Benue born Nollywood actress,
Meg Otanwa has reacted to the killings in her home state.
Meg, who is from the Idoma tribe,
spoke on the bloodletting in an open letter she penned on Monday.
The star thespian of Emem
Isong’s ’I’ll take my chances’ lamented that attack on her kinsmen by
Fulani herdsmen has been going on for years.
She also recalled her personal
encounter during an attack on a community.
Meg, a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University,
appealed to President Buhari to “be on the right side of history by choosing to
defend and protect the innocent and defenseless citizens.”
Full text of her letter below…
“Dear President Muhammadu Buhari,
One fateful day I received numerous calls from home: “A u Fulani! A u fulani!!
E ku pewa eh,” meaning, “The Fulanis! The Fulanis! They’ve come again!” It was
Jan 17th last year, the herdsmen had attacked a neighbouring village and the
villagers had run into our village for safety.
The marauders took lives and left
a trail of destruction behind them. These attacks have been going on as far back
as I can remember. I remember my grandmother hiding some of my siblings and I
under the bed because “a u fulani” were coming. That was well over 20 years
ago.
We had travelled home for
Christmas and on this fateful day, villagers ran back from their farms covered
in blood and tears from herdsmen attacks. That was my first memory and
encounter with the name “Fulani”. In June of 2017, I lost my cousin, Sunday
Fabian Otanwa, in the hands of these same herdsmen in Makurdi.
Sunday was in the police force, he
was deployed to a village to protect the people. He and his colleagues became a
target for the herdsmen, they launched another attack just to kill the security
personnel in the villages. Sunday was killed. Please tell me Mr President, are
we second class Nigerians? Why must we continue to suffer in the hands of these
faceless barbaric criminals?
They come to kill and claim our
ancestral land. The people of Benue State are predominantly farmers. That is
what they know. Benue State did not become “the Food Basket of the nation” for
nothing. Farming is the means of livelihood for most people in Benue State. So
when they attack our crops, they attack our very existence. The Open Grazing
Prohibition and Establishment of Ranches law has been signed since May 2017.
So why are we still left to fight
these criminals off our lands? These attacks and killings have persisted and
worsened over the years in places as disparate as Plateau, Kaduna, Enugu among
other parts of the country. Mr President Sir, with all due respect, we do not
need your condolences anymore. We’ve received enough of that for over 20 plus
years.
Open grazing is now against the
law. The governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has cried out to the federal
government for help. He is not the Commander In Chief; you are, sir. So please
deploy the army to protect and secure Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Enugu and every
other part of Nigeria that has experienced these vicious attacks and yet still
remains under threat.
Why send the army to stop
protesters? They are only speaking out in a bid to protect their lands and
livelihood. If you are indeed for all Nigerians, please do what is required of
a leader: let the affected communities see and feel that the president of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria cares about them, not only through words, but also
through action. The activities of these mysterious Fulani herdsmen continue to
oppress my people and my home, Benue.
I also believe that it is
necessary to point out at the same time that this isn’t a fight between Fulani
people and other ethnicities of this great country, because not all Fulanis
perpetrate such wicked acts, in the same way that not all Nigerians are out to
cheat or scam people; this is a war between good and evil, between light and
darkness, between men bent on destroying lives and properties and those who
wish to live in peace and a shared prosperity.
I urge you, sir, to be on the
right side of history by choosing to defend and protect all that is good and
just; I pray you will find the moral strength and conviction to fight on the
side of justice, for it is only under the banner of justice that peace can
truly thrive. My name is Meg Otanwa and I call on you as the Commander in Chief
of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to protect your people whether they be Fulani,
Idoma, Tiv, Hausa, Igbo, or Yoruba. Thank you.”
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Good message! let those who have ears let them hear. Generations will have history to tell
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