Perhaps, when the Islamic religious sect, Boko Haram, led by late Mohammed Yusuf, driven by their misguided zealotry set Borno State ablaze, literally speaking, Governor Ali Modu Sheriff had no idea how easily a villain could become a hero in death.
But today, he is facing the most difficult time of his rather illustrious political career that has seen him elected thrice as a Senator and twice as Governor because of the controversial circumstances of the sect leader’s death. He has been accused of not only sponsoring the group but ordering the killing of Yusuf.
But in this interview with Ikechukwu Amaechi, the Governor presents his own side of the story. Excerps
Borno State went through a very traumatic experience penultimate week. How is Maiduguri now?
Maiduguri is peaceful. For now, normalcy has returned and from the feedback we are getting, people have started their normal lives having gone through the trauma that lasted for almost five days. If you had come to the streets of Maiduguri then, you would think you were in a ghost town. You couldn’t find anybody because of fear and because of what they had seen especially in the capital city. But, everything has normalized now.
As the Governor, what was actually going through your mind during those five days of madness, how did you feel?
I felt bad because innocent souls were being killed, people were being separated from their families and people were going through hell because bandits were operating right inside the Maiduguri town and they were openly going around with their guns terrorizing everybody.
Did you see the crisis coming?
Yes, I saw it coming at a stage particularly when I saw the tape of Yusuf’s sermon where he dared me and the Nigerian state, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of this country. He was daring every leader. What made me feel bad was that he was boasting that he had been arrested before and released and that even if he was arrested again, nothing would happen. At that stage, I got really worried. He threatened that they knew where we slept, our route to the offices and therefore they would deal with us. He specifically mentioned my name and said I was the biggest Kafir, unbeliever who must be dealt with.
I got really worried and that was the time that we asked the security operatives, ‘Operation Flush,’ to stop even motorcycles after 7pm because there was a law to that effect. What they do in the name of preaching is that in the night, they go enmass after 7pm preaching and that is prohibited in the state as it were.
When did you get this tape you are talking of?
I got the tape less than one month ago and that was the time that I really got worried. There are lots of security meetings on this man to bring an end to the situation we found on ground today.
Apart from the law you made banning okada, what other security steps did you take so that the situation will not get out of hand?
The commander of the Operation Flush which is in charge of keeping peace visited the state and said that whatever they can do to enforce the law that does not allow followership to go around in the town will surely be done. It was as a result of the security alert that we put in place; they are watching them and their movement, to see what they are doing, they were arrested just one week to this crisis or four days to the crisis, we started knowing the extent of what they were doing because we were having them on tape. But before then, they had an encounter with soldiers before the incident happened, they tried to disarm soldiers on patrol and the soldiers had no other choice at that point than to open fire on them. So he said since soldiers have opened fire on them, now he was ready for attack. But I think he was basically looking for ways of doing what we are privy to.
Could it be that you treated these people with kid gloves because you were afraid of the possible backlash of a Muslim governor clamping down on a Muslim sect?
That is not true because they were against even the Muslim leaders. The ultimate problem is that every Muslim leader or religious sect that is not following in line with what he is doing is an enemy of God and that is how he has earmarked those he felt should be killed.
Were you part of those people that were supposed to be killed?
Yes and he said that publicly on the tape where he was threatening that they know where we sleep, they know the route we take to go to our offices, therefore, they will deal us. He mentioned my name that I am the greatest unbeliever.
Did you ever meet Mohammed Yusuf?
I have never met Mohammed Yusuf in my life.
There is a problem here because the feedback we got from Abuja was that the State Security Service (SSS) said they sent 21 security reports to you which you did not act on?
The SSS never sent anything like that. As a chief security officer of a state, when you read something in the newspaper, you don’t respond just like that. You have to enquire from the security operatives whether there was anything like that and I confronted them and no security agency admitted to being the source of that malicious allegation.
As far as I am concerned, there are people who under normal circumstances have a problem and now they found a situation where they could use this to achieve their goals. I read in the papers that Buji Fai (former Commissioner of Religious Affairs) was brought to me and that I asked the security officers to go and kill him. As I am talking to you, the last time I saw him was two years, seven months ago. That was the day he walked into my office and said, “I have an advice for you if you will not be offended”, I said Buji what is this advice and why must I be offended? I appointed you my commissioner so that you can advise me and he said, I have made up my mind to quit my job because taking salary from the government is haram (a sin) and I have decided not to do it again. So I am advising you to do same because anything western is haram. I want you to resign as Governor so that you can go to paradise, otherwise, you will die like this and you will go to hell fire. Immediately he left my office, I asked my aides to find out if the man had gone insane and because I didn’t want him to mislead the young people, I sacked him. We had just been re-elected and I decided to dissolve the cabinet because I didn’t want him to go out there and address a press conference to say he resigned, thereby given credibility to his false beliefs and misleading the unwary. I dissolved the cabinet and asked him to go and ever since I have not set my eyes on him even just to come and say hello to me. Even when he was arrested, I heard from the chairman of the local government that he was arrested and handed over to the security operatives. As I am talking to you, I have not seen him and ever since the time he left my office, we have not met in any way.
There is also the belief that perhaps why the Borno State government did not act against these people on time was that most members were children of the elite in the society and you were afraid of political backlash?
It is not true. You see, as far as I am concerned, there is no responsible father that brought up his child properly that would allow a lunatic to tell him that western education is haram. Every religion of God teaches that you should seek for knowledge. The man himself was driving cars. We were told that he was the one physically attacked the prison, he was the one who was leading the operation, we were told he had cars following him. And the cars are all products of western education and technology. It didn’t come from the moon.
So, I was the one who called on the President and Commander-in-Chief to intervene because we found that this thing was beyond Borno State. It was not Borno State alone that this man and his follower are. It happened to be that his headquarters was in Maiduguri.
There is this allegation that you gave the man 80 kilometers of land?
Well, there is nothing of such. But the truth of the matter is that even the house he was living was not his house. The man that was alleged to be sponsoring him was his in-law. The Certificate of Occupancy of the place that we demolished was in his father-in-law’s name. I asked the Commissioner of Land to bring every land document that had Mohammed Yusuf’s name to me and the man said ‘oga, it is not even his house. It is the house of his in-law.’ So, the whole story is not true. At least you have come to Borno to see things for yourself and I encourage other journalists to come around and see things for themselves rather than writing in isolation. Ninety person of the people he killed were Muslims because they don’t believe in him.
Were you surprised at the level of preparations because we hear that bombs and all manner of sophisticated weapons were freely use?
I told you that the time we knew there was danger was when some of his followers were found with bombs in one local government. That was the time that the whole thing became real and one or two of them exploded in Maiduguri just two days before the operation and killed two people in the house. So it is very surprising.
But this is an indictment. You are the Chief Security Officer of the state and these lethal weapons were acquired right under your nose and you didn’t know?
The point is that the bombs were not imported bombs; they were manufacturing them locally. So it could be that they brought people as guests, visitors. The bomb even blew one of them in Maiduguri; the person in question was in the process, doing it and it blew him up. So you see, as a developing nation, everyday, we learn more and we take measures from what we have learnt and the point is that sometimes nobody would even image that an individual will decide to wage a war against government institutions. That was a shock to all of us and we as a state government we are grateful to the president because if not for his intervention, things would have been out of control here in Borno and even Kano, the level of destruction would have been worst. The question now is that why are people not talking about the over 700 people Mohammed Yusuf killed, you are talking only about his death. We went in company of the military to see the people that he slaughtered in his house just because they don’t believe in what he was preaching. Nigerians are not talking about the innocent people he killed but rather, people are only talking about the killing of Mohammed Yusuf. We know we are working in an atmosphere of the rule of law but when you are protecting the lives of the people, casualties are bound to occur. Mohammed Yusuf as far as am concerned was a devil and God made it possible for the President and Commander-in-Chief to intervene at the right time.
You witnessed the Maitasine riots and now the Boko Haram riots. Which of the two was scarier?
Most scary was this one
Why?
Because nobody knew the kind of ammunition that they had. Nobody knew that they had the capacity to do what they had done. The police could not contain them. It was scary because we never believed that these people were as dangerous as they exhibited during the crisis.
I thought that after they must have finished with their investigation, the police would handle them but unfortunately, the police could not contain them.
What is it in Borno State that makes it a fertile ground for these extremist tendencies?
The truth about it is that Maiduguri is the home of quaranic knowledge. People go there to learn the quaran from all over the place. Yusuf was not teaching the quaran. His followers are now being arrested and they will now tell us what they are really up to. But the truth remains that nobody can tell what they are up to because how can they be killing fellow Muslim, calling them unbelievers because they did not subscribe to the philosophy that western education is not good and should not be condoned?
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) accused you of being a sponsor of Boko Haram?
I am surprised because the CAN in Maiduguri went on television and commended the government for prompt action and sympathized with the government. As a responsible leader, you don’t go into issues that you knew nothing about and this is something that is capable of bringing war in any nation and for CAN to have made such a statement is highly irresponsible. The Christians in the state have commended the state government and they have also commended us for our effort in quelling the crisis before it got out of control.
But the insinuation is that Fai and Yusuf were killed because elites did not want them to talk because if they had been allowed to do so, they would have revealed those behind them?
This is a totally false accusation because every elite in the state is a target because the elites of this state are people that have gone to school. So why should any elite be involved in this useless thinking of a criminal like Yusuf? You cannot be an elite if you don’t go to school and get to a level in the society. Somebody would wake up one morning and say that everything we are doing is criminal, is haram, where would that person come from? But I think some politicians are using these people to press their political ambition which they cannot get.
Why would they do that, when you are serving a second term?
Because if you are not a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Borno State, there will be no chance for you to win election because 90 percent of the people in Borno are in support of the ANPP and they have fought this game since 1999 and they have been losing it. Everyday, they are looking and thinking of how to take over power otherwise why should you in any way associate yourself with a group that would only end up unleashing terror on the people. Democracy is western education; I don’t think government has anything to do with them.
Colonel Abubakar Umar said that the force that was used in dislodging these people was excessive and that the killing of Yusuf was extra-judicial?
I don’t want to join issues with people. But the Umar that you are talking about was a military man. He was a military officer and he is entitled to his opinion. What I want to tell you is that people of Borno State are happy that the security forces have brought peace to them. So I have no answer to his comment. The people of the state are grateful to the President for bringing peace to them.
Could it be that the state felt that the man could never be brought to justice if he was taken to court and therefore silenced him?
There is no element of truth in that because the police have said that he was trying to escape and I tend to believe them. Police barracks were burnt, they have guns and they were shooting. So it is not true that anybody had interest in silencing him so that he would not be able to make known those who were behind him. I don’t believe that at all. But Nigeria is a free country and everybody has the right to comment on any issue.
The President has set up a team led by National Security Adviser to probe into the Boko Haram crisis and of course the killing of Yusuf. Has that team met with you, what did they ask you?
For now, nobody has come to meet me. But if they come we will tell them what we know about the whole thing.
Who was Buji Fai?
Buji Fai was my commissioner and a former two-time local government chairman in the state. He was a member of my party; he was an elected chairman of his people.
What I do before appointing anybody as a commissioner in my cabinet is that I call for nominations from the various local government areas of the state. I ask members of my party to bring nominations. Buji served under my government for two years or so and because of his belief, I sacked him and ever since he left the government I have not seen him.
Was there anything about him that gave you an idea that he was an extremist?
Nothing until the day he walked into my office. But I know that as a local government chairman he was upright. That was why he was elected twice. I never knew that he was an extremist until that day he entered into my office.
Are you worried that rather than being praised over the swift manner the crisis was handled and brought under control, you are being vilified?
I am very worried because most of the people that died, the victims that were slaughtered by Yusuf, nobody is talking about them. The lives, innocent souls that were taken nobody is talking about them. People should know the truth about Mohammed Yusuf and what the people in Borno State suffered in his hands. Most of the comments people are making is because of what they read in the newspapers. They are not from Maiduguri; they are not in Maiduguri. As the Chief Security officer of a state, I know that no security officer will give security report to anybody anyhow. But I don’t want to talk on security matters.
What is the government going to do to rehabilitate the victims of this crisis?
We are setting up machinery to find out all about the victims and we are appealing to the federal government to assist in this direction so that the lives of the victim can be rehabilitated.
Do you feel happy the way you handled the whole situation, is there anything you will do differently if this crisis were to erupt again?
I don’t want to pray for any crisis to happen but if such happens again, we will appeal to the federal government again as we did before because we have only one police and one army, so in the case of anything of that nature, we have to appeal to the federal government to come to our aid. I will like the President to intervene.
What are you going to do with the Boko Haram Sect, will it be banned?
We have had a meeting with all the religious groups, both the Muslims and the Christians and they have accepted that we should regulate them. We are putting a new law in place to check what people are preaching and I think that will help to ensure that things are done in the appropriate way.
But there is no likelihood that those that have been indoctrinated by Yusuf will abandon what they are doing. How do you ensure that they don’t go out tomorrow and mislead the people again?
His followers are being arrested on a daily basis and we will ensure that the arrest continues until they are completely moved away from the innocent citizens of the state so that they can go about their normal businesses without being molested.
Are you going to outlaw them?
We will not allow them any breathing space to operate in Borno State again. That is the plan of the government.
What are you doing to curtail the activities of Yusuf?
That is the reason why we took a lot of steps. All the traditional rulers of the state, the local government chairmen in the state are all involved in identifying the members of the sect and arresting them so that we don’t have anything like Mohammed Yusuf existing.
Some people have said that what led to the Boko Haram phenomenon is the level of poverty in the society. What is the political leadership doing to ensure that at least people have food, education, so that they don’t fall into the hands of people who manipulate them like Mohammed Yusuf?
I think most of the states of the federation are creating different avenues to see that and you will agree with me that Nigeria is a big country with over 140 million people. It is not everything that government will do for the people; we also have to resolve to change our attitude in so many areas. Everybody doesn’t have to work in an office. We are encouraging people to go back to agriculture. Even the President is doing a lot in the state to engage everybody in one way or the other. Farmers are even getting N50 billion loan from government. All you need is a guarantor and collateral from people that you can pay back this money.
In the state, we even created a Ministry for Poverty Alleviation and Eradication to train youths so that they can be useful. But I want to assure you that we will get there. We are doing a lot. Today, in the state, so many things that were not done before are being done now. We are encouraging agriculture; we are buying tractors and renting out to the farmers virtually free so as to encourage them to be serious in their farming business. Most of the things that make civil servants to be corrupt – how to get shelter when they retire, where will their family live – government is trying to provide answers to them so that they can pay attention to their work and not think of what happens to them when they leave. We are also building modern social facilities to make the people of the state live a meaningful life.
