By Abubakar Rufai
Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Retd), the former Military Governor of Kaduna State, recently attempted to relaunch himself into political consciousness by an unwarranted attack on the Sokoto State government and the other Northern State in a BBC interview. Listening to him savage democratically elected leaders make a caricature of his purported democratic credentials especially when he deliberately ignored the rational demand on him to be balanced in his views. It is sad that he sauntered into the Hamdiyya Sidi matter in Sokoto stat without educating himself with the facts. This is why he openly displayed an appalling lack of knowledge about the matter.
Before delving into the Sidi matter through his jaundiced interview of November 23, 2024 on the Hausa Service of the BBC, Umar, a prince of Kebbi State, which like Sokoto State, is suffering from terrorists attacks, has not been known to have taken any interest in the security situation in the North-West, nor has the retired officer of the Armored Corp availed the Kebbi and Sokoto State governments with his military experience in tackling the security challenges posed to the region by a bunch of blood-thirsty terrorists.
By unnecessarily attacking the Sokoto State Government, Umar opened himself up to accusations of trying to use the Sidi issue to seek cheap publicity which he acknowledged missing over the years. The Sidi issue was just a convenient platform for him to launch himself back to relevance and limelight that he missed.
Unfortunately, by seeking to use the woman’s misdemeanour to relaunch himself into the public consciousness as a pro-democracy activist, Umar goofed big time with his uninformed and scathing statements because he was more interested in the media headlines than in any meaningful contribution that would throw light on the matter or suggestions that would help crush the insurgents.
As a former military governor, Col. Umar ought to have been more circumspect in his interview with the Hausa Service of the BBC on the Sidi matter knowing that the woman had already issued a public apology to the Sokoto state government for her misbehaviour. This is because she clearly acted to incite the people of Sabon Birnin Daji village in Wurno Local Government Area of Sokoto State to violence and a breakdown of the law, a situation that would have worsened the security situation in the state. People of the area were grateful for the prompt and decisive intervention of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) after a citizen report was made to the police..
Referring to the incident, in a simplistic misjudgment, Umar said: “What I observed is that some of the leaders don’t seem to care about what is happening. I am saying this because recently I saw a video in which a certain young lady was seen lamenting about the insecurity facing Sokoto State. By the grace of Allah, we got someone like her who could voice out about what the people were facing, and the next thing we heard was that the Sokoto State government arrested her. She was beaten up and people were sent to blackmail her and make frivolous accusations of causing trouble in Sokoto State”. This narrative of the lady’s action is not only false but cannot in any way be referring to the Sokoto State Government which has demonstrated commitment to protecting its citizens by words and deeds.
It is doubtful that Umar, the “pro-democracy activist”, ever bothered to take note of the statement by the Sokoto Police on the circumstances of her arrest. For the record and the benefit of Col. Umar, the Nigeria Police’s statement, signed by ASP Ahmad Rufai, the Police Public Relations Officer on the Sidi matter is hereby reproduced.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Nigeria Police Force, Sokoto Command, has been drawn to the ongoing falsehood and misinformation circulated by an online media and other social media handles on the purported story that the Nigeria police Sokoto command secretly arrested and arraigned a woman who lamented on the recent rise in killings in Sokoto for embarrassing Governor Aliyu Ahmed Sokoto. This is false and misleading.
“We wish to make the record straight: On the 3rd of November 2024 at 1700hrs one Marafa Yakubu ‘m’ the village head of Sabon Birnin Daji village in Wurno local government area reported to the police that a woman later identified as one Hamdiyya Sidi ‘f’ of Munki village in Wurno local government area came to the village and deceived him that she is a member of that community representing a charitable organization meant to assist women and youth, that she wanted to address women and distribute relief items to the less privileged in the society”.
Perhaps, it may be for mischief that a retired military officer would close his eyes to the explicit statement by the police because it did not suit his suspected agenda of demonizing Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto, or because he has to convince his paymasters that he has not sold out. This is the only explanation for his weighty and reckless statement, spiced up with a threat to drag the Sokoto state government to the International Criminal Court over the Police action on the lady. It is baffling how the former governor concluded that the government-sponsored the arrest of the lady even when the state government had washed its hands off her matter.
It is the job of the police to investigate cases reported to it. The Sidi matter couldn’t have been excused. Perhaps too, the police needs to step in to investigate her subsequent appearance on a popular radio station based in Abuja, in what is becoming a pattern by the opposition to embarrass the government. First, they raise allegations against the governor and his family on social media, they get a police invitation to prove their allegations and on release, they are beaten up by their collaborators and they run to a radio station in Abuja where they would be given generous airtime to call the governor unprintable names and portray him as an enemy of free speech. However, they forget that rights are not absolute. Legally, the onus of prove is on who alleges.
Therefore, Umar’s refusal to believe the account of the police, a body that is constitutionally charged with ensuring law and order and his preference for rumours, is a continuation of the disdain for the police by the military.
The Nigeria Police statement was very emphatic that Sidi incited the people against the government. And that it was the Village Head who reported her in the lawful exercise of his responsibility. But Umar, as it has become fashionable for fame-seeking activists and political opportunists chose to drag the governor’s name into the crisis for self-serving publicity. It is important to stress that there is nowhere in the entire matter where the governor featured as a complaint.
It was therefore surprising, and laughable too, that Col. Umar would praise Sidi for calling the attention of the governor to the security situation, because Governor Aliyu is alive to his responsibilities and does not need a misguided woman to remind him of his responsibilities which he has been discharging diligently, to the admiration of the people.
Also, Umar, like the group of Northern Women operating under the name of Voices for Inclusion and Equity (VIEW) and Amnesty International (AI), continue to consciously fall for the Sidi’s antcs, a political operative with close ties to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), because it advances their profile. Or is it a case of them using themselves?
As a retired military officer, Col. Umar certainly knows that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to secure the sovereignty of the country. Many Sub-national entities, like Sokoto State, have been forced to perform the role that is exclusively that of the central government because it is their people that are being raped, killed, and subjected to other forms of inhuman treatment by mindless bandits. Col. Umar was uncharitable to Governor Aliyu, who has given the security situation in Sokoto State his every attention despite being a glorified Chief Security Officer, in agreeing with Sidi’s false assertion that the governor is indifferent to the security situation of the state.
For the attention of Col. Umar, the Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto administration has not only placed combating the security challenges on top of its agenda but has vowed to spend its last kobo in ensuring the security of its people. The governor established the Sokoto State Community Corps to help gather reliable intelligence needed to combat insecurity for the military. He also constructed a military base at Ilela for the Armoured Corps, provided them with buffalo vehicles and other logistics support, including tarring roads to help security agencies respond more promptly to attacks. These efforts were necessary because the victims of terror attacks are the same citizens that elected the government. Being only a sub-national government, Sokoto and other states lack the coercive power to go after the terrorists. Col. Umar, knows this for a fact.
By not asking the necessary questions to be adequately informed, Col. Umar conveniently refused to address Sidi’s reckless use of social media to incite violence against the Sokoto government in an area that is grappling with terrorist attacks. Under a military dictatorship, Sidi would have been arraigned before the Special Military Tribunal for an attempted coup or being an accessory to a coup. He should do better in avoiding the trap of a single narrative.
*Rufai writes from Sokoto
