 With reports of more kidnappings in Zamfara state, of course, the security challenge is still across the nation. We, of course, have been joined this morning by YAHUZA Getzo security analysts to give us more clarity on what the situation is over there and what must be done. Good morning, Mr. Getzo. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Thanks for joining us. All right, so help us give us, if any, updates on what may have happened in Zamfara. There are reports of more kidnappings. A few people were reportedly also able to escape these kidnappers. But what can you share with us? Well, from the information we have available, which has also been confirmed by the Zamfara state police command and other security operatives around as well as the national level, is the fact that the bandits have entered one of the colleges at Bokura local government precisely. That is the community where Senator Ahmed Rima Bokura came from. They entered into the community. There is a school that is a tertiary institution, a college of either agriculture or whatever precisely. So they abducted some people and at the same time killed some in the process. So part of the abductees, there are students and there are also four teachers. So there is yet any information to ascertain the actual number of people that have been abducted. That is among the students. But for the teachers, it has to confirm that four teachers were abducted and then some other number on a certain number have been killed. So the issues of this didn't come to me as a surprise because government have been saying that we are aware of the location of the criminals. We know their hideouts, most knows why these guys are. Because in the northern setting, not only in the northern setting, in the Nigerian setting. All right. We seem to be having challenges with network, the connection from Mr. Getso's and hopefully we can reconnect with him and have a smoother discussion. We, Mr. Getso, can you hear us? 99.9% of the abduct of the citizens of all the communities where they are conducting their activities. So all the traditional leaders, all the other social structures, inclusive of the religious leaders and all the philanthropists knew about the locations of all these guys. Yes, of course, either there is a politics in what is happening or there is no politics. The reality is, why can't the government deal towards the situation decisively since the criminals are not? So it's even more shocking, you know, getting to accept that the criminals are known. Like you mentioned, they are members of the community. People know them. They probably also know the location, you know, that these abductees are taken to. So can you paint, you know, a clear picture of what you mean by if politics might be involved? What does that mean? Is that showing a reluctance of the government to act because, you know, they know each other, you know, politically? Yes, of course. They know what, inclusive of finances, because we have had Lai Muhammad so many times and Garbashio among other government officials as mentioning and testifying to Nigerians that they even know the finances. So like I have made a lot of criticism in this respect or a lot of clarion call to the government and to the authorities' concern that since you made mention that you know their finances and you know the properties and you know their locations, so what are you waiting? Why can't you deal with them decisively? And why do you release Kunini? Kunini is one of the armed transporters and armed managers and armed marketers and armed traders. He is very well known in the whole part of northern Nigeria, inclusive of areas of northeast, northwest and north-central in the case of armed distribution, armed trading and other things. So, but he was arrested and later after two years, he was released. And immediately after his release, a lot of things started happening in part of Zambora and part of Sokoto. That is what happened recently in Bakura, which is neighborhood of our local government. Our local government of course is in Sokoto and then there are a number of communities within the forest that is between Talata, Mahora local government, Bakura local government, Shinkafi local government, Kauranamore the local government, down to Zumi and some to some extent, Jibia, Bazaari in Kazena, neighboring Ben-Nimagaji and as well as our local government, neighboring Kankara and I like Sabua, Pascari and other notorious flashpoints of all this criminality. So, it is very clear that we and the question we are now asking is do we really have a sovereign government? Do we really have a serious government? Do we really have a serious and committed government? And is government really ready to put the political and administrative will so that all these things can be addressed accordingly? What we look at are other things that is happening in some other part of the Northwest. This kidnapping we only know when it happened in school, when many people are abducted or some of the government institutions. But a lot of things happening in other communities, hundreds and a number of communities are being destroyed in many parts of Kazena, many parts of Zankara, many parts of Sokoto, many parts of Niger and alike. Look at the number of children. The commissioner of information of Niger State was abducted and he was released in less than five days. Today as we are talking the children between the age of four and twelve from taking up Islamist school, Islamic school, I think there are over a hundred number of days and the children of the government are in captivity for almost 50, above 50 days. And then there are other people that are in captivity in many other parts of the country like in Futua and Kazena State, like in Damosa. Even yesterday there were demonstrations and protests in four local government areas for the community members showing their grief. No, it's unfortunate that we have lost Mr. Geto there. Hopefully we're able to reconnect with him and we apologize for this, you know, occasional glitches. Mr. Geto really is hitting the nail on the head regarding these things and it puts me in a very sober mood because when I think about, you know, I love to put myself in the shoes of people and, you know, be empathic and because it just gives you an insight into what exactly are these people facing. I take a look at the Daily Trust newspaper every day and they're keeping a toll of, you know, a daily count of how long people have spent in captivity regarding students who have been abducted. For the report today, today August 17th, the Daily Trust reports that children who are kidnapped in Salihutanku Islamic School in Tagina, which you just mentioned, have spent 79 days in captivity. Students who are abducted from the Federal Government College in Beniyore have spent 62 days in captivity. Students abducted from Beto Baptist High School in Kujama. Remember, we've been talking about they spent 44 days in captivity. It's really sad. I mean, on Sunday, we had the report on Saturday, we had the reports that a Chibwock girl has returned. She's grown up. She's all grown up. She has a kid. She has two kids and, you know, during the week, another Chibwock girl returned with a husband. You know, it's just sad that it seems that the government is failing people and he has lots of questions. Do we really have a sovereign government? And I want him to come back. Let's, you know, rub minds on rhetorical questions he asked, you know, like if the government keeps saying that they know who the terrorists are, they know their location, they know their financiers. So what are you doing with that information? Do you get intel to just have intel? Or do you get intel to proactively act and do something? You know, the government needs to do something. I mean, are we really watching what's happening in Afghanistan? These people subjugated the Afghans for a long time, ruining the 1990s. And it took the U.S. intervention to come into the country and, you know, suppress them. They ousted them. But they never left. They still stayed there. They continued to do the, you know, bombings and attacks on the ground. And immediately, the U.S. troops pulled out the surface and have renamed the country. So the point is, when we look at the Afghan story, you know, it just, you can almost see parallels of what's happening in Nigeria. And if the government claims to know the facts about this terrorist, the question is why are they stalling? Well, so, you know, there's certain things that I would rather not, certain thoughts I would rather not share, you know, on live television. So I'm going to go the regular, you know, safe route and just say that. So one thing that I feel, you know, that the glaring part of this is that we have a lot of people who are in power that don't understand the reason that they took over that position or took that position. The reason that they campaigned and they spent, you know, all, you know, possible thoughts. But they know the reason. But what's the wrong reason? Well, yeah, for the wrong reason. But at the same time, when you've campaigned so, you know, much and you eventually get into that seat and you don't understand that it is your responsibility to protect lives and property, it hurts to see the level of the show of indifference, you know, to the lives and property of Nigerians, that Nigerian lives can be in captivity for 70 days. And the president, regardless of whoever says, oh, maybe we should, you know, focus on other, you know, levels of governance, but, you know, it's still the president. The president himself doesn't, I don't know if there's any other people who are looking at, you know, are seeing it different from myself, but it doesn't seem to be that bothered that there are Nigerians who have been in captivity for 70 days. And that includes the state governments and the local governments. Like who? This is the question that who exactly is concerned? If you say 70 days, let's talk about the Chiba girls. I said about 100 of them for about six years now, since 2014. So who exactly is concerned that there are Nigerians that have been in captivity or can't even be found anymore for the last six years, or for the last 70 days of the last 66 days? Who exactly? Like is there a person in Nigeria who is in a position of power? And then that includes every person who speaks for the presidency and the people who speak for the state governments. Like I know you're doing your job as a spokesman, but is there any person who's really concerned that there are Nigerians who have been kidnapped and are, you know, have been in captivity for 70 days? What terrorist group, what level of banditry gives you the capacity to call people for 70 days and keep feeding them and making sure that they don't escape? It means that, I mean, you have the resources to keep people in captivity for that long. How do governors and the president and everybody go to sleep every night and just wake up the next morning and go on like nothing's different? Otage, let's throw this question to Mr. Getso, the security analyst who's back with us. Mr. Getso. Seems to have lost him again. Well, these are going to be the questions, you know, and, and, you know, I'm going to take it back to something that I was speaking about before, the fact that a lot of people have lost faith in the whole government and criminal justice system, and that's why you hear about reprisal attacks. Because if you trust that when, you know, terrorist activities are carried out, bandits attack a community, if you trust that they will be arrested, and even when they're arrested, you trust that they will be sent to jail or they will be, you know, tried for their crimes, then you will not bother about reprisal attacks. Mr. Getso, can you hear us now? Welcome back. Please go ahead. We're really just trying to make sense out of, you know, what the situation is in Nigeria with these kidnappings, the capacity of these kidnappers to hold people for this long, and the fact that we have a government in power that doesn't seem to be on its, on its feet or doesn't seem to be on the edge to ensure that these Nigerians are rescued. Well, what is missing is lack of, lack of patriotism and lack of passion from the people on the seat of power, and lack of patriotism and lack of passion from the people who are recruited in the, in the, in the services of our security. Like I mentioned, Nigeria made a mistake in the last 22 to 30, 30 years in terms of recruiting personnel in the security, uh, uh, operatives. Uh, these mistakes among which are one, uh, since 22 years to 30 years today, uh, what has been happening with the recruitment is if a government is not recruiting the people who are interested in the job, but rather recruiting the people who have what is called long legs. Uh, if you go to the community you want to recruit, the wide heath will give you the name of his child or the name of his errand. Counselor will bring the name of the talk. Uh, local government chairman will give the name of his children or his family ally. And then in any, uh, recruitment, you realize that the general, the commanding officer of the Nigerian defense academy or the DHS or the police elite, the AIG, you have to go through the AIG, the DIG or someone as a hierarchy before you get the job. So in the process, 22 to 30 years, Nigeria had been recruiting people that doesn't have interest, but they are only having the job because they want to have the security of the job. So Mr. Getso, Mr. Getso, see, Mr. Getso, I believe that you really, you really, um, hit the nail on the head there with your explanation. And this is something you say all the time, that the people who are in law enforcement lack the passion, you know, and patriotism for the job. But don't you think it's appalling to see that people get into law enforcement simply to earn a living and not out of a, a need and a burden to serve? Yeah. Yeah. When you, when you look at the, when you look at the, what is happening presently, you realize that it is civilians that are chasing the military and the police, the DHS, because those in the fields, the bandit, the Boko Haram, the ASWAP, the Ansari, are all type of criminals that you are taking. They are not professionally trained. And remember our military personnel and other security operating DHS police, mobile police, they are professionally trained. And Nigeria has been imputed three lines of money to, to, to, to train brigadiers, to train, to train AIG, DIGs, a director of the SSS and so on and so forth. But these guys in the field, when they come, they still chase them and kill them. Wow. So this gives you a clear message and a clear testimony that the guys coming from the forest, they have little training, but they were able to pursue and process all the efforts of our trained professionals. So, so that is giving you an answer. And that is part of the justification of what I mentioned. The sad issue is, you guys are coming out for, they are ready to face the day. That is the criminal, the culprit. Okay. All right, Mr. Guetzal, so much. All right. We'll apologize for that. But really, so much insights there from Mr. Guetzal regarding the fact that, you know, is there any problem in Nigeria that you can talk about without you having traces to unemployment? Because really, that's it. People do not have jobs. So they find wherever they can be plugged in to any living at the end of the day, no matter what it is, as long as you can get a salary. And if it's for a law enforcement role, just so you get a job, people are enrolling for the police, people are enrolling for the NDA, the this and that, just because they want to get a job, not because they see the challenges in the country regarding security and really want to serve, not because they want to get trained to be able to tackle, you know, our security threat, just so they can get a salary at the end of the day. I totally agree. And that is with regards every, you know, security agency in Nigeria from police to the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the NSCDC, a lot of these people who get into those positions are really just looking for employment. They don't care what it is. As long as I'm going to get paid at the end of the month, I'll, you know, take, you know, take that offer. If you look at the thousands of people who apply to join the police everywhere, it's really not because they have a, you know, an interest in serving. It's looking, it's a job search. There is that. But that also tells you that from the bottom, you know, to the, you know, from the top to the bottom, there is that same challenge because if you're recruiting people and you've gone through or you assess them, you've put them through whatever tests that are necessary, you should be able to tell that this person really doesn't care that much about serving. And so it should, there are people that should be disqualified right from the first day that they try. No way they have the connects. Obviously they don't, you know, and then whose responsibility should it be to have seen that, well, this process of recruitment is not working because everybody that we've recruited in the last five years doesn't seem to care much about serving and it's not, you know, effective enough for the force. And you see that last point he mentioned about the directors and people in the higher ranks of management getting all the training, while the people who do the groundwork, people who on the field lack the international, the knowledge of the international best practices to execute their job, that really is saddening. All right, Mr. Getso. Mr. Getso, welcome back. See, I need to ask you this question because Mr. Getso, please hold on. Mr. Getso, Mr. Getso, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. So one question Nigerians have at the back of their minds is this, since the Boko Haram Insurgency, you know, their first major attack in 2009 and how, you know, bandits keep attacking schools abducting children, people still ask, why are schools still open? Do you think that's a question we need to consider? Yes, absolutely. But before I answer that question, let me respond quickly to some of the points that you made mentioned about the people on the authority, the people in the field doesn't have training. No, these people, they train the Nigerian operatives, the security operatives, they train directly from the training institution, they send these guys to the field, so they don't have experience, they don't have interest on the job. And this government is imputing huge amount of resources for training. But the question, what is the quality of the training? Who are the trainers? Are they having equipment and gadgets to do the training? And many other questions. So coming back to why the schools are still open? Yes, of course. The reason why the schools are still open is because the people on the authority, I'm not talking of the security operatives management, no. I'm talking on the leadership, the local government chairmen, the members of state assembly, the governor, the members of national assembly, the senators, and the ministers among other state of paracetam, etc., etc. They are not interested in governance. There is no element of good governance. So it is the issue of leadership now. We have people that their children are not in the schools. Remember, I'm very sure that some of your reporters have been to either Kagara or Genki with their video recording devices. You have recorded, you have seen the location, the building in the schools, I cannot even keep my dog in some of the schools. And most of these schools, where this can happen, they are pilot schools. They are special schools, as far as the state government is concerned. Even with the federal government, is all of the special schools, government, but when you look at the environment, I cannot even keep my dog. If I have a rat, I cannot keep it. If I have a select, I cannot keep it there. If I have a monkey, I cannot keep it there. But that is where human beings are being And the future leaders are being trained. So the issue is, do you even have what is called a school? I was a teacher for 16 years. And I know what it takes, what it takes. And I'm an educationist by profession to some extent. And I know I taught at the primary, at the secondary, at the federal college of education, the step for techniques, and even at the investment. So there is no institution of learning that I didn't taught. And I don't know what it's supposed to be. Do we have the facilities? Do we have the classrooms? Do we have defense even in most of the schools have broken? And government is not doing anything. And I also put a blame on the parent teachers association, because they're supposed to serve as a pressure group that pushed the government to provide all these facilities. But some of the leadership of the parent teachers association are also conniving with management of the schools, and the management of education at the federal ministries of education, the state ministries of education, because most of them are the contractors themselves. So you don't, and at the same time, I am the contractor to fix a certain facility in school. But remember, my children is not in that school. Remember, Nassar Ahmad Erfaed, the governor of Paduma State, recently in the recent time, he woke his children from the public school where he took the child. So, and there is no explanation, no product. I want to tell you that school is inside the city of Kaduna. And between that school and the military formation is not up to two kilometers, the highest six kilometers. Between that school and Nigerian defense academy is not up to five kilometers. Between that school and office of the GOC, that is a general commanding officer, general officer commanding, commanding the zone, is not up to five kilometers. And between that school to Nigerian government, military government, is not up to 30 kilometers. So between that school and the state police command is not up to four kilometers. But still Nassar Erfaed went and woke his child from that school and there is no provision whatsoever for the protection of life and property, especially lives of children of other people there. So, and you cannot tell me one governor. Most of these governors, their children attend mostly expensive schools. Most of the permanent secretaries at the federal and state level, the company, most of the directors, even in the education ministry, their children are not in public schools. So how do you expect them to fix these schools? And even the security operators, their children, the leadership of the security, right from even the assistant inspector general, sorry, assistant superintendent of police and the second internment, as well as the ordinary rank and five, even in the GSAs and the police and others, they don't take their children into these public schools. So the children are not there. So they don't have passion for governance. They don't have interest. That is why I'm asking, do we really have a responsible government? Because you cannot have a responsible government and will allow these things to continue to happen. And to some extent, some of these criminals are even given ultimatum to a sovereign state. That is one of the reasons why I always post a question that is Nigeria is really a sovereign state. We really have a leadership. And it is a question of, as time goes on, all these reports that we are getting about abduction is only from schools. I want to tell you that the communities of Kankara, Kinkia, Moussawa, Mataji yesterday were in protest. They blocked many roads in Kankara. But government does not even care about it. To show their grievances about the level of criminality, level of how their wives are being raped, children are being killed, women are being kind of kidnapped to the forest. Bandits will come and we used to watch live, see your wife, select the one you want. You will take her to the forest. And then after seven days, you will bring it and take the other one. And you don't have anything to say. Look at what is happening in Funtua, Sabua, Pascari, and Anduin. Look at what is happening in Zaria. We have an argument commissioner of Internet Affairs and what do you call it? Internet Affairs and Security. Security and yeah, someone I want. They have personnel everywhere in all other formations in other local government. But when you go out there, they are not there. Because I'm a practical person. I go to this field, I checked practically. Is security, the formations, they are things, they are just there in some places. And they are not doing anything. They always tell the community that we don't have instruction to face the criminals until we get directives. So people are being killed and you are saying you are waiting for directives. And we have had a statement from Mr. President, that is my part of what he's saying, kill anybody you sighted with AK-47. But we have records and evidences that these criminals pass through military formations and other checkpoints with their arms. With AK-47, they go to nearby communities, they buy their social needs, and they go back to the forest. And nobody is chasing them. Nobody is killing them. So they are being sighted with AK-47, AK-49, and other sophisticated arms. And the question is, those who have been presented by Nigerian police and Nigerian military, that they have returned arms to the government and they have surrendered. What provision have government done for them? And I, I, I, I, I disputed all the governments that say they conducted dialogue. It's a lie. It's not true. I have my evidence. If they have their evidences to tell me that the dialogue comes, or there is any negotiation to spend it in Zanfarah, in Katana, in Kajuna, in Sokoto, in whatever part of northern Nigeria, let them tender it. I have my evidence to tell them they are liars. The governments are not serious. The governments are telling lies. They are telling stories, stories that have no back-up. So until and for less masses, we are not advocating and I'm not calling for people to take arm and protect themselves, but if, if people are being pushed, it's no longer possible to have to wrap up here. Partisan arms, because we have so many arms in the hands, in the wrong hands now. And government is not doing anything. Amphor liberation is one of the lucrative business in northern Nigeria, and many parts of south, south, south-east, and some parts of the southwest ocean. All right. So what do you mean? Mr. Getzo, apologies. We would have to wrap up here. It means they will touch each one another, and then probably after the end of the, we have to learn lessons from what you've said. Mr. Getzo, can you hear me? Mr. Getzo, you have made valid points. We've noted them. We hope the government is listening as well, and we thank you very much for your time on the breakfast this morning. Thank you for having me. Have a great day. All right. Hopefully the next time we speak with him, it has to be with something, you know, some good news, maybe, I don't know. It's, it's really draining having to, you know, repeat these same things over and over and over again. And, you know, like I was saying some time ago that there is, there's not a lack of ideas on how to handle these things. There's just lack of interest, you know, really from the government. We'll take a short break. When we come back, we're moving to Afghanistan, or taking a conversation rather to Afghanistan, and we're going to be joined by Paul Lejimeh, International Affairs expert, to share his thoughts on what the situation is over there. Stay with us.