By Paul Onomuakpokpo
Of the many traumatic marvels of the President Muhammadu Buhari
government, its predilection for crashing deeper into the abyss when we thought
that we would no longer be jolted by its blunders, is striking. If his linkage
to marauding and bloodthirsty Fulani herdsmen were only a staple of blackmail
sustained by his traducers, he has just stoked the suspicion of his fidelity to
their ghoulish vision with his response to the killings in Benue State
Buhari did not bother to visit Benue for a first-hand apprehension of the tragedies that
the Fulani herdsmen inflicted on the people. Nor was he seen to have expressed
deep regret over the killings, except the platitudes that were regurgitated by
his aides after a grudging approval from him. Or is this not a true measure of
his lack of humanity and a perverted sense of justice and patriotism that while
the nation was gripped by grief, Buhari and the governors from his northern
region were preoccupied with his re-election in 2019?
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| *President Buhari |
It is this obvious complicity that has
emboldened the herdsmen to be hinting of a grimmer apocalypse if they do not
have their way. Not for them the imperative of disavowing the murderers among
them. Rather, they have been heard and seen gloating on national television and
the pages of newspapers that it was the law made by the Benue State
Thus, the riposte of the Benue leaders is
sufficiently validated. They and other citizens from different parts of the
country who have been victims of murderous herdsmen would not accept Buhari’s
brand of accommodation. They would not accommodate people who are not remorseful.
Nor would they accommodate those who do not value human life. Obviously, it is
because Buhari shares the perspective of his fellow Fulani that the victims of
their carnage are not human beings that he could talk of accommodation without
first of all taking measures that would engender healing and mutual trust.
Among these firsts is the imperative of Buhari
branding the murderous herdsmen as terrorists. No one says all Fulani herdsmen
should be declared terrorists. But the ones who choose to cause havoc because
they are in possession of guns should consider that once they ply their trade
in a manner that threatens the comfort and livelihood of others, they have
declared themselves terrorists. Again, Buhari should only talk of accommodation
after arresting the killer herdsmen in Benue .
They are known to the leaders of Miyetti Allah since they have not dissociated
themselves from the killers. The security agents need not spend so much energy
ferreting them out. They should simply arrest the leaders of Miyetti Allah and
let them produce the merchants of death in their midst.
By now, it should be clear to Buhari, the
killer Fulani herdsmen and their closet accomplices that they would no longer
have their way. Their terrorism has reached a point where the citizens are now
telling them that they can no longer tolerate their tragic excesses. The Benue leaders whom Buhari summoned to Aso Rock sent this
message to Buhari and killer Fulani herdsmen in clear terms. They were not
intimidated by the presence of a president who instead of going to visit and
mourn with them summon them to Aso Rock. They told him they would not
accommodate killer herdsmen, especially under the terms that Buhari spelt out.
Buhari wants them to give up their land to them under the guise of creating
colonies for them.
As demonstrated during the visit of the Benue leaders, Buhari cannot pursue a single narrative
about the plight of the Fulani herdsmen and expect the citizens to accept it.
Buhari can only aggravate the crisis if he insists that the herdsmen would have
their way. He must accept that nobody says the herdsmen should stop their
business. After all, those they inflict various forms of havoc on are the prime
consumers of the beef that their cattle provide. All that is being said is that
they should do their business as it is done in other parts of the world through
ranching. In the long run, it is everybody who is the ultimate beneficiary when
ranching is embraced. It would be a boost to agriculture which the government
is projecting as a cornerstone of its economic development agenda. It would
give educational opportunities to the peripatetic men and boys being deployed
to herd cattle by those who cocoon their children in expensive schools
overseas. And for the government, it would serve as a means of producing
educated citizens who would no longer be amenable to being deployed as cannon
fodder and threats to peace, and thus becoming positive agents of nation
building.
If the Buhari government does not accept this option of ranching despite its
many benefits, it then leaves room for the proliferation of the suspicion that
the Fulani herdsmen do not just want to have their way in order to cater to
their cattle. The conclusion, which may not be far-fetched then, is that the
Buhari government is insisting on cattle colonies as part of a wider
expansionist agenda of Islamisation of the country.
In that case, like the Benue
leaders, it is time for all to resist the Fulani herdsmen. This is not the time
to fawn on Buhari as Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau did before he recanted.
State governors and other leaders should take their own cue from Ekiti State
Governor Ayo Fayose who did not underrate the tragic propensity of the Fulani
herdsmen and prepared a bulwark against their onslaught. The developments in Benue are a tragic validation of the prescience of the
governor who not a few of his Yoruba compatriots would rather gleefully consign
to a comical provenance. It should be clear to Buhari that he is the only one
who has allowed himself to be misled by the herdsmen. Other leaders in the
nation know that the herdsmen are on the wrong path. He should take note of the
position of the Senate and know that other leaders are not with him. Even his
trusted associate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has condemned his inability to resolve
this herdsmen’s crisis. It must be noted that Bakare has been a strong ally of
Buhari.
At a time the glaring lapses of Buhari alarmed
the citizens, Bakare declared that he would not publicly criticise Buhari since
he had access to him. Even Prof. Wole Soyinka, whose support for Buhari’s
election, made those who doubted his democratic credentials to decide for him,
has condemned his position on the herdsmen. These are the people Buhari should
listen to their advice and not others with contrary opinions that lead to the
path of his perdition. But if he insists that he and the herdsmen would have
their way, then he has only succeeded in confirming that he would not mind that
the peace of the nation is sacrificed on the altar of his ethnic and religious
bigotry.
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