By NINGI ADAMU BALA
It was widely reported that the publisher of the Desert Herald, Alhaji Tukur Mamu, has been arrested by the DSS upon his return from Egypt. He was said to have been abducted and interrogated by the Interpol at Egypt on the alleged connection with the insurgents in the Sinai peninsula of Egypt and also on suspicion of being an accomplice in the lucrative kidnapping business booming in Kaduna and many parts of the North Western Nigeria.
Everyone is assumed to be innocent before the law until proven guilty. Also with the benefit of hindsight, no one should be carried away by the media chicanery and showboating of some of our security apparatuses. There are though many pertinent issues to be analysed in the whole saga.
BEING A LEADER: When one achieves prominence in a society, he or she has a social and economic value that could be put to use. When utilised well, it can be a great force for good, a rich field that literally gold and other riches could be mined from. When utilised in a bad way, an unimaginable damage could be brought upon a nation. Sheikh Gumi has achieved such prominence through both his personal worthiness and the premium value of his family name. He will naturally be a soft target for a smart alec to be utilized for the purpose of achieving a self aggrandizing aim. Every prominent politician, cleric, business person and academic will have such people hovering around them, like vultures, they will use every opportunity that avails itself. If one closely followed the activities of sheikh Gumi in relation to the Bandits in the past, one will be struck by the audacity of the move and be intrigued by the identity of the hands facilitating those interactions. It was very obvious that sheikh Gumi was just a mannequin used by someone with intimate contact with the rogue groups. His social value is being used to legitimize a conduit of contact with the Bandits. Voila, every victim of kidnapping suddenly realized a veritable pathway to the gang for negotiation and payment of ransome. The most important thing to note is that you cannot be on good terms with the terrorists in the bush and claim to be an altruistic citizen of a country that the terrorists are fighting. It will be hard to believe that the negotiator and facilitator of financial transaction in hundreds of millions or even billions of money will not have some pecuniary benefits from the proceeds. If it is true that Tukur Mamu has been serving as a go to person for the relatives of kidnap victims then, he has a lot of explanation to make on why his privileged position was not made available to the DSS to help annihilate the miscreants. Premium Times reported that a large haul of Army Uniform and a cache of foreign currencies were found in his house. They also reported that the DSS is questioning the obvious discrepancy in the level of his earning and life style. We will not be in haste to make any conclusion but, things are not looking lucid from his end.
CRIMES: It is an open secret that crime is a lucrative Enterprise. Every country has to fight hard to put the activities of criminal gangs under control. In the early part of the 20th century the United States of America suffered a bitter fight with the Mafia and other organised crime gangs. The region of South America and some Asian countries have come to terms and almost accepted the organised crime outfits as an alternate authority. They are well structured with members in all wrung of the social strata. I suspect that we may be heading that way in Nigeria. One is always regaled with tales of collusion between the Nigerian security apparatuses and the Boko Haram in the Northeast, criminal cattle rusting and kidnap gangs in the North, oil bunkering rackets in the South and all sorts of criminal entities. The business of kidnapping is very lucrative and I am sure an organised structure will be formed around it to make it efficient. The most dangerous components of the kidnapping syndicate are hiding in plain sight amongst us. They provide food, drugs, women and other logistics to these criminals. Until the urban part of the Enterprise is broken, we will not have a respite.
LESSON: Be vigilant when you are achieving success in this life. Apart from swindling you directly, people can indirectly use you or your social value as cannon fodder in their self aggrandizement. You should be conscious of any venture you are being pushed in to, especially when you have not answered convincingly in your mind the benefits that will accrue to the one egging you on. Don’t allow yourself to be used as a stepping stone to a higher goal that you have no benefit to trickle down to you.
Remember that your worst enemies and Achilles heel may be those surrounding you. Those hailing and singing your praises to the high heavens may be feeding you with a poison ivy in a golden chalice.
Dr. Adamu Bala Ningi is a Consultant Surgeon at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.
