2019: MY VOTE IS… (10) FOR KANO ELDERS

By Bala Muhammad | Published Date Mar 23, 2019 5:32 AM

Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa

 

In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today in Kano and five other Northern States we are faced with the very serious matter of Supplementary Elections to Conclude the ‘Inconclusive’ Elections of March 9. Whatever happens today, there will be a massive, irreversible impact of cosmic proportions on the politics of the North, the country, and 2013.

COLUMNIST – MY VOTE TODAY IS THEREFORE…FOR Kano Elders who have, without mincing words, come out clearly to warn Kano politicians and all stakeholders against any untoward action or reaction to what Kano people might decide to do today in this re-run pitting incumbent but trailing Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of the APC against front-runner Abba Kabir Yusuf of the PDP.

In a Press Conference this Monday addressed by Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, Chairman of the Kano Concerned Citizens Initiative (KCCI) known in Hausa as ‘Hadakar Ma Su Kishin Kano’, the Kano Elders said, among other things:

“No society can thrive in chaos and discord. Kano has, for centuries, been known to be the home of peace, the home of civilised political awareness and a pace setter in all spheres of human endeavour. We must show the same resilience and sophistication again this time around. Every right-thinking person and lover of Kano must never allow chaos, disorder and discord to derail the peace and tranquillity our polity has enjoyed since time immemorial.

“We have taken keen interest in the latest political activities and interacted with the leaderships of the major parties in Kano. We exchanged ideas and compared notes on the strategic areas requiring greater focus and attention for our common good. KCCI notes and commends the enthusiasm, patience and resilience exhibited by Kanawa during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections which came and passed peacefully. The exercise went a long way in proving our political sagacity.

“We are however anxious, concerned, disturbed and troubled by the seeming discord and agitated impatience manifesting in Kano since the collation of the March 9th Governorship and State Assembly Election results, as well the declaration by INEC that the outcome of the Governorship polls was ‘INCONCLUSIVE’.

“It is noteworthy that the electoral umpire has made similar declarations in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Sokoto and Plateau. We are thus not singled out as the only state which received the short end of the stick in the March 9th Elections. KCCI, however, hastens to add that INEC must do everything in its power to rectify as well as attend to all the perceived challenges which characterised the two sets of elections. All electoral officials must be told, in no uncertain terms, to live above board, and that anyone found wanting must receive the maximum sanction provided for by the Electoral Act and the Constitution. The onus is on INEC to deliver a fool proof election.

“KCCI pleads that results of election outcomes must be publicly announced without any delay. Any act of commission or omission would be squarely placed on INEC’s shoulders as its officials must be aware that such acts may be the difference between peace and violence in our state. No violence will be tolerated by Kano.

“In this vein, it is necessary to plead with all security agencies to remain alert from now until the formal declaration of the results and after. Sufficient personnel must be detailed and posted to each of the 234 polling units scattered over the 88 Registration Areas (Wards) in the 30 affected Local Governments of the state to make up for the 141,694 votes cancelled by INEC.

“Again, security agencies must be seen to be upright and above board and completely nonpartisan. They have done well during previous elections but the re-run exercise may yet prove to be more arduous and daunting. We expect them to once more emerge with flying colours. It also becomes imperative to take such security measures as would prevent people from neighbouring states, who are non-residents of Kano, from coming in to partake in the March 23rd re-run elections to forestall unnecessary tension.

“KCCI calls on the political leaders to desist from unguarded utterances capable of inflaming passions which could trigger violence. It is incumbent upon them to strictly abide by the rules of engagement and the law. They should admonish their members, operatives and followers to be mindful of the full wrath of the law this time around. Open monetary and other unlawful inducements must never be condoned during these re-run elections. Kano and Kanawa shall never allow our state to burn on the account of some politician’s vaulting ambition.

“Our youths need to wake up to the reality that it is their future which KCCI and every well-meaning person in Kano is trying to nurture and secure. They should thus eschew and stay away from violence in cahoots with anybody. Parents and Community Leaders, therefore, have a heavy moral responsibility to caution their wards to shun any negative tendencies before, during and after the re-run electoral exercise. Each and every Bakano, as well as our teaming guests, must behave well in the weeks ahead and after. We cannot afford to let the polity overheat. Peace is the only recipe to healthy and positive development.

“The Media, being the Fourth Estate of the Realm, has got a very pivotal role to play in all that is before us now and in the future. Fake News, Hate Speech and political free-for-all on the airwaves and pages of the newspapers must be curtailed. It is the responsibility of the media and journalists to do all in their power to blunt unguarded utterances in the name of campaigns or promotion of candidates. Media organs must do all they can to promote political correctness. Any deviation from these ideals would be closely monitored and those found to be spreading rumour or hate speech capable of inciting violence would be held squarely responsible and dealt with appropriately.

“In effect, every segment of Kano Society must do all in its power to avoid heating the polity. This is the time for all of us to turn to Allah, exalted be His Name, in prayers that peace and harmony become our lot now and always. We must realise that political chaos will lead to violence, thuggery, looting, mayhem and, perhaps, unnecessary loss of life and property. That is why the contending parties must accept the outcome of any endeavour, including elections, as a divine ordination from Allah, the Almighty.

“Allah it is Who bestows power or leadership on whomsoever He wills, and wrests away power from whomsoever He wills. We all know this as true Muslims, and the penchant of wanting to be or to lead should never sway us from the Righteous Path.”

AND OVER IN BAUCHI, WHICH IS IN THE SAME APC-PDP CONUNDRUM:

MUHAMMAD AZARE (email suppressed on request): Elections may have come and gone, but for us here in Bauchi we are on the precipice of ‘Inconclusiveness’. This is a state where President Buhari got massive votes just a couple of weeks ago; yet see how the electorate has massively de-selected his party on March 9. It is now obvious that Northern Political Consciousness has come into full maturity. These governors would have wished their elections took place same day with the Presidential. Alas! They cheated at the Primaries; now the Secondaries are cheating them back. Congratulations to the next governor of Bauchi State!

COLUMNIST – Finally, may Allah help us (Kano, Bauchi, Adamawa, Sokoto, Plateau and Benue) choose the lesser evil among the gladiators of the APC and the PDP.

Amin. Amin. Amin.

2019: MY VOTE IS… (9)

By Bala Muhammad | Published Date Mar 15, 2019 22:59 PM

 

In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/ and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today we discuss WHAT IF…as we head towards Second Round Governorship Elections next week in the ‘Inconclusive States’. Readers should note this series will, in sha Allah, continue beyond these elections and they could still continue sending in their 100-word contributions on the political future of this country.

COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…For A Five-Year Single Term: What wouldn’t the following Governors not give today for a five-year (or even six-year) single term for all executive positions – Lagos’ Ambode; Kano’s Ganduje; Bauchi’s MA Abubakar; Adamawa’s Jibrila Bindow, Sokoto’s Tambuwal, Plateau’s Lalong and Benue’s Ortom. If there were a single five-year term for the president and the governors, the current serious embarrassment facing these governors wouldn’t have arisen.

‘Second Term’ is the most dangerous period of Nigeria’s political life. It is a do-or-die-affair. This Column has been shouting itself hoarse over the years that our constitution be amended to only allow executives to spend only one term and leave the space for peace and tranquillity to prevail. Whatever number of people murdered in this election cycle, at least 90% died because someone wants to go for a second term – the rest for supporting or opposing an anointed of a ‘retiring’ governor.

One of the states going into the make-up elections of Saturday March 23 is Kano. Here, we are faced with a very dangerous situation, and we are between the proverbial rock and hard place, or between the devil and the deep blue sea or, in fact, between two terrible horrible choices. The stakes are very high. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was winning the earlier election when the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, was thrown a lifeline by INEC’s operational rule of “where the cancelled votes are more than the difference between the winner and the runner-up, there shall be a re-run…”

It will be much easier for the PDP to win this as, in order to win, the ruling APC has to overcome a deficit of more than 25,000 votes and win a further majority from the over 100,000 cancelled votes now up for grabs. We all believe that with Allah nothing is impossible. And in the murky and murderous Nigerian political waters, almost anything is possible also. Therefore, Kano citizens will go into enforced purdah next week because the thugs of Devil 1 will try to outkill the thugs of Devil 2 – Allah Ya kiyaye!

Current Kano Central Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement embedded within the PDP, is a factor in the opposition party’s good showing. Not its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. Not even its gubernatorial candidate Abba Kabir Yusuf, Kwankwaso’s anointed candidate, former commissioner and, many say, son-in-law. Though the more than one million votes of the PDP are written in Abba’s name, it is actually Kwankwaso’s votes by hook, crook and wuju-wuju.

Many argue that the fact of the matter of this Kano election is that it was more a vote AGAINST incumbent Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and not necessarily FOR Kwankwaso or Abba, who was an X (unknown quantity) only a few weeks ago. Whatever it may be, we are in that quandary. Second term has landed us in the deep blue sea. Allah Ya fito da mu!

How does one define this Kwankwaso? First, he has what many politicians lack – CONFIDENCE. During the presidential and national assembly elections, PDP didn’t win a single seat out of 28; Buhari roundly defeated Atiku and APC took all three Senators and 24 House of Representatives seats. Any simple politician would have seen the no-win writing on the wall, but not Madugu (Leader of the Caravan), as Kwankwaso is respectfully addressed by his followers. He just accelerated.

Second thing going for their Madugu is FOCUS. It seemed he did not care about any other position but the governorship. He focused on it. He snapped his teeth tightly, held firmly, and didn’t lose focus. And thirdly, Kwankwaso has TENACITY. As governor from 1999, Kwankwaso was himself roundly defeated back in 2003 after only one term by then newcomer Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, public servant and school teacher-turned politician and now Kano Central Senator-elect. This tenacity shook Kano in 2007; and he returned in 2011 to clinch the election by a hair’s breadth against Shekarau’s anointed, Salihu Sagir Takai (who contested this year’s election on the platform of the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, coming third).

Sadly, it is not all positive for the Madugu. His legendary ARROGANCE leading to POOR RETENTION OF FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES may be his undoing, as happened this year. As a matter of fact, the Ganduje Government is a Kwankwasiyya Government, and it only became a faction when the Madugu wanted to have undue influence in an administration he always proclaims to have brought into being.

Like many politicians, Kwankwaso is not a good manager of men (unlike, say, Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu). Because of Madugu’s legendary arrogance, coarseness and harshness, almost all the leading lights of the Kwankwasiyya Movement abandoned him, beginning with Ganduje. And then, most significantly, Kwankwaso is accused of dabbling into the esoteric sciences, citing his insistence on that red cap.

YUSUFU MUSA, ABU ZARIA (yusufmusagicci@gmail.com): STILL ON KANO POLITICS – Any presidential candidate that loses Kano may not actualise his dream. Kano is the second in INEC voter register, the first being Lagos. But register is not the most important factor – turnout is. In that, Kano has always come first. It is instructive to note that Kano gives a politician almost equal votes with the five Ibo-speaking South Eastern States combined. Buhari may not have won 2015 had he not got those two million Kano votes. The number of votes Buhari garnered in the concluded elections is more than a half of what he polled in Tinubu’s South West Zone.

Ganduje promised five million votes for Buhari (but forgot to allocate a figure for himself, smug in the belief that the Buhari SAK factor would continue to play). Though Buhari didn’t get five million, the Kano votes he got left the opposition hopeless. Buhari’s victory in the state instilled confidence in Ganduje and his allies of winning in gubernatorial and state assembly elections. Sadly, Ganduje underestimated the impact of those video clips which allegedly showed him pocketing dollars ‘with a smile’. ‘Didn’t he have someone to collect for him’, our Anti-Corruption Leader Who Art In The Villa mused the other day.

Fear has taken over the APC. Not for Ganduje per se, but for the future of Kano votes in 2023 when Buhari is no longer contesting. The party’s stakeholders are holding endless meetings to ensure the survival of Ganduje next Saturday. If, as expected, APC zones the presidential ticket to the South West, Tinubu or whoever would really need Kano’s votes. The question remains, will the APC survive up to 16 years like the PDP?

The outcome of Saturday’s rerun in Kano will be key.

COLUMNIST – THE SONG OF “AYYE GWAGGO!”: Kano is unique in its everything. One of the reasons many feel Ganduje lost was the alleged involvement of his wife, a PhD like him, in the affairs of government. Popularly known as Gwaggo (meaning ‘Aunty’), she is now the subject of a new, spontaneous and popularly-created song titled ‘Ayye Gwaggo…’ Based on a popular Hausa girls’ song of “Ayye Mama! Ayye Mama! Mamaye Iye!…” the new one is “Ayye Gwaggo! Ayye Gwaggo! Gwaggoye Iye! Ayye Gwaggo ta tafi ke nan…Gwaggoye Iye…”

If you don’t speak Hausa, ask someone who does!

And may Allah help us choose the lesser evil among these gladiators. Amin. Amin. Amin.

2019: MY VOTE IS… (8)

2019: MY VOTE IS… (8)

By Bala Muhammad | Published Date Mar 8, 2019 22:09 PM

In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/ and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), we today head to the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections. For reminders, past issues in this series have discussed Corruption, Almajiri, Drugs, Kidnapping, General Insecurity, etc. Readers should note the series will, in sha Allah, continue beyond the elections and so they could continue sending in their 100-word contributions on the future of this country in the hands of these politicians.

It seems today’s set of elections may be as ‘interesting’ as the Presidential polls two weeks ago. But ‘interesting’ in the Chinese interpretation tilts towards the ‘unfortunate’ as, in many of our states, Nigeria’s twin curses of religious and ethnic hatreds have since reared their proverbial ugly heads. In some states, as the elections two weeks ago have shown, it is down in the gutters for Muslim versus Christian agitations. Nowhere is this sad phenomenon amplified than Kaduna and Taraba States.

And while the Muslim-Christian divide may be unfortunate, it’s doubly unfortunate to hear of the vertical, or is it horizontal, divide in Plateau State – this time between two Christian denominations – the Catholic Church and the COCIN Church. Before this election, many young people may not have known any difference between these two. Alas! And then only in Nigeria will we sink so primordially low as to transform a Muslim presidential candidate into a ‘temporary’ Christian – to be celebrated with fire on the mountains. Only in Nigeria.

Many intellectuals and decent people just want these elections to finish so life can return to its normal mundane self, full of its drudgery and fears. For example, the people of Zamfara, Borno and Yobe have more worries than Governorship elections. Only in Nigeria.

COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…For today’s elections here in Kano, it’s the proverbial Three-Horse Race – the ruling APC, the leading opposition party PDP and the Dark Horse, PRP, or Peoples’ Redemption Party. APC is fielding incumbent Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; PDP has Abba Kabir Yusuf; while the PRP has Salihu Sagir Takai.

Let us proceed to analyse the pros and the cons of these three:

APC GANDUJE: If there is one thing going against this incumbent, it is the trending vexing and weighty palaver of the allegation of Dollar Bribe. The clandestinely-recorded videos purporting to show Ganduje receiving gratification has done a lot of damage to his reputation and, by extension, even that of the President who has not been forthcoming on the matter. A couple of days ago, another video emerged where voices could be heard allegedly ‘allocating’ monies and market shops to principal officers of the State House of Assembly. The investigation on this matter has since stalled in the courts and the House of Assembly. But if there is any silver lining going for Ganduje, it is the support he has garnered from the likes of Senator-Elect Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who only a few months ago crossed over from the PDP, to be followed later by dozens of powerful PDP stalwarts smoked out by Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso in his usual ‘winner-takes-all-and-more’ attitude.

PDP ABBA: Almost everything is going wrong for this candidate – First, the to-ing and fro-ing in the courts of law whether or not he is legitimate; Federal High Court Kano says he isn’t, Court of Appeal Kaduna says he is. Second albatross around Abba’s neck is definitely his godfather, mentor, lord and master Senator Kwankwaso. The talk in town is that if Abba were ever to become a Governor, he would only be a figurehead holding the proverbial cow’s horn while his leader Kwankwaso would have monopoly access to the udders for free milking, in the manner of Saraki and Kwara before O To Ge (It Is Enough). On the positive side is Abba’s association, as one-time Commissioner of Works, with Kano’s Red-Cap Flyovers constructed by his father-in-law.

PRP TAKAI: This is the real dark horse. Sometimes the horse nobody bets on usually cruises home as winner. Takai does not seem to have any negative sides, as far as the campaigns were concerned. Only that he has no money, no godfather (Shekarau was his former leader but they are in different parties today). And he has no baggage like the other two candidates. Throughout his public service career, Takai has been justifiably judged to be quite above board. The only snag in his campaign has been the fact that while the other two candidates have perhaps billions at their disposal for the exercise, the PRP, as a historically pro-poor party, has been very poor. But then Kano electorate has been known to spring surprises.

May Allah help us choose the best for us; not only in Kano but throughout Nigeria.

ENGR. RABI’U DODO (rabiueldodo@gmail.com): Your Saturday column is always exiting and sometimes serves as a “policy advisory page” just like the writeup of Barrister Audu Bulama Bukarti on his five-point advice to President Muhammadu Buhari on fighting Boko Haram. But who will bring these pieces to the notice of Mr. President? I wonder if the President even has time to read these submissions in the newspapers.

MOHAMMED M. M. GOMBE (pantami2001@yahoo.co.uk): Praise be to Allah who made it possible for us to sail smoothly through the presidential election, but it’s not over until it’s over. In other words, we must go out today to vote governors that will make a difference. Simply because state authority has the primary responsibility of making the dividends of democracy available to us at the grassroots. If we want timely payment of workers’ salaries, good healthcare, sound primary and secondary education, better local infrastructures etc., we must vote upright candidates for gubernatorial and state assembly elections. And the last outing has proved that it’s possible to make the right choice regardless of intimidation and the brainwashing tactics of the naysayers.

MUHAMMAD, AZARE (email suppressed on request): Permit me to contribute to this page now that politicians are busy engaging our innocent youths in violence. I will like to use this medium to say that my vote this week will be given to that political party that ab initio conducted free and fair primaries. In my state, the health and educational sectors are in a serious state of devastation. Most people can’t afford hospital bills considering the low standard of living; our schools are too few in number to accommodate our children, and there is no quality. Therefore, my vote goes to he who will revive these two sectors.

COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…Finally again, may Allah help us choose the best for us; not only in Kano but throughout Nigeria.

2019: MY VOTE IS… (7)

By Bala Muhammad | Published Date Mar 2, 2019 0:31 AM

In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/ and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today is a week since President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) was re-elected for a second term; and a week from the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections next Saturday.

Today, we remind PMB of perhaps the most intractable challenge (apart from corruption) he faced in his first term – Boko Haram. In a letter titled “Five Steps to Eradicating Boko Haram: A Letter to Nigeria’s President-Elect”, regular contributor to this page Barrister Audu Bulama Bukarti (bulamabukarti@gmail.com), analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London and a PhD candidate at SOAS, University of London proffers some advice:

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

May I begin by congratulating you on your victory in Nigeria’s recent presidential election, a historic fifth consecutive poll in our country’s history. As you indicated in your victory speech, it is now time for Nigerians to put divisive politics aside and work together to confront the challenges facing our country. In line with this, I, not only as a Nigerian keen to contribute to my nation’s development but also as someone who has studied Boko Haram extensively for a decade, would like to offer some suggestions on how to comprehensively defeat this plague that has wreaked havoc on us for over a decade.

When you came into office in 2015, you had campaigned on three key promises: to fight corruption, unemployment and Boko Haram – three malevolent bedfellows that have sunk Nigeria into a deep quagmire and which cannot be addressed in isolation. Four years ago, you took major steps, including equipping the Nigerian military and strengthening an existing but inactive regional military coalition against Boko Haram with Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger-the multinational joint task force (MNJTF). As a result, the group was dislodged. As early as December 2015, you said Boko Haram had been “technically defeated https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35173618”, while in your 2018 New Year’s message, you declared that the group had been beaten https://punchng.com/full-text-muhammadu-buharis-2018-new-year-address/.

However, the recent surge in the group’s attacks against military formations shows that Boko Haram might have been dislodged but is certainly not defeated. The ISIS-allied faction of the group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has claimed responsibility for several attacks https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/how-boko-haram-trying-disrupt-nigerias-2019-election since the 2019 election campaign began. The most dramatic https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/boko-haram-seizes-6-borno-towns.html of these was in December 2018, when the group overran the MNJTF headquarters, a naval fighting base and a Marine Police base to take over seven towns in Borno State.

The most recent assault came on the day originally slated for the presidential election, 16 February 2019, when ISWAP launched three coordinated https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/nnorth-east/313398-elections-boko-haram-launches-separate-attacks-in-borno-yobe.html attacks in different locations, killing 13 people, including six soldiers. A day earlier, the ISIS affiliate killed eight civilians when it overran a military base, stealing an armoured vehicle and torching buildings in an assault in which “several soldiers” went “missing” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/killed-boko-haram-attack-nigeria-190216120448266.html. This surge has forced https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/boko-haram-conflict-tops-agenda-nigeria-election-190212134403939.html tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, exacerbating an already tough humanitarian situation.

Thus, Boko Haram clearly remains a threat you must contend with. The group, which was pushed to the fringes in the first half of your administration, is again on the offensive. Here are five steps that I suggest should be taken to end the decade-old threat posed by Boko Haram.

REVIVE THE REGIONAL COALITION: First, Abuja must work thoroughly to revamp its alliance with Cotonou, N’Djamena, Niamey and Yaoundé. This coalition had worked effectively until it was weakened by Chad’s withdrawal https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/chad-withdraws-troops-fighting-boko-haram.html in October 2017 of hundreds of its troops from Niger after the United States imposed a travel ban on Chadian nationals. Here, Nigeria has a huge opportunity to show leadership on the African continent which is struggling with extremist violence, and identity conflicts from all angles. Reviving the MNJTF is essential to ensure continued hard-hitting military pressure from all angles.

FIGHT A FALSE IDEOLOGY: But rejuvenating the regional coalition against Boko Haram, as important as it is, can only contain the group’s violence as Boko Haram needs more than a military response. To comprehensively defeat Boko Haram, your administration needs to improve its holistic approach to this scourge. It is crucial to address the root causes of this phenomenon, foremost of which is the poisonous binary ideology that treats ‘others’ as enemies worthy of death. Your government should pursue the idea muted by the Minister of Interior of embarking on mass religious education to reduce the group’s appeal. More than mere religious literacy, this scheme should aim to instill religious intelligence in its targets. It should teach the basics of Islamic law and jurisprudence such as the protection of life, religion, property and intellect. It should encourage respect for differing views in the house of Islam as preparation for diversity in a pluralist society like Nigeria’s. The biography of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) which models harmonious co-existence between early Muslims and their Jewish and Christian counterparts, should also form part of the curriculum. In this endeavour, Abuja can benefit from the experiences of such partners as the Development Initiative of West Africa and my employers the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change which have been training and supporting Imams https://institute.global/co-existence/supporting-leaders on these aspects for the past five years.

BOOST SUPPORT TO THE ARMED FORCES: Furthermore, your administration must work to help the troops fighting Boko Haram, not only by providing equipment to address reported complaints of “inadequate ammunition https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/how-boko-haram-trying-disrupt-nigerias-2019-election”, but also by addressing fatigue https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/how-boko-haram-trying-disrupt-nigerias-2019-election and low morale among the troops. At the start of your administration, you paid unscheduled visits to the front line. More such appearances, as well as gestures like presidential delegations or calls to greet wounded soldiers and more humane treatment of the families of fallen ones would boost soldiers’ morale. Rotating soldiers regularly is also essential to avoid physical and mental exhaustion.

REHABILITATE AND REINTEGRATE: Fourth, your incoming administration must rehabilitate and reintegrate Boko Haram’s victims as well as people associated with the group who have turned themselves in following your offer of amnesty from Abuja. A convenient starting point is to rebuild communities razed by Boko Haram and livelihoods shattered by the group. More than reconstructing destroyed buildings, authorities must focus on psycho-social support and economic empowerment for victims. This will begin to prepare communities to accept deradicalised former fighters back into society.

PROVIDE BASIC SERVICES: Finally, on the back of this rehabilitation, your government should target the grievances and socio-economic circumstances that allow Boko Haram to appeal to recruits. You should confront and combat poverty, unemployment and the impacts of environmental degradation. Improving the provision of such basic services as drinking water, power and healthcare, combined with religious intelligence, would help build community resilience. Quality education that promotes open-mindedness and defeats stereotypes and barriers should be a top priority not only in North Eastern Nigeria but in the whole country. This way, divisive ideologies like Boko Haram’s will have no chance of flourishing. Alongside fighting extremist ideologies behind the violence that harms prospects for co-existence, the Tony Blair Institute works with governments and leaders of fragile, developing and emerging states to support them to deliver on their priorities. This is an integral part of dealing with the enormous challenges a group like Boko Haram poses. Understandably, creating jobs for Nigeria’s many unemployed youths by stimulating agriculture, reviving local industries and attracting foreign investment was a priority in your 2019 manifesto https://apc.com.ng/manifesto/. But just as no farmer would enter the bush knowing they are likely to meet Boko Haram fighters, so no would-be investor would pour money into a conflict-ridden environment. Thus, the key to Nigeria’s development lies in eradicating Boko Haram.

I wish you the very best of luck. Yours sincerely, Audu Bulama Bukarti.