Insecurity: Buhari Will Answer To His Creator — Bafarawa

• Says “insecurity is a catastrophe that has befallen us”
  

BY IBRAHIM BAKO – Former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, says President Muhammadu Buhari will answer to his creator for the worsening insecurity that has turned the North-west region and Nigeria into an area of deep calamity and a war zone.

However, he maintained that going forward, the President must be more proactive on the issue of insecurity, since ‘he is the one that will be answerable to Allah.’

According to him; “This insecurity is a catastrophe that has befallen us. The situation in Sokoto and Zamfara states can only be described by those who have been there. Allah will ask him questions.

“He, the President should constitute a special team to visit Barafawa and Shinkafi on a fact-finding mission. Or they should go to the villages around Shinkafi, or Sabon Birni or Goronyo. All these places in the senatorial zone are in deep calamity.

“The sad thing is that we all know that the security of the nation is in the hands of the Federal Government. Those people telling President Muhammadu Buhari that everything is ok, or are they telling him things are not ok? If they are telling him things are going on fine, they have cheated him and have cheated us too.”

Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa service, Bafarawa, who governed Sokoto State from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007, said; “Allah knows that we are in a serious calamity in our zone. Today, I traveled home and came back, I am an eyewitness, not that somebody told me. Our people are harvesting millet in abundance, we’ve gotten millet and rice, but people cannot convey the farm produce home.

“Whoever went to the farm to convey the crops home, will not come back alive. Whoever goes to bring his rice back home, will not return alive. Furthermore, people are in a form of incarceration, like in Zamfara.

“A debilitating catastrophe, a situation that phones cannot work, markets are shut and there is no palliative for the poor to cushion the effect, to get food to eat.”

Responding to the possibility of many attributing his comments to political influence, the former governor said; “My call here is that we should put politics aside. This is a situation that affects me, it affects the President and he is the one that will be answerable to Allah.”

On reports that Zamfara State Government was currently assisting its people with food, Alhaji Bafarawa denied any knowledge of such package, saying; “Even if I am not a Zamfara indigene, I have rights in Zamfara as a citizen of the country and as an immediate neighbor.

“The distance between our home town, Bafarawa and Zamfara, is not more than eight (8) to nine (9) kilometers. I’ve not seen any food that was delivered to my immediate neighbor, Shinkafi. This talk that they have given food, who took the food there, where are those who were given the food?”

Further lamenting the horror of Nigeria’s current situation, Bafarawa, who was one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential aspirants in 2019, said; “Besides this talk about food, why can’t you be given the freedom to bring back home the ones you cultivate? You already have, you just need the freedom and safety to bring the farm produce home. The one they are claiming is distributing the food, where is he?

“Where is the Governor? Such things, if you give a directive, it behooves you to monitor compliance. He should make sure shutting of telecoms is effective or not, closing markets is working or not. You should ensure there is due diligence.”

“This catastrophic situation that we found ourselves in the country, the President should come out of the Villa, put on a uniform, and form a committee including me to visit Zamfara for an on the spot assessment. And all that I’ve mentioned on the radio, I will go and show them,” Bafarawa said.