Cover
Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor . Bolaji Akinyemi who was a member of Bokom Haram committee set-up by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, believes that there are external forces worsening the country’s current violent socio-political upheavals. In this interview with Bayo Akinloye, Akinyemi also explains why politicians and the public should learn lessons from Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu’s comment on the possibility of the military truncating the nation’s nascent democracy
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described the abduction of the Dapchi schoolgirls as carelessness on the part of the Federal Government. Do you subscribe to his assessment?
It’s always difficult to comment on matters dealing with security because there are always details that are only available to security operatives in the country and the President as the commander-in-chief. So in a way, one can only use common sense. And, when you feel that an issue that can be addressed by common sense wasn’t addressed then you wonder. We’ve focused so much on the Chibok girls to seem to have ignored the fact that more people have been kidnapped in that same corridor than the Chibok girls. So this kidnapping has been going on; it never stopped. Again, you’d have expected that the security forces would have designed a strategy to provide protection wherever there’s a gathering of – especially young – people like in schools; boarding schools.
What I’d have thought, even if it means massive recruitment –we’re fighting a war against insurgents. We know the massive recruitment that took place during the civil war in the late 1960s. By now we could have trained new soldiers and equipped them and have a corridor of security. It doesn’t mean that every school will be protected by stationary security agents. But the government could provide a corridor –after all, these people passed through a path to invade the school and abduct the pupils and also escaped through a path.
Therefore, I’d have expected a corridor that stretches across Adamawa, Borno and Yobe; those are the core areas that these massive kidnappings have been taking place. And, you want to tell me after how many years the military is incapable of designing a plan. Well, maybe they know something that I don’t know. If they know better than us then they haven’t used that knowledge as these things are still taking place. How many years since Chibok? So (sighs…) I’m worried. I am worried because it confirms my suspicion.
What is that suspicion?
My suspicion that there’re forces – very strong forces, external, and when I said external, I meant (forces) external to Nigeria – that the Nigerian government is incapable of controlling those who’re actually masterminding these operations. That’s what I’m worried about.
By these external forces are you referring to ISIS, Boko Haram, or foreign governments?
ISIS is one of such forces. Number two, I think that we didn’t pay enough attention – of course, I mean when the people you put in charge of institution are actually not deep in the issue they confront, you’re going to have things like this. I served on the Boko Haram committee that was set up by the Goodluck Jonathan administration and we came across facts that I found frightening. Fortunately, – this is a strange thing to say – the committee itself wasn’t unanimous on its interpretation of the realities that we came across. You would recall that during the Jonathan administration a ship laden with weapons was captured in Apapa and it turned out that an Iranian diplomat and other Iranian personnel were involved in this. It was of sufficient concerns to the Iranian government that they sent to Nigeria their foreign minister as the head of a delegation and they smuggled out of the country the diplomat who was involved in the arms issue. The other personnel were charged to court and sentenced to jail for their role in it –and then quietly released and exp elled from the country. Where were those weapons going to? Of course, I know where those weapons were going to and so did the government. Why didn’t they tell Nigerians where those weapons were going to? Because it will then let you know that Nigeria actually has become a theatre of confrontation among forces that aren’t Nigerian.
What exactly do you mean by that?
Look at Syria; who are the forces involved in Syria? Iran versus Saudi Arabia; Turkey, ISIS, and of course, the United States and Russia – and don’t let us forget, Israel. Poor Syria! But what’s happening in Syria if caution isn’t taken can be replicated in Nigeria. Let me give you another example: again, under Jonathan if you could recall some weapons were found in a bunker in Kano. The DSS said they discovered those weapons. I got to know that it was the Israelis who tipped off the DSS as to the existence of those weapons. People were charged to court; what happened? I don’t know what happened to the people that were charged to court. But under the existing regulations if weapons were found in a building it is supposed to be demolished. And, I know that the DSS applied to Jonathan for permission to demolish that building. Permission wasn’t granted.
Definitely then, you know that Iran is involved in Nigerian spectacle. The Israelis are involved in Nigerian spectacle. The Palestinians are involved in Nigerian spectacle; and the Saudis. There has been penetration of our security forces –our security agencies –by some of these elements. So, we’re dealing with forces that are larger than Nigeria. The forces involved in the Nigerian debacle are by far stronger than the Nigerian government. Even if you changed your president, his successor would have a major battle on his hand if he decided to confront these elements.
But don’t you think that there basic things that the government and its security agencies aren’t doing to help the situation. Take for instance, the Nigerian Army withdrawing its troop in Yobe prior to the abduction of the Dapchi girls. It claimed it handed over security of that area to the Nigeria Police Force but the police refuted that. Does that not bother you? Or, think about the case of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who was meant to spearhead the security in Benue but was said to be missing in action, cutting birthday cake in another state.
Is the Inspector General of Police a free agent? Let me divert your question. On CNN, so that they don’t think that I have secret information –l’m giving you my sources. On CNN, about three weeks ago, there was a news item interviewing some of the soldiers involved –these soldiers were supposed to have been five miles from the headquarters of Boko Haram and they were stopped. They got orders from above to stop their operation; their movement and they stopped, obeying the last order and then they were attacked massively. CNN carried the story; showed the pictures. The army denied that any such order was given. Of course, they would deny, wouldn’t they? But the soldiers who were on the frontline –of course, anonymously you would expect –said they did get an order to stop advancing making their position available for counterattack by Boko Haram. Tell me what’s going on. So, when I say that the penetration of our security agencies by instrumentalities outside the control of the Nigerian government itself is a question of one plus one equals two. You tell me why were the troops ordered to stop? Who exposed the troops to such massive attack by Boko Haram?
From what you said, it will appear President Muhammadu Buhari isn’t in control of what’s happening in the country?
I don’t want to put it that way. Because when you put it that way the insinuation that if you changed the government another government would be in control. Remember Jonathan was there – he was in charge but was he in control? In fact, he said that Boko Haram had infiltrated his government. So, any government that you put there, there will have to be ‘operation root out’ of subversive external forces. We’re not noted in this country for uprooting a misnomer; we only deal with the surface.
Many have said that since the advent of democracy in 1999, Nigeria is experiencing the worst state of insecurity under Buhari’s administration. What’s your assessment?
Yes, I’ll agree with it and it is because there are forces at large internationally and those forces are looking for sanctuaries all over the world. Nigeria has been identified as one of such sanctuaries that they can operate in. Also, there’s competition for dominance in Nigeria by these forces. In Afghanistan, ISIS and the Taliban are fighting for control; don’t you ever imagine that Boko Haram is a unified entity or that the people who carried out the Dapchi abduction are the same people who are operating in Maiduguri as Boko Haram. Don’t make that assumption.
What’s the implication of this situation ahead of the 2019 polls?
I haven’t seen anything to make me have faith or hope in 2019. I look at SDP and I noticed the movement of personnel from PDP to SDP. Also, there’s movement of personnel from APC SDP. Are these new people? Or, we’re just engaged in a rocking chair syndrome and we think we’re making progress. Are we? There’s a philosopher whose definition of madness is doing the same things and expecting different results. Same personnel: they move from PDP to APC and they’re moving now to SDP when they’ve lost out in the game – not ideologically; they’ve lost out in who controls what and you think SDP will be the instrument of change?
The Buhari administration has been adjudged as one of the worst transparent nations in the world. What do you think?
Apart from reading the Transparency International report –that’s the only thing I’m relying upon. The report is very damning. Again, I’m not defending President Buhari’s administration but the forces responsible for the failure of corruption battle are many. The judiciary is there; I mean you can’t blame Buhari for not arresting people. The EFCC arrests people. They put them on trial and then it’s out of their hands. How has the judiciary performed?
But the President has been accused of failing to take definitive actions in the cases involving Abdulrasheed  Maina and the former SGF, Babachir Lawal, for instance. He’s been accused of permissiveness of the infractions committed by people close to him.
You have a point there. I don’t absolve the President – the cases you referred to are beyond understanding. There is no explanation for them except to say that they’re beyond comprehension. So, obviously he takes part of the blame.
Do you think Mr. President has lived up to his billing in dealing with corruption and insecurity?
I’m not going to answer your question because once this interview is over; it’s out of my hands. I’m old enough now to know how the press operates and I could see headlines that will just focus on the President and my reaction or my words about the president. So, I won’t answer that question. Fortunately, the answer is obvious: several people have given comments on that. I’ll prefer to concentrate on the structural deficiencies on the security level. Pastor (Tunde) Bakare had spoken on the wedding issue (Buhari attending a wedding as against commiserating with the bereaved whose loved ones were killed by herdsmen) and I agreed with him.
But what do you think of the herdsmen killings?
I’m surprised that this question is coming up. Will someone like me ever approve of that? I mean, of course, I condemn it. The government must do everything necessary to stop it.
What do you have to say about the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali’s statement that ‘since the nation’s independence, we know there used to be a route whereby the cattle rearers take because they are all over the nation. If you go to Bayelsa or Ogun, you will see them. If those routes are blocked, what do you expect will happen?
Look, don’t stress me to respond to comments like that, that should never have been made by somebody at that level.
You talked about a committee on Boko Haram set up by former President Jonathan. As a member of that committee, can you tell if there was a report, what were the recommendations and were they implemented?
The report was submitted to Jonathan. And it was not implemented in totality. It was not implemented the way we proposed as regards setting up a special fund for the resuscitation of the North-East. What we had suggested was that, yes, there should be a special fund for the resuscitation of the North-East but it should be part of a master plan for the economic resuscitation of the whole country. Our own projection for the master plan for the whole country was not implemented. A special development or special rehabilitation of the North-East was the one that picked. I can’t go into discussing the recommendations for certain reasons that border on confidentiality and my inability to remember the details of the report.
What do you think about the media? Is the press doing enough in this entire crisis?
The Nigerian press reflects the priorities of its owner. I tend to read about eight newspapers daily and I can tell from the contents where the media platform is coming from. I think we’ll be deceiving ourselves to think that the media can be objective; absolutely not.
Are you saying that the media is not providing enough context to the ongoing crisis in Nigeria?
I’m not saying that. It’s not unique – the particularity of contents to a newspaper is not unique to Nigeria. I mean, if I go to Britain and I get The Guardian and thinks it represents everything about the UK, I’ll be totally mistaken. The Telegraph will also give some different perspectives. I will have to read a couple of these newspapers and others to form a logical opinion on certain matters. You cannot expect the Nigerian journalists to live above the press in Nigeria. I don’t expect the Nigerian journalists to be like the journalists of the New York Times or the Washington Post. If you take the Nigerian journalist to the US where he enjoys all the necessities of life; water running regularly and there 24/7 power supply, he’ll rise up to the level of the American journalist. Bring the American journalist to Nigeria; after six months, I think he’ll be at the level of a Nigerian journalist. So, environmental factors influence people’s behavioural tendencies.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on the floor of the senate expressed the fear that there’s a possibility of the military staging a coup given the current socio-political upheavals in Nigeria. Does that bother you too?
I’m glad he said it, not me. I ask myself, ‘Do we ever learn? Do we ever learn from history?’ Well, not only in this country but in the world: I was listening to a discussion on the TV about the swing to populist right-wing parties in Europe and there was one man who said, ‘I don’t understand; we’ve been here before’. It’s the right-wing populist party that brought Hitler, Mussolini, Salazar, and Franco. He said only about 60 years ago –in his lifetime and people are now cheering and thinking that’s the way to go. We don’t learn from history; not only politicians but even the public. That was really what Ekweremadu was saying: that the politicians –if the antelope decides to be so proud that it just marches with majesty and pomp and pride, it must remember that there are hungry lions around; that the field isn’t cleared. That’s all Ekweremadu was saying. Let those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
