For any well-meaning Nigerian, these are very disturbing times. The orgy of violence visited on some states of the federation, the mass murders of innocent citizens all over the country and the seeming lack of capacity by security agents to stop the bloodshed have become serious issues of concern. From the Middle Belt states of Taraba, Nasarawa, Benue, Adamawa to Zamfara down to states in the South, such as Ebonyi, Edo, Delta and Ondo, the story since the beginning of this year has been frightening.
Daily, the lives of innocent Nigerians are cut short by some menacing barbarians, whose clear definition or identity has eluded the federal and state governments.
Just last week in London, President Muhammadu Buhari shocked the world when he announced that the marauding killer herdsmen were trained by the late Libyan leader, Col. Mouamar Ghadaffi. While receiving the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby, in London, the president had said that the problem of herdsmen/farmers’ clashes was older than his administration.
He said: “The problem is even older than us. It has always been there, but now made worse by the influx of armed gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region. These gunmen were trained and armed by Muammar Gadaffi of Libya.
“When he was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms. We encountered some of them fighting with Boko Haram.”
Much as the president was being honest about the herdsmen, it ran contrary to his statement in Benue. At a town hall meeting in Benue, when he went to pay a sympathy visit over the mass murder of citizens of the state, the president had begged Nigerians to accommodate their fellow citizens and live harmoniously with one another. Since then, government officials have given different reasons for the escalating violence all over the country in the form of herdsmen.
The Defence Minister, Brig- Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd), while speaking after a security meeting chaired by President Buhari, attributed the killings to the passage of anti-grazing laws in some states of the federation. He said: “Look at this issue (killings in Benue and Taraba). What is the remote cause of this farmers’ crisis?
Since the nation’s Independence, we know there used to be a route which the cattle rearers take because they are all over the nation. You go to Bayelsa, Ogun, you will see them. If those routes are blocked, what do you expect will happen?
Herdsmen are also Nigerians.” Dan-Ali’s position was not far from that of the Inspector- General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who blamed the killings in Benue to communal clashes. Just last week, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, jolted the nation again, when he said that Nigerians should expect more clashes between herdsmen and farmers next year, if the Federal Government did not adopt the idea of ranching.
“If we don’t do it (ranching), next year will be worse than this year, I assure you.” The discordant tunes coming from different government officials have not only become worrying, but also the fact that while the officials continue to fiddle and churn out different reasons for the mass murders taking place all over the country, the killings have continued.
It is also shocking that the president, who weeks ago said that we should accommodate our fellow countrymen, is the same man who is now blaming Ghadaffi for the killings. A casual interpretation of the president’s latest comment in London means that the killers are, after all, not Nigerians. What he said is that the killers are men who fled from Libya. Our interpretation is that they are foreigners, not Nigerians.
We are of the view that if that interpretation was right, it then nullifies the president’s plea that Nigerians should live together with their fellow countrymen. It also rubbishes the claim by the Defence Minister and the IGP of anti-grazing bill and communal clashes. We are also of the opinion that since the Commander-in- Chief has given a clear view of who the killers are, it becomes logical that we are fighting foreign invaders into our country.
It also means that the pretence that the killers are Fulani herdsmen must then be shed by the government. If that is done, then, there will be an admission that the country is fighting against foreigners. That means that the mode of engagement by the soldiers and the Federal Government would be completely different.
We strongly believe that the Federal Government must, henceforth, deal with the killer herdsmen as terrorists, who are invading Nigeria.
All forces and powers used to protect a country from foreign invasion should be deployed by the government to arrest the menace and stop the country from drifting through mindless bloodletting. Unless the government deals decisively with the terrorists, Nigerians would continue to lose fate in the government.
