Confab delegates’ arrogance caused my outburst – Lamidon Adamawa

The Lamidon Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Aliyu Mustafa, has said that the sheer arrogance exhibited by some delegates at the ongoing National Conference was what had inspired his emotional outburst.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Kano, the monarch stressed that people like him were assigned to prove their worth on how the issue of unity could be forged and wondered why the floor of the conference should be turned into a theatre of displaying arrogance by those who “myopically feel that oil being the nation’s treasure-trove belongs to their kinsmen.”

He said the North could survive even without the black gold, adding that the oil-producing states considered the North and the rest of non-oil producing states as beggars who relied solely on oil to survive.

He said: “I do not intend to speak on the issue of resource control to stir the hornet’s nest.  Many of those taking a swipe at my remarks were just being hypocritical to please the government.  They are moles planted by some selfish individuals to cause confusion.
“The motive behind the remarks was borne out of my penchant to checkmate the most arrogant elements at the conference and prove to them that even without oil, the North could stand on its feet.”

Mustafa said the “North stands the ample chance of making an appreciable headway by harnessing and fully utilising its vast agricultural potentials,” citing Japan and Germany as countries that had become what they are courtesy of agriculture.

He said the oil-producing states could not survive without the rest of the country, stressing that with the North having dominance on land ownership, “it stands to benefit from the tax that would be accruing to it.”

He expressed confidence that the outcome of the conference would not be taken with a pinch of salt by the president as attested to by his inaugural speech, saying that the world “expects him to match his words with action.”