We Have no Complaint Even as Bandits Feed Newborn Babies to Dogs -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

When would good news be heard from Katsina, Zamfara, and other states in the North where bandits hold sway? It is one calamity after the other. These states, though with elected governors, have significant areas that are ungoverned or governed by unelected bandits and kidnappers who are ‘governors’ in their own right. Each time freed victims recount their experiences in the hands of the ‘governors’ of these ungoverned spaces, one cannot stop to imagine if these bandits are humans or other creatures in human flesh.

Addressing journalists at the National Assembly two days ago (on Wednesday), Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji who represents Kaura Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency revealed a horrifying incident, among others, of a kidnapped pregnant woman who gave birth in captivity. This experience is not only harrowing and agonizing, it is traumatizing. In kidnappers’ den with pregnancy followed by labour? Only death can bring an end to this trauma. This is definitely an unforgettable nightmarish experience.

Devilish people have some moments for sympathy and do show mercy at times, not these bandits. The pregnant woman would ordinarily see her painful delivery in kidnappers’ den as a blessing—an opportunity to be let out. She gave birth to twins. She must have thought this is the right time to be freed. It is apt to think so. The bandits, no matter how stonehearted, should have a place for sympathy in their hearts for this woman and her twin babies. This was not the case. According to the lawmaker, Hon. Jaji, the newborn twins were fed to dogs by bandits. They threw the new born twins to dogs and were devoured by dogs.

While Hon. Jaji might not be saying anything new since there are many dreaded narratives like the ones he referenced, it is at least consoling that a lawmaker from the ruling party is saying this. If he (Jaji) were from an opposition party, he would be accused of projecting Tinubu government in a bad light.

The Northwest region where these horrifying news are reported on daily basis hosted President Tinubu for two days. In those two days, the President was made to realize, I believe to his surprise, that there is a state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is free of all problems. “Katsina Ba Ƙorafi” which means “We Don’t Have Any Problem” was boldly written on a billboard.

Katsina is the most unfortunate state in Nigeria in terms of insecurity. The reason is that one of its sons (Muhammadu Buhari) who was a former military head of state served as democratically elected President of Nigeria for eight years. With his military background and his love for his people, many thought the issue of insecurity in Katsina State would be a forgotten issue. They were wrong. Rather than abated, the insecurity situation in Katsina became even worse under the leadership of General Muhammau Buhari. It is glaring that Buhari wasted Nigeria’s eight years while in office. History has noted this, and History teachers will continue to teach this sad episode to posterity. His successor, President Tinubu, has been doing well to continue his legacies. Tinubu, as far as I know, is the only president who has not disappointed Nigeria. He kept his promise which is to continue from where Buhari stopped. No wonder, his son, Seyi, declared him the best president ever.

When Tinubu’s planned visit to Katsina State was first announced, many thought it would be an opportunity for the elected rulers in the State, especially the Governor, to go cap in hand, tears in eyes, and kneel down before the almighty Tinubu, to explain to him what they are going through. Many expected that Governor Dikko Umar Radda would beg Tinubu not to fulfil his promise to continue from where Buhari stopped since he must have realized that fulfilling that promise, in respect to Katsina State, would be suicidal. That would mean to continue insecurity!

People of good conscience all over Nigeria expected the rulers in Katsina to seize the rare opportunity of that visit to narrate all their nightmarish stories about the blood loving bandits in the state to President Tinubu. I trust that our kindhearted Tinubu would have shed tears like the JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede. He would have tried to do something about insecurity in the North, especially in Katsina State, even if that means not fulfilling his promise to continue from where Buhari stopped.

But what did the rulers in Katsina State tell Tinubu? We don’t have complaint was their complaint. So that Tinubu would not think he did not hear them well, “Katsina Ba Ƙorafi” was boldly and strategically written to be clearly seen by the President. Officially, President Tinubu was informed that all is well in Katsina. If all is well in Katsina, Tinubu might be exonerated if he thinks all is also well in the North. He may even conclude that all the nasty security reports in the North are the handiworks of his traducers who do not want to appreciate his efforts towards bringing a total end to insecurity in the North.

Can Tinubu believe Katsina elected rulers that they have no complaint? The Tinubu I know will not take that from Governor Radda. Tinubu’s conscience cannot be agreeable to that scripted nonsense. How can you say you have no complaint? Why did former president Buhari who promised to stay very far away from Abuja to either spend the rest of his in Daura or Niger Republic suddenly leave Katsina for Kaduna if all is well? Some even said the former president Buhari did not just leave Daura but ran away for his life due to insecurity. Who knows? But to take President Tinubu’s mind away from asking some critical questions about “Katsina Ba Ƙorafi,” he was distracted by one Dauda Kahutu Rarara—an almajiri-turned-praise singer.

Being a president who likes to be praised, I doubt if anyone was surprised when President Tinubu started clapping and swaying to Rarara’s praise for him in that Ọmọ Ologo’s (a child of glory) track. Let’s thank the Katsina State Governor for entertaining Tinubu with Rarara’s Ọmọ Ologo’s track as people in the state, who are always under attacks, continue to abandon their villages and homes for safety. Even as new babies, born into captivity, are fed to bandits’ dogs in the Northwest region, Katsina State political bootlickers deserve our commendation by speaking ‘good’ of their state. They deserve our trophy for the ‘patriotism’ they displayed by telling Tinubu that all is well. We can only remind them that there is God.

The political strategist, President Tinubu, would probably be visiting other states in the North in preparation for 2027. Governor Radda’s Katsina has set a template. It will not be shocking to see large billboards with “Zamfara  Ba Ƙorafi,” “Niger Ba Ƙorafi,” “Kebbi Ba Ƙorafi,” and “Borno Ba Ƙorafi” even as terrorists in Borno State now deploy sophisticated armed drones against their targets and kill our soldiers effortlessly.

If anyone tells you that Tinubu does not pay attention to the North because he is from the South, tell them he doesn’t need to pay any attention to the North because the North has no complaint. Again, if anyone tells you that power must return to the North because only the northerners can be patriotic enough to address insecurity and other issues that negatively affect the North, ask them how they fared under Buhari in his wasted eight years as president from the North. Northerners are the problems of themselves. Until their rulers start behaving responsibly and the masses begin to hold their leaders accountable, I don’t see the North solving any of its problems; I don’t see it making any progress.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com