Herdsmen killing: When silence is not golden

For Nigerians, these are perilous and uneasy times as their lot is made worse on daily basis by a myriad of issues that have gone beyond the daily and often normal challenges of existence and living. Here’s an otherwise rich country that lives of citizens are now synonymous with misery and pain.

Here, suffering has become another national identity and hunger is now an unwanted but stubborn visitor in many homes, all because of actions and inactions of people they call their leaders most of whom are predatory, parasitic, pathologically selfish and insensitive to the suffering in the land.

As if these are not enough yoke on the neck of the hapless citizens, a group of people, unequivocally identified as Fulani herdsmen, have taken up arms and are mindlessly killing whoever resists or even dares to complain of the destruction of their farmlands by the nomads and their cattle.

Like wild fire, the activities of these killer-herdsmen  are spreading, leaving in their trail destruction, death and woes, but our president, Muhammad Buhari, either as a person or head of government whose duties  is to protect the lives and property of citizens, has chosen to be silent.

This silence, in our well considered opinion, is not golden. It is hurting and irritating. The silence becomes all the more heart-rending and head-whirling when the mindless killing by the herdsmen is placed side-by-side with the mere agitations by the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and the militancy in the Niger Delta region of the country.

It beats the imagination that the same president who is not only vocal but also vociferous on how government will ‘crush rascals’ and economic saboteurs from these two regions of the country does not see the ungodly activities of the herdsmen bad enough to attract decisive action or even condemnation.

Allied to this is the wanton killing going on in Southern Kaduna where the governor, like the president, seems unmoved by the loss innocent lives and destruction of hard-earned property, all in the name of religion. Whether it is ethnic or religious cleansing as it is being suspected to be, nothing could be more horrible and we join the rest of the world to condemn that wicked and inhuman activity.

Similarly, we condemn, in its entirety, Mr President’s un-golden silence and more the excuse by his apologists that he is dealing with this act against God and humanity silently. Though many parts of the country have been torched by these killers masquerading as herdsmen, Agatu, a sleepy community in Benue State appears to be the worst hit and most pitiable having been attacked several times with about 1000 of its people ‘slaughtered’ and many homes burnt.

Today, this community is a ‘conquered and occupied territory’ by these herdsmen who have sophisticated weapons that  raise concerns on the new character of  herdsmen whose only occupational or operational tool used to be a stick with which they guarded and guided their cattle.

We are worried about all of this and the looming danger. We are all the more worried by the deafening silence and inaction of the president which has created room for various interpretations of the activities of these characters who now go about unchecked with lethal weapons, notably AK47 rifle, in place of their trademark narrow stick.

We believe that the unity of this country is sacrosanct  and non-negotiable and therefore, we expect  Buhari to promote this unity by being father and president of the entire country and not to some sections alone. His presidency shouldn’t be a case of a father chastising one child with stick and cuddling another with biscuit and carrot. It smacks of hatred, partiality and divisive tendency.

We believe that the culture of impunity which these killer-herdsmen have exhibited in carrying out their killing trade is because none of them is being tried anywhere in any court, nor is anyone of them in detention anywhere for their actions. This, we think, emboldens them to do more and it is dangerous.

Our unity and corporate existence as a country 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 therefore, earnestly call on the president to end this 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.

With the recession and its crippling impact on individuals, households and organizations, we believe we have enough axe to grind and so, can ill-afford the loss of lives and destruction of property by a group of people that seems to be on a mission only known to them and their pay-masters. Enough is enough.