Why Buhari will not act on Fulani Herdsmen Killings
On January 1, it was reported that about 20 people were killed in Rivers State. On January 7, it was reported that a combined team of military and intelligence operatives had tracked the leader of the gang, Don Waney, and some of his men to their Enugu hideout and killed them. The pictures of their bullet-ridden dead bodies were shown in the media as proof.
Last week too, the police in Lagos arrested the suspected overall leader and the herbalist of the cult group called Badoo. Badoo had killed so many people in the Ikorodu area of Lagos by smashing their heads with stone.
Last year, the police and Nigerians celebrated the arrest of Evans, the kidnapper, who specialised in demanding his ransom in millions of dollars. He had evaded arrest for many years. But the police eventually beat him.
Similarly, last year the Nigerian Army, in what was named Operation Python Dance II, stormed the residence of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra. By the time their operation was over, some people had been killed. The whereabouts of Kanu and his father are still unknown till today. The Federal Government also hurriedly designated IPOB a terrorist organisation, even though other countries disagreed with that.
In December 2015, the Nigerian Army invaded the homes of members of the Shi’ites Islamic sect and shot at them. Their immediate offence was that they blocked the way of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai. The Shi’ites are minorities in the North, while the Sunnis are the majority.
The Director-General of the Kaduna State Interfaith Bureau, Mr. Muhammad Namadi Musa, told the panel of enquiry into the crisis that he collected at least 347 bodies from the army base in Zaria and the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and buried them after the attack on the Shiites. The bodies that were not taken to ABUTH were not recorded. The leader of the Shi’ites, Sheik Ibrahim El Zakzaky, and his wife were seriously wounded and detained, till today, despite rulings by courts that they be released.
All the instances above are meant to show how swift and effective the Nigerian security agencies can be when dealing with groups and individuals that they see as enemies.
Last week, there was another attack by Fulani herdsmen in Benue State. Gory pictures of people, including children, butchered like animals, were copiously shared.
Anytime there is a massacre of people in a state by Fulani herdsmen like it occurred last week in Benue State for the umpteenth time, there is an outcry by Nigerians for the Federal Government to take action. Most times, there is not even a verbal response from the Buhari government. Even when there is a verbal response, it is a plea for people to live together in peace or a promise to arrest the perpetrators. But nobody ever gets arrested.
Just like in other cases, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, which has President Muhammadu Buhari as its grand patron, would usually give reasons why they carried out the attack. In the Benue case, Mr. Garus Gololo, Chairman, Benue State Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, was quoted as saying on the BBC:
“We weren’t grazing. After the Benue government banned grazing, we were relocating to Taraba State through Nengere border town of Nasarawa State. They came and stole one thousand cows from us, so we retaliated and killed them.”
Such comments show that the perpetrators of the acts are not unknown. They appear at peace meetings and disclose why they carried out their attacks on the concerned people. They go to TV and radio stations as well as newspaper houses to grant interviews to explain why they carried out their attacks. Usually, their reason is that their cattle were stolen by the community.
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