On the prevailing massacres in Plateau and Benue

The spate of the recent killings in some parts of Nigeria, especially in Plateau and Benue states leaves much to be desired of our leaders. The massacres which are perceived in some quarters as state-motivated and sponsored and ethnic cleansing, are a problem too many and question the capability and impartiality of our security agencies.

Victims of Jos mayhem for mass burial. Photo credit: the Vanguard

Some Nigerians, most of which are notherners, see the president of the Federation who doubles as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, as a man of integrity and after three years at the helm of affairs as the overseer of the security apparatus of the most populous black nation on earth, that tag sounds ironical as the president has proved to be anything but one who has integrity.

What Nigeria needs in this trying period of our national history is more than a man who has integrity; who is waging war against graft and working assiduously to right the wrongs of the past governments.

The troubles and problems faced on daily basis by our brothers and sisters in the North and Middle belt can be considered a genocide and religiously orchestrated and planned with the aim being that some Nigerians are chased away from their ancestral lands and territories.

While the federal government has repeatedly insisted that these are nothing other than clashes between herders and farmers, the real issue is more than meet the eye. They go more deeper and weighty than mere clashes of farmers and herdsmen.

We have gotten to a point where you must choose between your ancestral land and your life. This is not a situation that portrays a clash between farmers and herdsmen.

I will be mindful with my choice of words, so I am not going to refer to these herders as Fulani herdsmen even if they were since doing so would amount to making baseless deduction and wrongly implicating innocent Fulanis. But if truth must be told, it suffices to say that had herders been from other part or tribes of this country, our security forces would have probably swung into action and could have probably curtailed the crises or at least brought it to the bearable and tolerable level.

It is crystal clear that our security architecture is faulty and defective and the lopsidedness in recruitment and promotion only makes the situation moves from bad to worse. The security forces lack the required and necessary synergy to collate timely intelligence, let alone act on it; and the existing clash of interest among security agencies in Nigeria which is a age long issue contributes to making worsening our chance of combating crimes and prosecuting criminals in this country.

President Muhamandu Buhari to me lacks the political will to prosecute the implicated herders who are all his kins. He is perhaps confused of what step to take and how to go about addressing the situation without offending his tribe, the Fulani, of which he is a mallam. Thus no amount of bloodshed would move the president to take a decisive action that would end this menace and carnage wrought by herdsmen. The Presidency is apparently hand-tied to act at this time. This has always been the case with our leaders.The absence of a strong political will on the part of our leaders both at the state and national level is one thing that stalls or even limit the effectiveness of our security agencies who are supposed to help secure peace and protect the life and property of every Nigerian irrespective of his or her tribe or religion.

The recent killings in Plateau and Benue states in particular is one crisis too many. The earlier we work as one to curtail and bring it to a halt the better for our already shattering unity. It is crisis like this to give birth to agitation and desire of our tribe to severe ties or break away from the marriage called Nigeria. The president must act now or tender his resignation letter if he feels he does not have the balls to tackle his kinsmen. This will naturally begin with the sack of some of the under performing service chiefs who are obviously taking side.

One other thing we must do collectively at this time is to stop the politicizing of every matter confronting  and challenging our unity. Herdsmen are not stronger than an unbiased security force, and we should grow up from pointing accusing finger at each and trading blame to always coming together to tackle issues of national dimension. We do not have any other country to call our own and we must employ all resources at our disposal to protect Nigeria.

Samuel John writes on topical and trending issues of national dimension.

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