By Louis Odion
I received an agitated call a fortnight
ago from the most unexpected quarters. It was a response to the column written
on the plague of trigger-happy herdsmen festering across the land.
The caller, a successful
entrepreneur-cum-polemist and understandably a southerner, frowned at the
writer's tone which he considered too conciliatory to the murderous nomads and,
according to him, indulging official indifference with a reluctance to use
harsh words.
Honestly, I had thought the nation was already dragged into the perimeter of danger and the moral obligation of the columnist is to exercise utmost restraint in the circumstance; not inflaming passion any further.
Honestly, I had thought the nation was already dragged into the perimeter of danger and the moral obligation of the columnist is to exercise utmost restraint in the circumstance; not inflaming passion any further.
In the said piece, one had enjoined the president not to leave the
nation in doubt where he stands at this grave moment. One wrote: "Now is
the time for President Buhari, himself a cattle farmer, to go beyond the normal
call of duty to stave the dangerously growing perception that seeming official
lethargy - if not indifference - to the continued killings is dictated by the
spirit of kinship he shares with the rampaging herdsman or that the nomad's
renewed audacity, this genocidal reflex, feeds on the opium of expected
solidarity from the top."
But with the latest pogrom in Enugu on Monday, one now feels
compelled by a sense of shame to admit that the blood of the innocent is
probably on those of us whose circumspection, ordinarily a respectable gesture
of moderation, would have inadvertently stirred in the victims a will not to
resort to self-help, naively hoping a bunch of unreconstructed savages could be
overpowered with the show of civility. From what is now known, the aggressors
seem emboldened all along to scale up their barbarism by every turn, aware the
rest of the society are unwilling to lift a finger. The latest killing of 48
citizens in Enugu
in cold blood was totally avoidable had the various security agencies under
federal command been alive to their duties.
Sadly, the villagers of Ukpabi Nimbo saw their own assassins coming
days ahead. But the authorities failed to take steps to shield them. Coming
barely a month after the Agwu 76 were abducted by "unknown soldiers"
from the same Enugu
and held hostage in Abia for protesting the herdsmen's excesses, nothing could
be more provocative. Among the latest casualties was of a fresh graduate, Eze
Patrick Okechukwu, who just passed out from the NYSC few days ago, and an
octogenarian who, at such fragile age, must have looked forward to a peaceful
transition.
Their spokesman, George Ajogu, put things in
perspective Tuesday when the state officials joined them to count
their dead: "Had the security agencies responded appropriately, this would
not have happened. (The herdsmen) did not take us unawares, we knew they were
coming. Because we lack security, the Fulani come here and tell us the land is
theirs. They tell the farmers to kneel down and they rape the women in front of
their husbands."
Elsewhere in Obiaruku in Delta
State the following day,
the ubiquitous armed herdsmen also went on rampage. No fewer than eight farmers
were seized from their farms in apparent retaliation of alleged killing of four
cows in the locality. The captives were only released later in the afternoon
after the youths had mobilized.
Given the brutality of the slaughter and the intensity of
destruction of homes (including churches), it was clear the Enugu attack was carefully planned and
clinically executed. Strangely, the president only broke his
silence Wednesday after the deed had been done. It apparently took
the outrage expressed from a section of the country over the latest killings
before the Commander-in-Chief formally deemed it necessary to direct a
crackdown on these killing gangs. The message was delivered by Information
Minister Lai Mohammed.
But considering the gravity of the issues now raised, the least
expected is Buhari speaking directly to the nation. In the circumstance, timing
is every thing. The message and the messenger arrived almost too late.
The burden of guilt over the blood already shed is therefore more on
the president who seems unable to read or appreciate that the growing epidemic
of murder, its geographical slant, the attendant ethnic eruptions and social
disruptions do not just undermine his credibility as a unifying leader but also
the stability of the nation at large. It is high time he realized there has to
be a country first before he can be addressed as a president.
The other day, the government did not consider it out of place to
liken pipeline vandalization to terrorism, putting the saboteurs on notice they
would henceforth receive the Boko Haram treatment. So, why was it so difficult
for the president to come out openly and read the riot's act to the band of
murderers who undoubtedly constitute much bigger threat, in fact seemingly
hell-bent on putting a sharp knife on the last strand of the already threadbare
gaiter tremulously latching the nation together? Really, the impression thus
unwittingly created is that the oil flowing in the pipeline is more treasured
than the blood flowing in the veins of the citizens.
On Tuesday, the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, lent his
weighty voice to the popular clamour for a decisive step before too late:
"It behoves on the Federal Government to be more serious on the issue so
that it doesn't become another Boko Haram on our hands." Though, he
believes the AK-47 -wielding herders are not Fulani but "wandering and
migrating tribe of people going everywhere." If indeed they are
"foreigners", then the puzzle: why is it so difficult for the
Nigerian state to frontally take the supposed "invaders" out?
What the latest Enugu
massacre again underscores is the gross inadequacy of the nation's current
security architecture and the imperative of one that is responsive and
responsible to local need. Today, the security forces in every state are not
answerable to the resident political authorities. Even in the hour of
emergency, Abuja 's
order is still considered superior to that of the state governor. It explains
why the state security meeting summoned by the Enugu governor Sunday following
credible intelligence that something sinister was afoot ended up in vain.
Various pledges of commitment made by the local heads of all the security
agencies at the meeting (said to have dragged till early hours ofMonday) were
of no consequence when the attackers struck at Ukpabi Nimbo few hours later.
Much more fundamental is the alienation of the security personnel
themselves. In perpetuation of the unitarist credo of military rule, officers
are deployed outside their ethnic origin. In the moment of temptation, most
then naturally view conflicts from ethno-religious lens. It probably explains
why when the villagers of Ukpabi Nimbo cried out for help for days, no one
seemed to have understood their language.
Sadder still, on Wednesday, I read an article in The Nation
entitled "Ranches Or Prison For Herdsmen?" written by Sale Bayari,
the Secretary-General of the cattle farmers known as Gan Allah Fulani
Development Association (GAFDAN), and my heart sank. In case Bayari was
speaking for all members, then more troubles still lie ahead. So far, the only
silver lining in the dark clouds was the assurance that the stakeholders and
the relevant authorities had narrowed down the options to either setting up
ranches or grazing reserves to fix the perennial clashes between herdsmen and
farm-owners.
Given deep cultural complexities of the country on top of pervasive
ethnic suspicion, the consensus is that the option of ranch will be more
feasible for now. But Bayari argues passionately that the herders would settle
for nothing other than grazing reserve. Curiously, this seems to be Buhari's
own thinking, with the Agric minister announcing few weeks ago that arrangement
had been concluded to import improved grass seeds to cultivate the proposed 50,000 hectares of
grazing reserves within six months.
Plausible as he might sound, Bayari's argument hardly takes into
account the sensibilities of other ethnic stakeholders, particularly people of
the Middle Belt and the entire south who view the idea of setting up grazing
reserves across the country today as a dangerous seed that will, in foreseeable
future, germinate into a Fulani take-over of the Nigerian space in entirety,
thereby fulfilling jihadist Othman Dan Fodio's expansionist vision more than
two centuries ago.
Much as Bayari is free to dream of grazing land without borders,
fear of possible acculturation harbored by others can however not be wished
away.
Perhaps, a taste of what to expect came from Oyo during the week.
Without mincing words, Governor Abiola Ajimobi declared not an inch of his
state territory will be ceded to Buhari's grazing reserves: "This is the
time to call a spade a spade. Those clamouring for creation of grazing zones
across the country should have a rethink. It is against the Land Use Act. It is
against the law of natural justice to seize people's land to cater for
someone's cattle."
Obviously, Buhari now faces the first real acid test that may
potentially define his presidency.
Mr. Odion
is former Commissioner of Information, Edo State
Honestly, Mr. Louise Odion's submission rightly amplified my position in most of the articles I have written on this particular issue. The only omission from my recommendation is that the Government should stop/ban the current practice of the Fulani herdsmen moving cattle from point A to B. Like I did suggest, rail and road transportation should be the ideal solution to our current experience.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, if these mode of transportation should serve beautifully well in moving goats and sheep from the North to different destinations in the country, I see no reason why the combination of both rail and road transportation wouldn't suffice in moving cattle to any destination in the country.
Further more, since this business is basically done by private business people, I would opine that every of its operation should be left for the stakeholders, starting from the ranchers, to the business people that deal direct with them and down the line where those cattle are bought, slaughtered and sold in the local market. Also, as mentioned in my write-ups, farmers should be encouraged to go into commercial business of growing grass/hay for cattle in any part of the country. This could be done on individual basis or as co-operation kind of ventures. This arrangement is what is obtainable in most develop economy all over the world. Honestly, I would recommend that at the initial stage, the Government should import high yielding species of seed/grass and fertilizers to sell at subsidized rate to the willing farmers to grow. Every other arrangement is exclusively for those in this business and not for the Government to make for them.
Finally, our law enforcement agencies should make sure that AK 47 is not in the lexicon of cattle business in the country. And, more importantly, effort must be made to confiscate those weapons presently in the hands of the Fulani herdsmen. God bless.