Too little, too late - Vanguard blasts Buhari's overt nepotism towards Fulani Terrorists
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On Wednesday, 27th April 2016, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), President,
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, woke up at last and directed his Senior Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, to issue a statement commanding
the Inspector General of Police and other heads of security agencies to
take “urgent” steps to halt the murderous menace of Fulani militias in
the country.
Many Nigerians may not see what is funny about it is because they are
used to the practice of the president or governor ordering government
functionaries and agencies constitutionally charged with specific
responsibilities to do their jobs before they do so.
In saner climes, people employed to do their work simply do them; they
don’t wait to be ordered. You may wonder why in Nigeria the IGP,
Director-General of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and the
rest, would wait to be told to do their constitutional duties by the
President before they do so.
The answer is simple. IGP Arase, a Bini man from Southern Nigeria with a
few months to his retirement, has to wait for Buhari to give orders
because he is not sure if he would last another day on his job if he did
the right thing at the right time. If he had swung into action,
disarming Fulani herdsmen all over the country, arresting and
prosecuting those found culpable (for leading their animals into the
farms of poor villagers who have no other means of livelihood) and
ensuring that the lives and property of citizens are guaranteed, he
could step on the big toes of the high and mighty who employed and armed
the herdsmen.
His orders might even be disobeyed by some of his subordinates in that
the police, the security agencies and the Armed Forces are generally
perceived to be “owned” by people from a section of the country. These
people also own the cattle. He might find himself being arrested by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) shortly after being
forcefully retired, for an offence that would have been conveniently
overlooked if he had played the “good boy” to the ruling class. Because
such officers choose to play the “good boy”, thousands of innocent
Nigerians are killed and communities destroyed by the rapacious armed
Fulani militia as if the nation has no provision for the safety of its
citizens.
What about the DSS which is headed by Lawal Daura, President Buhari’s
kinsman? They are more interested in chasing after those they call
“cattle rustlers” or people who steal the cows of the high and mighty.
The nefarious activities of the herdsmen against innocent Nigerians mean
nothing to them. If anything happens to any of the cattle herders, as
we saw in the Abia shallow graves episode, they raise dangerous alarm
and blame local agitators for culpability without any shred of
evidence.
DSS found fifty bodies in shallow graves and told the nation that five
of them belonged to Fulani herdsmen. They even named them, and heaped
the blame for the deaths on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a
group that openly declares non-violence in their agitation for
independence.
Now that Buhari has ordered the Police and “other security agencies” to
“investigate the attacks, apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to
justice”, it is left to be seen exactly what these agencies will do.
Can we realistically expect the armed forces to descend decisively on
the armed Fulani militia, even if it means incurring the displeasure of
the fat cats who employed and armed them? We watch and see. But if I
know my country and the way it is ruled by the evil forces that have
held it hostage since independence, not much is going to change. Who
wants to bet? By this time next year, we will still be talking about the
menace of Fulani herdsmen, quote me.
In any case, the preliminary findings of the police team dispatched to
Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu and Agatu in Benue States do not give much cause
for cheer. Police say these communities were not attacked by Fulani
herdsmen; they were attacked by “hoodlums”!
This manner of approach is designed to complicate and obfuscate the
matter. They have to be hoodlums to carry sophisticated arms and
ammunitions without licence or authority. How many of them have the
police arrested with the arms seized?
They have to be hoodlums to attack
and kill innocent Nigerians, burn their houses and churches and destroy
their farms with hungry animals. But if you refuse to pin them down to a
specifically identified group, what manner of “hoodlums” would you be
chasing?
The most important thing, however, is that the President and the Federal
Government have, at last, officially recognised the need to mobilise to
site on this matter, with “clear instructions to take all necessary
action to stop the carnage”.
We hope the action we will see will be as sweeping as the instruction on
paper. Taking “all necessary action” in military terms (at least based
on our experience when an American president utters the directive) means
military action if that is what it takes to achieve the ultimate
objective of eliminating the threat.
We want Fulani cattle herders to be stopped from bearing banned and
unlicenced firearms. We want them, in the short term, to stop leading
their cattle into people’s farms and property; and in the long term, to
be settled in ranches acquired by the owners of the cattle. After all,
cattle business is a business just like any other.
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We want cattle owners and herders to stop asking for “grazing reserves”
because we won’t give it to them, especially here down South. Any
governor who donates land belonging to his people to these killers and
their sponsors will be brought to account. We want the Fulani herdsmen
and nomads who are Nigerian citizens to be settled so that they too can
benefit from the welfare that Nigeria has to offer its citizens, such as
education, good health, access to potable water, electricity and the
opportunity to integrate with the rest of civilised society.
We want them to be Nigerians like others, and not some medieval outcasts
living like wild animals in the forests slaving for their
multi-billionaire kinsmen who live in opulence in big cities. We want
cattle farmers to also benefit from modern agriculture which guarantees
increased productivity, profits and food security for all. We want the
ethnic and religious conflicts which Nomadism breeds to disappear. We
want people to farm their lands and reap the harvests in peace.
If cattle owned by Fulani keep eating the crops of farmers, how could
Buhari achieve his agenda of diversifying the economy through
agriculture? It is in Buhari’s political interest, as well as that of
the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government to end the
Fulani herdsmen menace immediately. Already, it has scarred them very
deeply because the nation has never had it this bad as in the past one
year.
More people have been killed in less than one year of APC in power than at any other time by Fulani herdsmen.
This cannot continue. Let it be remembered that Nigerians are waiting to
rate the Buhari government’s protection of their lives and property –
with their votes – come 2019.
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