The chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, has said the north is not the problem of Nigeria, just as he expressed optimism that Muhammadu Buhari’s emergence as president of Nigeria will result in an effective campaign to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

In an interview with LEADERSHIP Friday yesterday, Coomassie absolved the northern region of being the cog in the wheel of the country.

“The north can never be the problem of Nigeria; it is the stabilising factor. If you go back in history, the north is the only unifying factor in this country. In fact, if leadership is in the hands of the north I assure you there will be good governance,” he stated.

Commending Buhari’s steps towards tackling Boko Haram, the former inspector-general of police stated that the recent actions of the president towards ending insurgency suggests the readiness of his administration to “crush Boko Haram to the last man.”

He said, “You can see its only one month now and you have seen what he has done so far. He has visited the scene of the incidence, he has seen the president of Chad republic, he has seen the president of Niger republic and he has visited the G-7 summit. So he is doing something to prepare the ground for a final onslaught on the Boko Haram.”

He blamed the past administration of Goodluck Jonathan for the security challenges bedevilling the northeast, pointing at the administration’s neglect of two important issues in the constitution which border on security and welfare of the citizenry.

“To make matters worse, the last six years of Jonathan’s administration ignored two important issues which were provided for in the constitution. The purpose of government is to ensure the security and welfare of the people.

Jonathan ignored this and for six years our people were being killed in the northeast of the country, properties and schools were destroyed, children were killed and even some were kidnapped.

As I am talking to you today, the Chibok girls are nowhere to be found and we do not even have tangible information about them. So one of the things we said was, ‘enough is enough.’”

The ACF chairman, however, clarified that his assessment of the present administration’s disposition toward insurgency is not connected with his personal relationship with the president.

On choice of the country’s leader, he noted that the population of the north had always influenced which region led the country. He, however, said the north should not be regarded as the political leader of Nigeria despite its numerical strength.

Speaking on the federal character policy, he posited that competence and merit should not be sacrificed on the altar of equal representation.

“Federal character was introduced by Gen Obasanjo to ensure that there is a balancing in appointments so that no one part of the country monopolises all the appointments. As far as I am concerned, it is good but without compromising merit and competence.”

Speaking on the demand for the creation of more states, Coomassie opposed the idea on the ground that the existing states are not viable to justify the creation of new ones.

On the clamour for state police from certain quarters, the former police boss said: “Ordinarily, if all factors were available, there is nothing wrong in having state police or even local government police and then you have a federal agency responsible for federal offences and the likes, but that has not been the case in this country.”

On reforms needed to reposition the police, the former IGP who had been in several police reform committees, said even many recommendations had been made in the past, their non-implementation has been the major setback.

“I have been a member of several police reform committees and we made far-reaching recommendations. I remember the last one; we made recommendations, it went to the government and they issued a white paper and set up an implementation committee under the vice president. They voted some money but it never saw the light of day.

We always recommend but the problem is always implementation and funding. You see, the police is an organisation that has been neglected for some time and the problems are so huge that no government can tackle it during its tenure,” he highlighted.

Coomassie queried the sudden removal of the last IGP, Mr Sulaiman Abba, who was removed few months after his appointment, wondering if he had committed any offence to prompt his sudden removal without investigation or query.

Speaking further, he advised that the appointment of IGPs should not be the exclusive preserve of the president, but done in consonance with Senate.

“I spoke immediately after he was sacked. Then I asked what offence he committed and, if he did commit an offence, was the due process followed? Was he investigated and served with a query? That is why we said the appointment and removal of the IGP should not be left to the president alone. It should go to the Senate,” he concluded.

http://leadership.ng/news/444411/the-north-is-not-nigerias-problem-coomassie

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The north is not Nigeria's problem.



Then he blamed Jonathan for allowing northerners to kill other northerners and destroy their property.

Interesting

well said. although no region is the problem of nigeria

this man is kunu drunk.... does that means there is no competent people from other region except from the so called mohammed.. federal character is the best way of solving imbalance in govt expecially in an ethnoreligious country called NIGERIA... in as much as am a buhari loyalist i wont support the idea of nothernocracy....

We are our own problem, not until we fix ourselves, we can't fix this nation

HEHEHEHE

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If north is not nigerians problem, which region is the problem of Nigeria

its has 2 do wit individuals nt region

cooljude:
If north is not nigerians problem, which region is the problem of Nigeria

People of all tribes and religion are the problems of Nigeria, not regions. As long as we continued believing a tribe or region is our problem we will be blinded to the real problems.

Please do tell op, if these are achievements of a president:

1) visiting of place of incident(bomb blasts by the dullard's brothers)

2) a visit to Chad and Niger

3) an invite to G7 meeting...

Left to me I call both the duara dullard and the writer of the article pathetic hypocrites...

Lest I forget, the problem with Nigeria remains it's northern components ..

cooljude:
If north is not nigerians problem, which region is the problem of Nigeria

YORUBAS(SW) ARE THE PROBLEM OF NIGERIA............Sanusi lamido sanusi 2014.

The only problem Nigeria has in the 19 States in the north.

jammani:
We are our own problem, not until we fix ourselves, we can't fix this nation

"When it comes to BIAFRA, the Yorubas and Hausa/Fulanis are the WORST hypocrites.

They bitterly hate the Igbos and indeed the southern minorities and would want them to leave Lagos etc and go stay in their own country!

But in contradiction to their true feelings, they don't want Biafra because they want to perpetuate their right to collect the lion share of the oil resources sourced from the same peoples land, using the bogus criteria they foisted on the country called Nigeria.

Without oil in Igboland and Southern minorities part of Nigeria, Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani would have long seceded from Nigeria. FACT!

I know just like me, many of our people are not 100% convinced Biafra is the answer, while many others already are.

Therefore, we should agitate for a UN sponsored referendum on the Biafra issue .
Northern Ireland fought the British for 30 years for the independence of Northern Ireland, but the referendum proved that majority of the people wanted to stay in the UK. Likewise, the South Sudan's referendum proved majority of South Sudanese wanted to be in their own country.

Therefore, a United Nations sponsored referendum should be the demand to see if majority of our people support independence or to stay in Nigeria."- Oremi22 NLander

Coomasie is still too young to be senile, however, the early symptoms of malady is quite apparent in the interview

emmalexabl:




YORUBAS(SW) ARE THE PROBLEM OF NIGERIA............Sanusi lamido sanusi 2014.

lol, i don't have the strength for nairaland tribal war.

Idrismusty97:
People of all tribes and religion are the problems of Nigeria, not regions. As long as we continued believing a tribe or region is our problem we will be blinded to the real problems.

Humans and their various personality. I get your stand.

He said, “You can see its only one month now and you have seen what he has done so far. He has visited the scene of the incidence, he has seen the president of Chad republic, he has seen the president of Niger republic and he has visited the G-7 summit. So he is doing something to prepare the ground for a final onslaught on the Boko Haram.”

has he visited Shekau?

Anyway, the problem of Nigeria is not the North, not the West, Not the East and not the south.

The problem is forcing them together into one imaginary nation.
A stitch in time saves nine.