One of the most worrisome
developments in today’s Nigeria is what appears like a firm resolve by the
Muhammadu Buhari regime to continue circulating the very distressful impression
that it does not know how to solve the endless aggression being unleashed in
different parts of the country by Fulani herdsmen who move and operate as if
there are no laws in the land capable of containing the menace of troublesome
people.
The soft targets of these herders
are usually harmless and toiling farmers whom they gruesomely slaughter in
their farms, and innocent villagers, whose homes, according to reports, they
invade mostly in the middle of the night and set them ablaze. When the people
are suddenly roused from sleep by the raging inferno and run out in confusion,
they are mowed down by the waiting assailants.
And despite the volume of media
reports on the gory occurrences, nothing usually happens: no one will be
arrested, tried and jailed. With no one raising a hand to protect or seek justice for them, the traumatized people
will weep and get tired, quietly bury their dead, that is, if they are able to
find their corpses and mourn them silently, probably, fearing that any noise
from them might offend their killers and bring them back for more bloody
exploits. Then they will leave their village and move elsewhere in the
neighbouring communities to seek shelter since their homes have been destroyed.
They have become refugees in their own country for no fault of theirs.
