The Fulani herdsmen who are largely nomadic in orientation have for months now been making the headlines for the wrong reasons. Apparently taking advantage of the emergence of their kinsman as President, the unprovoked attacks by the herdsmen on innocent Nigerians across the country have both increased in ferocity and frequency. From the river-rine areas of the Delta where sitting monarchs numbering about three were abducted in quick succession with some of them like the Obi of Ubulu-Uku kingdom in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta state were killed in the process after collecting ransom on his head, to Agatu in Benue state, Okada, Edo state, Jos Plateau state and now Uzo- Uwani in Enugu State. The marauding terrorists have been leaving tales of grief and sorrow in their trails. Grievous offences like kidnapping, rape, arson, murder etc are now being committed with alarming arrogance. The Security agencies look helpless, the Governors of the affected states look out of depth with solutions to the problem, the Commander in chief betrays alarming disinterest in curbing the menace of the sect.
Nigeria has quickly transited from facing the challenges of the deadly Boko Haram sect to condoning the ravages of a seemingly innocuous group of nomadic herdsmen looking for pasture for their flock. Ranked 4th in the global terrorism ranking index, the Fulani herdsmen are widely acknowledged to be dangerous. Then, why are the security agencies treating them with kid gloves?, why has there been no inquest into the activities of this sect and their modus operandi? why does the Inspector General of Police look so clueless in the face of this malaise? why does the Presidency pay lip service to this issue? are we about to witness some sort of systematic ethnic cleansing under the watch of a President who is widely adjudged to be humane and empathetic to the plight of the average Nigerian? Why does the President's body language differ so sharply to his general disposition to other dissident groups like the IPOB & Niger Delta Militants?.
The nation's number 2 man recently came back from a 2 day working state visit to Delta State where he had gone to inspect some power generating facilities vandalized by hoodlums and came out with a strong statement underlining the tough stance of the administration to hoodlums sabotaging the achievements in the down stream sector and power sector. As a fact, VP Osinbajo stated in very clear terms that " Militants would be treated like terrorists". The Vice President obviously conveyed the disposition of the administration to dissidency in those rather strong words during his state visit penultimate week. Fast forward to some days later after the news of the gruesome murder of over 48 people by the dreaded Fulani herdsmen in Uzo-Uwani Enugu broke, the nation's Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed came out and said that the government is handling the issue of the Fulani Herdsmen "silently".
A literal interpretation of the statement simply means that surreptitious and furtive efforts are being made to subvert justice in this matter. In fact, it betrays a growing complicity of the government in this brazen and flagrant carnage on innocent people. The government's reaction to the Agatu killings that saw hundreds of lives wasted by the Fulani militia men was shocking; the controversial grazing reserves Bill was invented to reward men who should be facing the cold and brute hands of justice for wanton destruction of lives and property, Salient provisions of the Bill which have gone viral on the internet show that large portions of the lands throughout the 36 states of the Federation would be made available for the herdsmen to groom their flock. As unconfirmed as this claim is, one can only ignore it at one's own peril. Earmarking a substantial portion of state owned land to criminals to perpetrate their nefarious activities would only engender an internecine fratricidal strife worse than what we are facing now because the law would certainly give the sect some sense of entitlement to ownership of these lands. Geographically, the land mass in the north would be more than enough to cater for the grazing needs of these nomads.
One therefore wonders why they travel hundreds of kilometres to other geographical regions to perpetrate their barbaric acts. President Buhari has on several occasions condemned the activities of dissidents in the South East otherwise known as IPOB and Militants in the South South and has on each occasion matched his threats with action with a strong crack down on the culprits. The Federal Government never wasted time in cracking down on peaceful protesters at Aba & Onitsha when some IPOB members embarked upon a legitimate protest to demand the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu who has been in detention for months .At both Aba & Onitsha officers of the Nigerian army opened fire on unarmed protesters. No arm was recovered by the soldiers from the protesting IPOB members. Ditto for the Niger Delta Militants who do not have human targets but target installations to drive home their demands for equity and fairness. The Federal Government also deployed heavily armed security personnel to Ogoni land without informing the Rivers governor . Not only were innocent casualties taken, the sheer carnage perpetrated on the community has left indelible scars of fear and despair on the people of Ogoni land. I have brought this analogy to underscore the government's double standards in this sphere particularly in the wake of agitation for amnesty for Boko haram terrorists whose proponents of amnesty rationalized their demand on the ground that such olive branch was extended to the Niger Delta Militants.
The IPOB and Niger Delta Militia men never target human lives. Their struggle is always predicated on well articulated demands however unrealistic they may seem. On what grounds can one rationalize the brazen invasion of citizens' properties ? what could possibly justify the wanton destruction of human lives and properties by people who travel long distances in their purported quest for pasture for their flock? it is a known fact that the herdsmen now prefer to have their herd graze on people's farmlands. The pecuniary and material loss to the farmers is better imagined. Posers over the brazen carriage of offensive weapons like assault rifles by these men inure. If the intention of the sect ab initio was not criminal, why carry weapons to invade people's private property.? In any case, There have been cases where these men are seen on the express way at any time during the day openly brandishing their weapons without as much as an interrogation by law enforcement agents who readily look the other way when the dreaded sect embark on one of their numerous escapades.
Questions would forever remain over the inaction of President Buhari on this issue. For a President who famously declared that he belonged to nobody but to everybody, the jury is still out on his silence over this issue. The Security agencies are clearly not bereft of strategies nor personnel to crack down on this sect. What seems to be lacking is the sheer political will to swoop on these terrorists and the security agencies seem to be looking anxiously at the Commander in chief before they read the Riot Act against the criminals. The silence and inaction of President Buhari would only fan the smouldering embers of tribal bigotry and pitch the prominent ethnic nationalities in this saga against each other.
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