By Charles Kumolu
For years, Kaduna State was synonymous with ethno-religious violence, communal distrust, and bloodshed, with successive administrations struggling to end the cycle of killings that fractured communities and undermined the state’s economic and social life. But Governor Uba Sani believes the tide has turned, insisting that the peace being experienced in the state is the product of deliberate efforts to dismantle what he calls the “merchants of ethno-religious crises,” promote inclusive governance, and address the economic conditions that fuel insecurity. From Southern Kaduna to Birnin Gwari, he says, the emphasis has been on rebuilding trust, taking development to neglected communities, and making citizens see one another as partners rather than adversaries.
In this interview with a team of editors from Vanguard Newspapers, the governor explains the thinking behind his Kaduna Model, how his administration secured the release of 222 captives in Birnin Gwari through the reopening of markets, and why he believes economic empowerment is central to sustainable peace. He also responds to allegations of intolerance toward opposition politicians, speaks on the role of political elites in exploiting ethnic and religious divisions, and outlines his administration’s efforts to reposition Kaduna through agriculture, rural roads, transportation, and sports infrastructure.
In Rivers State’s history, it was once known as Rivers of Blood. About 10 years ago, Kaduna was known as a state of blood, crisis, and bloodshed. How were you able to restore peace, especially in Southern Kaduna?
When we came in, the first thing we looked at was recognising the fact that our state is the most diverse state in Nigeria. Of course, I agree with you that the number of lives we lost in Kaduna in the last 20 years, before we came, was more than the number of lives lost because of insurgency, kidnapping, and banditry. Knowing that, we believed that for us to claim any success as a government, we must bring our people together.
The only way we could do that was by ensuring that we created a state where everyone would be carried along in whatever we were doing. Of course, we decided to run a system that would bring everyone together, which is a highly inclusive government. For us, inclusivity isn’t just about bringing people to sit with us. It’s about taking development to every part of Kaduna State. When we came in, we looked at the deficits in terms of infrastructure, healthcare, and education. We looked at this holistically, and we believed it was the only way we could address injustice and marginalisation. Some people felt they were not treated like citizens of our state.
We believed that doing that really demanded that we relegate politics and elevate governance. Doing that, of course, could sometimes be difficult because when you are elected as a governor, you have people who work with you. The first thing they tell you is to consider people who voted for you and ignore those who did not. But when we came in, it was not about who voted for us and who did not; it wasn’t the issue at all. It was about carrying everyone along. So, we really tried to put that aside and focus on carrying everyone along, including those who did not vote for us. We took development to every part of Kaduna State, irrespective of party, religious, or ethnic affiliation.
Of course, a lot of people have been talking about the Kaduna Model, asking how we did it. That is because in the last three and a half years in Kaduna, we have not experienced a single ethno-religious crisis, which is highly unprecedented. But for me, the Kaduna Model is nothing difficult. It’s about running a state where you carry everyone along and, as much as possible, be fair to everyone. Of course, human beings want justice. Sometimes you might work with people who are certainly merchants. When I say merchants, I mean people who only survive whenever there is an ethno-religious crisis. You have to eliminate them within the system.
If you don’t eliminate them within the system, the problem will continue. We tried as much as possible to eliminate those merchants, which was actually very difficult. That was because some of them also felt they were part of the system, and they also helped to win the election. That was the first battle you have to encounter as a leader.
Did you say merchants?
Yes, ethno-religious merchants. For me, it takes a lot of political will to do that because they also feel they have a stake. Probably some of them contributed significantly to making one win the election. But then, along that line, of course, I had issues with many people who probably misunderstood my ideology. I tried to explain to some that they need to go back. Happily, I look at my antecedents. I am not just a normal politician.
I’m someone who spent many years fighting for justice, equality, democracy, and the rule of law. So, putting my ideology aside is very difficult. I paid my dues. I went to detention five times fighting for democracy in Nigeria. I was in the Senate. I would have been comfortable. But I decided to contest for the governorship of my state simply because I wasn’t happy about how toxic our state was. People didn’t trust one another. I was not comfortable with how the state was divided along the locations where people lived. People go to work together and eat together as family and friends. But when they close their offices, they go to different places because nobody trusts one another.
I felt Kaduna State was the most important city in all of Northern Nigeria.
At that time, I believed the only thing we needed to do was restore the glory of our state. Today, I’m happy. Gradually, we are restoring the glory of our state. Everyone now feels comfortable. Everyone wants to stay in Kaduna. That was the reason why, when the president wanted to launch his campaign, he chose Kaduna. The Kaduna of the past is different from the Kaduna of today. Everyone feels Kaduna is home now. We quickly abolished the issue of citizen and indigene dichotomy because our strength is in our diversity. But most importantly, we are highly cosmopolitan. That is the reason we don’t look at things through the lenses of religion, geography, or ethnicity.
After three and a half years, have you achieved the Kaduna of your dream?
Yes, I can say that largely. But I still believe we can do more, simply because we cannot rest. We must consolidate. When I say merchants, the merchants are not going to give up. I’m not sure we have completely defeated them. We have done a lot. If we rest, they will take us back. I remember when we were trying to choose our deputy governor; a lot of people thought it was difficult. But I said, no, this is a new Kaduna. Nobody will worry about whether it is a Muslim or a Christian. We have moved beyond that. When we decided to make a decision, people thought there would be issues. Nobody said a word. In three years, we have done a lot to promote interfaith harmony in our state.
All the leaders of both religions who didn’t sit at the same table now sit together. They understand poverty has no ethnic or tribal mark. It has no respect for religion or ethnicity. The poor man is a poor man. The only thing is that they believe we need to work together. They put that aside and now think about how to move us forward. Because at the end of the day, the elites still live together. It’s only the poor people who are separated.
Who is really working to ensure the poor people remain separated? It is the elites. It was an easy decision to say, look, the elites cannot live together while the poor people live separately. You cannot do that. I will not accept that. When I came in, in the first month, I was giving people a lot of land. There were some I gave land to in a particular place. They sold it because they said they could not live in such a place.
Today, I’m working to ensure that everyone lives together. Just like the people living together, the downtrodden must also live together without suspicion. For me, in Kaduna, it is not the number of bridges we built. It’s not the number of roads we constructed. It’s about the unity of our state. Like I always say, Kaduna is not only the political capital of Northern Nigeria; it’s both a political and spiritual capital, I can tell you for free. That’s the reason why, whenever there’s any religious crisis in Kaduna, virtually everything within the Middle Belt and even the far North-East may be affected.
In the last three years, there were some religious crises in Benue and Plateau, but there was nothing in Kaduna. If it happens in Kaduna, it will happen in several states. But it could happen anywhere; it will not come to Kaduna. That is how strategic Kaduna is. It is the heartbeat of the Middle Belt in Nigeria. People don’t understand that. A lot of people never gave us a chance. But we said, look, it was not an issue that happened spontaneously. It’s a creation of some selfish politicians who divided our people to achieve their selfish political aims.
That was easy for us because the only way to demolish it was to not do what they used to do—to let people understand that we must live together as one family.
You recognise this diversity as one of the strengths of Kaduna. But there’s now a growing noise that is getting louder. It is said that you are not tolerating opposition politicians, especially at gatherings…
I just talked about merchants. Maybe you have to understand what I mean by merchants. You can do something in other states, and it’s fine, but in Kaduna it’s not possible. If you go to the media house and insult Uba Sani one million times, I will thank you for that because this is democracy. I also challenged successive military governments, and I paid the price by going to prison. But look, what we have done in Kaduna—and I made it clear, and I still have no apology—is that in Kaduna, because of our diversity, you cannot come and say anything to incite the people. I’m fighting the merchants, and I will continue to fight them because I realise that the reason for all those religious crises is that the merchants create problems while innocent people in the villages die. I made it clear.
Talk politics, but don’t talk about ethno-religious issues in Kaduna. I have looked through the constitution as a civil rights activist for many years, and I have not seen where freedom of speech has given me the right to say something that can result in the loss of lives of innocent and gullible people who are not educated. I don’t believe in that. If it happens, honestly speaking, I will certainly go after that person. I said it many times. I have no apology for that. But if you go and say, I’m against this party, it’s okay. But as long as I always wake up in the morning and go through my oath, and I read my oath every two or three days, I see that it is my responsibility to protect the lives and properties of the people of Kaduna.
If you come to say anything that can affect the lives and properties of innocent people, honestly speaking, I will go after you. I fought for the rule of law in this country. You see, I’m not just a normal activist. If you ask any activist in Nigeria, I was probably the closest to Chief Gani Fawehinmi. You can ask anyone. Chief Gani always told us, honestly speaking, at the heat of the struggle, that we can do anything. If you are someone groomed by Gani like me, who lived in his house for four years, you would agree with me that our training by Chief Gani was to respect constituted authority. Gani would be arrested today by the police.
Tomorrow, he would come out, and we would write a statement against the police; he would tell us to drop it. We would ask him why, and he would say, as we are sitting now in my parlour eating, someone called you and said that somebody is getting into your house, and the lives of your family and your wife were under threat. Who would you call? We would say the police. Then he would ask: Why do you want to destroy them? It is their job. For me, that was my training. That’s how I was groomed. I believe in the rule of law. If you do something that can affect the lives of innocent people, as a governor, I will just allow the law to take its course. If you go to court, you will sort it out because I am not a judge. I will help you to face the judiciary, certainly. If you have a good lawyer, fine.
If you don’t have a good lawyer, sort it out. I’m not apologising for this. And that’s the reason why I’m keeping Kaduna safe. If I had not done that, I can tell you, the merchants would have defeated us. And if the merchants defeated us, today, I wouldn’t have been going to Southern Kaduna. For the last six months, when I went to Birnin Gwari, I stopped on the road. I saw farmers in the market. Ten metres away, there were more than 200 cows. I asked them if they were not the ones killing themselves before, and they said yes. I said, why did you stop? One of them said they no longer see the people who were instigating them. If you move from there to the Southern part of Kaduna, where people died every day, nobody is dying.
The farmers are there. The cows are there. Why are they not fighting? It is because I’m destroying the merchants one by one, and I’ll continue to destroy them. One merchant could ruin the lives of 1,000 innocent people.
What did you do, or how did you get rid of the warlords, the terrorist kingpins, that terrorised the state?
Birnin Gwari is a clear case study. It wasn’t rocket science. Birnin Gwari was the epicentre of insurgency in the whole of Nigeria. I went to Birnin Gwari and met the Emir. The Emir of Birnin Gwari had been there for almost 40 years. I told him, why is it that people are being kidnapped every day in this place? When I was in the Senate, I represented the central zone. Every day, in the National Assembly, we stood up for a minute of silence because people had lost their lives. I made an effort to create state police. It was my bill in the Senate. I was defeated. We moved on.
But in the absence of state police, which I believe was the only solution, there must be another solution. We had to look at the symptoms and drivers of insecurity. There must be symptoms. What are the symptoms? What are the drivers? You have to study it holistically. The insecurity in the Northwestern part of Nigeria has no relationship with the insecurity in the North-East. That’s the first thing.
On insecurity, you have to understand that the North-East is largely ideological. The North-West is poverty and economy. Instead of successive governments resolving it, they didn’t do that. It also created a trust deficit between the people and government.
How do you do it?
You must allow the process to be driven by the communities because they don’t trust government any longer. That’s what we meant. And I asked them what they wanted. I don’t pay ransom. I don’t know bandits. The Emir of Birnin Gwari told me every bandit around the area was born in Birnin Gwari in his presence. The solution became nearer. Most bandits in his area are under the age of 40. They were born while he was watching them. I said, what is the problem? He said the problem was the economy. He said two major markets—the grains market and the livestock market—were closed for nine years.
No government could open them. I went there and said I wanted to open the markets. I opened the markets. But I told them I had a condition. As we were speaking at the time, 222 people in Birnin Gwari were already with the bandits. I told them that I would open the market, but ensure that in the next one week, the 222 would be released. Because he knew the parents of the bandits, he intervened. We opened the markets. Within five days, all the captives were released. That was the first step. The second step was asking the Emir of Birnin Gwari what he needed again. At that time, most of the schools were closed. All their hospitals were closed because of bandits.
We opened all the schools. The market started booming. As I’m speaking with you, every day you can go to Birnin Gwari. One farmer made N1.7 billion from grains. Now in Birnin Gwari, every day you have lorries filled with maize and other grains, numbering about 35, going to Lagos. In addition, more than 50 trucks of cows go to Lagos. They even requested a new market.
I’m building a new grain market and a new livestock market, the biggest ever in Kaduna. As we are speaking, Birnin Gwari has not seen one kilometre of road in 20 years. I had to take the CGC, the company constructing roads in Abuja, to construct 36 kilometres of road in Birnin Gwari, cutting across 77 farming communities. They’ve never seen that in their lives. Nobody wants to kidnap any more.
So underdevelopment was part of the problem?
Yes, because it’s the economy. That’s number one. We took the same model to other areas and resolved the issues there. That’s the reason we were able to reclaim 500,000 hectares of abandoned farmland. Last year, when people wanted to go to Mecca, I was telling Mr President that the Chairman of the Hajj Commission wrote letters to all the states that we should subsidise the Hajj. I said I don’t subsidise going to Hajj. I build roads in Kaduna. For that reason, even for me as a Muslim, it is clear. If you cannot afford it, you don’t have to go. I didn’t subsidise it.
The chairman of the Hajj Commission came back to me after the deadline was over and told me Kaduna is still number one in Nigeria. And I said, do you know why we’re number one? I said, the economy is booming.
The farmers come to farms. When I look at the analysis, 70 per cent are farmers from rural areas, not even in the town. The people in the town are poor. The people in the metropolitan part of Kaduna, the city, are poor. The rich ones are in the rural areas. Not only that; that is why, out of the 1,315 kilometres being constructed in Kaduna, 800 kilometres are in the rural areas, connecting farms with markets. It was largely the economy.
How much was the budget for agriculture when we came in? N1.4 billion. Today, the budget for agriculture in Kaduna is N110 billion. We surpassed the Malabo Declaration of 2014 of 10 per cent. We’re at 12 per cent. We’re leading Nigeria in agriculture. That’s why we were the first state in Nigeria to launch our SAPZ, Special Agro-Processing Zone. Not only that; we were the second state in the whole of Nigeria to have an agricultural quality centre, where we can have all our grains certified for exportation.
On transportation, when Makinde opened his bus terminal, there were about a thousand buses. We are concluding ours next month. The President promised to commission it. There are 5,000 buses. It’s the biggest ultra-modern bus terminal in Nigeria. When Sardauna was alive, he built Ahmadu Bello Stadium in 1964. It was one of the leading stadiums, apart from the national stadium in Lagos. Then the one in Kaduna was one of the two major stadiums hosting FIFA tournaments. Ahmadu Bello Stadium deteriorated and became obsolete.
The last time we hosted any FIFA event in Kaduna was almost 2016, right? It was a junior football tournament. I went to the president and told him the dream of Sardauna was destroyed. I said we needed to bring back Ahmadu Bello Stadium. He said, what do we do?
He said, what do you want, Comrade? I said, give it to me. He said, what do you want to do? I said, Mr President, I will demolish it. As we are speaking, Ahmadu Bello Stadium has been demolished. I am rebuilding it into a 33,000-capacity stadium to be completed in December. It will be the only stadium with a hybrid pitch. Uyo is grass. The stadium here is grass. To put a hybrid pitch alone is over N2 billion. We are gradually bringing glory.
I told Mr President that the just-concluded FIFA tournament in the US fetched $24 billion. Morocco, at the last AFCON, made $1.6 billion. The new stadium we are constructing would generate revenue and contribute to the economy.
The post I confronted religious merchants in Kaduna to achieve peace — Uba Sani appeared first on Vanguard News.