A JOINT COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE JOINT MEETING OF TANGALE BOT AND ELDERS TOWARD AN ENHANCED INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND THE BUILDING OF CONFIDENCE IN THE COMMUNITY. DATED 7TH OCTOBER 2021
The meeting was held under the auspices of the corporate body of TCDA Board of Trustees and the Interim National Executive Committee of the Association. At the end of an extraordinary joint meeting between members of the Incorporated Board of Trustees (BOT) of Tangale Community Development Association (TCDA) and the Board of Elders of the Tangale Nation held on 26/08/2021.
A. The Forum deliberated on the circumstances leading to the visit of the supposed members of the Kano Business Community in Kano State on the rebuilding of the Billiri local Government market stalls gutted by fire in the wake of February 19, 2021, Billiri town Mayhem.
The joint meeting noted with utter dismay the plan to rob our Nation of what belongs to it as the Community where the incident occurred/happened. That as it is the norm and in line with global best practices, to involve the Tangale Community in all the reconstruction processes, being the principal victim rather than to hear over the media a broadcast by the visiting Kano Business Community delegates who have hijacked the process. Ordinarily, the process should be an all-inclusive one where the community should be carried along as the case may be. This arrangement is sinister and rejected in totality. That delegates from Kano Business community came to Billiri on the invitation from an unknown authority, supposedly that of Malam Danladi Maishanu, the purported Mai Tangle, told the world during a Press Conference sometimes back that they would rebuild the burnt Billiri market stalls, allocate and thereafter collect revenue from the beneficiaries until they recoup their investment thereon. This is not only illegal but will be challenged in the courts by the Tangale Nation.
Furthermore, we wish to bring to the attention of the general public that delegates of the Kano Business Community are biased, in that they exhibited religious bigotry in distributing the relief items by discriminating against the Christians who were equally affected by the mayhem.
It is generally a known fact, that all government’s policies and programmes at all levels are executed by its officials and maintained when commissioned. It therefore not the business of Malam Danladi Maishanu, the so-called Mai Tangle who has nothing to do with seeking, identifying and or inviting developers for and on behalf of the Local Government whose property was destroyed. Furthermore, the local government never authorized him or any other person to do any bidding on its behalf. Consequently, Tangale people do not accept a meddlesome interloper, whose activities may look like patriotism, whereas, it is for personal aggrandizement with resultant high-level instability. Rather, we should borrow a leaf from the North-East Development Commission, where the key leaders are mainly drawn from Borno/Yobe States in particular. Why then should the Billiri market stalls case be treated differently? One wonders what could have informed the invitation of the members of the Kano Business Community to Tangale, while we have within Gombe State those with the technical know-how and financial muscle to execute the work. We, therefore, consider this as economic exploitation of the highest order.
B. Another issue pertains to the compensation made for shops and some goods, purportedly destroyed during the inferno. Authoritative information available indicates that 99% of goods were removed and evacuated from shops before these shops /stalls were set ablaze, as attested to by the Tangale Muslims during their presentation before the Gombe State Commission of inquiry proceedings. However, some of the expected beneficiaries refused to accept it, that because it was over-bloated in relation to their losses, while for some, they did not lose anything worth compensation.
We, therefore, conclude that the compensation was designed to plunder the resources of Billiri LGA in favour of some individuals, most of whom are non-indigenes.
C. Accordingly, as a law-abiding organization, the TCDA wishes to condemn in totality the arrangement being put in place and handed down without recourse to Community opinion nor inputs. As enshrined in Article II of the TCDA constitution, 2021 as amended, the Aims and Objectives permits collaboration with anybody, be it public or private to achieve them. These objectives are in line with the Global best practices that require the active involvement of a community where the action is proposed for.
In due deference to the foregoing, the joint meeting carefully adopted the following measures towards achieving a lasting peaceful co-existence for posterity sake. That;
i. the Joint body comprising the BOT and Elders are watching the players’ actions and inactions as posterity will bring them to book where necessary at an appropriate time.
ii. any plan to plunge Billiri Local Government into indebtedness for whatsoever reason without the consent of stakeholders is unacceptable.
iii. the Local Government Chairperson should remember Queen Esther’s role in her act of saving her people. And where this clarion call is rejected, the reality of the situation shall at an appropriate time in life dawn on her.
iv. the Chairperson should dwell more on curbing insecurity and empowerment of our youths within our domain as these are the two (2) most pressing issues surrounding us as a nation.
v. the Chairperson should involve Tangale people largely in the process of rebuilding our internal revenue-generating and other facilities towards the growth of our area. Further to this, and by extension to know that the rebuilding of our Community can best be done by indigenes. Let it be placed on record that the development and building or rebuilding of ruins of any society or community is best handled by members of that area.
vi. the Chairperson should direct her attention and energy towards the incessant insecurity problem bedevilling our community, hence taking proactive measures to contain the situation.
vii. development is achieved through collective bargaining and dialogue with leaders at the level of the led wherein a balance is strike through interaction to forge ahead meaningfully.
viii. security operatives in the local government are to carry out their assignments with a human face in collaboration with the community leaders to be fair and just when handling issues. In addition, to take into cognizance the customs and traditions of Tangale people, your place of primary policing.
ix. the involvement of vigilante groups (Yan Tauri) of other local governments’ extraction in the security architecture of Billiri L.G.A is strange and unacceptable to the Tangale nation, as Nigeria’s constitution does not recognize them. Hence, we call on their sponsors to withdraw them from our Community otherwise we shall seek redress within the ambit of the law.
x. the DPO Billiri division, Ahmed Umar Sanda has clearly shown to be a religious bigot, who always exhibit it in his attitude towards issues. We are therefore calling on the Commissioner of Police, Gombe State to transfer him out of Billiri, for the sustenance of the relative peace we are enjoying in Billiri.
xi. all religious institutions- Traditionalist (Judaist in nature), Christians (over 90%) and Muslims (less than 5%) are to fervently pray and not allow hatred and bitterness to take the best part of them by corrupting their minds, instead press on towards attaining peaceful co-existence so that our nation can return to the good olden days when we used to be our brothers’ keepers devoid of sentiments, especially along religious lines.
In conclusion, our attention has been drawn to a publication titled “INUWA GIDA GIDA” compiled by Hon. Babaji Babadidi on Some projects successfully executed by this administration in Billiri L.G.A. We, therefore, comment as follows after verification to ascertain some facts:
i. that the 58 projects purportedly executed cover areas such as education, health, sports and recreation, animal husbandry and general Agriculture, and water supply
ii. that only 16 projects were found to have been fully executed, it includes classroom constructions (supported by UBEC counterpart funding). Others are the supply of furniture and sporting facilities to some schools.
iii. that the claimed executed projects were ninety (90) percent renovations or completion of projects initiated by the previous administration, for example, the road network from Ladongor to Ayaba.
iv. In conclusion, what we found in some instances were mere political brouhaha by the said compiler to misinform our people for his political relevancy before this government, as it has been his attitude in the past.
SIGNED
National President, Tangale Community Development Association (TCDA)
