Nigeria: They Who Must Rule

By Dan Amor

Nigeria has been reduced to a killing field no thanks to Fulani ag­gressors who think that the entire geographical entity called Nigeria is an extension of the Caliphate built by their great warrior, Uthman Dan Fodio dur­ing the Jihad war ostensibly to Is­lamise Nigeria. It is this madness borne out of sheer ignorance and vainglorious arrogance that Nige­ria is their land that makes them invade farmlands belonging to other Nigerians to kill and maim people with impunity just for their cattle to graze on other peo­ple’s crops. 

The horrendous kill­ing of innocent Nigerians across the country by recalcitrant Fulani herdsmen who now bear lethal arms such as AK 47, Pump Action and other dangerous weapons, is outrageous and condemnable, to say the least. Indeed, the manner in which the herdsmen are kill­ing people and raping women and girls on their farms these days is benumbing and wholly unwhole­some. What started like a straw of fire in Ohoror in Afeitere Com­munity in Ugheli North Council of Delta State in 2006 has spread all over the country with the Fed­eral Government keeping mum as though nothing is happening. In 2014, the convoy of the then sit­ting governor of Benue State, Hon. Gabriel Suswam was waylaid by rampaging Fulani herdsmen with the diabolic intention of killing the governor.

The wanton and reckless killing of Tiv farmers by Fulani herdsmen is ongoing. In Jos North local government area of Plateau State, the Fulani whose plot is to exterminate the entire Berom tribe who are the true owners of the land are no longer preten­tious over their wicked intention. Ripples of the Agatu massacre in which a peaceful community in Benue State was recently invaded by Fulani irredentists with untold magnitude of deaths involving both adults and children are yet to settle down. In the midst of all this, the same Fulani herdsmen are still battling with Awgu farmers in Enugu State over which 76 farmers are detained in Umuahia. What re­ally do the Fulani want in Nigeria? Do they want another civil war?

And Nigerians are yet to hear this government of change con­demn with vehemence this degree of anomie which has entombed the Nigerian landscape like a vol­canic eruption. The Fulani mas­sacre is not just another disturbing specter of violence orchestrated to dent the contours of the nation, but part of the general air of inse­curity and vendetta ravaging this misbegotten country. Since for­mer President Goodluck Jonathan was declared winner of the April 2011 Presidential election, those who think they possess the divine right to rule Nigeria in perpetu­ity started a campaign of violence and vowed to make the country ungovernable for Jonathan. This is the genesis of the nebulous and senseless Boko Haram insurgency in the country. As we write, there are pockets of killings going on in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Kwara anchored by these same Fulani elements. As though Nige­ria is prosecuting a conventional war, Boko Haram whose cardinal mission is to halt the advancement of Western education in Nigeria and Islamise the entire country has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced over two million Nigerians in the North east.

*President Buhari 

There is, of course, no shortage of conspiracy theories as to the antecedents and possible motiva­tion for the emerging violent pro­file of the Nigerian society. Some analysts have even argued, for in­stance, that what has been dubbed low intensity warfare constitutes a deliberate effort to make the country ungovernable by undesir­able elements and do-or-die politi­cians who openly boasted to Jona­than that: “if you make a peaceful change impossible, you will make a violent change inevitable.” A contrary view hypothesizes a link­age between the violence and the attempt to prove that the Nigerian state is, as presently configured or constituted, unviable and in dire need of structural revamping or dissolution. Yet, another view the­orizes the existence of a praetorian “third force” whose objective is the unraveling and unsettling of the democratic experiment in other to pave the way for the remilitariza­tion of the polity and put perma­nent paid to the idea of sharing the presidency with those who are born to rule. However, the cascad­ing resurgence of militia action in the North and spreading to other parts of the country cannot be di­vorced from a structurally lax law enforcement visage over the atti­tude of some politicians who think they are blue-blooded aristocrats whose veins human blood does not flow; the downward trajectory in an economy whose defining index is jobless growth and ethos of indiscipline, empty propaganda and corruption from top to bot­tom of society, as well as injustice of various hues. While many Ni­gerians believe that it has got to the stage where the unrepentant Boko Haram sect and their herds­men partners be called to order as their seeming arrogant posture has inadvertently dissipated the high stock of sympathy the Buhari ad­ministration has accorded them through the amnesty offer, we should not forget that even during the immediate past administration some opposition politicians were fanning the embers of the holo­caust for cheap political gains.

We insist, therefore, that, rather than chase the elusive shadows and leave the substance, the causes of the unrelenting violence, in­stead of the manifestations, should be the concern of all, not least the Federal Government ; political, traditional and religious lead­ers in the North and the security forces. Some pertinent questions beg for answers: How genuine are the grievances of the terror­ists and their collaborators? What role can Northern leaders (politi­cal, religious and traditional) play in modulating the tension in the land and engendering a peaceful atmosphere for economic and so­cial activities to thrive untramme­led in the North and other parts of the country where the herdsmen are invading farmlands? Are the politicians, religious and tradi­tional rulers genuinely addressing the fundamental problems ravag­ing the youths in that part of the country? How sincerely have we addressed the North’s predica­ment especially with regards to mass education , unemployment, class disparity and injustices of the governing elite? It must be emphasized that there is a delib­erate attempt by Northern leader­ship to under-develop the region. Why would all the big men send their children to some of the best schools around the world whereas the children of the downtrod­den remain uneducated only to be used to perpetrate violence across the length and breath of the country? Every informed Nigerian knows that Northern leaders and their governors, more than any other region, have been meeting to discuss issues of common con­cern since the era of military rule. What then has been the outcome of such meetings if there still exists a yearning gap between the North and the rest of the country 102 years after the amalgamation and 56 years after flag independence?

Again, out of our 56 years of self-rule, Northern leaders, both military and civilians, have ruled Nigeria for a combined period of 40 years while leaders from the South have ruled for 16 years (counting up to October 2016). The decadent situation in the North is even worse for the edu­cation sector unfortunately in the second decade of the 21st Century, a momentous period with rapidly changing technologies placing an even greater emphasis on the need for a higher, skilled and appropri­ately educated workforce. What is happening in the North and its manifestation, is an indictment on the polity in general and northern leaders in particular despite being at the helm of national leadership since independence in 1960. It took Goodluck Jonathan, a South­ern minority from the oil-rich but largely exploited Niger Delta, to build schools for the Amajiris in the North. It took Jonathan to re­vive the rail lines. He was doing all this in the face of unrelenting provocations and politically mo­tivated civil unrests sponsored by the opposition. Nigerians should rise with one voice against those who are comfortable with the kill­ing of other Nigerians irrespective of political, religious or ethnic af­filiation. No country has survived two civil wars. President Buhari should be wary of being seen as the man who presided over the dismemberment of Nigeria.

*Dan Amor., a public affairs analyst writes from Abuja (danamor98@gmail.com)