Amotekun vs Shege Ka Fasa: Nigeria’s road map to Anarchy — Balarabe Musa

Former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa is furious again. When he undertook an extravagant review of the various regional security outfits being proposed by some regional blocs last Thursday, he concluded that Nigeria was headed for anarchy.

As he puts it, the latest regional security outfit formed by the Coalition of Northern Groups which announced its presence last week was nothing but a direct challenge to the one floated by the Southwest governors.

According to Musa, “we are facing what we can compare at the moment more than what happened in Somalia and what is still happening.”

To him, what is happening about Nigeria’s security architecture is a raucous gathering of dark clouds over the country, warning that unless the security issue was first tackled, an ominous chaos akin to what led to the last civil war in Nigeria looms. Excerpts:

The last time the Southwest governors launched the Western Region Security Network, code-named Operation Amotekun, you described the move as not only illegal, but also a prelude to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic by the Yoruba. Now that a Coalition of Northern Groups has floated the Northern Regional Security outfit code-named Operation Shege Ka Fasa, what do you have to say?

Anarchy, anarchy. I heard it over the radio and somebody also told me that a northern coalition has formed a group on security. Listen to me; let me tell you. What you have is anarchy. I am telling you the truth. I told the person who called me yesterday the danger. You the media are trying to make things even worse. People are trying to bring about anarchy. It will not even break up Nigeria, it will bring up only another threat even worse than Biafra. Look, these boys have simply formed a group to challenge Amotekun. While that of Amotekun is a Leopard they have made their own a Lion and they said:“Shege Ka Fasa,” which means “only a bastard should stop this,” which is a direct northern challenge to Amotekun. And this is anarchy arising from the incompetence of the government. We have told you the truth; people do not want to listen. Now, they are beginning to see the truth of what will happen. They are responding to Amotekun. They are challenging Amotekun and they are doing it with anarchy. Whether we like it or not the solution is to handle this security problem in a civilized way. Let it be handled through the state assemblies, the governors and the National Assembly. It is not a question of self-help.

So, to you it is clearly illegal?

Yes. It is going to be illegal just like Amotekun. This will lead to anarchy. I heard it yesterday and I was shocked. Apparently, the person who told me was involved in this northern security thing. What they are saying is that if your own is a Leopard, our own is a Lion. You know a Leopard is one of the classes of Lion and they are saying that only a bastard should stop and it is a challenge to Amotekun. This is in Hausa and you cannot understand that. It is a violent challenge. It is just as illegal as Amotekun and it will lead to anarchy as a result of the incompetence of government. So, we should all address this incompetence of government that has caused this. The state assemblies, the governors, the National Assembly, the president, all should address this problem. We are going back to something worse than what led to Biafra and the civil war because of the incompetence of the Federal Government. This is quite clear. It is the incompetence of the Federal Government that is leading to this.

When you talk about incompetence, the Federal Government is saying it is doing its best and that they are on top of the situation?

Listen. Do not deceive yourself; you are a pressman, a media man; you are not an ordinary man and you are not talking to an ignorant man; you are talking to an 83-year-old man. This is a serious matter. We are facing anarchy that will lead to something worse than civil war. We are facing what we can compare at the moment more than what happened in Somalia and what is still happening. That is the risk we are facing. There are two sources causing this problem. There are forces that are bent on making sure that Nigeria is not stable to be able to do what it wants to do. This gang of six in Nigeria is so strong by natural resources. They are afraid of any government that will come in future to ask them to account for their misdeeds. They are making sure that the Nigerian government is not stable enough.

Who are members of this gang of six?

Ask somebody; don’t ask me! You know what I am talking about. I am not talking to someone who doesn’t know anything. I am talking to a pressman, a media man, who knows just as much as I know. When I say gang of six you know what I mean by gang of six; these treasury looters that can’t be touched by even EFCC. They are very strong. Three of them are so rich that they are stronger than even the Federal Government; only a few of them. There is also imperialism in the form of United States and NATO who are bent on seeing that Nigeria is not stable because in 20 years’ time Nigeria can be one of the five most advanced countries in the world and these people will not allow that to happen. They are also responsible for the insecurity in Nigeria and the incompetence of the government.

Is the emergence of these regional security outfits not a pointer to the inevitability of restructuring?

Forget about it. You are missing the point. You even the media are missing the point. It is not a question of restructuring. It is the quality of leadership that is emerging. Restructuring will not bring about competent national leadership. The point is: how can we have quality leadership? The situation now is so chaotic that we are approaching anarchy. Something has to be done and the only thing that can be done now is for the National Assembly to sit down with the president and look at the problem. The immediate problem is security. Let us face it first.

Perhaps restructuring may not be the appropriate word as far as you are concerned; but devolution of powers…

(Cuts in) Forget about it. I don’t want to waste my time. Devolution of powers alone will not solve the problem. The issue is the quality of leadership. How can we bring about the leadership that is competent that can handle this problem.

– Sunday Sun (with exception of NewsTrack’s input in the headline)