Ministers and Senators in Buhari’s Cabinet Are Only Interested In Making Money – Babachir

Babachir confessed saying ‘My own motive is for a peaceful Nigeria in which we are our brother’s keep­er’.

“I like the president, he means well for Nigeria but he has the
challenge of sub­ordinates who have differ­ent agenda. The president has
an agenda that is good for Nigerians, he means well but his
subordinates don’t share his vision. They have a different agenda.

“Majority of the minis­ters are only interested in making enough
money to go and contest for gover­norship positions in their states.
Majority of the sen­ators are only interested in making money so that
they can go and become gover­nors in their states.

“So, the synergy of a senator sitting down with a governor to discuss
the issue of development in the North doesn’t exist because already,
they are competitors. In the South, governors and legislators are on the
same page. When they come to Abuja, they fight for policies and
pro­grammes that will benefit their people. In the North, that doesn’t
happen. They only wear babanriga and put one kilogramme of starch inside
and claim big men. That is the truth”.

“My governor is not in talking terms with all the senators. Two of them
are in his political party but they have not been talking. The other one
is APC who is struggling for his seat. So, how can my state move

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forward? And that is what is happening in all the Northern states”, he
said.

“Initially, I think from 1980, most of the problems of Southern
Kaduna are ethnic. When Ahmed Ma­karfi became governor, he understood
that most of the issues were ethnic than religious and he was able to
address it. Roads were being constructed equally in all parts of the
state; tra­ditional institutions were strengthened in all parts of the
state. Everybody was getting his fair share of the resources that the
state has and the matter didn’t get out of hand.

“The problem I see in Ka­duna is that the state gov­ernment led by
Governor Nasir El-Rufai is not sen­sitive to the issues. Their
utterances simply indicate that they are not sympa­thetic to the issues.
Like I saw a write-up by Shehu Sani today, he said when it happened in
Zamfara, government calls it bandit­ry and they sympathised with the
affected commu­nities but when it happens in Southern Kaduna,
gov­ernment starts to explain what is happening, rather than calling a
spade exactly what it is and sympathising with the people.

“So,
it depends on how government handles the issue at all levels; from the
federal to the state to local government and ward lev­els. I remember
when ban­ditry started in Sokoto and they overran a village, the state
governor with all his cabinets went there to sym­pathise with the
victims. They went with blankets, food items and other basic things. In
some states, they don’t do that; rather than do that, they will even
insult the communities that are the victims.

“That is what is happen­ing. Incompetent governors and rulers in the
North are responsible. The North is full of incompetent rulers. All they
want is to ride in convoys and people are hailing and waving at them.
When they come home, peo­ple sit on the mats while they are the only
ones sit­ting on a chair because they are governors. They see themselves
as Deputy Je­sus. They are not interest­ed in serving the people, all
they care about is ruling”, he said.

“Why should Kaduna end up with Muslim gov­ernor and Muslim deputy
governor? The speaker is Muslim as well as the dep­uty speaker. Two
cabinet ministers are also Muslims. There are about six or sev­en local
governments in Kaduna that are predomi­nantly Christians.

“Nigeria must look at these issues because the day it will explode,
it will surprise everybody. While elders like us are willing to tolerate
these things be­cause of peace and harmo­ny, our children may not be
able to do so because they can’t accept to be Northerners only during
neglect when positions are shared. election periods and suffer

“My own motive is for a peaceful Nigeria in which we are our
brother’s keep­er. That is my message to Nigerians because God has
blessed me to a stage where I was part of those running the government.
So, I have a highest stake in ensuring that Nigeria works than most
people be­cause I have liability also. I am one of the people that God
will hold accountable if Nigeria doesn’t work.

“Having been a former SGF, I should be worried about the future of
the country and that is why I have been talking with passion. The little
period I served as SGF will be count­ed among the periods that things
were not moving.

“That was the period I couldn’t go to my village because insurgents have
overran my local govern­ment area and I was in Abu­ja in convoy, with
security agents clearing the road for me but I couldn’t go home to my
village. That makes me an empty vessel. If Boko Haram can overrun my
lo­cal government area and then I was part of the top people in
government, that makes me an empty vessel. I sincerely hope things will
improve”, he said.

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