Peter Obi: Proving Possibility Of A New Nigeria

 By Ike Chioke

When the storm of this general election is over, we shall be left with a few lessons. One is, never underestimate the will of a determined people. The other is, when the shepherd is ready, the flock will appear. 

*Peter Obi 

Indeed, people, who study politics and societies in transition, will find a fascinating new model in Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate. In a continent wracked sore by leadership challenges, Obi’s emergence represents a rupture in the dynamics of power and the socio-cultural alignments of the Nigerian society. Never has an outsider from the power calculus staged such a storm-trooping stunt in Nigeria’s political history. This is a watershed in our political memory.

Killer-Herdsmen, Igbo Timid Govs And The Fayose Solution

By Tony Nwankwo
Not long ago, the peaceful, self-subsistence farming community of Ndi Okereke Abam, Arochukwu LGA, Abia State, was attacked by the now notorious, AK-47 rifle wielding, bow and arrow bearing marauders masquerading as Hausa/Fulani herdsmen.  By the time they were through with the unarmed, government abandoned community, seven persons, all from Ndi Okereke Abam, were down, fatally injured. 

They are still recuperating in hospitals in the area. According to a report, the affected community and other Ovukwu people plan to protest the invasion and wanton destruction of their farmlands by these herdsmen.  The herdsmen come into the heartland of the Igbo, they lead their cattle into farmlands, here it was the rice farm, they stand akimbo and watch their cattle feast on harvested rice seeds arranged for evacuation.  In some instances, they feed off the rice farm and other farmlands, wasting the crops, the only means of livelihood of the people. In some others, they attack, maim and kill people, rape the women. 

When they are done, they sing their song of triumph and celebrate their victory over their victims as they lead their cattle to yet another community for the same purpose. This is the practice of the Hausa/Fulani herdsmen since they started bearing arms and terrorising local communities. According to the report, the member representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Mr. Uko Nkole, visited the community, paid the medical bills of the injured and appealed for peaceful co-existence.  From the state capital, Umuahia, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said government has land for grazing for cattle, “but because we are Nigerians, the government would allow some level of understanding to prevail”. 

And the leader of this invading army, masquerading as herdsmen, Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders, Hassan Buba, is sad about the incident and promised it will not happen again. So, the herdsmen should go home and sin no more. Meanwhile, Governor Ikpeazu, cannot point anywhere in Nigeria, where peace has prevailed between people and Hausa/Fulani herdsmen because an agreement was reached. You cannot get a binding agreement when  one party is politically authorised to carry automatic weapons and ready to use them, while the other can’t.  It is the same stand that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, adopted when herdsmen invaded a community in his State and massacred  the people. 

Herdsmen Of Terror

By Lewis Obi  

On 2nd October 2015, I offered it as my opinion on this page that the provocative activities of Fulani herdsmen are likely to lead to war which “when it begins, will be like all wars – senseless, destructive and lamentable. No one knows when and where it will begin, but it will begin as a convulsive reprisal for a massacre by Fulani herdsmen, a phenomenon that has now assumed all but a common occur­rence in Nigeria.’

“The scale and frequency of massa­cres by Fulani herdsmen without a single prosecution is the clearest evidence of what is known as impunity, and impunity is the reason the coming war is inescap­able.”

That was before the herdsmen had kid­napped and murdered the traditional rul­er of Ubulu-Ukwu in Delta State. That was before the herdsmen conducted their full-scale terrorist invasion of Agatu land in Benue State practically paralyzing and occupying eight local governments in the state and killing at least 500 per­sons and burning scores of towns and villages. That was before the Ugwuneshi incident in Enugu State where a dis­tressed community being harassed by the herdsmen was gathering to discuss its predicament. Suddenly Nigerian Army trucks arrived and, as the herdsmen cheered, the army bun­dled 76 men into their trucks and on to the Umuahia Prison. Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi then went to Umuahia, trying to secure the freedom of the humiliated men, and dropped a tear or two. But that was just the beginning of his anguish. In Ugwuneshi he was dealing with 76 men unjustly imprisoned. He broke down last week when he had to see recovered dead bodies of men slaugh­tered by the same Fulani herdsmen at Ukpabi Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani.

The rampaging herdsmen had at­tacked and burned seven villages – Nimbo Ngwoko, Ugwuijoro, Ekwuru, Ebor, Enugu Nimbo, Umuome, and Ugwuachara.

The most frightening part of the attack on Nimbo was the high level discipline and military precision of its execution. The Enugu State Govern­ment had been informed of the im­pending attack and the governor had promptly convened the state’s secu­rity council meeting which included every arm of the security agencies – the Enugu Garrison Command 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army, the Commissioner of Police, the Depart­ment of |State Security, and Prison officials. Each arm assured the gov­ernor that it would do everything to pre-empt the attack. The herdsmen apparently operate at a much higher level and, so, the best laid plans of the governor and the state’s security agencies were thwarted by Fulani herdsmen. That sense of impotence and helplessness necessitated the gover­nor’s recourse to and the re-mobilization of the state’s indigenous neighborhood watch. With the unanimous approval of the traditional rulers and the association of town unions, Governor Ugwuanyi had to cough out N100 million to begin the process of activating the vigilante net­work.

The scariest part of the Nimbo disaster was the reaction of the 19 governors of Northern Nigeria who flat out denied the fact known to all that Fulani herdsmen had conducted the massacre. Indeed, in a show of righteous indignation, they warned Nigerians to stop ‘insulting’ Fu­lani herdsmen.

Time To Rethink Nigeria

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

No matter how hard one tries, it is difficult, almost impossible, for any Nigerian to pretend not to be angry with the way things are going right now. Even those who want to be seen as being politically correct in this season of anomie are struggling to keep their balance because, let’s face it, there are limits to political correctness.

Something has gone fundamentally wrong with the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. He has failed to be the transcendental, pan-Nigeria leader we all craved for after the Goodluck Jonathan presidency. I don’t know how the illusion came about that such an insular, provincial leader like Buhari can step up to the plate at such a critical time in Nigeria’s history. But here we are, once again, at the crossroads.

For me, the massacre last week of innocent citizens by Fulani herdsmen at Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State was the last straw. Over 50 people were killed in cold blood, scores displaced, and about seven villages and property worth millions of naira, including the Christ Holy Church International, destroyed. The victims were killed in the most gruesome manner – some had their throats slit, others were simply butchered with machetes and at least one was burnt alive on a commuter bus. Nobody deserves this fate.

Yet, security men got wind of this attack at least 24 hours before the hoodlums struck. Uzo-Uwani Council Chairman, Cornell Onwubuya, reportedly alerted Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the Commissioner of Police, Ekechukwu Nwodibo, that armed Fulani herdsmen had invaded their community to wreak havoc. No action was taken. The Department of State Securities (DSS) that claimed it discovered mass graves of “Hausa-Fulani” residents allegedly abducted and murdered by suspected members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Abia State, without any evidence, did nothing to stop the carnage. The military that arrested 76 youths from Ugwuneshi community in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State for protesting against the abduction and gang raping of their mothers and sisters did nothing to forestall the mayhem.

After the carnage, Ugwuanyi wept and declared two days of fasting and prayers. It took Buhari – who had threatened to deal with Niger Delta militants like terrorists and vowed to deal decisively with IPOB and MASSOB for daring to challenge the status quo in Nigeria – three whole days to break his silence on the carnage.

I have wondered since last Monday what would have happened if the people of Nimbo had organised to brutally murder 50 Fulani herdsmen. By now, the security forces would have sacked the entire local government. They would have done to them what soldiers did to Shiites in Kaduna. Imagine what would have happened if some Igbo hoodlums were to go to any community in Katsina, Bauchi, Kaduna, et cetera, to kill, maim, rape and plunder. The perpetrators would have been summarily dealt with and the whole of Ala-Igbo would have become desolate by now.