President Muhammadu Buhari, has declared that unemployed Nigerians seeking the N5,000 allowances promised by the governing party, All Progressives Congress, APC, during the presidential campaign, maybe sent to farms.
Buhari made this known during his maiden presidential media chat.
“When my VP is quoted, how can I come here and disown it ”
“We may have to send the young unemployed youth seeking N5k fee to farm to earn the money”
The ruling APC had during the campaign promised N5,000 monthly welfare payment to vulnerable Nigerians.
On the recent clash between the Army and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria known as Shittes in Zaria, Buhari said the group could not create a state within a state.
The president, however, added that he would wait for the reports of the investigative panel set up on the clash by the Army and Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-rufai.
“Certainly, I know something about it, I ought to because I have heard about it. When it happened I was in touch with the governor of Kaduna State; you know it happened in one state in all of the 36 states. Interestingly, the President of Iran spoke to me about it. But I told him that as a government, we have a system. When it happened in one of the cities, the governor has physically visited the area. We have a system of investigation. The military that was involved too has a tradition of investigation.
“And I as the head of the federal government have to wait for the official report before I can come out to make a statement. So, I am allowing the army and the Kaduna State government to submit their own reports of inquiry. The police, the SSS, though they are not directly involved, also they are doing their own constitutional role of finding out the cause of the matter.
“But all I know is that whether it is the police, the military, the civil authorities, where there is evidence that lives were lost and property destroyed, there is a standard way of investigation; it depends on how serious it is. If it is very serious, a judicial inquiry (is set up). …And then, people from all directions are asked to come and give evidence.
“How can any group create a state within a state? I don’t want to speak about it in details now. I think I should leave it until I see the inquiries. But there are a number of things that I saw where some excited teenagers were virtually hitting the chest of Generals, putting roadblocks and threatening them with missiles”, he said.
On whether he felt infuriated, Buhari said: “Very much so, but I realised my position. I am now a sitting duck”.
On whether he was worried about the number of casualties in the clash, he said: “You can’t justify the figure. But to be fair to both sides, we have to wait for the inquiries, and then you tell the public. For instance, I heard some people in Zaria gave a press briefing in Kaduna, isn’t it? About 2 or 3 days ago, they called the press and told them the agony they had been going through in the last five, ten years.
“I expect my report of inquiry from the Kaduna State government because it happened in Kaduna, in one of the cities and it has been there for the last 20 years from what I have been reading form your papers, they occupied federal highways, sometimes from Kano to Kaduna. This is what I heard and fortunately for me, I have never been in that mess”.
