Days after the Appeal Court’ three-member panel led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, voided the verdict of the Tribunal that declared PDP’s David Emmanuel Ombugadu winner of the March 28th governorship election in Nasarawa State and restored the mandate of Governor Abdullahi A. Sule, protesters under the aegis of the Indigenous People of Nasarawa State have continued to occupy Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital in vehement rejection of the Appeal Court’ judgment.
In an exclusive interview with a Community Developer and one of the key actors in the protest, Kefas Elisha Tigga, The News Chronicle’s Correspondent, Kabido Pius, took a closer look into some of the demands of the aggrieved protesting women.
Excerpts;
TNC: Sir, how true is the insinuation that the protesters are being sponsored by the opposition (PDP)?
Tigga: If they were PDP sponsored protesters, the protest wouldn’t have stayed this long. This protest is an organic protest that started at the point the election results were declared and a wrongful person was announced.
Because it was obvious that David Emmanuel Ombugadu of the PDP actually won the election. And everybody was getting set for jubilation only to receive a shock at the time they least expected. So everybody came out organically. 
And aside that, this thing sustained itself at a point, there were PDP members as well as others too in participation. The person who took the lead was the PDP women leader, even she herself, tried as much as possible, to stop it when the thing became like a party thing, she could not stop the people. These are women who came from villages. These are women who are farmers. These are women most of whom, were raped in their farms. Some lost their husbands.
So, they are out to express their grievances with this government in that their land has been taken over by major insecurity in the land. This is not a party thing. It has nothing to with that. Anybody who is mentioning the issue of party is only doing that to destroy the peaceful rally…peaceful protest of these women. So. It is obvious, it is not a party thing.
TNC: How peaceful is the protest considering that protesters block a major highway and impede on residents’ normal activities?
Tigga: For once, there has never been any traffic in Lafia on the account of this protest. Secondly, they have never blocked any highway. Just as I said, we have some mischievous people among us who are working day and night to ensure that they discredit this protest. They give it a bad name. But thank God the women listened. Some of us are only helping to guide. Because these are people that want to express themselves, would you want to stop them?
It is their right. But somehow since most of them have been deprived access to education, the few of us that are educated must be able to give them a guide.
These women came out because they could not be able to pay their children’s school fees…they don’t even have the means to feed them. The farms where they have access to food to even sell and sponsor these children have been taken.
So, we that are privileged a little but also at the disadvantaged because we don’t have access to employment in our own state… We don’t control our resources. Since we have a little know-how, why can’t we guide them?
That’s why you see them carrying their placards in a straight line…in fact, you would see passersby and commuters hailing them by the roadside and telling them ‘we are with you’.
Even civil servants, federal government employees are with them but they cannot come out to express themselves because they are employed people under the government. And some of them have been threatened already.
TNC: How long do they intend to go on with this protest?
It appears it is just a women protest. The women are really aggrieved. But I want to tell you, a lot of men are willing to join this. But somehow, we felt that we don’t want this thing to go the other way round. If it were to be men, there may be attacks and counter attacks, because the men are really angry.
So, we decided that since the women can express themselves, let’s stay calm and stay apart. Now, if you observed after the Appeal Court judgment, some other groups came up. You begin to see new faces, even the men coming to do press conferences here and here.
It is only showing you that it is an agitation beyond just the issue of the election. It is an agitation for people that have been suppressed for a long period of time. It is an agitation for people who seek liberation. These are people that want to survive. They want to live in their land and live like any other Nigerian.
I am not saying that it is a protest that is starting to stop. Even if the PDP is declared the winner, it is a protest that would continue because the protesters have to see that he is meeting their demands. They feel that maybe if it is their son that is given governor, he would understand, identify and solve their problems. That is why they are advocating for Dr. David Emmanuel Ombagadu to become the governor of Nasarawa state, who is the rightful person they voted for.
TNC: How do you dispel the rumor that you are only rooting for the PDP because you are no longer benefiting from the present APC led government in the state?
Tigga: Personally, I am a consultant. I am a professional in my field. Are you getting it? The present Nasarawa Today Magazine that they are operating, I designed it, which is a quarterly publication.
And aside that, being a development consultant and a community worker, I have been doing a lot of community activities. Assisting our communities to get into different clusters, to be able to build a formidable businesses. And for your information, I have what we call the Nasarawa Entrepreneur Hub but all these things are carpeted on the ground in the name that I had to go back and join APC.
And I told them no, I am not. I am not doing these things because of party. I am doing it on the basis of professionalism.
If it has to do with party, my thinking and believe are my people…where I work, majority of us are in the PDP. So you see me working around PDP and I cannot just leave my own people in the name of ‘I just wanna join the APC’. Joining for what?
After all, I see no difference in the two parties.
TNC: When you talk about your people, who are you referring to?
Tigga: I am talking about my people in my own village, who are 99.5 percent PDP. And I cannot choose to start changing that because as a community development worker, one thing I believe is that, community can develop with the right people in power.
TNC: You don’t believe that the APC has anything good to offer in Nasarawa State?
Tigga: That is where the suspicion came in that I was already in the APC. Because at a point I tried to see, okay how do we put things together as a community, irrespective of party after Sule won the election in 2019. Are you getting it?
And I felt this is somebody who has great exposure since he is coming from America, he has seen what modern democracy looks like, he would not behave like others.
So, I said okay let me see how we can be able to join hands and put Nasarawa in the map and stop this issue of women being molested, attacked here and there, but it is very unfortunate that the reverse is the case.
And I said if that is the case, I choose to withdraw, but they said that I have to join the APC for me to get everything.
All the contracts and everything that I have been doing have been withdrawn…I am not ready to join them. I am ready to work with my people in the community that’s why I choose to stay back.
I have been in the PDP all these while. And I have always told them that wherever the party’s agenda does not meet up with what we promised the people I am not going to be part of it, I am a realist.
TNC: So, your participation in the protest has nothing to do with your fall out with the present government?
Tigga: It has not. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the present government. It has to do with the commitment of my people.
How many people know that Nasarawa state shares border with the FCT? I served in Akwa Ibom for instance, the people there were saying that we don’t celebrate Christmas, I am like, for God’s sake my name is Kefas and do you know what it means? It is a biblical name, you people should not just sit down and assume that all northerners are Muslims, we have tribes, like my own tribe now is Rindre, have you ever heard of that? No. My people are not given the opportunity to speak, should I just keep quiet if my parents could not speak out?
TNC: Don’t you think that the governor’s popularity brought him into power as against the theory of manipulation?
Tigga: First of all, this protest, just like I said was triggered because of the election. The people believe that democracy was the only way where they can be able to express their wants through the ballot box and they said let’s try it this way this time, and when they tried it, people who almost divided Nasarawa State within themselves, thought otherwise.
They said we should go to court and they were shocked we won at the Tribunal. It is not David Ombugadu that won it is the people of Nasarawa state. That’s why you see jubilation everywhere, but after the appeal verdict, it appears we can go to court but they can find their way in by introducing technicalities. They want to keep manipulating.
TNC: How true is the issue of marginalization in the state?
Tigga: Go to the list, somebody comes in from Sokoto, from Zamfara, he bears the name Ahmed Abubakar…and he gets employed. when things get bad they leave us the indigenes to suffer.
TNC: Are there no names like that in Nasarawa State?
Tigga: There are, but when you see a name like Ahmed Aklo, Ahmed Shammah, Ahmed Waju, you would know that the surname is indigenous. My brother, It is beyond just the issue of politics.
TNC: Are you trying to say that governor Abdullahi A. Sule has not achieved anything in office?
Tigga : I would be making the worst blunder to say that. He has not. Really, as a person, he is not typically a bad person. But he has surrounded himself with bad people. Is like there is something we don’t know. Because he keeps unveiling the Sule we don’t know every day.
TNC: Thank you so much for your time, sir.
