I’m a pastor married to Muslim
leader —Nenadi Usman
25.Oct.2014
Tribune.
Senator Esther Nenadi Usman is the
senator representing Kaduna South
Senatorial District in the Senate. She is
a former Minister of State for Finance
and later a substantive minister. She
speaks with Northern Bureau Chief,
Hassan Ibrahim, on her successes and
challenges and why she feels winning
the 2015 election on the platform of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
would be easy. Excerpts:
Can you give us an account of your
stewardship, especially your
contributions to the development of
your constituency?
I can say that I have empowered the
youth in my area because I have been
able to get employment for over 60
people in various offices, because I
think my senatorial district should be
well-represented in Federal
Government agencies, ministries and
departments. But that is that from the
side of my constituency.
For my work in the Senate, I believe I
have been able to put in my best to
become a very effective committee
chairman, and also I have sponsored a
number of bills. My committee has
worked on bills that have been sent to
it, that were not sponsored by me but
by some other people. We’ve worked
on them; I believe they are waiting to
be signed into law, because we’ve
already done the conferencing.
When the Senate passes a bill, the
House of Representatives would pass
it, then both Houses would sit down
as a conference committee, go
through and harmonise, after which a
clean copy is made. Then it is brought
back to both Houses to go through,
clean copies made and then it is sent
out to the President to be assented to.
So, I think both in terms of my work
on the floor and also my work as a
committee chairman, and the
representation I need to give the
Southern Kaduna people, I think I have
given it a good shot. I think I have
done my best and I thank God quite a
number of people appreciate it, even
though there are critics and people
who would see otherwise. But majority
are very appreciative which gladdens
my heart.
In terms of presenting issues as they
happen in my senatorial district, I have
been able to do that. Since the 2007
elections, we’ve had bloodshed in the
area and I have seized every
opportunity that I had, to present that
on the floor of the Senate and I believe
that I have sensitised my colleagues
enough about what is going on. I
believe when people talk about Boko
Haram in the Northeast, I think my
senatorial district too should be given
a lot of attention because life is life. A
Nigerian life is a Nigerian life, be it in
the Northeast or in Southern Kaduna.
Whatever government can do to
protect its citizens, I believe it should
do and it is doing.
With all these, do you think your re-
election would be as simple as
ABCD?
Yes, it should be, I believe so.
You spoke about your activities, the
bills that you sponsored in the Senate,
what are the bills and how many
people have benefitted from your
empowerment programme.
Again,
people are calling for military barracks
in your area, what are you doing about
it?
I think for the empowerment
programme, over 2000 youths
benefited. It was in the speech I read
the day I had my empowerment
programme, it’s very comprehensive
but I don’t have it here. The number of
bills, I forgot to bring it today; I should
have printed it out. Bills have long
titles, short titles, it’s not something I
can reel off, but it’s something I can
send by e-mail. Even the ones that
were sent to my committee to work
on, I can send but I know the latest
one I’m working on and it is the
standard organisation bill.
It just seeks to strengthen the
institution so it can be able to deliver
on its mandate. You may recall that
sometimes back, I worked on a bill,
the National Sugar Development
Council, I’m not sure if you are abreast
with what is happening in the Senate.
But we are done with that, even the
conference committee has finished
with that one. The others, I will make
sure I pass the information to you
through e-mail.
On the issue of the military barracks,
the last time I checked, I was told it
was in the budget last year or so, that
a barracks was to be built in Southern
Kaduna around Kafanchan area. But I
haven’t quite followed it up in the last
few months. I will try and do so to see
if it is in the budget and if it is still
going to be executed. But I think it’s
not just the military barracks that
would ensure peaceful co-existence.
We as a matter of policy must make
up our minds that we want to live in
peace with one another. Because we
shouldn’t rely on the military to come
and force us to live in peace with one
another, irrespective of tribe, religion,
we must make a conscious effort to
live peacefully. I always tell people I’m
a Christian, my husband is a Muslim. I
have remained a Christian, my
husband has remained a Muslim and I
know there are people that have kept
on criticising him that how can you
have such a wife and not force her to
become a Muslim?
But he is okay with
it.
I’m a pastor in my church. I think that
is how we should live. Faith is in your
heart, you just don’t practice religion
with your lips. Your conduct and your
relationship with God is what matter. If
you talk about religion, just paying lip
service and at the end, your conduct
is just not near to God, I think you’ve
lost it. So, I just want to use this
medium to call on all citizens of
Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State and in
fact, Nigeria as a whole, we should try
and look at ourselves as our brothers’
keeper.
Our tribes must certainly differ; we
cannot all become one tribe. In
Southern Kaduna, for example, we
have over 60 tribes and I expect those
60 different tribes to live in peace with
one another. We should be tolerant of
one another. Because I’m a Christian,
I should evangelise and wished
everybody to be a Christian, anybody
who is not a Christian, I cannot force
them, I cannot hate them because of
that. So, I think that should be the way
it should.
You were the committee chairman on
investment, what has your committee
done in terms of paving way for
business opportunities in the country,
especially in the North, looking at the
collapsed textile factories and other
industries that have been comatose for
years and what are you doing about
displaced people in Sanga and Kaura
area.
First, I want to briefly state the
difference between the executive and
the legislative arms of government.
There are things only the executive can
do; there are things only the legislature
can do. As the legislature, what we do
is to make laws. So, in making laws
where we see there is a lacuna that
exists in the present laws that would
help in attracting investors into Nigeria,
we work on that. But once we do that,
the rest is left for the executive arm
and we are not allowed to act as an
executive because there is separation
of powers. In terms of making laws
that would attract, create level playing
grounds, we have done everything we
could because there are already
existing laws. As I said, we only make
amendments where there are gaps,
which is why I mentioned the Nigeria
Sugar Development Council Bill, which
we’ve worked on and I believe that
maybe next week, I will be given an
opportunity to go through the second
reading, present my lead debate on
the amendment for the Standard
Organisation Bill amendment.
In terms of the internally displaced
persons, I’m sure that some of you
were there during my visits to the
place. But you see, I just want to
make corrections. Those who claimed
that I’ve never visited; they are not
people who live where the incident
happened. They either live in Kaduna,
Abuja, and Lagos or somewhere out of
the area. The people who were
affected knew the number of times I
have visited them. They know the
quantity of relief materials I’ve taken
there, the times when I went there and
we prayed together, they are aware.
So, if you don’t live within the area and
you said I have never visited, you
cannot know, you are not God, you
are not omnipresent. I think that I’m
satisfied that the people who were
affected, they have seen me, those
who were present physically, they
have also seen my assistance; they’ve
also seen the effort I’m making to
ensure that peace returns to that area.
I’ve just been shown a speech that I
made after gunmen attacked Attakar in
my area, the palace of the chief.
For someone to sit down and say I
never showed up, I want to thank God
that some of you have even had cause
to, on my behalf, cleared the air. When
some people said she never went,
they said but we were there, we saw
and even interviewed her. So, the
press even spoke on my behalf to
clear the air, I’m very grateful for that.
As I said, you can’t stop people from
talking, as long as you do that which
is right between you and God, just
leave the rest.
There are so many aspirants jostling
to unseat you in the Senate, what
gives you the belief that you will
return?
Yes, certainly there are many
aspirants, if there are no aspirants
coming out to contest against me, I
will be afraid of the seat. I will feel
there is something wrong with it. But
I’m happy that many other people
have seen my contributions, they have
come out. I’m also happy that all the
other aspirants that have come out,
none have said that I’ve not been able
to discharge my duties and function
properly as a senator. That is just
what gives me great joy. So, other
sentiments are brought in, but in terms
of performance, even my opponents,
they give that to me. To God be the
glory, I believe my re-election is going
to be as easy as ABC because the
people that I have served, they are
there at the grassroots and they are
appreciative of what I did. If people
outside the zone said the contrary,
those that I’ve done it for have seen
and felt it. They are very happy. They
are the ones advising me on what to
do, I often receive pieces of advice
from them and some visit me and we
talk. We make plans on how to move
ahead.
In an attempt to have peace in your
area between the natives and the
Fulani herdsmen, have you made
attempts to see that the Fulani have
permanent grazing grounds to stop
encroachment into farmlands
belonging to the natives?
Let me make a correction. It’s not just
Fulani herdsmen bringing their cattle
into people’s farmlands, no. There
have been issues of cattle rustling as
well, which I believe is even more
serious than the issue of Fulani
herdsmen bringing their cattle into
people’s farmlands. If you remember, I
don’t know how much you have tried
to find out about the causes of what
has been going on in Southern
Kaduna. For example, the one that
took place in Attakar wasn’t because
Fulani herdsmen took their cattle into
anybody’s farmland, no.
There is a certain man called Durusa,
he is Attakar by tribe but he is a
herdsman, he owns cattle. That man
at one point was found dead and his
cattle were stolen. The people in the
area felt that for the cattle to be stolen
and the man found dead, most
probably they suspected it was the
Fulani that killed him and took the
cattle away. So, I’m just giving you
this example to show you that it runs
deeper than just grazing and all that.
As long as we have cattle rustling, the
issue of even grazing becomes very
minute. People have to be on the
lookout, people have to watch it and
it’s not just other tribes who own cattle
that have lost the cattle. Even the
Fulanis themselves, their cattle have
been rustled. So, the issues are a bit
complicated but I think having sat with
the Fulanis and the other tribes
together, sat with them separately, I
think we have made a lot of headway.
I think peace and normalcy would
return and I believe peace would reign
in the area.
This is because the issue is just for us
to understand ourselves, to know that
there is a common enemy that comes
from outside. There are Fulanis in that
area that were born there. They don’t
know anywhere else and they speak
our local languages more than some of
us. As a Kagoro lady, there are some
Kagoro words some Fulanis know
which I don’t know. The same thing
with the Bajju people, same with the
Atyap and others. We can’t drive them
away. The allegation is that the Fulanis
who come, nobody knows where they
are coming from. It may therefore
mean that both the local Fulani man
and the local tribes may have a
common enemy that comes from
somewhere. We need to find out
where that person is coming from so
that we can collectively team up and
fight that outsider. But as I have said,
we are doing all we can and this peace
is going to be a lasting one.
What is the state of affairs in your
home since the attack on your
husband?
Thanks for asking after my husband.
He is a very peace loving man with a
high sense of humour and we’ve been
married for 20 years .I have never
seen him lift his hand to beat any kid.
He is getting better, and to God be the
glory, he will soon be well.
