Alhaji Sagir Muhammad, who holds the title Waziri Ringim was the leader of defunct Arewa Peoples Congress, APC. Known as a front line General Ibrahim Babangida loyalist, Muhammad, who retired from the military as intelligence officer in the 1990’s, in this interview spoke on burning national issues.

By AbdulSalam Muhammad

What do you think is responsible for an upsurge in the activities of the insurgents despite claims that they have been technically defeated?

Insurgency is the most difficult aspect of military operation because you don’t know your enemy, you don’t know where he is, you don’t know the kind of tactics he uses which is not conventional tactics, you don’t know the kind of logistic he uses and you don’t know where the logistics are or where they are hidden.

And above all why it is extremely difficult is that the insurgents are usually embedded within the civil society.

If you probably know where their training ground is like Sambisa there may be other training grounds within the civil society. As you are trying to go to Sambisa you find that the insurgents are fighting you from the back, the right and the left.

Then you find that dividing your forces to fight the insurgents is extremely very difficult and probably when you are trying to go to North-East, you hear bomb blasts in Lokoja, Sokoto, Kano, etc. Now tell me how do you plan for this kind of operation? It is very difficult.

In September I heard an interview with the press over the Federal Government’s deadline to obliterate the insurgency. I said it is a mistake to put deadline because of the complexity and the intricacies involved in fighting the insurgency.

Fighting the insurgency


Sagir Muhammad
Now, the bulk of the fighting forces of the insurgents had be rooted out but the problem is that so long as there is bomb blast and people are being killed the insurgency has not ended. It is not a question of capturing ground. It is a question of ending the state of criminality and the use of human being to commit terror.

It would still go on because we are saying “we would end the insurgency” but we are not doing anything to tackle the psyche of the insurgents, the foot soldiers and supporters of the insurgency who are everywhere. So it has to be a four-face operation: One – to diminish the effectiveness of the insurgents to launch high level attack like using anti-tank and high calibre weapons.

Two, to use our intelligence and liaison to stop insurgents who are within the society that can turn themselves into human weapon. Three, there has to be spiritual counselling and guidance to get captured or repented insurgents reintegrated into the society and to conform with the acceptable norms of the society. Four, there should be rehabilitation and reconciliation.

Are you suggesting dialogue as a way out?

If there is no dialogue how do you stop the remnants, supporters, children of those killed from metamorphosing into another insurgents? There has to be a way of making them know that what they are doing is not helping them and that their concept of Jihad is off mark.

If they are fighting for the cause of Islam, they are killing Muslims more than they are killing anybody. So you find that we can only do that by peaceful means.

Is it appropriate to describe the current agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra for Biafra Republic as a transfer of aggression to the Nigerian state?

Those Indigenous People of Biafra have a hidden agenda. Their hidden agenda is to declare Biafra and then go recolonize the South-South.

They would go and within a question of less than one month they would capture all those South-South and colonise the oil fields that is the agenda of IPOB. If you look at the East, it is land-locked; they don’t have any serious minerals apart from coal.

Even the geography and geology of the East is so poor that even to build a good house they cannot unless you build a house in a bush because it’s all bush, it’s all forested and that is why you find the majority of the elite Igbo are now half of the owners of the houses in Abuja.

If the Indigenous People of Biafra are now saying that they want to have Biafra what are you going to do with more than three quarters of the Igbo who are outside the East?

Those in Kano, those in Lagos what are you going to do with then? Will you take all those people back to Biafra? They have no houses to live, they have no means of livelihood. They make money outside and not in the East so you find that they are crawling into fantasy world.

They were talking vaguely during former President Goodluck Jonathan administration but what is really happening is they still say that Nigeria is not fair to the Igbo. One, up till now they do not have an Igbo President.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/why-igbo-want-to-colonise-s-south-sagir-muhammad/

i concur

Just like the Fulani's have colonised the north east, north central, north west, and are trying to colonise the sw?

Not in this century

Igbos cannot colonize SS, we are in partnership to achieve a goal, as soon as our goals are achieved we will work towards a common ground or move on from there

80percent of oil well is own by hausa oligarchs which is a fact so who is colonizing who... . Northerners have been colonizing the south south already till today they see it as a conquered territory.. .

All these Gworo chewing and ewedu eaters sef,how about we igbos in delta state,how will Igbo colonize Igbo!

This man needs more breastfeeding. He's sounding like a flushed brain... From his voice, you can hear regional descrimination. How can you be so brash and extremely critical about a particular region who are agitating for recognition in a govt via biafra movement. Now I understand why the coal in the east has has been laying redundant since after civilwar...

ericuzor:
80percent of oil well is own by hausa oligarchs which is a fact so who is colonizing who... . Northerners have been colonizing the south south already till today they see it as a conquered territory.. .

Bros I tire o,these parasites are controlling he oil wells and it's revenues!

Some retar*ds are even supporting Nigeria Govt to level ND because of tompolo,this is how parasitic tey can be!

Even the geography and geology of the East is so poor that even to build a good house they cannot unless you build a house in a bush because it’s all bush, it’s all forested and that is why you find the majority of the elite Igbo are now half of the owners of the houses in Abuja.

See jab at Igbos. IPOB have turned a major tribe in Nigeria into a foot-mat that anyone from anywhere can easily match upon. SMH

No matter what you say, we are formidable. Attention Seekers' Association of Nigeria(ASSON)

Another northern m0ron on the loose. This abok1 should face his poverty, disease and war ravaged region and leave Ndi Igbo alone. THERE ARE IGBOS IN DELTA AND RIVERS STATE AND WE ARE PROUD OF OUR IGBOS ROOTS AS WE ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE IGBO NATION.

PentiumPro:




See jab at Igbos. IPOB have turned a major tribe in Nigeria into a foot-mat that anyone from anywhere can easily match upon. SMH

hey conehead,better listen,igbos have a way of life which u dnt understand,before u see any igbo man building house outside the east,knw that he already has two duplexes in his village and the city already,where do u think the 10 million igbos outside the east came back to during the war,is it nt the same east? and by the way dat mohammed needs to tell his brothers to leave ss alone,i hope u knw that 80% of oil wells is owned by his brothers and 11% by coneheads, dominate ko jungulate ni

SUPERPACK:
i concur

I know u will, well, if u think education is expensive, test ignorance, u love nigria so much but knows veri little of her geographical set up, funni people