Controversy: North doesn’t have to depend on oil, says Lamido

The Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Mustapha Bakindo yesterday threw another bombshell, saying the North can be self sufficient if it decides to do so. He said agriculture and tax are enough to sustain the region as against the present over reliance on oil. The Lamido who recently caused a stir at the National Conference in Abuja when he said he would not hesitate to lead his people to join their kith and kin in Cameroun should Nigeria break up, said on the Hausa Service of BBC that some Northern leaders were not representing their people well with their beggarly disposition. This, he said, was responsible for the low esteem some Nigerians had for them. He said yesterday that many countries in the world were developing without oil money and that the oil producing states are allowed to take as much as they want. He said delegates to the ongoing National Conference must be prepared to tell the nation the home truth if it must succeed. He said: “ since we started (the conference), for three days I have sat down and observed how some people were talking with arrogance, they talk authoritatively….they see the North as beggars, or Almajiri who have nothing to do. “That’s the reason why I spoke. I told them that mine is a warning to the people because from the way we were going, the conference will disperse without achieving anything, and if we don’t do anything, many things will happen including the disintegration of Nigeria. “ But I said God forbid. I said if Nigeria disintegrates, those people shouting at this conference, they will have anywhere to go. But I and the people of Adamawa, and some other people in Nigeria, have somewhere to go. “I also explained to them that my kingdom, stretches across three countries…Nigeria, Cameroun and Chad. In all these countries, whichever one I go to, nobody will look at me as a stranger, and I will remain there comfortably. So it was a warning that I have sounded to the people. “If a person of my calibre can’t talk like that at the conference why was I brought there? Why did they call me to attend the conference? Should I just sit down and watch people…, for them to talk and I should just say yes? “Since they brought me here, I will tell the truth, I will say the fact anywhere and in front of anybody. It’s sad the people of Nigeria don’t like the truth, once you are saying the truth, they brand you as “controversial.” He took exception to the misconception some Nigerians have about Northerners. He said: “these people the from oil producing states are looking at us as if we are beggars, gold diggers who have nothing to do. That is why I said the non oil producing states are not cowards, they don’t fear anybody. “the Everybody is contributing his quota to make Nigeria great, but these people from oil producing states think that if what they want is not given to them, they have been wronged and they would even prefer to stay out of Nigeria. “ That is why I said, we too…even the expanse of land is a natural endowment. I said if that is the case we have agreed they should go with oil money,100 per cent and the other part of the country, all the non oil producing states in Nigeria not only the Northern states, there are non oil producing states in the Southwest and in the Southeast. “Also in the North, between 28 to over 30 states have no oil but are blessed with land, that is why I said the oil producing states should go with their oil 100 per cent cent and we ,the others should keep our land. The larger percentage of the land belongs to us including Abuja, and whatever is on the land belongs to us. “What money do we get from oil which is used to run the states? Just one state in the Niger Delta, what it gets in a month, it will take Adamawa state ten years to get the equivalent. So what are we getting? If not for the laziness on the part of some Northerners, agriculture is a big business, look at all these advanced countries of the world, these countries that have progressed like Japan, they don’t have oil.”