To an average northerner who is 40 years and above today, the name General Zamani Lekwot rings a bell and makes one recall his alleged involvement in the killings, displacement of people, and destruction of properties of hundreds of Hausa-Fulani-Muslims as an aftermath of the riot in Zangon Kataf Town in Southern Kaduna state in 1992.
Following this crisis, the Kaduna State Executive Council set up an eight-member committee to draft a White Paper on the two reports by the Justice Rahila Cudjoe Commission of Inquiry into the Zangon-Kataf riots of February and May 1992.
General Zamani Lekwot, along with 30 other persons were dragged and convicted along with some 6 other persons including Zamani Lekwot himself who were sentenced to death by the state Chief Judge, Justice Rahila Cudjoe in an 8-member white paper committee that reviewed 2 reports of the commission of inquiry into the Zangon Kataf crisis.
Zamani Lekwot and others were charged with “unlawful assembly, rioting, rioting with arms, and disturbance of public peace”.
My concern today is not about Lekwot’s alleged ‘soiled hands’ in the mass killings but his biases, politically motivated and baseless comments on the occasion of his 84th birthday, on former President Buhari’s stewardship of the country.
In the words of Lekwot about PMB: “the high opinion he rose on to become President in 2015, soon collapsed when he started performing below expectation”.
Whether or not, President Buhari did or did not do well should not be a source of worry for Lekwot afterrall he never voted for him and moreso he never came forward to offer useful advices to the PMB administration in his 8 years in office.
Indeed his latest attack on PMB is dead on arrival going by his alleged ‘blood soaked hands’ in the 1992 crises. He lack moral standing to make such wild claims without any empirical evidence to support it.
As a supposedly elder person in any Nigerian society, he should be seen to be all out to heal the wounds of his wasteful past and make peace with all members of his community including his non kinsmen.
Methinks, Lekwot’s worry presently should be how he can redeem his reputation and image, assuming he has any left arising from the atrocities of his alleged involvement in the massacre of Hausa-Muslims residing in Zangon Kataf and followers of other faiths.
Since 1992, most Hausa-Muslims in the North and beyond see Lekwot as a murderer. Nothing as far as they are concerned will paint him white, unblemished.
Simply put, Lekwot is simply distracting Nigerians’ attention to his inglorious and tainted past as a soldier and community leader.
He needs to work more ŵith all sincerity towards mending fences with the Hausas in his base, Zangon Kataf through truthful and sincere engagement, repentance and apologies. Before that terrible incident of 1992, the Hausas and Katafs had lived together peacefully as brothers and sisters and mutually with respect to each others diversities.
Only this will earn him the status of an elder statesman. He needs to work more towards reconciliation and peace building efforts in his community in particular and in the whole of Southern Kaduna.
If however, Lekwot strongly feels President Buhari had not done enough, he should throw in the towel, join the race and contest the presidency of the country come 2027. That is the only way he can show Nigerians that he can do better than PMB. Otherwise he should shut up and allow patriotic Nigerians to give their best towards peace, progress and development of the country built by the PMB administration.
Musa Ilallah, a public affairs analyst based in Abuja. He can be reached on musahk123@yahoo.com
