Former Minister of Industries and elder statesman, Air Vice
Marshall Muhammadu Yahaya (rtd) who recently clocked 70 tells MIDAT
JOSEPH that only northern leaders can solve the Boko Haram insurgency
and that waiting for the federal government is an excercise in futility.
Candidly sharing the story of his life Yahaya also speaks on several
topical national issues.
Congratulations on turning 70. Can you share your background with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY?My
name is Muhammadu Yahaya. I grew up in a polygamous family. My mother’s
name is Maimuna. From the Mother’s side, I was the fourth child. The
first three died. In our family we had these three marks on the face. I
am from Adoka local government of Benue State.
Because they thought I was going to die, they didn’t give me the
tribal mark. How my mother explained to me was that they said her breast
was contaminated either by juju or whatever. So I was privilege to be
given to my grandmother who brought me up. It was my grandmother’s
breast that I sucked and grew up. It was later that I got to know who my
actual mother was and that was the beginning of my life.
At that time we used to go to Qur’anic school. During the first
attempt to put me in school, the teacher flogged me one day and my
grandmother who liked me so much, took a knife and pursued the teacher.
So the only way they could trick her was that my late uncle, was working
as a clerk in Kaduna. So I had to follow him to Kaduna in 1952; I was
already ten years. I started my Primary school in Kaduna but after a
spell of two years, we went back to Oturkpo.
There I attended Methodist school and spent two years there before
the Native Authority established as special school where you have to
take entrance from one primary class to another. When I was in Primary
two, I took the entrance and passed and went straight to class four.
I took entrance and came to Kaduna and we were the pioneers of the
Technical Institute, now Kaduna Polytechnic. On the 22 October 1962, it
was a Friday, we came to the mosque. At that time every Muslim will
gather at the Kano Central Mosque including the Late Premier of the
North, Sir Ahmadu Bello.
I had three pence with me and I bought the Daily Times newspapers for
two pence. When I opened it, I saw advertisement for Defence Officers
Cadets. I applied and luckily I was shortlisted. We took entrance
examination to the American University. We were many and I was lucky to
be one of the ten successful Nigerians.
Every American University had officer cadet corps training which they
called ROTC. I finished my degree in 1967, Bachelors of Science in
Electrical Electronics. After that I went for the proper training at
Mississippi. I trained in electronics, mostly specializing in Radar
Control.
My background in military training is strictly American. I spent my
four years of cadetship with American Air force. When I came back to
Nigeria in 1968, I wanted to teach Maths, Physics, Chemistry and
Additional Maths at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), but for some
reasons, the commandant said no. So I went to Kano. My training and
experience were not the same concept with what was obtainable in
Nigeria.
What I learned as an officer in America was not the same thing that
was being thought at home. When we enlisted, there was no NDA. Actually
when we enlisted, there was nothing like Nigerian Airforce. The Act
establishing the Nigerian Air force was in1964.
So we were enlisted as Defence corps. But they made sure that out of
the ten of us, three was to come to the Air force, three to the Army and
four to the Navy.
In the American system, you believe more on the brain rather than
rank. But, I found myself in a situation where the rank, rather than the
brain was dominant basis for authority and I had a lot of trouble
adjusting to that. I found myself not doing anything much, so I went to
the Ministry of Works and asked them if they can build a 6 classrooms
for me at where the present Bayero University is located.
So they built it. So I started teaching Airforce Officers Basic Maths and Electronics.
Before,
we were doing it in Bukagu Barracks. That was the foundation of the Air
Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). When I was in the United States
(US) I started my Post Graduate in Circuit Theory, but because of the
war, I had to return home. I had less than six weeks to finish my
masters.
Funny enough, when I came back home, the opportunity to start my Post
Graduate was based on my rank, so when I had the opportunity, I
declined, I said such opportunity be given to other people who are
educated.
When I was posted to the Headquarters in 1970 was to liaise with the
University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to open Electronic
Department and we sent many officers there. If you are going to Zaria,
on the left hand there is an Air Force house on the left hand side. When
they were building that place, I made sure that I built 13 classrooms
with physics, chemistry and laboratories well equipped.
That was how we started what is called AFIT now. When I was posted to
the Headquarters, the school I established in Kano was closed down
because people did not believe in what to do with it.
I was passionate about imparting the knowledge I had acquired to the
younger ones. They know the theory, but they don’t know the practical
aspect of it.
I have tried my best to impact AFIT. I am proud to say that it is
through my own efforts that school stood until I left. I was able to
draw the syllabus, I went to the Egyptian Air Force. I had a background
of the British and Pakistani. It was on that basis that I formed the
syllabus to start the school.
The first set of NDA used the lab because they didn’t have laboratory
for engineering. By the time I left the service for ministerial
appointment, my intention was to affiliate the institute with Ife and
the Ahmadu BelloUniversity (ABU), Zaria.
I am happy that all the boys I recruited now have PhD in Engineering. So, I have contributed my own quota.
Looking at your own family, you are a Muslim and your
wife is a Christian; how have you been able to cope with this over the
years?Well, I started my primary school in a Christian
system and in those days, we were forced to read the Bible. There is no
part of the Bible that I don’t know. Up till today, I read the book of
Psalm. Part of the Qur’an said there is no compulsion in religion. There
is no need forcing somebody to embrace the religion which he doesn’t
believe in.
I have a member of my family who was the first to marry a Christian;
from there I know there has to be compromise. I am not a religious
fanatic, but I believe solely in Islam, no compromise about it.
But I cannot force somebody to be a Muslim if that person wants it.
My wife is a very staunch Catholic. The way God has worked it out for us
for the 47 years we have live together, we have never had any issue on
religion because we respect each other’s religions. During fasting, she
gets up early to cook for me, so we have no conflict.
As for my children, some are Christians, some are Muslims. I have
three boys and four girls. All the boys are Muslims and the girl are
Christians because they happened to attend Catholic Schools. When they
girls were marrying, I went to the church and handed them over to the
altar. That does not change my faith.
What message do you have for Nigerians, especially for
people in the north where there are frequent ethnic and religious
clashes between Muslims and Christians?Some of the
religious crises, to me are more political. A lot of people are
misguided. But if we all follow the teachings of the Bible and the
Qur’an, we should not have conflict. The two religions preach peace and
harmony. But we have a situation where some people exploit religion for
their selfish ends. We have a lot of youths who are unemployed and are
always used to cause such confusions.
So, to me I don’t have problems with religion. In case you don’t
know, the wife of the former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak is a
Christian, her name is Suzan. The wife of the King of Jordan is
Bristish; same with Syria. I take my wife to church, every day I wake up
I will pray to God and say let me not be an instrument of torture to
any human being.
When I was in government, a lot of people thought whether I became a
Muslim because of political appointment. I told them this was the name
my father gave me when I was seven days old. My father was a good
Islamic scholar. He never went to any Mallam because he taught us that
if you read the Qur’an and communicate with God; it is the same thing
with whoever you employ to do it on your behalf. We thank God these
days; the Qur’an has been printed in many languages.
All I tried to impart to my children is to be honest, trustworthy,
never hate anybody, never envy any body and never hurt anybody.
How did you meet your wife?It was on a
Christmas Day - 25th December, 1958. We were just bunch of boys in the
town. I was riding a bicycle and I saw her. When I saw her, I said so
this is the intelligent, brilliant Mary George! Her senior sister whom I
knew very well was my brother’s girl-friend.
In those days we used to have the National Idoma Students Union and every summer we meet to discuss issues affecting Idoma land.
I used to argue that I will not marry a wife who uses shampoo and the
rest of them and we will just laugh. Actually she wanted to be a nun
because she is a very religious person and that has kept her faith
because for the past seven years, she has been very sick, but the faith
she has kept her alive.
Why were you called Hitler during your days in the military?I
used to give a lecture in the Junior Command and Staff on the topic
leadership as I see it. You lead by example. When you say, don’t steal,
you yourself should not steal. In the Air Force, I don’t punish, but
when I ask them to do something, they will do it because they know I can
do it when they don’t do it. It was not as if I was punishing anybody,
but I tell them that they have to serve the country well because the
government has invested so much to train them.
Because of my moustache, probably that was why they called me Hitler.
But the point is that I was fair and firm in all my dealings. All the
disgruntled officers were posted to me. I was very happy that I was
able to rehabilitate them to become good officers.... When you are in
charge of people, you must be concerned about their welfare. I was
humane, but if you don’t do what is supposed to be done, I will give you
what the books says!
Anywhere you are, you have to take care of the welfare of people who
are working for you because without them you cannot move. Every
individual in the system is useful.
How were you appointed a minister?I
went to Hajj and by the time I came back, there was a coup. I have gone
through all the coups from Gowon, Buhari, Shagari. During the coup that
brought Babangida to power, I was in Mecca with the late Vatsa.
Idiagbon was also in Mecca. I decided to sponsor myself to Hajj
instead of being sponsored by government. I paid on my own. When the
coup took place, they said they were looking for me. The High
commissioner called and told me to tell me there. I reported to the High
Commission. I was appointed member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council.
In December 1983, I was posted to Kaduna as the General Officer
Commanding Training Command after spending all my life in the
headquarters. Being a pioneer engineer, I was there to formulate all the
engineering policies and training programmes for the Air Force. Since
training was part of me we had to put certain things together.
As a member of the Armed Forces ruling Council, I was given the post
of the chairman of the Mass Transit Programme in this country and we
toured everywhere to formulate the programme. Unfortunately, government
never reads whatever you write. I forced ANAMCO, Leyland and Volkswagen
to start producing locally in Nigeria.
When I was appointed minister in March 1989, I was combining the two
positions and I went and told Gen. Babangida that I cannot do that.
That was how I became the minister of industry. Then I later became the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Babangida was my mate in NIPSS. We were the first course at NIPSS in
Jos and we were in the same syndicate, so I have known him. When we went
to NIPPSS, I was the only officer who was a full colonel. The rest of
them were brigadiers. I was junior to them, so I minded my business.
Looking at those times and now, a lot of things have
changed, especially in the way things were done in those days and now.
This issue of corruption has become so endemic. What are your comments
on this?Normally I don’t comment on national issues.
But a country that worships material wealth must think twice. In Nigeria
people talk of their town and states first. That does not encourage
nation building.
We emphasis paper qualification so much and this is killing the
country. Nigerians are crazy about titles. The earlier we look at what
people can contribute for us the better.
Time has come that the government cannot do everything; we must make
our contributions, we should go back to the basics. What has gone wrong?
We cannot worship and survive in this country.
What’s your response to the Boko Haram insurgency?I
read these things in the papers. What are the northern leaders doing?
Boko Haram did not start in one day. It started from something and we
ignored it. The nucleus of Boko Haram is supposed to be from Borno. What
role did the governors there play?
We have a situation where people are developing thugs. When there is a
change of baton and the same carrot is not there, there would be a
reaction.
Northern leaders should sit down and find out what is going on before it destroys the north.
Before if you talk of centre of commerce; if you mention Lagos, you
will talk about Port Harcourt and Kano. Kano is gone. I am sorry to say
that. Kaduna is very overtaking Kano. So we have to sit down, they
didn’t come from somewhere. They are children of people. If you have a
son and he doesn’t come home in the night, won’t you ask him where he is
staying? They are being harboured by other people; why are they being
harboured?
So we in the north, if we are waiting for the federal government to
solve this problem, it is not going to be solved. Northerners must solve
the problem themselves.
What has gone wrong with the legacies of the late premier of Northern? Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello SardunaThere
is some kinds of dissatisfaction somewhere, try to find out what has
gone wrong. If this thing goes on, it is going to destroy the north. It
has already done a lot of damage. You don’t see people from the South
coming here freely anymore. You don’t see anywhere men trying to get a
job in the north any more.
They will not attempt any major contract in the north. We should
blame ourselves. We have created situation that has gone out of control
and we should go back to the basics. There are grievances here and
there, we should try and find out why the grievances.
This is my own personal view, I am not a politician. All I do is to
pray every day for peace to reign this country. We cannot do without
each other. The north is tied up with the South and the South is tied up
with the north in everything.
Who are your contemporaries in the military?My
own course mates are all dead; I am the only one surviving. In the Air
force, we are only three. They are dead. My mates cut across Army and
Navy. In the Army, we know our mates. NDA is not my mate. I have only 10
mates in the whole armed forces.
They include late Rear Admiral Ibrahim Katagum, Admiral Sam Atkum,
then Sati Gomut who contested before to be governor of Plateau State was
my classmate. Bukar Magaji, Ike Onunaku who joined the Biafran Air
Force and didn’t make it. In the army there was Ayodele all of us were
trained as engineers.
Our syndicate wrote a report on the Niger Delta in 1979. At NIPSS,
you are divided into syndicate groups and assigned to undertake a tour
of the different parts of the country. We went to the Niger Delta and
saw the situation of things there and we said (in the report) that
something has to be done. In the whole world, human beings want a decent
environment. Most of the solutions to the problems of Nigeria are all
in Kuru. Government should try to access some of this information.
• Agbaje