Masari’s ex-aide blasts PMB, says FG’s reactions to criminality repulsive

BY ANDY ASEMOTA, Katsina

Former special adviser to Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State on New Media, Maiwada Danmallam, has described the President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of challenges posed by terrorists and bandits in the country as repulsive and embarrassing.

Danmallam’s comment titled:

“WHY CRIMINALITY SHOULD NOT BE POLITICIZED OR DICHOTOMIZED: THE CASE OF FARIDA SANI KA’OJE AND LOIS AZURFA JOHN,” came a day after viral reports about the planned forceful wedding of Lois Azurfa John, the 21-year old victim of the Kaduna/Abuja train attack who’s still in captivity, to a member of the ISWAP terrorists group behind the attack.

The former media aide, in the press statement made available to Daily Champion yesterday, said the Federal Government needs to employ all options to prevent this national embarrassment.

“Nigeria cannot afford to slid back into the barbaric days of might is right. In doing this, The Federal Government should take no hostages. It must express in the loudest and clearest voice its determination to sustain the status of Nigeria as a civilized country.

“For a start, the FG, as a matter of urgency, should discard its somewhat lenient disposition and adopt a more stern mien to align Nigerians with the single agenda of restoring sanity into the country.

“The FG should at all cost deny charlatans and crisis entrepreneurs a chance to politicize the case of Lois Azurfa John or the case of Leah Sheribu, a Dapchi abductee still in captivity,” he declared.

According to him, depressing and embarrassing as the case of Lois Azurfa John can be, it remained no more painful than

the case of Farida Sani Kaoje,

who was kidnapped alongside 70 other school mates when bandit-leader, Dogo Gide attacked Federal Government College (FGC) Birnin Yauri sometime in November 2021.

“That so far, only 30 of victims regained their freedom constitutes only a fraction of the traumatic stories of the victims of the FGC Yauri, abductions who today, are in their 14th month in captivity (and still counting).

“For FGC Birnin Yauri victim -parents like Sani Fari, it’s a story of a traumatic reality which gravity and pain only people who passed through similar emotional turmoils could appreciate,” Danmallam lamented.

He expressed concern that Farida was only 16 years old when she was kidnapped alongside 70 schoolmates by hundreds of fearsome bandits led by the dreaded Dogo Gide and despite efforts to rescue Farida and her schoolmates by the government, including a stern warning by Governor Bagudu of Kebbi State to personally lead a mission to rescue the victims, only 30 of the victims excluding Farida came back home to the relief of their parents.

He also reminded Nigerians about their responsibilities as citizens in tackling insecurity and insurgency, while deploring the penchant of many to politicize sensitive issues as second to none on the global table.

“Dichotomizing purely criminal matters for the purpose of putting pressure on the government to do what’s right wouldn’t achieve anything for Nigeria beside compounding the problem.

“If mounting ethno – religious pressure could solve problems like this, the loud and largely politicized campaign to free Leah Sheribu, who was there long before Farida and Lois, would have seen Sheribu at home with her parents but she’s not.

“Just as much, if silence and near absolute media “unawareness” could soften the hearts of criminals, Farida would have been home with her parents given the absolute blackout the Nigerian media accorded her case. I’m sure very few readers of this opinion knew about Farida before this piece,” he frowned.

Danmallam urged that Nigerians should re-arrange their priorities and adopt a more positive disposition towards the problems asphyxiating the country and should learn to appreciate the dangers of allowing the country to be fragmented on the basis of spurious or at best, overblown fault lines.

He further admonished the presidency thus: “The best way to infuse this lesson into Nigerians is for the government to adopt a no -nonsense policy of dealing with charlatans and crisis entrepreneurs whose stock in trade is to confuse the polity using  ethnicity and religion as a tool.

“No government need to be encouraged by CAN or any Islamic body to upload its statutory responsibility of protecting lives and properties. The idea of using religious bodies to put unnecessary pressure on the government should be discouraged by wielding the biggest stick possible where and when necessary to reset our sense of reasoning.

“This is a prayer for the release/rescue of Leah Sheribu, Farida Sani Ka’oje and Lois Azurfa John. May they all be re-united with their families and loved ones.”