Gbemiga Olakunle
When I saw some gory pictures of the Southern Kaduna victims circulating on the social media, I could not comport myself to see headless body or bodies of other victims who were butchered and whose bodies were dismembered at a time when the nation was still celebrating the fall of Sambisa Forest which used to be the stronghold/hideout of the dreaded Boko Haram sect. And to say that this was happening in a state less than 300km from the seat of power, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is more disheartening. Seeing the pictures, one could notice that these people were attacked and murdered in cold blood and butchered like fowls by their assailants. Those whose bodies were not dismembered or without visible knife cuts must have probably died of gunshots.
The N1 billion questions that are now begging aloud for answers are : Where were the security operatives/personnel drafted to maintain peace in the area when the assailants were having a free orgy of maiming and killing defenseless people? Didn’t the security agents receive distressed calls from the concerned local leaders of the area when the attack was going on? Were they – the security personnel – on ground, waiting for any defined rules of engagement before they could confront the assailants of the Southern Kaduna people? If it is true that the suspected Fulani herdsmen are foreigners as the Governor of the State-Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has made us to believe, why couldn’t our military and other security agencies stand their grounds and defend the territorial integrity of this great country by checkmating the excesses of these merchants of death?
While the Federal Government is quick at celebrating the discovery of another Chibok school girl on the front pages of our national dailies, we only hope the Southern Kaduna crisis will not snowball into another Boko Haram if the remote and immediate causes of the wanton destruction of lives and properties are not addressed properly and on time. We were forced to come to that conclusion because it took the Federal Government months before they could realize that the governor of the state as the chief security officer was not actually on top of the situation.
The crisis was either beyond him or he was complacent about it. There were no records to show that he ran or cry out to the Presidency asking for urgent assistance. Constitutionally, the governor may be the recognized chief security officer of the state where he governs, but he is incapacitated when it comes to mobilizing the military or the Mobile Police Force (MPF) to quell any riot, talk less of a full-fledged battle where people are being massacred. Instead of running to Abuja for help, Governor El-Rufai was playing to gallery and giving some unexplainable reasons for the unabated attacks on the same people that voted him into power. According to the governor’s explanation, the foreign Fulani herdsmen were on reprisal attacks for the killings of their cows in the area in the aftermath of the 2011 general elections. And that his government has reportedly gone to appease these assailants in their home countries with cash donations. But obviously, these people refused to be appeased.
But thank God after much of hues and cries from the concerned leaders of thoughts of this nation including the Sultan of Sokoto-Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III and Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, among others, the Federal Government finally rose to the occasion by directing the military and the inspector general of police to take a decisive action with a view to stamp out the crisis. And we pray that it will be a long lasting solution to the crisis because the Security personnel at the theater of the war seem to watch out and obey the body language of those in authority rather than the directives that emanate from their offices.
Recently our security operatives, especially the DSS, won the Presidential commendation of the outgoing President Barak Obama of the United States for arresting the 3rd most wanted person in the world. It was an international recognition that made the nation proud. How come that they couldn’t act decisively to prevent foreigners from invading our country before these invaders could inflict deadly blows to our citizens, not once, not twice nor thrice until they have killed 808 lives and destroyed properties worth of millions during their incessant attacks? We knew the character of our security agents. They are usually very proactive in situation like this. But in the matter under review, we do not know whether they did receive a new order to stand down until another order is received from above.
These are speculations anyway because we know that our military and our other security agencies are capable of defending the territorial integrity of this country from any form of external aggression.
It is against this background that we highly commend the recently launched Operation Accord by the Nigerian Army even though such operation could have been much better if it has come up much earlier before these collateral damages were inflicted upon the people of Southern Kaduna. Nevertheless, it is better done late than never and so we still give kudos to the Army and our other Security Operatives.
From the Biblical viewpoint, God hates shedding of innocent blood (either by active or passive participation). A land that swallows innocent blood will at a point spew out its inhabitants either through wars, famine or pestilence. God caused Judah and Israel (His own chosen people) to be severely punished and carried into captivity because of the sins of the inhabitants and its leaders.
The present state or condition of the nation is like a large/expansive prison yard for both the rich and the poor. The poor are dying of hunger/abject poverty while the rich are afraid and feeling insecure of hungry looking fellows living among them since they do not know the event or policy that may constitute the last straw on our burdened camel’s back. Nevertheless, there is hope for this great nation provided we decide to be on God’s side with the leadership of the nation leading the way to the true path of restitution and reconciliation. Yes, we all need to reorder our ways and stop the shedding of innocent blood under whatever guise for peace like a river to reign in this nation.
Gbemiga Olakunle, JP General Secretary, National Prayer Movement [email protected] gbemigaolakunle.blogspot.com
