( I swear before God and man, that as I press the very first key in starting this piece, it is February ???. With the trend of things, I can predict that by the time you are reading this piece, more horrors would have been committed by the subjects of this piece. I pray Iam proved wrong.)
Governor Gabriel Suswan of Benue State virtually went down on his knees last week begging Fulani herdsmen to cease raping, shooting and slitting the throats of women and children. According to reports, up to 28 persons had been killed by Friday, February 11, over 300 critically injured and over 33 villages attacked. Over 20,000 persons had been rendered homeless. What could have reduced the Chief Security Officer of a state to this state of undignified helplessness?
Some say it is politics, the reluctance (or fear) in the Presidency to deal decisively with the masterminds of these killings who are considered crucial to President Jonathan’s victory in the April polls.
The Benue killers, numbering over 500, came in Nigerian Army uniforms, they were heavily armed, complete with bullet-proof vests. And they were so well-coordinated that they “confounded” security agencies. Somebody needs to urgently tell us the difference between these ubiquitous “ Fulani men in Army uniforms” and “Fulani men of the Nigerian Army.”
Who trains them? Who arms them? Who funds them?
The traditional ruler of Gwer West, Chief Daniel Abomtse, had told The Guardian that the leader of the herdsmen, one Alhaji Shuaibu Sai, had called him (on phone?) to complain that some of their cattle and one of their relatives had been killed in a conflict with some villagers in the area.
According to Abomtse, he had told Shuaibu to arrange as meeting to resolve the issues. But since then, all phone lines of the Fulani leader were switched off and all attempts to reach him failed.
“We were expecting them for a meeting, but the leaders were incommunicado. It was on February 8 that we saw the beginning of the invasion. Eye-witnesses said they were more than 500, armed and dressed in military uniforms,” Abomtse recalled.
There has been a significant upshot in killing incidents involving herdsmen and religious fundamentalists since some northern elements led by Adamu Ciroma and some disgruntled generals threatened to make the country “ungovernable” for President Goodluck Jonathan. And today Jonathan is playing into the hands of these Philistines by refusing to deal with them decisively. Unwittingly, he is creating the impression of a “weakling president”.
We are being told in unmistakably bloody terms that some persons in Nigeria have licence to slaughter others. And neither the Nigerian Army (what goes by that name) — nor the Police can stop them.
In the last one month alone, close to 300 Nigerians have been slaughtered by these brutes and not one of these killers has been brought to justice. A show is made of making arrests, afterwards, nothing is heard of the criminals. No wonder, they get more daring by the day.
On Thursday, February 10, roughly 48 hours after the warring communities signed a peace pact (which was well publicised) Fulani marauders invaded the civilized environment of the Federal college of Land Use Technology, Jos. As usual, they were in army uniform, complete with bullet-proof vests and were heavily armed.
The Fulani men, numbering 20, attacked the house of the school’s chief security officer, Haruna Danjuma. They chased him around in his own house. Finally, they cornered him. And shot him in the chest. All this as his two daughters watched helplessly from their hiding. Haruna’s son was also matcheted…
Where were the security agents? Where were men of the joint task force? Definitely, frantic calls from various cell phones must have gone to the relevant security agencies.
The Fulani men in military uniform were not in a hurry. They dragged out what remained of Haruna’s body… they sang victory songs: ”This is the foolish Haruna, we have finally got him” they said, according to reports. Afterwards, they left through the hills to the neighbouring village of Farin Laban. The attackers did not forget to take all the 30 cows in Haruna’s compound.
Then, shortly afterwards, the Police promptly appeared on the scene. The state Police Commissioner, Abdulrahman Akano, boasted afterwards that investigation was on and the case would not be swept under the carpet. Really?
According to a national daily, some days before he was killed, Haruna had reported the stealing of his cattle to the Police. And with Police help, the cows had been recovered and returned to him in a widely publicized operation that was even carried by a local television.
So, the suspects in Haruna’s killing are known. So also is at least one of their locations (training camps?) : Farin Laban.
But more terrible acts were committed that same night at the same federal college, the Fulani men in army uniforms slaughtered the chief accountant of the college, Mr. Audu Chobe, killed his wife, then killed their baby — a three-year-old daughter. And then the school’s electrician, Hosea, making five in all.
Five days later, on Tuesday, February 15, as the Eid El Maulud (Prophet Mohammed’s birthday) was being celebrated, a Police officer, John, stood waiting to collect the meat he had paid for. Suddenly, the Hausa butcher turned his knife on him, ripping his stomach open. None of the reports mentioned any provocation whatsoever. John died instantly. The butcher’s colleague promptly did the same thing to another girl customer in front of him… And hell broke loose.
They are getting bolder and madder– by the day. These enemies within. And some pitiful souls keep urging us to pretend everything is alright with this thing called “Nigeria”.
Both Jonathan and the National Assembly sit there dummy-like.
Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State has said repeatedly that he knows the masterminds of the killings in his state.
What infernal political calculus (or diplomacy?) justifies the Presidency’s passivity while Nigerian citizens are being slaughtered by known elements before our very eyes? Are these mindless killers of women and babies not the persons with whom we are being asked to forge a united Nigeria where love and peace reign?
For what really is the difference between the brutish Fulani killer of toddlers and babies and his perfumed sponsors who strut around in snow-white turbans and flowing babanrigas?
(This piece by Yemi Ogunsola was first published in The Guardian of February 19, 2011)
