THE national president of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr Bitrus Pogu, in this interview by ISAAC SHOBAYO, speaks on the need to protect national peace and unity, among other salient national issues.

From all indications, the unity and peace of Nigeria are being threatened. Some Nigerians believe they are more Nigerian than others and therefore feel that the country belongs to them. How do you view this?

Nigeria doesn’t belong to any particular tribe, nor does it belong to any particular religion. Nigeria is multi-ethnic and multi-religious and our constitution recognises it that way. So, anybody who brings up the argument and try to impose themselves on others will not be accepted. Nigeria is for all Nigerians.

The constitution makes it very clear that everybody who was born in this country before independence is a Nigerian. You see, there is a constitutional issue about who is a Nigerian, and somebody can also naturalise and obtain a passport. I mean, he could be a European before, he could come to Nigeria, and he could naturalise and become a Nigerian. So, there are many ways to become a Nigerian.

We know there are some people who also became Nigerians through the plebiscite in 1961; they were not around when we gained independence, but the flipside brought them into Nigeria; they were initially British Cameroon; they became Nigerians. So, the qualification to be a Nigerian is spelled out in our constitution.

All these characters who think they own Nigeria are just a bunch of liars because we abide by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which spells out who a Nigerian is. Nobody owns this country; we all are equal co-travellers in this country.

We are trying to build a nation where things like pride, religion and ethnicity will be no issue. The most important issue should be being in Nigeria. And that is when patriotism will start to work, and all these primordial sentiments will stop. We need a nation, not nation states, in a space called Nigeria. We want to be a nation.

There is a belief among some northerners that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) must be a northerner.

(Cuts in) Forget about those people saying all that. They are just political jokers. The Federal Capital Territory was carved out to be the capital of Nigeria, and therefore all Nigerians have equal right here. We know that before it was carved out, the Gbagis were the predominant group. We have other groups here, like the Gwandara and Koru. They are all here. If you look at the composition of the federal capital before it was taken over to be or to constitute the federal capital, the tribal groups were here, were known and the people who are making all these claims are Fulanis.

Fulani is not listed among the tribes that had to be settled so that the Federal Government could establish a federal capital for Nigerians in the Federal Capital Territory. So, forget about those people; they are just jokers. They are unserious people who want to make noise for some political reason or to whip sentiments among their people. But the fact remains that the president can appoint anybody of his choice who he feels is competent to advance the system of development in the Federal Capital Territory to be the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

For us in the Middle Belt, actually, we are conversing because of the judgment of the Supreme Court. You know, we have reason now to say, look, the Federal Capital Territory should have a minister appointed among the tribes of the federal capital, since the Supreme Court judges told us that the Federal Capital Territory doesn’t have any special recognition above any other state in the country. So, it means that the people of the Federal Capital Territory can demand to have, whether it is a mere status or whatever status, that people who are residents here should now demand to have equal status with the states; they should file a case.

And I think they did file a case after the presidential electoral appeal or presidential electoral judges passed their judgment. Something would be looked into. And I think a better status for our people in the Middle Belt who have been here would be recognised and their status advanced, since they are now recognised as having equal status with any state in the country. So, all those making claims or laying claims to the Federal Capital Territory are just jokers; they don’t have any locus standi, and the Federal Capital Territory remains a place for every Nigerian since it has been taken over by the Federal Government from the indigenous communities to be the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.

Appointment of service chiefs often generates controversies. Some Nigerians want such appointments to reflect federal character. Don’t you think competency should be the yardstick for such engagement?

People who have proven competence, a soldier who is of proven competence can command the respect of the army, the navy, and the air force and can lead and command so that if there is any threat to our territorial integrity, he can be in front, representing the commander-in-chief, who is the president. So, anybody who thinks it has to be his tribe does not mean well for this country. Maybe these people who are complaining are people responsible for the insurgency in the country. And they want people of this type to be in charge of the defense of the country so that the bad, clandestine and evil things that they have been committing with their brothers in the bushes will continue. No, that is not acceptable. We want people of credibility who will flush out all these criminals from among us so that Nigerians can have peaceful coexistence.

I remember in Maiduguri in the 70s, we didn’t even sleep inside the rooms when it was hot, like when it comes to March, April, and all that. When it was very hot, we were all on the street, lying down, free; nobody stopped anybody. But now that they have messed the place up, everybody is frightened that someone will come and kill them. It shouldn’t be like that.

The peace of this country should be guaranteed. Competent people who can guarantee that peace, who can command our troops and, you know, lead them to successfully weed out all criminal elements, all insurgent elements in this society, should be appointed, irrespective of whether they are from the least populated tribal or ethnic group, or from the majority; it doesn’t matter. All we are after is competence.

But some people are saying it should reflect federal character

(Cuts in) What do they mean by federal character? Every Nigerian is a Nigerian, and the population, which we know, is skewed. For example, we have had a number of censuses since independence. Ask anybody: have we ever considered region in the censuses? They don’t even allow you to talk about your tribe. They say languages you speak, etc? Languages I speak? So what? I may be from one ethnic group, but I wouldn’t even be able to speak my language because I reside somewhere else.

So, real democracy in this country has never been captured. Talking about federal character, yes, and federal character, somebody from the North East, from the North West, from the North Central, from whatever they are considered in appointments. I believe this government has also considered that in the appointments, if there is anything about any government that abused federal character, it was the previous government, the government of General [Muhammadu] Buhari. We cried out and cried out, but he didn’t give a damn. And now the people who are saying, hey, these people should not be appointed are the same people who kept quiet when General Buhari was appointing only his own tribe.

People are not fools. In that regard, let’s allow the current president to do his job. Unless the Supreme Court has judged or passed judgment, whether we like it or not, that is final. Let’s allow the man to work. I believe if he veers or diverts away from the norm, even those of us who are now saying, yes, so far, so good, we will start critiquing him. But for people who have been imposing themselves on Nigeria to now say that things are not favouring them. They are used to populating everywhere with their own. Now, let there be federal character to weed out all those people they filled in the NNPC, in all those juicy places, so that others will also be there. We need federal character. What is happening? I think federal character is being obeyed and respected.

People with extreme opinions that can jeopardise the prevailing peace and unity of Nigeria are being treated as sacred cows by the government. What is responsible for this?

That is the weakness of our leadership and our institutions. A strong leader should be able to bring anybody to book. Strong institutions, whether it is police, military, or DSS, nobody should be a special person. If you mess up the Nigerian state, you are supposed to be dealt with. And that is the right thing.

The legal tussle over the last presidential election has been won and lost with the judgment of the Supreme Court on Thursday in favour of President Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC). What should be the way forward now?

Of course, we go back, look at the judgments, look at the situation, and look at where we got it wrong, and we prepare for the next round. For now, whether we like it or not, we just have to embrace what we have been given and try to make the most of what we have. Yes, we know that when we talk about international reputation and all that, there are so many things that have been brought to the fore that question our credibility. But there is nothing we can do about the situation as it is because the Supreme Court is the apex court in the country. I am one of those who felt things were not done properly. But there is nothing I can do now other than to accept the situation and advise my colleagues to say, gentlemen, we have got the final verdict; let’s see where we go from here.

So, we have to now try and build our country, irrespective of how bad the situation is, and we are law-abiding people. We have to block the loopholes that brought us to where we are so that we can have a better Nigeria in the future.

What is your advice for the president?

All we can say is let’s be resolute and start addressing this economic issue seriously because our economy is in shambles. One dollar is now one N1,300 or something. That is unfortunate. That policy he introduced is not working. The subsidy removal is also not working. Things are just bad. So, he has to have a rethink and work towards the economy. But the most important is security. The president should stamp his feet. I have always believed that our military is capable of weeding out all this nonsense insurgency and terrorism out of this country in a short while. It is the political will that has been lacking and compromising here and there. Let him stamp his feet and provide the political will without any criminal within the security agencies.

I believe that the DSS and our intelligence services have records of what people have been doing, whether they are in the military or in whatever organisation, to ensure that this thing is weeded out so that we can have peace. When we have peace, farmers will go to their farms, people will go back to their ancestral lands, and all the criminals that were imported will not even want to stay in Nigeria again because there will not be a window for them to operate. And then Nigeria will be a better place and will start to progress.

When our people can provide their own food, many people don’t care who is there at the top. All they are after is peaceful coexistence. They can go to their farms and produce their own food, and they will live their lives. Those who can add value to what we are doing will do their job, too. And the first thing is, let him work towards peaceful coexistence in this country. Let all IDPs return to their ancestral homes and let all criminals occupying their ancestral homes be kicked out so that we can have peace in this country. Anybody who wants to dominate others and is hiding under religious bigotry and all should be silenced so that we can move forward.

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