In July 2012, clashes between
natives and herdsmen reached a head in Plateau state leading to tens of deaths
on both sides. Then President Jonathan, when briefed about the situation
insisted that there wouldn’t be such impunity under his leadership and
immediately ordered the army to go to the affected communities and fish out the
perpetrators and bring them to book.
The military immediately obeyed
the then president’s orders and sent troops to Barkin Ladi Local Government
Area. They ordered all residents to leave their residence for temporary
accommodation provided for them so they could conduct a joint air and ground
operation to flush out the armed herdsmen who had been suspected of killing
innocent Nigerians. The residents complied and the soldiers went in and not
only did they clear the area, they made arrests which led to trials.
That is how a commander-in-chief
acts. When your people are being slaughtered you don’t send them
commiserations, like the frequent commiserations President Muhammadu Buhari has
been sending to the people of Benue State. No. You assert yourself as the
leader by using the nation’s symbols of strength to quash any threat to the
national security of the nation.
That is what Jonathan did in
Plateau state in July 2012. So effectively was Jonathan’s orders carried out
that Malam Nasir El-Rufai tweeted his now infamous tweet on the 15th of July
2012 threatening that “We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or
not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it
takes.” (his exact words)
So when he was elected governor
and we began to hear him say that he had paid public monies to herdsmen to
prevent further killings (there was actually a spike in killings), and that he
as a governor was of the same ethnicity as these herdsmen, I was not at all
taken aback as others were. The man had publicly signified his intentions long
before he became governor. But the point I am trying to make is that former
President Jonathan, who was called weak by the All Progressive Congress, did
something to end the menace of herdsmen killings, but President Buhari who is
called “strong” by his supporters, has refused to do anything.
And so today, when I read about
the killings perpetuated by herdsmen in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Taraba
and other parts of Nigeria, I really feel for our citizens who have to go
through these ordeals of impunity. No arrests are made, no forms of deterrence
whatsoever is carried about by the Buhari administration.
I heard that the Benue State
governor, Samuel Ortom, wept when he saw corpses of his citizens massacred by
herdsmen. It might sound harsh, but can Ortom recall that only last month he smiled
as he told Nigerians that President Buhari deserves a second term? My question
to Ortom is this: If President Buhari gets a second term, would there be human
beings left alive in Benue?
It is a fact that herdsmen belong
to the same wider ethnic nationality as President Muhammadu Buhari, although
most killer herdsmen are not mainstream Fulani, but rather fringe Fulani of the
Wodaabe (also known as the Mbororo or Bororo) subgroup of the Fula people.
It is also a fact that President
Muhammadu Buhari was the grand patron of the umbrella union of herdsmen in
Nigeria known as Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
From that vantage point, he had
in the past angrily and malevolently confronted state governors in states were
herdsmen had received the wrong end of the stick in their acts of marauding.
As a matter of fact, on October
13, 2000, Muhammadu Buhari, in his capacity as the Grand Patron of Miyetti
Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, demanded for and got a meeting
with the then Governor of Oyo state, Lam Adesina, were he angrily said the
words below to Governor Adesina:
“Your Excellency, our visit here
is to discuss with you and your government our displeasure about the incident
of clashes between two peoples… the Fulani cattle rearers and merchants are
today being harassed , attacked and killed in Saki. That some arrests were made
by Oyo State Police Command in the massacre with their immediate release
without court trial. This was said to have been ordered by Oyo State
authorities and they were so released to their amazement. The release of the
arrested suspects gave the clear impression that the authorities are backing
and protecting them to continue the unjust and illegal killings of Fulani
cattle rearers…”
Muhammadu Buhari then ended his
speech by demanding for an “immediate stoppage of the killings, justice and
compensation to the Fulanis.”
After listening to Muhammadu
Buhari, Lam Adesina asked the then Commissioner of Police for Oyo state to
respond to his angry visitor and the Commissioner responded thus:
“The killing of the natives by
the Fulanis was duly reported to the police and, of course, we can’t make
arrest because, as soon as they kill, they migrate to other areas. Who are you
going to arrest? That is the problem”. On the killing of Fulanis, which he said
was as result of “piled up anger”, the commissioner disclosed that arrests had
been made and the suspects were in police custody.”
When the Commissioner was done,
Governor Adesina responded to Buhari thus:
“I want to say also that we
really have to appeal to our people, the itinerant Bororo people, that they
should observe less aggression. It is not good , it is not right just coming
from somewhere then you just pass through farm lands cultivated may be with the
person’s life savings and then over night everything is gone. That is not
right, even Allah does not approve of that. We even wonder when they talk about
this people carrying dangerous weapons, I say do they really believe in Allah?
When you just take life like that and go away! Are we not forbidden not to take
human life? So I think General Buhari, General Marwa, you have to be educating
them. It is my pleasure to inform you that at the Presidential Lodge, we have
made some arrangements for refreshments so that before you go we can refresh
together”.
That meeting of October 13, 2000,
was recorded and the quotes above are from Agbaakin Kehinde Olaosebikan, then
Chief Press Secretary to late Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo state.
Now imagine the level of concern
and care that President Muhammadu Buhari showed for his kinsmen in in October
2000, that he went to challenge a sitting Governor to a pissing contest when
herdsmen were killed in reprisal killings. Why hasn’t Muhammadu Buhari shown
that level of concern for Nigerians killed by herdsmen?
Now that same man is our
President and Commander-in-Chief, and herdsmen killings have exploded
exponentially under his watch to the extent that the United States Congress
declared Nigeria as the most dangerous place to be a Christian in the entire
world bar none, principally because of the killings by herdsmen.
Can it be a coincidence that
herdsmen killings has multiplied just as soon as their immediate past Grand
Patron became President? Where is the anger that Buhari displayed to Governor
Lam Adesina now that Fulanis are killing Nigerians?
How many people were killed in the
Southeast before President Buhari ordered Operation Python Dance? Now ask
yourself how many thousands have died at the hands of herdsmen in Benue,
Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa? The answer proves we are not all equal in
Buhari’s Nigeria.
That is why I laughed when
Governor Ortom said “I have reiterated my call on the Federal Government to
arrest the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore”. Why is Governor Ortom
talking like a child? Can a Mafia godfather order the arrest of a mafioso to please
a non mafia member? You are asking their Grand Patron to arrest the people who
made him Grand Patron!
Apparently, Governor Ortom does
not know his friends from his enemies.
• Omokri, a former aide of
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, writes from California
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