Herdsmen attacks and FG’s hurting silence
Like wild fire, the activities of killers suspected to be Fulani herdsmen continue to spread, leaving in their trail destruction, death and woes. By their nature, these activities appear to be pre-meditated and their victims targeted. Gradually but steadily, an anarchic situation is brewing and what this portends to us as a people and to the fragile peace we ‘enjoy’ as a nation is better left to the imagination.
Many parts of the country, including some parts of the North, Oyo, Ekiti, Delta, Enugu, Benue, etc, have been torched by the mindless activities of these assassins masquerading as herdsmen. Agatu, a sleepy community in Benue which has been attacked several times with over 800 people ‘slaughtered’ and many homes burnt, is the worst hit so far followed by Nimbo, an agrarian community in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State where about 50 people were killed and many houses burnt .
Today, Benue as a whole is a ‘conquered and occupied territory’ with the influx of herdsmen who have sacked some communities with sophisticated weapons, raising concerns on the new character of herdsmen whose only operational tool used to be a stick with which they guard and guide their cattle.
Like many other Nigerians, we are worried about the looming danger from all these. We are all the more worried by the silence and inaction of the federal government which has given room for various interpretations of the activities of these characters who now go about with lethal weapons, notably AK47 rifle in place of their trademark narrow stick
A very dangerous interpretation of the government’s inaction by the affected persons and communities is that government can no longer protect them, hence they resort to self-help or self-defence which has led to some unhealthy developments including arms proliferation, kill-at-sight order, banning of grazing, etc.
In Agatu, for instance, it was reported recently that a women was caught sleeping on a gun and her only reason was that it was her own approach to self defence. Other members of that community are also alleged to own guns with which they defend themselves from the rampaging herdsmen.
We still cherish the unity and corporate existence of this country which, of course, is the source of our political and economic power not only within the West African Sub-region but also in Africa as a whole.
We are therefore calling on the federal government, particularly President, Muhammadu Buhari, to end its deafening silence and take a decisive action that will assure the citizens that the country is still one indivisible entity where safety and the sanctity of human life are sacrosanct.
Whether we believe it or not, this country is already on the brink, and will implode if urgent actions are not taken to avert that. In the present circumstance where there’s mutual suspicion and everybody is armed for self-defence, what we have on our hands is a fragile and explosive situation that needs just a spark and, God forbid, all is consumed.
The drift, inexplicably, is towards civil strife which, in our candid opinion, Nigeria can ill-afford at this moment when its economy is in limbo, and many countries, including its erstwhile peers, have moved in terms of growth and development.
We foresee a situation where the ban on grazing and kill-at-sight order in some parts of the country may lead to reprisal attacks in other parts, throwing back memories of the events of the past four decades which ultimately plunged the country into a civil war with very ugly consequences.
Already, a Fulani youth group known as ‘Jonde Jam Fulani Youth Association’ has threatened to resist the eviction of herdsmen from the southern part of the country and, according to a recent media report, the group is alleging that the crisis of Fulani herdsmen killings is a ‘conspiracy to tag the Fulani herdsmen as criminals and evict them from other parts of the country, warning that evicting the herdsmen from any part of Nigeria will affect the unity of the country.
Nigerians are warning that the country cannot afford another civil war and the onus lies on the federal government to go beyond the present rhetoric and track down the backers and sponsors of these dare-devils and query the source of their weapons. It beats our imagination that ‘herdsmen’ will enter a community, destroy farmlands, burn houses, kill some people, disappear into thin air and no cows are seen.
We are gladdened by the assurance from the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, that “no group will overrun the country or illegally occupy any part of it under my watch as the chief police officer”, but we want Arase to go beyond that and make a definitive statement with arrest, detention and prosecution of culprits. We have heard of several arrests in the past and it all ended at that level.
Also, the federal government should work with the National Assembly to expedite action on the National Grazing Bill with a view to passing it into law. The advanced economies of this world also rear cattle, but nobody sees their cattle on the road or in farmlands destroying everything on their way.
We can also do the same, if not better, and by so doing, end the present national malady that is threatening not just our unity, but also our ailing and fragile economy. And time for action is NOW!