Gov. Buni bags Peace Building award, says Yobe now peaceful

Yobe state governor, Mai Mala Buni, has said the state is now one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria.

He said as the Chief Law officer in Yobe state, he has a moral and legal obligation to ensure the state is peaceful.

The governor was honored alongside other prominent leaders by the Peace Building Development Consult (PBDC).

Represented by Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Yobe state, Barrister Saleh Samanja, the Governor was speaking with newsmen Wednesday in Abuja, after receiving a Peace Building Award.

“Let me say that today Yobe state is one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria. This is possible because of the cooperation we give to security agencies and the untiring efforts of the executive governor of Yobe state Mai Mala Buni for being forthcoming in whatever the security agencies want the government to do.

“As Chief Law Officer of the state, he feels that he has both moral and legal obligations to cooperate with the security agencies so that we can achieve maximum peace in Yobe state,” he said.

Buni said the award is a morale booster, adding that he will keep doing what he is doing to see that normalcy and security is restored in the state.

“We appreciate this award because since our executive governor assumed office he has made peace and security his priority.

“He has been working closely with security agencies in the state. We bought a lot of security vehicles and gave them to security agencies for their operational activities.
We support them in whatever way we can and because of that we have achieved relative peace in Yobe state,” he said.

Also speaking with journalists, a former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Chairman of the award committee, Muhammed Babandede, accused the political class of being behind divisions among Nigerians in terms of religion and ethnicity.

He said politicians who want power or those who lose elections but wants to remain relevant use religion, tribe and sectionalism to instigate divisions

He said: “When I was in primary school, General Gowon was the Head of State and I come from a predominantly Muslim state, former Kano state now Jigawa state. As a child I swear I didn’t know former Head of State General Gowon was a Christian. Even when I went to secondary school I didn’t know because you don’t feel any difference. They were leaders, they were Nigerians.

“Unfortunately politicians who want power instigate people to get things done. Or when they lose power, they use certain strategies to be relevant to society today. They always use religion, tribe and sectionalism in order for them to get elected.

“I call on these politicians to stop it. To prohibit this, let us make it a crime. Let it be a crime for example for you to call on people to vote because of religion, tribe or region.”

The ex- Immigration boss also advised the government to harness the potential of retired generals who retired prematurely to serve as a think tank especially in the fight against insecurity.

“Our system, especially the military, retires young generals prematurely. Government spends huge amounts of money to train them and you find out that some of them are being retired at the age of 50, 55 or before then and they do nothing.

“You need to have a think tank in every organization. Government needs to harness this high level of people, they are everywhere. You will be shocked if you call for these people, the number of generals who retired because their juniors became the Chief and they had to go and they are not being used.

“We need to harness them to serve as a think tank and to give advice. They are going to rule, administer or take over power. But they are going to provide intelligence so that the government can benefit from what they spent on them,” he said.