CLOUDS OVER HERDSMEN’S KILLINGS

President Buhari has not done enough to end the killings by herdsmen, argues Iyobosa Uwugiaren

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, would have to do more than a “passionate appeal’’ to get the media and public commentators to downplay the murderous activities of the Fulani herdsmen in some parts of the country, especially the domino effect of the recent killing of over 70 innocent souls in Benue State.

The minister’s recent appeal to the media and commentators to be circumspect will not sink until the people see unpretentious and honest efforts by the federal government to fix the problem. The truth is that the anguish and pains that have enveloped the entire nation in the past few days over the killing of hundreds of innocent souls in Benue, Adamawa, Taraba and in other parts of the country by the Fulani herdsmen is a reflection of deliberate security lapses of the President Muhammdu Buhari-led federal government. For how long shall the security agencies continue to watch these killings in protection of cows?

Now, resolve this incongruity by the Nigerian security agencies in two similar sad recent events: In Rivers State, dozens of persons were killed by gunmen between the hours of 12.10am and 1am on January 1, 2018 in Omoku in the Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. Apparently angered by the deadly criminal act of the perpetrators, President Buhari ordered the security agents to smoke out the criminals and in less than 48 hours, the perpetrators were killed and their bodies paraded before the media by the security agencies. And we all saluted the security agents’ courage and their timely action.

But in a similar case, over 70 people have been killed in Benue State between December 31and now by the Fulani cattle herders and which also forced tens of thousands from their homes. And shockingly, within 48 hours, the Benue State branch of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association claimed responsibility for the deadly act.

In justifying the killings, the leader of Miyetti Allah cattle breeders, Garus Gololo, revealed that the attacks by herdsmen were a “reprisal for alleged theft of their cows.’’ In a chat with BBC Pidgin, Gololo explained that the herdsmen were only defending themselves from “thieves.’’ He claimed that over 1000 of their cows were stolen at Nengere, a community in the state when the herdsmen were moving out of Benue to Taraba State.

Sadly, almost two weeks since the group confessed to the killing of innocent souls, members of the group still walk freely the streets of Makurdi and elsewhere without being arrested by security agents. Imagine a leader of Myetti Allah saying, “We killed Benue community people because they stole our cows!”

Take it or leave it: these conflicting approaches by President Buhari to two similar cases are strongly reinforcing the argument by many that the president was not willing to take punitive measures against members of his Fulani ethnic group in spite of their consistent murderous track records. One can therefore hardly fault the former Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani Kayode, when he said: “Over 150 innocent men, women and children were hacked to pieces in cold blood because of cows? Are we really one country?’’

While the presidency continues to blame the crisis on demographic changes, many sound minds do not need more evidence on the inaction of the security agencies than Ortom’s accounts at a meeting with the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Security, which visited the state recently on a fact-finding mission.

The governor had accused the President, VicePresident, Yemi Osinbajo; the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.), and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, of ignoring several warnings of the impending attack on the affected communities in Benue State.

The governor told the lawmakers that upon getting security information of the planned attacks, he immediately wrote a letter to Osinbajo, who was then Acting President as Buhari was on medical vacation in London. According to the governor, all attempts to get the vice-president’s attention via the letter failed, as he got no reply from Osinbajo. Ortom said he also wrote “letters’’ to Buhari after his return to Nigeria but got no response from him. He said out of desperation, he went further to draw the attention of Monguno in a separate letter addressed to him, but all to no avail. According to Ortom, “We wrote to the vice-president on the planned attacks on parts of Benue by Fulani herdsmen, because the threat was everywhere on the streets, but he refused to reply. However, when Mr. President returned from the United Kingdom, I intimated him through a letter. The documents are here. I wrote to him on the planned attack by Fulani herdsmen because the threats were on the streets.’’

Still giving detailed accounts of his efforts to get the security agents to be pro-active on the killings, the embattled governor also said that on October 7, 2017 he wrote to the Inspector-General of Police, telling him of the planned attack on his people when there was no response from the presidency. “I also wrote the National Security Adviser and the Director-General of the Department of State Services to intimate them on the planned attacks. When there was no action, I followed it up with a reminder on October 27, 2017’’, he said.

What else do we want the governor who does not have control over security agencies to do in efforts to protect his people from Fulani cattle herdsmen attacks?

In spite of the assurances by his media managers, President Buhari has not done enough to deal decisively with the murderous activities of the cattle herders. All we read from his statement, anytime the herdsmen strikes is “You can’t kill to please God.’’

In line with his oath of office, President Buhari cannot continue to be snoring, fantasising that the poisonous activities of this gang of killers will fizzle out one day. No responsive president will think that way when lives are involved. The killings will not fizzle out unless stiff measures are taken against the perpetrators of the deadly crimes.

Already, the vexed issue is taking very dangerous political and ethno-religious dimensions, with the affected states claiming that the activities of the Fulani herdsmen were planned actions against their people.

And Buhari must not allow this dangerous narrative to graduate into hateful speech that will further threaten our fragile country. Time to act is now.