African Democratic Congress says the reported extortion of over N56million from farmers in Zamfara State by bandits is a sign of a failed State, urging the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to put in place measures to address the situation.
The coalition party also described a viral the video of “an entire village in Ifelodun Local Government of Kwara State, completely abandoned to bandits under President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC)” as an evidence that Nigeria is sliding into a dangerous phase of state failure.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement that a situation where farmers paid terrorists before they could gain access to their own farmlands, is not just a Zamfara tragedy, but a national warning.
“A situation where people had to abandon an entire town to bandits, in the very heart of the country, is not just a local challenge but an evidence of national surrender,” he said.
According to Abdullahi, when armed gangs can collect N56 million from farmers to grant them the “right” to plant food, the issue is no longer about insecurity, but about criminal elements contesting the right to govern a part of Nigeria, adding that when criminals can tax citizens at gunpoint, it means the state has surrendered its monopoly of force and state authority is in retreat.
The ADC spokesman also expressed the party’s dismay that this could be happening in a country with one of the largest defence budgets in Africa, “yet our farmers are left to bargain with warlords for their survival.”
He recalled that in the same Zamfara State only a few days ago, about 50 people were abducted in one fell swoop, adding that this is the eerie picture of an entire town where all the people, the young, the old and the infirm had to seek refuge elsewhere for fear of bandits attacks.
ADC stated, “There are other cases which shows a very alarming pattern suggesting that other parts of the country considered safe may not be so for long.
“The pertinent question therefore is whether the Tinubu-led APC government is still in charge and can still be trusted to do its most fundamental duty, which is to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.
“We recall that in November 2014, President Bola Tinubu, leader of opposition party at the time, asked President Goodluck Jonathan to resign over the Boko Haram Challenges in The North-East of the country. He had said ” If you control the armed forces and you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, why should any part of this country be under occupation? And you give us excuses every day. In any civilized country Jonathan should have resigned.
“Although the security situation that President Tinubu was using to campaign in 2014 had multiplied exponentially under his party and is currently enjoying great prosperity under his direct watch, no one is calling on him to resign.”
The party said it’s not demanding Tinubu’s resignation but only asking him to do his job, adding that it also asked why the President thought the security situation in Rivers State warranted the declaration of state of emergency, “but the one in Zamfara with industrial scale kidnapping and a direct challenge to the authority of the Nigerian State by way of bandit tax does not even deserve a direct comment from him?”
“If the Tinubu administration cannot guarantee the safety of our farms and farming communities, if people could be forced to abandon their homes out of fear, then it has failed in its most basic responsibility. You cannot boast that you are in charge of your country while your citizens are negotiating their survival with criminals.”
