Honourable Peter Biye Gumta,is a member representing Gwoza, Chibok and Damboa federal constituency at the lower chamber of the National Assembly. Lately, he has been speaking on the recurrent killings and destruction of property of the people he represents by the Islamic militants, Boko Haram. In this interview with DailyPost, he spoke on the incessant attack on his country home in Gwoza, why he cannot visit his constituency and other sundry issues. Maina Maina sent Excerpts:
Q: Sir, recently your house in Gwoza was destroyed by Boko Haram, who also took away some valuables and poverty alleviation materials meant for the people of your constituency. Gwoza, we know is a volatile area, where activities of the insurgents are on the rise. Can you tell us what actually happened?
A: I feel sad really. Actually, it was on the 8th January, 2014, that the insurgents went to my village. When they got there, they specifically asked for my house and the place of worship. They went there, burnt down the house and everything in the house was looted. Those they could not take with them were destroyed. The church was also burnt down. But before the attack, I was opportune to have gathered first-hand information about the planned attack. I gathered from my village that insurgents were coming to attack the village. That was three weeks before the incident. When I was told, I quickly came down to Maiduguri from Abuja by road since there was no flight. When I arrived, I went to the then GOC 7 division Nigerian Army, General Ethen. When I met him, I told him about the planned attack and lack of security presence in my village and the whole Gwoza east, which is, Ngoshe, Ghava, Chikide, Barawa, Ashigashiya and Kirawa respectively. I told him that these people are suffering as the insurgents are attacking them on a daily basis; he quickly swung into action and posted some troops to the area. I also told him the information I got about my village and he promised to do something about it.
He actually spoke to the Brigade commander and the Brigade commander directed the person in charge of Gwoza area to post troops to my village with the information at hand. So, I was relaxed thinking that all was well with the order given. After about two or three days, I called the military again to inquire if they had posted troops to my village because the people called to inform me that, there was no security presence in the village and they assure me again that they were going to send some troops.
When I called the Commanding Officer, again, he told me that he had already sent some troops to the village, but when I called my brother, who is the village head, he said there were no soldiers. I was so shocked because they assured me that they posted soldiers, however, I believed my brother naturally because he was on ground in the village. I called the GOC again, and he even queried the Brigade commander on why the posting of troops was not effected. When the GOC called back, he told me that, the posting had been effected and I told him, there was one Lt. Rabiu, who was instructed to go there, but when he went, the villagers said he stayed for about an hour and left the village and he was posted again to another unit. I called Lt. Rabiu and he did not pick my calls even the day the insurgents were coming to the village, they were identified from where they took off to my village.
Some people heard them talking and went and whispered to my people that the insurgents were coming to attack the village on this day. When my people called me, I also called all the relevant security but there was no action. They went to the village around 8:00pm and people were calling me; they were crying that the insurgents were burning my house and the church.
In my house, there were materials that I bought that were supposed to be distributed to my electorates; all these were burnt, some of it were taken away, including livestock. They razed everything down to ashes. In fact, I was so angry that you can’t believe the words that I used on one military General. I said, ‘It is the military that sent soldiers to go and burn my house, not Boko Haram’. I accused them, because they had the information prior to the attack and they did not take action.
One thing that gladdens my heart however is that, the insurgents did not burn the houses belonging to the poor around my house, even though those houses were built by myself and distributed free to the people. The houses are more than 200 but they did not burn them. If they had burnt those houses, it would have been a great disaster to me. I am not happy with the action of the military for not taking prompt action even when they had the information at hand. Even yesterday, you have heard that the insurgents went to attack one village, killing 8 people in Hambagda Jaji ward of Sabon Gari in Gwoza local government area. It is no more news because everybody knows that they (Insurgents) are moving from one place to another in our area and any place they know that is Christian populated, their mind is to go and destroy those areas. The problem is that, since the military are also aware of these, why can’t they go and take prompt action and prevent this kind occurrence? I don’t know, but our military action in this state of emergency is very slow, I don’t know what they are planning to do, but I am not happy with what is actually happening in our area, because right now, out of about 272 Churches, you cannot have 8 Churches standing as all have been razed down. Houses were burnt, people have been killed and if you tell the military that this is what is happening, they would not go. They would rather tell you that the Boko Haram weapons are more sophisticated than theirs. The question is, why should they be there when they cannot secure lives and property of innocent citizens? What surprises me most is that, those who went to burn my house were just 8 in number. If the military was serious about that, they would have secured the area, but unfortunately, they were not as they did not take action. I believe even you that I am telling these things, you are not happy. The most baffling thing is that, I am a member of the House Committee on Army, and if they could do this to me, then what will happen to someone who cannot reach them to complain? They were supposed to in fact, guard my house properly but failed. I don’t know whether I am one of the sacrificial lambs but it is unfortunate.
Q: Sir, with all these, can you see any political link? We heard that so many politicians are falling over themselves for your seat, but you appear so reluctant about it. What actually is your game plan for 2015?
A: Well, it could be politics or perhaps not politics. I know that the position of the federal constituency in the three local government councils, which I represent, does not belong to me alone. I was just elected by the people and if the people don’t want me again, they can vote me out. Everybody has the right to contest so long as the electorates want such to represent them. I came from Gwoza, there is Chibok and there is also Damboa anyone can come from those areas including my local government because it is a constitutional right, and I am not the Alpha and Omega. But if politics iis the reason they are using the insurgents to destroy somebody’s property, I think they are wrong. And that cannot shake me. My first time of contesting for this seat was in 2007, and we were 7 in number that contested, but I emerged victorious with more votes, because there were primaries and I won by majority.
Q: Honourable Sir, have you at any point in time raised the issue military inefficiency on the floor of the House?
A: You know, sometimes when we, at the floor of the House want to discuss issues such as security or insecurity, we do not do it on the floor of the House, but in a closed door chamber. We do raise such issues and in fact, we do rob minds on issues generally about the military and its operation in this part of the country.
Actually, the truth is, sometimes the military are not at fault, but the government, which is not giving them adequate funding.
Q: Sir, when you said government is not given them adequate funding, what do you mean by that? We know their budget run into trillions of naira. What are they doing with the whole funds and where is the money going?
A: That is our point of contention with the government. The president brings in the budget for example, you said, one trillion, and that one trillion you said is for security. What does this security mean? One, his own personal security, and you cannot ask the president how he spends security money going by the constitution. So, that is how we run our country. If you don’t have somebody who fears God, anything can happen about the budget and that is the problem we have. So, in the budgetary provision for Army, you have Defense, military in general and Army headquarters. The budget is in stages. Anything for army goes to the army; anything for Defense goes to the entire security, so, if this budget for army is compare to what the army is going through, even in their barracks, it is a major problem because it cannot maintain the barracks. And even if the budget is given to them, the envelop coming to them before the end of the year may not be one quarter of the budget. So, there is budget and there is the actual envelop that gets to the table. In this country, we are abusing the budget, if not, we have funds that can take care of the problem. Nigeria is very rich, even more than you know, richer than even America. Nigeria is one size of a state in America, we are not even up to Florida but our resources are more and vibrant than all the states in America put together, but we don’t manage it.
Q: Sir, with 2015 coming up, we want to believe that, you still want to contest. Your constituency is boiling everyday with insurgent’s activities on the increase. How have you reached out to your people to warrant your re-election?
A: Thank you for that very important question. I believe you will hear from me today and you will tell others. One, all of us that were elected, whether as members of the House of Assembly, Representative or as Senator, with this current happening, cannot boast of going to our people to say what we have done today, so they can elect us. No, and that is the truth about it. For two good years now, I have been in the office, but I have never visited my constituency because I cannot go. And today, I cannot go to Damboa, Chibok, Gwoza, because this constituency, on a daily basis is under attack and today, if you cannot go to your people, there is no message you send that would reach them successfully. For example, I just bought materials for the electorates and they went and burnt it. That is what you should know about politics. Two, the constituency project cannot be carried out. There are about two or three projects that I sent for my constituency, construction of three blocks of classroom, construction of a clinic at Atagara, construction of a clinic in Chibok, construction of a clinic in Damboa. The one in Gwoza, they were asked to bury the foundation the day they started work there by the insurgents. Some materials were still left there, so, there is no project that is going on politically in our area. The last time I bought grains of about 500 bags, one of the drivers that were carrying the grains to the people in Damboa is still with the Insurgents. Up till now, he is still in the hands of the insurgents, they arrested him. Even the one that was burnt in my house includes 500 bags of grains, 300 pieces of water pumps, 300 sewing machines, 30,000 packet of chalks, 30,000 packet of exercise books, 30,000 packet of biro, 30,000 packet of pencil were all burnt to ashes.
Q: How much, in terms of naira and kobo did you sink into buying the materials burnt in your house in Gwoza?
A: Well, I thinks when we calculated yesterday, it amounted to about thirty-eight million naira (N38, 000,000).
Q: How can you describe your constituency now, with all the happenings there, can you say it’s now a lawless society?
A: Well, if I said it’s a lawless society, it could be true or not true. You know it is something that is mix. The story is mix and you cannot say it. You can think over and over again, but you cannot pick one solution to the problem in that area. Fairly, I can say that, Chibok local government is calm and quiet for now except for the surrounding villages where activities of the insurgents are still ongoing, but the main Chibok town is secured because the people have resolved to stand against the challenges.
Q: Sir, on a final note, you did explain a very difficult situation for a politician like you in Borno state with a Christian background. Now, 2015 election is much talked about now, how do you intend to go about meeting your people?
A: We are all praying, and by the grace of God, from now to the middle of the year, something should be done for peace to return not only in my area, but the whole of Borno state. However, if nothing is done to checkmate the insurgents before then, we cannot hide our feelings because the truth is politicking will not go successfully in Borno state in general. That is the explanation. If the Military cannot wipe out these people between now and the middle of this year, Borno should forget about politicking in 2015.
Comments