By Pascal Oparada
Social Media/Tech Reporter
The head of the Nigerian Army, Tukur Buratai, on Wednesday blamed Nigerian politicians who lost in the 2019 elections for being responsible for the increased wave of insecurity in the country.
He said there is strong evidence linking defeated politicians to herdsmen attacks and banditry in many parts of the country.
”The myriad of security challenges we are facing right now in the northwest, north-central and other parts of the country, I want to believe and rightly so, that it is a fallout of the just concluded general election.
“There are political class interests, politicians in particular who saw their defeats as a way of trying to revenge, sponsoring these criminal activities even the bandits, the farmers and herders.
“There are strong political undertones and strong political influences including (in these) kidnappings,” the Army chief said when Chairman of Nigerian House of Representative Committee on the Army visited him in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Although the Nigerian Army has a Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), which might have provided Buratai with the data, why haven’t there been any arrests made linking any defeated politicians to these crimes?
Strong evidence shows that prior to the 2019 general elections, insecurity was at its peak, especially armed herdsmen who sacked communities in North Central states of Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and few other states in the South like Enugu.
Herdsmen attacks predate 2019 elections
Amnesty International said about 168 people have been killed by herdsmen in January of 2018 alone. This was prior to the elections 2019 which saw President Muhammadu Buhari win reelection.
“Clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Adamawa, Benue, Taraba, Ondo, and Kaduna have resulted in 168 deaths in January 2018 alone.
“Hundreds of people lost their lives last year, and the government is still not doing enough to protect communities from these violent clashes. Worse, the killers are getting away with murder,” Osai Ojigho, country director for Amnesty International in Nigeria, said.
She also said that in 2017, 549 deaths were recorded across 14 states, while thousands were displaced.
In 2017, clashes between nomadic herdsmen and local farmers resulted in at least 549 deaths and thousands displaced across Enugu, Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Cross Rivers, Adamawa, Katsina, Delta and Ekiti states.
“The government must totally overturn its response to these deadly clashes to avoid this crisis getting out of control. They need to investigate and bring suspects to justice,” she said.
According to her, the military was currently performing operations in 30 states of the country.
Bandits struck months before 2019 elections
In April 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated special military task force in Zamfara to deal with banditry in the state and other areas where they operate.
A report in on December 2018 in a Nigerian newspaper, Vanguard, said about 12 people were killed by bandits in Nigerian North Central state of Zamfara.
The report which quoted PREMIUM TIMES said the bandits struck while the locals were harvesting potatoes in their farms.
“The armed bandits came around 1 o’clock noon and opened fire on some youth harvesting sweet potatoes at Garin Haladu community and killed ten people,” the report said.
In a separate incident, 12 people were killed at Garin Haladu community. At Nasarawa Godal community, four persons were killed, while at Garin Kaka community, nine people were killed. The three communities are in the same local government.
“Many youths from Nasarawa Godal community ran to Garin Haladu to help the neighbouring community fight the attackers. Among them, four persons were killed by the armed bandits and their corpses were discovered today (Thursday),” the source said.
Although there have been attacks by herdsmen in places like Kajuru in Kaduna, Benue and Kogi states in 2019, the attacks are nothing like the ones witnessed before 2019 elections when Benue State conducted mass burial for victims of herdsmen attack in 2018.
The attacks in both Benue and Plateau drew global outrage.
Last year, President of Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, was accused of arming political thugs who took the arms to rob a bank in the Nigerian state of Kwara. About 30 people were killed by the robbers, including policemen.
The Offa robbers, as they are called, confessed to being thugs for Saraki, whom they said gave them the weapons.
Politicians in Nigeria have always been accused of arming thugs with weapons during elections which are not mostly retrieved after.
