Fulani Herdsmen And Others

By Sunny Ikhioya

The delicate nature of Nigeria was brought to the fore after the election of Goodluck Jonathan to the Presidency in year 2011, when some of us vowed not to allow a so called infidel to rule them and promised to make the nation ungovernable for him. This mission was pursued with so much doggedness until Jonathan lost the re-election in 2015. It is a clear fact that Jonathan did not live up to his full potential as President but when the story of his government will be told by unbiased historians, it will be on record that his government was greatly sabotaged, with the active connivance of propagandists who surpassed Goebbels standards.

 It became so clear to many people that Jonathan must leave for peace to reign. At the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, not a few people were of the views that Jonathan should  just go, if that was the price for peace to be restored in the land. There is also another school of thought that held the view that since Buhari is their son, his coming as president will make the northern hardliners sheath their sword but what have we witnessed since his coming? A new wave of insurgency caused by the rampaging  Fulani herds men. From the Middle Belt region they have now infiltrated the south, killing, maiming and kidnapping with so much effrontery. It is amazing that our security personnel are taking this long to contain them.

Some  are now of the view that they are another arm of the Boko Haram masquerading as herds men. Have you noticed the great influx of a particular blend of ‘northerners’ into the south region recently? Some say they are Malians, Chadians and other West Africans but what are our intelligence agencies doing about it? It is expected that with the experience of the Boko Haram these past years and the activities of militants and criminals in other areas, our level of intelligence gathering would have been up graded by several notch but, it appears we are still in the doldrums. The way and manner the so called herds men have carried out their genocidal missions suggest that they are truly professionals in the guerrilla warfare action. You sneak  in, ravage  a whole village/community and sneak out quietly with no trace of your where about. It is too much to comprehend. The question now is: Why has the coming of President Buhari failed to put a stop to the nefarious activities of these herds men?