the Ajaokuta Steel Company. Excerpts:
The former Military governor of Kaduna State, Colonel Umar Dangiwa said recently in an interview that the administration of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari was the worst corrupt civilian government in the history of Nigeria. What is your reaction to this?
My reaction to this is that I totally align with the former military governor of Kaduna State, Colonel Umar Dangiwa, the former Attorney General of the federation, Mohammed Adoke, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the 14th Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and many prominent Nigerians that have rated Buhari’s administration as the most corrupt. In fact, there is a consensus in all the ratings of these eminent Nigerians on Buhari’s administration which is not a coincidence. If former President Buhari has forgotten, let me remind him that I am a financial stakeholder in his 2015 presidential bid and campaign. I still have the record where he was appealing to Nigerians to contribute to his campaign financially. The account was in First Bank, and he told us that every kobo that was contributed would be spent judiciously. And that no kobo would be spent without his approval. One would have thought that after he won the election he should have accounted for the money; how much was contributed, how much was spent and what was the balance. That is where he should have started his transparency from. But unfortunately, he didn’t do that, including the fact that he was going to declare his assets publicly. He didn’t do it up to the time he left office. And I am using this medium to challenge him now that if actually he is Mai Gaskiya ( The truthful one), which I think it is a misplaced honour and praises on a man who does not deserve such name that some Nigerians ascribed to him. It is a misplacement. Let him come out now and tell Nigerians the total money contributed for his campaign and how much he spent and how much was the balance. He should also declare his assets publicly, tell Nigerians what he came with into office and what he left with. And then some of us will now believe that he actually fought corruption. If you look at the stench coming out from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the probe and investigation. It is an indictment on former President Buhari. This is because the bulk stopped on his table. How can all these atrocities happen under him without him knowing. He cannot claim that he didn’t know what happened under his watch. That will be monumental, colossal, incompetence, ineptness and cluelessness of a leader. If he wants most of us Nigerians to forgive him, he should better stay quiet in his retirement. For him to say that he fought corruption to a stand still is completely false, deceptive and a betrayal of our trust. Let me add it here that the only living Mai Gaskiya (the truthful one) in Nigeria is General Yakubu Gowon. Everything that Colonel Umar Dangiwa said about Gowon was correct. As a journalist, go to the field and find out from Nigerians about Gowon. For nine years when Nigeria was at its peak of economic comfort, he didn’t steal one kobo. He came to power poor and left poor. If any Nigerian leader is courageous enough or has the same record as Gowon on corruption let him come out and tell us what he came in with and what he left with. So, Buhari should stop lecturing us on how he fought corruption and allowed Nigerians to agonise over the eight years trauma we went through, apart from kidnapping, banditry, killings and bloodshed all over the country, nothing else he left us with or else he will incur the wrath of Nigerians. You could see the reaction of Nigerians without coordination when Mohammed Adoke first spoke out on Buhari’s administration. So, Buhari should allow sleeping dog to lie. But the good thing about this is that if they fail to account to Nigerians, we have the superior being, our creator that no mortal can fail to account before Him on the day of judgment. And that he swore with the holy Quran to do justice and be fair and just to all manners of Nigerians. And if he fails to apologise, we leave him to God. And I am calling on President Bola Tinubu now that he should go after all those who looted our common patrimony and if he fails to go after them it will be at his own risk and we will come hard on him. CBN probe and all other probes should not be swept under the carpet because we are hearing some rumours that there is going to be plea bargain. That is not what we want to hear. We want to know what transpired and what happened. It is regrettable that under Buhari not only our economy was mismanaged, but our diversity was also mismanaged.
From what you have said, are you now saying that President Tinubu should probe the administration of Buhari?
Why not. Didn’t he (Buhari) probe the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan when he came to power in 2015? Is he above the law? Even the former President of USA, Trump is under trial. Buhari is not above the law. He should come and account for his stewardship. We didn’t beg Buhari to come and become the president. He begged us and we contributed money for him. So, if he is innocent he should come clean and there will be no cause for alarm.
Some Nigerians are saying that it was because Colonel Umar Dangiwa didn’t get appointment under APC, that was why he decided to lambast Buhari. What do you have to say to this?
That is rubbish. What of the 14th Emir of Kano, was he looking for appointment? What of Obasanjo, was he looking for appointment? What of Adoke, was he looking for appointment? And other prominent Nigerians that have spoken out, were they looking for appointment? Every Nigerian knows Colonel Dangiwa to be a man of integrity. He was one of the few military officers that sacrificed his commission for principles and stood by Abiola during the June 12 crisis. So, if anybody has anything against him let that person bring it and let us see. Colonel Dangiwa has been consistent in criticising the government objectively since he left office. He even challenged his Commander-in-Chief, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, during the June 12 crisis. He fought Abacha. So, his track record is transparent, and not deceptive.
What is your advice to President Tinubu not to toe the line of Buhari in fighting insecurity without success?
Noticeably, he has appointed the right Service Chiefs and he has shown political will and he is leading from the front. In the past where unknown gunmen killed security operatives with impunity has reduced to a large extent. We have also seen a gradual decline in the banditry and kidnapping onslaught. This decline in the killing of our security operatives is a moral booster. Immediately Tinubu was inaugurated as the president he visited the office of the National Security Adviser. This was also a sign that he was not going to sit in the Villa and receive formal report as it used to be in the past. That is leadership, and also signal that everybody working under him should sit up. What is left for us as Nigerians now is to support our security operatives and agencies with useful information, and to also pray for them and give them the benefit of the doubt as President Tinubu has given a template and timeline.
Some Nigerians are asking why Colonel Umar Dangiwa is opening up now on Buhari and why didn’t he speak up while the former president was in office?
I can tell you that he was one of us that was very critical of the Buhari government right from the onset till Buhari finished his eight years in office. Colonel Umar Dangiwa had never kept quiet about Buhari’s government and any other government indeed. And he has been speaking. He spoke truth to power during General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha regimes respectively. And that was the military era where he spoke at the cost of his commission, not to talk of the civilian government, not to talk of democracy. He also spoke during Obasanjo’s failed third term agenda and also mobilised against it. I remembered that he organised a protest in Abuja, I remembered that we joined him in protesting against Obasanjo’s third term failed agenda along with the late Sunday Awoniyi. In fact, the venue was at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre where we have paid for, but the Obasanjo government then prevailed on the centre to deny us access to the conference hall. It was under the tree in the centre that we staged the protest and gave our press statement. So, nobody should accuse Dangiwa that he was quiet when Buhari was in power. He has never been quiet. It is just that he takes his time to analyse things and speak at the right time and say the right things.
Former President Buhari spent eight years in office. As a Northerner, do you think that the North within those eight years actually benefitted from his government?
It is capital no. Apart from those northerners that worked under his administration that benefitted personally and their families. Take for example, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road which took the Babangida administration two and half years to construct from ground zero, in Buhari’s eight years he couldn’t finish rehabilitating it. The Abuja/Lokoja road is still uncompleted. The Ajaokuta Steel Company is still there. Virtually all the projects he commissioned in the North are uncompleted. It is an open wound, it is an open story, if the North had benefitted, let him show us. Katsina State governor, Dikko Radda said something few weeks ago, and from what he said, you will know that North had not benefitted from Buhari’s government in eight years…
What did the governor say?
What he said was that the level of hardship and poverty in the North is so intense and excruciating that he went to a village in Katsina he could not recognise some of his colleagues and friends because of the level of poverty and hardship. I appreciated what he said because he was being truthful and even appealing to his colleagues and those in authority and position of governance to reduce flamboyancy, to reduce extravagance in governance. This is a governor from the state where Buhari hails from. Recently, in one of his programmes, the governor himself was on security patrol in the night, that is leadership. If Buhari had shown this kind of leadership in the last eight years we would not have been where we are now.
So, are you saying that Northerners believe that Tinubu’s government will favour them than that of Buhari?
Of course, yes. Tinubu’s government will just be fair, and he has started and we are seeing the signs. A good Friday, it is said, shows sign from Thursday. We are seeing signs in Tinubu’s government. Look at his appointments, it is broad based, no nepotism, it cuts across every part of the country with religious and ethnic considerations. It is very fair and well balanced.
What do you think President Tinubu should learn from what Colonel Umar Dangiwa said about Buhari’s administration?
First and foremost, I want to appreciate what Tinubu’s wife said when her husband was inaugurated as the president. She told Nigerians that they were coming to govern, not coming to steal Nigeria’s money. They are not coming to pilfer the country’s commonwealth, they are already made. Secondly, President Tinubu never told anyone that he is an angel or a saint compared to angelhood and sainthood that the previous people gave us the impression that they were. We are not looking for a saint to govern us; let me borrow from what Matthew Kukah said, “we are looking for sincere people who walks the talks, who can lead from the front.” President Tinubu should adopt humility, transparency and honesty of General Yakubu Gowon. Look at General Gowon he is approaching 90 years of age, but he is looking younger and healthier than some of his colleagues because of his level of transparency, honesty, good and kind heart. In fact, he is the only Mai Gaskiya ( The truthful one) in Nigeria. I have said this several times that Gowon is the original Mai Gaskiya in Nigeria. The other man that was called Mai Gaskiya was a misconceptions, and a misplaced name. President Tinubu will write his name in gold if he walks the talks of every thing he has said. And he should remember that on the day of judgment he is going to stand before God where there will be no personal security, aides and nobody, but only him to answer all what he swore by the holy Quran to protect. This is my advice to President Tinubu.
In the light of the recent Presidential Election Petition Court judgment, would you say that fresh issues have been thrown up for constitutional amendments and what are your views on the issues identified?
As a lay man and member of Arewa Think Tank, though there are some lawyers among us. But one of the things that I think is fundamental is that the National Assembly should consider constitutional amendment to the effect that all judicial cases are done with before the inauguration of any elected person into the position of authority and government, either the president or governor or National Assembly members, it will go a long way in reducing bitterness and acrimony after the election. And INEC should be more on the side of the people because communication is very important, even in marriage, not to talk of governance. If you don’t talk to the people how will they know what you are doing, assumption takes place, perception takes place, rumours take place especially in this era of the social media. So, INEC should up their game. They are trying, but they need to do more.
President Tinubu’s administration declared an emergency on food security. However, the government did not give specifics on how it will be achieved. What advice can the Arewa Think Tank offer to the government on the way forward?
Declaring emergency on any particular subject is very wide and it gives the president the latitude to do the needful. At the time he declared the state of emergency there was no cabinet in place. Now there is cabinet in place. And the minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari has shown leadership, he has designed policy. From our interactions with him and from his agenda that we have seen, he has designed a roadmap on how to ensure food security in the North and the country. But that cannot be done in isolation until security situation improves whereby farmers can go back to their farms.
Again, a major contributory factor to the decline in food production is insecurity attributed to armed herdsmen in major farming communities, both in the North and the South. Why has it proved difficult to adopt coordinated modern ranching practices in modern animal husbandry in the traditional cattle-rearing parts of the North as a way of ending the distrust that causes clashes between the herders and arable farmers in the North and South?
Yes, it is a fantastic idea, because times are changing and as time changes, tradition needs to change too. The old methods of rearing animals, cows and so on by herders is no longer fashionable. But with time, you will realise that most of these herders are not educated. They need to be educated, helped and supported. They should be told that time has changed and tradition too need to be changed. We have seen this idea in the ministry of agriculture and there is deliberate effort to reduce this acrimony. The other day I saw assembly of Fulani herders pledging support to the government on how to end this crisis. So, there is hope.
Currently, in Saudi Arabia, milk producing cow ranches are rapidly flourishing. It was once said that Sambisa forest has the landmass to become the world’s largest productive cattle farm if harnessed and developed. What advice can Arewa Think Tank offer the Tinubu administration, the Northern Governors Forum and the North East Development Commission in this regard?
What we can offer Tinubu’s administration is advice, we are pressure group, we don’t have the political power and so we can only advise, so far so good, we have seen alot of good plans that the ministry of agriculture is preparing to roll out. I think we should give the minister and the president the benefit of the doubt, may be after six months or one year we can now start assessing them, and criticise objectively in area we feel that they have not lived up to expectations. But so far from what we have seen we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
In pursuit of the goal accelerated food and economic crops production as part of the national strategic economic security agenda, it has been suggested that the country should revive coordinated groundnut production as a way of significantly boosting the contribution of agriculture to the country’s GDP and massive job recreation. What is your view?
Yes, this is another fantastic idea, but don’t forget that time affects alot of things, time has changed quite dramatically in the whole world. I don’t think we can get that kind of Kano groundnut pyramid again, but I think government can do something to boost food production, groundnuts production and so on, but not pyramid, not the kind of deceptive rice pyramid we saw in the last eight years. The grains pyramid and so on we saw in the last eight years during Buhari’s government.It was just a deceitful show and immediately after the show the whole thing vanished. This reminds me that I should remind Buhari that when he was in power he once asked Obasanjo that where is the N16 billion he spent on electricity, you are a journalist, you should remember when Buhari was asking them, where is the power for the N16 billion he spent? I want to ask Buhari now, all the billions of naira that was spent on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the four refineries, why are the refineries not working in the last eight years? Can he give Nigerians an account of how much was spent and why are the refineries not working. Let us be sincere with ourselves and support President Tinubu who appears to be a sincere leader. We have seen that Tinubu has good intentions and he is walking the talks.