Fulani Herdsmen: Grim Statistics Of Their Bloody Exploits

By Dan Agbese

You probably thought it could not get more unsettling. You were wrong.

Here is some evidence. Former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, addressed a one-day forum organised by a group known as the Search for Common Ground on his farm October 30. In it, he released some grim statistics about the killings and maiming in clashes between Fulani herdsmen and peasant farmers in four states – Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Benue – in just one year. These figures are certain to chill your bones and make your eyes go rheumy for the present and the future of our country.

Here are the details he gave for 2016 only: 2,500 people killed; 62,000 people displaced; $13.7 billion lost to the clashes and 47 per cent of the internally-generated revenue in the affected states lost. 

The problem with statistics is that when they are about human beings, you cannot put faces to them. Human beings are thus reduced to stark, impersonal numbers. The death of 2,500 Nigerians and the displacement of 62,000 others may do no more than give you a momentary jolt only for you to shrug it off. You are not likely to think of them as struggling Nigerians in our rural areas who were doing nothing criminal but pursuing their legitimate livelihood as peasant farmers who fed the nation.

Newswatch: Sad End To ‘A Way Of Life’!

By Abdulrazaq Magaj

My first major assignment for Newswatch, once Africa’s most cited and best known news magazine, was to do preliminary work ahead of the 50th anniversary of the golden rule of late Sultan Abubakar Siddiq III. It was one assignment that took me to many parts of the north to talk to people who had one opinion or the other to express about Sultan Abubakar Siddiq and the Sokoto caliphate.

In line with Newswatch house-styles, the Editor-In-Chief did a short take on me in the Editorial Suite, a half page reserved for the EIC or, in his absence, one of his lieutenants to whet the appetite of readers. After commending me for what he said was a good outing, Ray Ekpu took one long look at me and asked whether I was surprised at my being signed on by Newswatch.

‘No, sir!’ I blurted.

‘Our Ray of hope’, as many called Ray Ekpu, Newswatch’s EIC, must have been pleasantly surprised by my candour

Prior to Newswatch, I had actually done some rudimentary writings for some local and international publications in my undergraduate days in Zaria. The trend continued during my days as a lecturer in Contemporary World History. Though I was not a rookie in the real sense of the word, Newswatch, for very obvious reasons, proved to be a different ball-game!

My midday encounter with Ray was a replay of a similar one on the day I encountered the three musketeers who interviewed me for the job 30 years ago. At issue was how I was eased out of my former job, an account which provoked a general laugh. Was it the laughable reasons given for my being eased out? Or was it the way it was narrated? What struck me most was the conviviality that surrounded the interview session. It was great to feel these Newswatch greats were not spooks, after all!

I had actually applied for an advertised position of deputy editor of Quality magazine, a soft-sell in the Newswatch group. But I guess the trio was impressed by my humble credentials. I had a job, I was told, not with Quality but the highflying Newswatch. Though, I was to get eased out of Newswatch, I guess the eight years I spent remain the most exciting in my career in journalism. I have seen a handful of newsrooms but Newswatch’s was unique!

The Tragedy Of A Presidential Illness

By Dan Agbese

President Muhammadu Buhari is back home and is now at work in Aso Rock. That sentence, a poor reportage of stale news, speaks to our collective relief at seeing the president as usual resplendent in his white baban riga, at his desk.

The enormous relief at his return is still washing over the nation. He was away for 50 days. And for 50 days, this nation was on tenterhooks, consumed by fear, concern and anxiety. And hope was progressively marginalised. Presidential spokesmen positively muddied the waters when they unnecessarily tried quite gallantly but pathetically vainly to deny what was patently undeniable: the fact of the president’s illness.

I join millions of my compatriots in welcoming Buhari back home. It is the Lord’s doing. Or, perhaps, more appropriately in this case, it is Allah’s doing. 

It should not be difficult for Buhari to pick up from where he left off more than 50 days ago as of this writing. He is lucky to have a vice-president who is committed to the ideals of governance they share and did a splendid job of minding the complicated shop by the name of Nigeria. His administration remains on course. Splendid.

The president’s illness was a sad and cruel reminder that illness is no respecter of persons. All mortals, presidents and truck pushers alike, are subject to the grim decision of the Grim Reaper entirely at its own discretion. The president is human; so is the truck pusher. I see the president’s illness as an interruption on his programme of salvaging the country. It shook the nation as much as it shook his own immediate family. Pox on illness.