020. ‘WHY RELIGION, ETHNICITY SHOULDN’T BE IN 2016 CENSUS’. Wednesday, 17 July 2013 Ismail Mudashir, Kaduna. Anthony Sani. National publicity secretary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Anthony Sani, in this interview speaks on the 2015 general elections, the controversial statement of the chairman of the National Population Commission, Mr. Festus Odimegwu, the ongoing clampdown on Boko Haram and other issues affecting the region. Excerpts: What is the stand of ACF regarding the 2015 election? When people say the struggle is for power to return to the North in 2015, it at once conveys an impression that power is a birth right of the North as if the military regimes that are credited to the North came about from active consultations with northerners. Power is not patrimony of the North. I believe aspirants from the North will be at liberty to go round the country and canvass for acceptance and votes just as aspirants from other sections of the country will do. That way, barriers will be broken and bridges built across the country, thereby helping to strengthen the unity of the country for common good. Your forum is advocating that all elections be conducted in a day, do you think INEC has the logistics to do this? There are two advantages of holding all the five elections the same day. They can save cost and allow people to vote according to their judgment devoid of bandwagon effects. There is nothing complex in giving each voter five voting cards for the five elections of president, governors, senators, House of Reps and House of Assembly, to vote on the same day and same polling unit. ACF believes if Kenya and some other smaller countries can do it, Nigeria should be able to do so. We believe INEC will be favourably disposed to this suggestion in order to reduce costs. Spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi disclosed that all groups in the North including ACF are coming together ahead of 2015, what do you intend to achieve with this? The decision of all the disparate groups professing to speak for the same North is not new. Recall the circumstance that brought about ACF. Three groups came together and formed ACF for the express purpose of unleashing their synergistic potential and give voice to the North on issues of national importance, especially those that have bearings to the North.ACF has been going about its roles only for groups to start proliferating again. We think this is unhealthy and counterproductive. Hence the contemplation that all the groups should meet and find how best the interest of the North can be protected with courage and in hope for performance. The coming together is to enable them help confront problems associated with not just politics but to help address the socio economic and security challenges facing the North and Nigeria in general. The ACF chairman recently raised alarm that the presidency is using divide and rule strategy to tear the North apart ahead of 2015 elections, can you explain more on this? What the chairman meant was that the idea of Chief Edwin Clark leading some leaders of minorities in the South and North to endorse President Jonathan two years ahead of 2015 at a time when the President, INEC, ACF and many other groups have advised against such early start is unhelpful. More so that the composition of the delegates was loaded with cleavages of the nation along ethnic and religious lines. This also came against the backdrop of the allegations that the presidency has a hand in the problems in the Nigerian Governors Forum, considering what Chief Edwin Clark had earlier said that the Governors Forum is too strong for the presidency to the extent of determining the shape and direction of the nation’s democracy. The reference to the presidency is not necessarily saying President Jonathan is personally involved in the perceived manipulation of religion and ethnicity to a given political goal. But because the president is the father of the nation and the buck stops on his table, he has to pay the price of leadership by accepting responsibility for whatever happens in the polity, since his place in the order of things is to provide order and direction to the nation. Looking at the violent riot that trailed presidential election in the North in 2011, how do you see the 2015 election bearing in mind the crisis that rocked the NGF election and the ongoing crisis in River state? You are right to submit that considering what happened in the North after elections in 2011, what happened in the Nigerian Governors Forum and what is happening in Rivers state, 2015 looks a bit frightening. But you know President Jonathan is a lucky man, hence the early signs can nudge him into taking pre-emptive actions needed to nib such occurrences in the bud. And that is why we are still hopeful that the presidency will read the signs for didactic purposes and make corrections. Mixed reactions have trailed the statement of the chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) that he is going to include ethnicity and religion in the 2016 census to what is ACF’s position on this? I do not want to believe the NPC and the presidency will allow the chairman to carry out his pronouncements. This is because those who advised that ethnicity and religion be left out of census are not fools. If the census is for development, it is instructive to note that Nigeria does not distribute social amenities based on religion and ethnicity. What is more, religion being an emotive subject will not allow Muslims to accept a result that put them to be less than Christians, and the same with Christians. So why include data that are useless for planning purpose but can make the results not acceptable to some sections? As regards the chairman’s determination to use the 2016 census to correct “past mistakes” that favoured some sections of the country, it is important to note that some of the past chairmen of NPC from 1903 to date were from the south. Also, the voters registration has been found to be more in the North. Surely, the North which lags behind the South in all facets of national life cannot reasonably be expected to outsmart the South in manufacturing figures for both population and voters. There must be some truth in the past exercises. In any case, why tell the nation that 2016 census would be work from the answer? Such posturing at once makes the results of the census under his watch suspect. And so while the chairman’s motive may be understood, his public posturing is misinformed and misdirected, and, therefore, should be avoided. President Jonathan declared state of emergency in frontline Boko Haram states, how will you assess the measure? ACF had advised against declaration of state of emergency on the grounds that force and dialogue could not go on concurrently. But when the government later revealed that it needed the state of emergency in order to reclaim the seized parts of Nigerian territory, and that it would not discard dialogue as a viable option, ACF declared its support for the government actions in the three states with proviso that rules of engagements would be observed and no excessive use of force. The operations so far are yielding good results. What is more, there are unconfirmed reports that the federal government has started discussions with some sections of the sect, which is a good development and so should be encouraged by patriotic public spirited groups and individuals. How do you see the controversy trailing the ceasefire announced by a section of the sect?, ACF has been in favour of dialogue, considering the fact that force has never contained such insurgents anywhere. We believe starting dialogue with a faction is capable of inspiring the reluctant elements of the sect to join as the process progresses. It is not in our place to discourage government on this matter, precisely because issue of national security is a collective responsibility. And that may explain why ACF is represented by its Secretary General in the committee for dialogue. Some say Boko Haram was conceived by Northern leaders to make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, how will you react to this?Those who have such views are misinformed and misdirected. It is too early to forget that the government used force and killed about 700 members of Boko Haram in 2009 when President Jonathan was not the issue. I have repeatedly said that it is strategically wrong to associate the activities of the sect with region, ethnicity and religion. This is because any cleavages along religious lines can only play into the hands of the sect which needs religion as a strategy, and not importance of faith. Why would northern leaders use terrorism which is not easily reversible as political instruments? It does not make sense. Do you think America was foolish not to direct its campaigns against terrorism at Saudi Arabia or Muslims despite the common place knowledge that most of the 19 pilots who brought down the two New York towers under the watch of Saudi Arabia Osama Bin Laden are from Saudi Arabia? Don’t you see the strategic import of a Nobel Prize to President Obama for making a distinction between Islam and terrorism under Osama Bin Laden Alqaeda? We have terrorism in many countries like Kenya,Tanzania,Britain,France,America,India,Norway,etc.And in all these countries the citizens come together and unleash their synergistic potential against their collective challenges for common good. How will you react to the controversy trailing the cut-off points of unity schools? I do not see the wisdom in the controversy surrounding the differential in cut-off points to unity schools, precisely because it is normal practice to bridge gaps in socio economic development among constituent parts of the country. In the capitalist economies, there is massive investment in education in order to put the citizens on even keel necessary for fair competition in all spheres. They even have anti-trust laws as hedge against those with huge capital capable of killing smaller business. It was against such backdrop that both World Bank and IMF were put in place to enable weaker nations to trudge along. And that is why America and European Union still assists the developing world in spite of the fact that they have their own domestic problems to attend to. The reason is because bridging gaps in education and socio economic development is not only good politics but also good economics. And if it is true that the period western education entered the South and when it reached the North with its resistance by Islam is about 100 years, it would be morally preposterous to expect a fair competition.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 08:40:24 +0000
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