 A former military governor of Kaduna State, Colonel Abu Bakar Dangiwa Umar, has said that the Bahari administration has so far exhibited poor skills in its management of Nigeria's diversity. He said it was disturbing that the federal government was according to undue or was according undue attention to the threats of separatist movements in contrast to the ones posed by bandits, kidnappers and insurgents in the northern region of the country. He also stated that the apparent failure of the security forces to deal decisively with security threats is due to the shortage of manpower and equipment. Well joining us to discuss this is Nnamdi Abannaba and Chinadu Ife Chilobi, both of them political analysts. Thank you very much gentlemen for being part of the conversation. Thanks a lot Mary Anne, thanks for having us. Great, I'm going to start with you. So the former military governor of Kaduna State is literally putting the president on the chopping board here and saying that the president is paying attention to things that do not need his attention that much. But then really if you look at what's happening in the pockets of violence, whether it be in the southeast or in the southwest, should the president not also come down heavily on the perpetrators of those acts or the seeming perpetrators of those acts? Absolutely, absolutely, the greatest threats are what they are. Anything that destabilizes any region and puts the people's mind on edge, you know, anything that makes the people uncomfortable should be dealt with by the president. They are like I said, the greatest threats are what they are. So I agree with you that the president should, as a matter of fact, clamp down on any movement or any group of people who are doing anything by any means that seems threatening the security or the peace of the country. But then I also have the people who are saying that there should be no form of cherry picking. As a matter of fact, you should not pursue one and then leave another because it begs the question what informs cherry picking, what informed the fact that you are pursuing one and then you are allowing the other to fester. It begs the question. So maybe someone needs to explain that and you know, you now begin to understand why people are crying, you know, the tribal extinuation around the whole thing because it now seems as if some people are excused to do what they are doing while others are not. In a way, you know, this will threaten the security, the peace of the nation. This will threaten the livelihood because when there is no peace, the value, the quality of life tends to reduce and all should be given equal attention. But then if you know, I'm sure that you have been following the news with all of that's been happening in the southeast, for example, police officers were attacked, police stations were burned down, INEC officers, I mean, this is a direct attack on government facilities. And I'm not in any way saying that these government facilities are more valuable than the human lives that are lost, you know, to Banditry or Boko Haram. But these are serious sensitive issues that needed to be dealt with. So really, can we say that the president was cherry picking really? I mean, if that issue was not dealt with, would we still not be pointing fingers at the presidency? And of course, of course, like I said, I agree with you that this situation has the same level of urgency that Boko Haram, the activities of Banditry, the activities of Mordukov, the Nafla and Herjpen as well, you know, it has the same urgency. But then these other issues that I mentioned had been in existence before this particular one. And it has stressed that more or less unfettered, there was more or less no address, nobody was addressing these issues and Nigerians were wondering what's happening. Is it because this was coming from one side of the country? I mean, the thing is, knowing what Nigeria is, every leader of the country should ensure that they don't give opportunity for people to begin to have tribal suspicions. And this has cost the tribal suspicion in Nigeria between 2015 and now to grow in leaps and bounds. You know, the fact that the menace of Faladi Hetman, the menace of the Bandits, the menace of Boko Haram, is costing the country so much. And it's a problem, it's a major problem for Nigeria. And like I said, it has been in existence before all these. It should have been tackled before now. If these have been sorted out before now, at this point, you know, that also has this same level of urgency and importance and that threatens the peace of the country as well, we wouldn't have, you know, people now making comparisons. And I agree with you, there should be no comparison. A threat to peace and security is threat to peace and security. And it should be handled accordingly. OK, let me go to you, Nnamdi. I'd like to quote Kono Umar directly. He says, this clearly is an exaggeration of the security threat, Nnamdi Kano. And indeed, I propose to our nation security and unity. It's quite strange. And he says it's disturbing that the federal government is according on due attention to the threats of separatist movement in contrast to the more daunting ones posed by bandits, kidnappers, insurgents in the Northwest, in some parts of the North Central and in the Northeast. He goes on to say that those criminal activities have resulted in the evacuation of over 20 of the villages in the Northwest and the Northeast. Hundreds are being murdered and maimed every week, many more kidnapped for ransom. And one of the examples we can give is what happened in Kaduna a few days ago in less than 24 hours. In fact, in the space of 24 hours, two abductions took place. But really, just like Chinay Dhu has said, one has been festering. And the other is as an offshoot of the one that has been festering. Why do you think the Nigerians are so critical of Mr. President's handling of insecurity in the country? Yes, the president has been making, should I call it false promises? We've had several where the president made proclamations about about the bandits, how the service teams are going to deal with them. He has made such proclamations, but it has not really been packed up with the requisite action. My result is the name of the game. We want to see results. The human security crisis that we are facing in Nigeria is quite unfortunate on a daily basis. It has become a daily affair. People are being killed in their hundreds. Students are being kidnapped. Infants are being kidnapped, too. Look at what is happening in Kaduna state. It is it is quite unfortunate. It's as if we do not have a government in the country at the moment. Remember that the primary concern of government is the security of lives and property and the federal government has failed in providing security for Nigerians. And this is the reason, one of the reasons why we are having some ethnic warlords coming out to defend their territory if the Nigerian police force and the Nigerian military, if they've been able to call the menace of the bandits, the terrorists. I don't think that the nation will be facing what it is facing today. You also look at the human security question. Hundreds of Nigerians are dying. Many people are displaced. We have so many, so many refugees. Instead of the president squarely, squarely on acts of terrorism, being betrayed by both the Boko Haram and the bandits. He's busy chaining around ethnic, ethnic, some ethnic jingoists. I think it's a misplaced priority. Look for a new state for instance. It was announced the other day that the members of the Boko Haram sect that they now have a governor in an entity here in Nigeria, which is quite unfortunate, which we shouldn't be hearing of things like that. So we really need to understand how the federal government is tackling the crisis. The president has been making promises upon promises upon promises. But there are no results. What do you what do you think the challenge is, Nandi? What do you think the challenge of Mr. President is because, yes, you have pointed out rightly that the president has been making promises. What do you think the challenge is for Mr. President not being able to keep those promises? Do you think his hands are tied? Do you think that because there's so many allegations against Mr. President, there's so many people who have made all kinds of assertions. But really, as a Nigerian citizen and someone who's analysing it from a political standpoint, is there any politics at play? Or do you think that the person of the president is a bit overwhelmed? Is it the security forces that are overwhelmed? What exactly do you think the challenge is? I don't think that the security forces are overwhelmed. I think it has to do with with the leadership and those that are giving the technical security advice. Then you also have the issue of Amsterdam. Amsterdam, we've had cases where members of the military protested that they don't have the requisite military hardware to deal with these terrorist groups. So these these are some of the some of the fundamental challenges that that are plaguing the fight against against insurgents and against acts acts of terror. OK, additionally, additionally, you also look at you look at the the the Constitution, the way the Nigerian security architecture is is constituted. Nigeria is a plural society and we expect that in the leadership of the armed forces, every every every section of the country ought to be represented so that it won't be misconstrued that, you know, that they fight against terrorism and insurgency is being jeopardized by those with certain ethnic sentiments. Those sentiments are there. And it is the responsibility of the president to sit with that. He gets rid of these sectors. Who are the people that constitutes the security architecture of this country? OK, that every part of the country must play a role in securing our country. Let me go back to Chinadu. Now, the former military governor also spoke about the diversity of Nigeria and the fragility of our nationhood and that that should be prioritized by the president. And you made you made mention of the fact that, you know, it's become more pronounced, the division, the divide, the lines that we have as Nigerians, that it's become more and more, you know, widened because of all of the insecurity that's going on in the country. What role do you think that governors need to play in in blurring these lines? Because many pundits have also said that the reason why these lines continuously are blurred is because politicians take advantage of the fact that we're divided along political and, sorry, religious and ethnic lines and they keep playing us to the gallery. How do we as a people and how do governors also play a role in, you know, somewhat blurring those lines going forward if we must continue to have a state that is not as fragile as it is today? Well, the truth is, in a democracy, people expect, like Namdee said, result is the name of the game. I don't think that we need to begin to concentrate on our diversity, on our tribal or ethnic diversity in any way. It's totally not necessary. I've always said or I've always held this view that we don't need to bend towards what we now call federal character or, you know, what we call stoning in our political consciousness. We don't need that. What we need is the best hands that we have, our positions. You know, someone has said, and I agree that it seems like we have the worst of us leading the best of us. You know, and in the last elections, I have that personal belief that we have people who could lead this country effectively, who did not succeed in becoming the president or governors or senators or one of you. What we need is the delivery of democratic dividends. That's what we need. The people need their voices heard. The people are hungry. Nigeria is the last check. Nigeria is 70% of Nigeria's population live below the poverty line. That is crazy. And I tend to believe that that statistic is a little bit moderate if you may. I think that more Nigerians live below the poverty line that is stated and that we agree with. So all we need is someone or a group of politicians or leaders who will deliver the dividends. If we have good roads, if we open our taps and food, the government, our taps are running. And if the economy is good, if the GDP is healthy, if people can feed, if people can take their children to good schools, if people can drive on good roads. We have to go. Nigerians won't bother about the tribe of who is ruling or where the person is coming from. Come from the state level now. It's down to senatorial zones and local governments and localities where governors and leaders come from. It's totally not necessary. The need is the best of us ruling all of us. That's what we need. When we have that, there will be no need to begin to consider where our tribal diversity and all that are what happens to that. All right. Thank you, Chinadu, Chinadu Fechilobi and Namdi Abannaba, our political analysts. Thank you so much for being part of this conversation. We appreciate it. Well, thank you all for staying with us. Time is not on our side. We have to go now. We'll see you tomorrow. Oh, no, we'll see you on Monday with brand new stories on plus politics. I am Mary Ann Ako. Be a good Nigerian.