Boko Haram: Every Muslim Leader Must Speak Up Now – Emir Sanusi

Boko Haram: Every Muslim Leader
Must Speak Up Now – Emir Sanusi

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu
Sanusi II, has challenged every
Muslim leader in the country to
speak up so as to put an end to the
menace of Boko Haram insurgency
in the country.
“Silence will not be a solution and
will not solve the problem or be a
solution to major threats facing the
coun try,” the emir said.
Speaking yesterday in an interview
with CNN, he said that the federal
government needed to eradicate
poverty and create more
employment opportunities in the
country, stating that there are
certain condition that have been
created to make it possible for
Nigerian youths to be radicalised.
Answering questions on a statement
made by the presidential candidate
of the All Progressives Congress
(APC)), Gen Muhamadu Buhari, to
the effect that ‘’if Nigeria does not
kill corruption, corruption will kill
Nigeria,” he said only few people
controlled the state’s resources for
their personal interest.
The emir said: “For a long time, the
Nigerian state has been captured as
corrupt. The Nigerian political elite
must recognise that need, and if this
does not change, the country cannot
survive indefinitely. There have to be
more investment in infrastructure,
health care, education and other
major sectors of the economy. The
state cannot just exist to make some
few people very rich.
“Corruption is an old story in
Nigeria; the story has always been
bad. Corruption has hit the country
badly. I have spoken a lot about this
in the past, I don’t want to say much
about these because it is close to
election. I don’t want to deviate to
politics. Gen Buhari is right.’’
Answering a question on the
allegation of the missing $20 billion
when he was the governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he
said: ‘’My position in the Central
Bank was always that there was this
gap of $20billion between absolute
reconciliation and the federation
account, and I raised a lot of other
issues that, I think, have not been
adequately discussed and addressed
sufficiently, and one of them is the
appropriation by the National
Assembly.
‘’I think all those issues need to be
addressed and redressed properly,
and the government should begin to
close all the loopholes that can lead
to corruption in the government
revenue.”
He pointed out that the country was
suffering the impact of the inability
of the government to stop the illegal
withholding of revenues from the
federation account.
‘’The country is paying the price
today: oil price has crashed;
currency has been devalued;
government revenues are in a very
bad shape. Whichever way, this
government or the opposition has to
deal with it.’’
Emir suggests the way forward: ‘’I
think what we need is to have both
federal, state and local government
focus; a focus on growth and
economy that will create jobs and
understand that there is a strong
connection between political culture
and violence.
“Corruption is creating opportunity
for some people in the country to
get rich and shooting up inequality
between the rich and the poor. If
the federal government does not
recognise this, then it will be very
difficult to develop,’’ he concluded.

Culled from Leadership