Elder Statesman and former Governor of Kaduna, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has said that the insurgency in the country is sponsored by local forces powerful enough to challenge the Federal Government and international forces that are keen on controlling Nigeria.
How do you see the clashes between Fulani herdsmen and their host communities, the most recent of which is the clash in Benue State that saw Governor Suswan narrowly escaping death?
The latest we have now is the problem of criminal activities beyond cattle rearing and it’s becoming an insurgency which is worse than Boko-Haram.
Some people are of the opinion that the alleged violent herdsmen are Boko-Haram members in disguise?
They are not Boko-Haram members in disguise. They are worse than that. They are more organized and better equipped than Boko-Haram. All I can say is that the insurgency is purely orchestrated to destabilize Nigeria for political reasons starting with the North and then spreading throughout the country.
Already it is active in the North-east, North-west, South-south. I believe they are organized by internal forces big enough to challenge the Federal Government in collaboration with outside forces that have interest in controlling Nigeria; these people are not just local Boko-Haram and cattle rearers. The bombing in Abuja is a clear indication.
It is a continuation of the distabilisation of the peace of Nigeria for political reasons. The aim of the insurgency is to disorganise our co-existence as a nation.
Some people are of the view that there is the need to re-creates grazing route to bring peaceful co-existence between host communities and the Fulani herdsmen?
That is not a problem because President Jonathan is already doing that. In the first place, the Fulani herdsmen are not organized enough to embark on negotiating an issue like that.
How best do you think insurgency in the country can be curtailed?
Unfortunately we don’t have a National Conference that is truly democratic in nature. It is a National Conference that is built on what the President wants. If it is a true legislative National Conference, it can start the process of resolving the problem because it would have been national and it would have been representative.
Why we need the National Conference to do that is because the government is partially responsible for what is happening either in terms of connivance or in terms of incompetence.
Do you mean the on-going National Conference is not credible enough to address the issues facing us as a nation?
The on-going National Conference is not democratic and does not represent us enough to address the issues facing us as a nation. The means of selecting the delegates was not electoral in process because nobody there was elected. In other words, you can say that every delegate there was appointed by the President either directly or indirectly.
So the conference is not a true representation of the nation. With the undemocratic nature of the National Conference, I don’t see it having any impact on the problems facing us as a nation. Insurgency is a true indication that the CONFAB is not genuine enough to solve our problems is as a country. We cannot have a truly on-going National Conference and insurgency will be going on! The National Conference can never be relevant because of these challenges!
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