Halting Southern Kaduna killings

Adewale

A friend recently told me that he had stopped monitoring news. When I asked why, he simply said; over the years, there is nothing good that you hear in the news apart from negative stories. He affirmed that because of this, he had concluded that tracking news reportage was nothing but a futile exercise and another way of adding more problems to one’s burden.

Honestly, I think he was right in his line of argument, but the problem is, should we then throw the baby with the bathe water?
As I was ruminating over the matter, the continued extra-judicial killings going on in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State came to the fore and this quickly reminds me that without further delay, something should be done to save lives, restore normalcy and stop the senseless bloodletting that is ravaging the area. The people of Southern Kaduna are generally Christians, farmers and major producers of agricultural resources not only for Kaduna State but for other parts of the country.

The criminality pervading Southern Kaduna assumed a frightening dimension when suspected Fulani herdsmen invaded the area, killing several local residents, maiming, injuring many and laying waste many communities alongside their farmlands. On the contrary, the swift reaction of the government was noticed when soldiers were deployed when cattle rustlers and bandits were either being killed or arrested. At the end, their cows in their hundreds were saved and protected.
The trend, pattern and dimension of the current conflict suggest that the impasse could have been precipitated by the purported plans for forceful Islamisation, dominance, control, conquest and exercise of power over the Christian communities. That is why it is generally believed that the Southern Kaduna massacre amounted to clear manifestation of a struggle to resist unlawful imposition and, to a large extent, the killings could be described as sectarian. According to the state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, since 1980, between 10,000 and 20,000 people have been killed in the state during crises.

To avert further destruction of lives and property, there is the need for the government to take a more decisive action to curtail the excesses of the herdsmen. Failure to do this could give the impression that the government is incapable of providing adequate security for the citizenry; which is a constitutional obligation. To begin with, el-Rufai should speak up. He had earlier claimed that Nigerians would be shocked by the calibre of perpetrators his government would arrest and prosecute for their culpability in the current violence. He should not delay any further by revealing the identities of such persons. He should summon the political will by fishing-out the perpetrators as well as their sponsors and punish them within the ambit of the law.

The attitude of our security agents in periods like these is disheartening. Those that are supposed to be above board are known to be divided along ethnic and religious lines. Despite the curfew imposed in the affected areas and the presence of security personnel, the gunmen have continued to inflict harm by attacking villages. This should be discouraged. The officers can be said to have failed to carry out their statutory duties by taking sides in the conflict, except we are saying that the gunmen are better equipped and more tactical than our armed forces!
Another way out of the imbroglio is the need to implement reports of previous bodies that were put in place to unravel the causes of similar conflicts and proffer solutions. Unfortunately, governments are known to be hasty in constituting panels, tribunals and committees without really executing findings emanating from such exercises. What this shows is that, we are not truly ready to learn from our mistakes and do things differently despite the huge resources being channeled into putting in place such administrative bodies.

Over the years, Fulani herdsmen have assumed the new face of terrorism in the country, having moved from carrying mere bows and arrows. Their deadly arsenal is now made up of sophisticated weapons, which they deploy against host communities. The herdsmen often become a threat to any community that they enter without being invited to graze animals. In the process, they destroy the farmers’ agricultural crops and bring misery on the people.
Under the Nigerian law, no group or persons is allowed to bear arms illegally. What makes the Fulani herdsmen special and above the law? The way and manner that the Fulani herdsmen go about their illegality as the security men watch without any apprehension make many observers to suggest that government could be sympathetic to the cause of the herdsmen. This is not acceptable. Fulani herdsmen should be disarmed in Nigeria. On a final note, President Muhammadu Buhari should ensure that the military and the police act swiftly by identifying the exact areas of the attacks in Southern Kaduna to end the arbitrary killings and also ensure that the real victims are adequately compensated without further delay.