• Says PDP, APC have failed Nigeria
• Insecurity is weighing too much on citizens
• Kidnapping, killing of farmers & others going on in the north

By CHIOMA GABRIEL EDITOR, SPECIAL FEATURES

M uhammed Saidu Dansadau  was elected Senator for the Zamfara Central constituency of Zamfara State  in 1999. He was re-elected in April 2003 on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, for another four years that ended 2007. For several years, he was Secretary-General of the Northern Senators’ Forum. In March 2005, Dansadau called for the Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara to resign since he had been implicated in the N55 million bribery scandal. In April 2005, Wabara did finally resign after allegations were made that he and others took a $400,000 bribe from the education minister.

Dansadau strongly fought against the third term agenda of President Obasanjo. As a member of the National Assembly Joint Committee of the Review of the Constitution, in February 2006 he said he would boycott a public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution, which was planned to allow this change.

He left the Senate in May 2007, and in October 2008, announced that he was resigning from the ANPP and from partisan politics in general. Dansadau, who had previously been a large-scale farmer, became the promoter of the Maslaha Seed Firm in Gusau, Zamfara state. In this interview, he talks about the security issues afflicting Nigeria, Gusau and his native Zamfara state, making a case for State police as solution for security issues in Nigeria.

Insecurity is one of the problems besieging Nigeria at present. We have it in all forms. Cattle rustling, Boko Haram, herdsmen menace, Niger Delta Avengers and Biafra agitators. Where are all these taking Nigeria?

Senator Dansadau

The crux of the problem we are having in Nigeria is that majority of people at the helm of affairs don’t care about the welfare of the ordinary citizens. All they are after is paraphernalia of the office they occupy, the money that come their way through the office which they use to travel abroad every now and then. But as long as their primary responsibility is concerned which is security of lives and property, they find it difficult to do their work of empowering the people to become productive.

They are only concerned about themselves and their families and their illicit wealth. Yes, in the North, the Hausa and the Fulani always lived peacefully even though there were occasional skirmishes between farmers and herdsmen, between farmers and farmers and even between herdsmen and herdsmen. We have also had to deal with cattle rustlers. What I don’t understand is why all these insurgency could be happening all over the country and why we cannot have peace amongst ourselves.

In some parts of the North, there are still threats by herdsmen against farmers. People killed on their way to their farms but not to the level of paralysing economic activities. They rape our wives and daughters and made life difficult for the poor farmers. But God is behind the ordinary man and with the help of God, the farmer has been able to cultivate and farm. For the first time in several years, we had a bumper harvest this last season and not for the fact that the Federal Government and some states government supplied the farmer with anything.

We have not had this kind of bumper harvest in a long time and not only that, the farmer harvested and made good money from his farm produce. For the first time in many years, the farmer will tell you how much he made from his farm produce. A tonne of maize and millet was sold for over a hundred thousand naira. Before this time, herdsmen were using their cattle to destroy our crops. Everything the farmer made was by himself. He was the one that bought his hoe and everything he used in his farm and takes care of his family. The harvest this year was the hand of God for the farmer for what he lost in the past three and four years.

Now, when these rustlers noticed that the farmer has started making money, some terrible things began to happen to the farmers. Farmers are being kidnapped on their way to their farms and asked to pay N1,000,000 (one million) ransom. Penultimate Sunday, three farmers were kidnapped in their farms.The kidnappers requested for one million naira each for their release. On Monday, they went to an illegal mine where people were using digger and hoe to bring out gold to keep their family and children and killed over 36 of them.

As I’m talking to you, the government has done nothing.The governor was not even in the country. It was the deputy governor of Zamfara that has been running up and town over this issue. I took it upon myself to talk to the deputy governor. We were helpless and were left with the option of using the local hunters like they did in Borno State. All Nigerian people have witnessed the effort of the local hunters in providing security in communities and that is what we started doing in Zamfara here to protect people in their farms and in the mining sites.

They having started kidnapping the farmers and demanding for N1 million ransom for each of them. So, we are going to borrow leaf of using the local hunters like they do in Borno State to provide security among our people. This is what we have to do when the government that was vested with power and authority cannot do anything to protect the citizens and property. We will not sit down and fold our arms while the people are being killed.

We don’t care what these killers call themselves because for us, they are criminals and we will treat them as criminals. We don’t call them cattle rustlers if they are. To us, they are criminals and so, for us it is fight to finish against these criminals. If he is an Hausa man, he is a criminal. If he is Igbo, he is a criminal. If he is a foreigner, he is a criminal and will be treated as such when we lay hands on them. It is not about being from any tribe.

It is about committing a crime and so, they are criminals no matter where they come from. We will do anything to protect ourselves, our families and our farms. It is our responsibility to protect our wives and daughters because these criminals are raping our wives and daughters.It is going to be a fight to finish between us and them.

In Nigeria, we appreciate that government is overwhelmed by inordinate insecurity problems and with the recession and that is why we are opting for solution ourselves to provide the necessary security to protect ourselves and our families. So, what we are trying to do is to complement what government is doing and bring peace in our area. We don’t know exactly who these people are. There are all manner of people everywhere and in Zamfara.

But our business is not whether they are Hausa or Fulani or Igbo or foreigner. What they are doing is committing crime and so, they are criminals and would be treated as such. We want to use our own people to fight them because our people know the terrain and all the local areas and hideouts. So, we will help the Nigeria security agencies to be able to fight these people. With the complement of the civilians, the security agencies would be able to fight them.

More so, our people know these criminals and know their hideouts and as long as there is cooperation and understanding between the civilian JTF and the security agents on ground,there is no way we will not be able to combat them. We appreciate what the federal government is doing. We will cooperate with them to nip this evil in the bud.

That mining site in Zamfara is a danger zone and the lives of the people are in danger. Kidnappings are happening every now and then and the ransom is N1 million per person. In fact, it is so bad that the day the deputy governor went to the place, he had not even gotten to his house before these people blocked the main road and started kidnapping people. A day after the deputy governor’s visit, these people also blocked the road, kidnapped people and demanded N1 million per person. Nothing was done to them.

But there is JTF in the area?

What we have now in the place is the vigilante. Even President Buhari had been there sometime in the past where he led operation Kunama. The security agents were there at the time Buhari led operation Kunama but they are no longer there. They have vigilante there and these are people who have volunteered and sacrificed their lives.

But we have begun to observe certain sabotage in this matter because the captain who has done fantastically well in driving away these criminals at one point has suddenly been transferred. When he was there, the kidnapping was abated. The captain was an Igbo man from South East, he didn’t know the terrain but our people who knew the terrain led him to where these criminals were and he tackled them and drove them away. We had relative peace but when they transferred him, these people came back and are wreaking havoc among the people. I talked about sabotage and I know these saboteurs.

They are some of the judges in Gusau, some of the traditional rulers and some of the policemen. And in some of the agencies of government, there are people that we know who are very close to the governor who are also their conspirators. So, since that officer was transferred, our people became jittery and since then, there have been trouble. Transferring this man means trouble. And we have been having trouble in that area and as I’m talking to you, I made effort to get an appointment with the Brigade Commander in Sokoto.

I discussed about this matter to see what would come out of it. It is terrible. Over 36 miners at Bindim Village, in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State were killed by these bandits. There is need to beef up security in mining sites to avoid future occurrence. The 36 miners who lost their lives were all men and were labourers who mine and dealers who buy the gold from them. These were the group of people that were involved.

The cause of the attack and deaths was an extension of the insecurity in Sokoto and Zamfara States by these armed bandits. It is an extension of the insecurity challenge we have in the country. We cannot categorically state that they are Nigerians or from neighbouring countries .

We know that government is trying its best to tackle the challenge of insecurity but we want to appeal that they should double up to flush out these armed bandits who have been terrorising residents of Zamfara by kidnapping. Miners should adhere to security alerts also because there used to be such alerts and we will support government’s effort to provide security.

Just like in the North, in other parts of the country, the South East to be precise, its a different story. The farmers had low harvest this year because the herdsmen were using their cattle to destroy the farms.

That is what I am saying. Anywhere it is happening, it is criminal. I told you it is only this year that we had bumper harvest in the North. We expect government to nip this issue in the bud because of the threat to life and property and because it could send wrong signal to potential investors and we should be careful also not to dent the success recorded in the fight against insurgency. The issue of security should involve the local government authority and state government by forming a security task force to include the military, police, and vigilante.

The formalisation will help eliminate criminals and will also help the security operatives to tackle criminal activities, and could also give them intelligence report to avoid any possible and avoidable activities.

Do you think state policing would solve this menace of insecurity?

The thing for me is 190% support for the state policing. This is because, the state police are going to be the indigenes of the area, they know the terrain and the hideout of criminals. The villagers know the criminals and those who have criminal records. State policing has become inevitable. We have no option than to go for it. I’m in support of it and I think the time has come for us to face this reality. According to the constitution, we have the police but they don’t have the answer to these problems in the communities.

It is also time for the Nigeria people to select the people who have their interest at heart as their representatives, people that have the fear of God, people who are not interested in the paraphernalia of office, people who are interested in working for their people and in the development of their states.

They should jettison political carpet baggers who use the money to develop themselves, their wives and children alone. Nigerians should do away with such characters that when they become governors and elected public officers, they begin to amass money and junket all over the world. They should go for politicians who are committed to the welfare of the people and the states. If they begin to elect people on the basis of whether they have money or they don’t have money, there will be problems.

In all the 36 states of the federation, there are still honest people who have the fear of God. There are still politicians who are interested and committed to the development of the people and not the paraphernalia of office. Such people do still exist and can be found across the 36 states of Nigeria. They are there. But nobody is interested in them because they have no money to give. The Nigeria people have left such people behind. This is what we need now. Honest Nigerians who are God-fearing, not money bags.

You withdrew from politics in 2007. Outside politics, you are still fighting for your people. So, why did you quit after 8 years in the senate?

It is the duty of the people to elect the right people. The citizens have to put the right people. Some people are there for themselves. We had such people in 1999 but the system was hijacked. Things have changed. Such people are not in PDP anymore. They are not in APC either. We are going to form a new political party. PDP was in government for 16 years.

APC has been there for almost two years and we are waiting to see what it can do. But from what is happening in the national assembly and what is happening within the ruling APC and from what is happening in the PDP, we cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. So, there is only one option, jettison PDP and jettison APC and start a new party, the peoples party. What we have in the system today cannot help Nigerians. We have learnt the hard way and regret not doing right with our leaders.

We should endeavour to get it right the next time by electing the right people and this rubbish that has been happening will come to an end. In the Second Republic when the NPN held sway, it was not strong as the PDP but the party made a world of difference. Then, we had what we called the national caucus of the NPN and these used to meet from time to time when issues became critical and proffer solutions. But I’m telling you that come 2019, things will not be the same again. We will form a new party.

That means you are coming back?

In 2019, there will be a new lease of life in Nigeria politics. People who love Nigeria will come into the system. We will do away with money bags and bring God-fearing leaders and honest people into the system. I am optimistic and I’m sure Nigerians have learnt their lesson. In 2019, we are going to inject into the system, the people who can deliver, people who have experience and who will serve the people with godliness and responsibility.