•Sule Lamido
Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, came under attack from a socio-cultural group – Arewa New Frontiers (ANF) for criticising the initiative of some northern governors in seeking foreign help to solve the insecurity challenges facing the region.
The group told Lamido to leave the governors alone in their bid to find solutions to the insecurity ravaging the region and face his case with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), reports The Nation.
Lamido had recently criticised ten governors from Northwest and North Central zones for seeking technical assistance on how to tackle the high rate of insecurity in their regions from United States of America during a two-day symposium organized by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
The former minister of foreign affairs frowned at the governor’s efforts dismissing the visit and meeting with the American agency as misplaced priority.
But in a reaction at a press conference in Abuja today, the national coordinator of ANF, Abubakar Lawal said instead of condemnation, the governors deserved commendation of all well meaning Nigerians, arguing that no society can claim monopoly of solution insecurity which has global dimension.
Admitting that the former governor has right to his opinion, the group noted that Lamido’s outburst of condemning the move by the governors to salvage the high rate of insecurity that has taken over their states over the years before their elective positions as governors was not only uncalled for, wasteful and baseless.
Lawal said: “We want to believe the former governor was attacking the Jigawa state governor, being his governor, but not the 9 other governors because for us he has misfired. Lamido for the avoidance of doubt should face his travails with the EFCC and allow these new set of digital governors find solutions to their problems.
“It is even annoying that a person who has held the foreign affairs portfolio under Obasanjo would be denigrating an international fora meant to find solutions to our problems. It is a shame that he has lost touch with realities. How did he know NIPSS and ASCON were not contacted to find solutions to this challenges. He won’t know, because he is an analogue politician.
“Lamido as far as we are concerned is a failure and we won’t hesitate to call on the EFCC to dust his case file.
“It is a fact that the northern states especially the northwest have of recent been most hit by the dare devil activities of bandits and terrorists and the need to go as far as China or across the red sea to find solution to this blight should be a welcome idea instead of condemnation as no one holds the monopoly to knowledge.”
Expressing optimism on the efforts by the governors, the group maintained that “Nobody can deny the fact that the United States has some of the best security measures across the world and has a long history of helping other nations tackle insecurity effectively with contribution in both intellectual strategies, and weapons acquisition. And as the Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda one of the governors who was part of the visit rightly said ‘sharing experiences and ideas on a global scale was crucial in today’s interconnected world.’
“Nobody is an island. This visit we believe would help build the capacity and understanding of these governors on what to do and how to effectively tackle this insecurity menace in a more modernized form with new ideas and modern weapons and security strategies that would be alien to the enemies.
“The world is a global village and just as Sule Lamido suggested that the governors should have engaged on their visit on how to boost Agriculture, health. Who told him the governors went there for security issues only? He will never know because his mindset was just to be relevant for some days.”
