By Emeka Alex Duru
By Monday, June 25, 2018, when armed Fulani herdsmen continued with killings in three councils of Plateau State, it had become apparent that the attacks were not incidental but clearly aimed at precise agenda – exterminating the indigenes.
The violence, which commenced on Sunday, had by Tuesday, resulted to death toll variously put at between 135 and 200. The Police had however put the estimate of those lost in the mayhem at 86.
In a curious twist, the Umbrella body of the herders, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), lent weight to the suspicion of its men carrying out the attacks, when it explained the killings as retaliatory.
Chairman of North-Central Zone of the association, Danladi Ciroma maintained that the attacks on Riyom, Jos South and Barkin Ladi LGAs were reprisal to the herdsmen losing about 300 cows in different communities of the LGAs.
“These attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support the killing of a human being, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on [a] revenge mission,” Ciroma said in a statement.
He explained that there had been unreported cases of cow rustling by people in the affected communities.
He further accused the communities of shielding the alleged cow thieves and attacking security officials who wanted to arrest them.
“Fulani herdsmen have lost about 300 cows in the last few weeks – 94 cows were rustled by armed Berom youths in Fan village, another 36 cows were killed by Berom youths. In addition to that, 174 cattle were rustled and the criminals disappeared with them to Mangu.
“Since these cows were not found, no one should expect peace in the areas”, he asserted.
As at the time of this write-up, there had been no report of Ciroma or any of the high profile officials of the MACBAN in Police net to give full explanations on the “retaliatory attacks”.
In that respect, except three suspects paraded alongside 14 earlier arrests by the military task force in the state, Operation Safe Heaven, the herders could be said to have had their day while their victims licked their wounds.
To worsen the situation, neither the comments by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who was in the State on Monday, nor those of President Muhammadu Buhari, who visited on Tuesday, seemed strong enough to send the signal that the nation was no longer prepared to live with the menace of the herders.
While Osinbajo, warned against religious war in the face of confusing situation, Buhari called for prayers from Nigerians, reportedly confessing that there was really nothing much he could do to halt the maddening trend.
Though he pledged absolute justice for victims of the massacre, he admitted his helplessness in the face of the situation.
“There is nothing I can do to help the situation except to pray to God to help us out of the security challenges. What has happened is a very bad thing, the bottom line is that justice must be allowed to take its course”, the President was quoted to have declared.
What next after Jos visit?
Many attribute the arrest of 17 suspects on the Plateau crisis to the volume of outrage that has trailed the dastardly action. What however may not be certain is the next line of action, if any by the government, to guard against recurrence of the ugly act.
But if past experiences are to serve as guide, not much may really be achieved in this direction.
For one, the government is not known to have done much in similar situations in the past to rein in the herders. This is even, when in the 2014 ‘Global Terrorism Index’ the herdsmen were ranked as the fourth deadliest terror group worldwide.
If anything, it had rather turned its eyes the other way, while the marauders converted the entire country to their killing field.
The impression, thus, has been that because the President is a Fulani, he is finding it hard to call his kinsmen to order. This may not be easily established. But what cannot be readily disputed is that his Fulani kinsmen are becoming more dastardly under his administration.
When for instance, the herdsmen struck in Ukpabi-Nimbo community of Enugu State on Monday, April 25, 2016, leaving in their trail 50 persons dead and properties destroyed, not much was done by the government to call them to order.
It was even so bad that there were no high profile government officials sent to condole with the people. To worsen the situation, it took the Presidency clear two days to release a statement on the attack, pledging justice to the victims.
More than two years after, the affected families and communities, have been on their own, neglected and all alone, bearing the brunt of the attack.
Two months ago, precisely, on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, the Fulani herdsmen took their wicked agenda to a Catholic Church in Benue State, murdering two Priests along with 15 of their parishioners in an early morning worship session.
The Priests, Fr. Joseph Gor and Fr. Felix Tyolaha, along with their parishioners were killed in the course of the celebration of the Holy Mass.
Curiously, one of the Priests, Fr. Gor, somehow, had premonition of his death in the hands of the blood hounds and raised alerts, accordingly.
He was said to have tweeted on January 3: “We are living in fear. The Fulani are still around here in Mbalom (where they were killed). They refuse to go. They still go grazing around. No weapons to defend ourselves.”
Nobody, listened to him, nor acted on his warning. And they were eventually killed.
Earlier on January 1, while the World ushered in the New Year, the marauders invaded five local government areas in the state, killing more than 70 people in one fell swoop.
These are few instances of their menace. Incidentally, in all the occasions, security personnel in the state, were caught napping.
Some of the victims, in fact, even alleged collusion on the part of the military – an accusation that was amplified by erstwhile Chief of Army Staff and former Defence Minister, General Theophilus Danjuma, recently.
It is against this backdrop of lethargy on the part of the government to deal with the brains behind the regular bloodletting by the Fulani herdsmen and alleged complicity by the armed forces, that many have fear on anything coming out of the visit by the President and his Deputy to Plateau on Monday and Tuesday.
The expression of helplessness exhibited by Buhari on the issue, raises further concern. This is especially as he is known to have acted swiftly even on minor issues concerning people from other parts of the country.
Given, for instance, the vehemence with which the President had descended on the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) self-determination agenda or how he had thundered at the Niger Delta activists, the argument in the case of his lethargy in moving against the herders is whether the loud silence is deliberate or not.
Analysts are however in agreement that whatever may have been the reason behind the obvious inaction, it has clearly, not helped his reputation nor that of his government among fair-minded Nigerians.
It may also be sending, perhaps, an unintended message that may be interpreted from the angle of every section of the country contriving a separate template on self defence.
If this eventually becomes the norm, nobody can reasonably predict where it will lead to.
