Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, Islamic scholar, cleric and former military officer with the rank of captain in the Nigerian Army, said in a recent interview on Arise TV that the bandits in Nigeria are “operating with a lot of people in the security system. This is business, otherwise how can these big weapons they use cross the borders into the country if money is not exchanging hands.
“When you say these bandits are committing atrocities, yes, agreed, they are committing crimes – they are killing people, they are kidnapping, they are raping, they are doing all sorts of atrocities. But, have you for once gone to their sides and see all sorts of atrocities that are also committed against them’’.
Gumi pointed out that banditry in Nigeria was ‘more of tribal war between herders and other tribes’, and that ‘the government which is supposed to be neutral in the war is taking sides against the bandits, sending security agents after them’.
Even as Gumi spoke about 200 residents of Zamfara state had been killed by Boko Haram and bandits since, President Muhammadu Buhari’s no-fly zone order took effect in March this year. Despite the no –fly zone territory established by the military over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly, states sharing boundaries with Zamfara such as Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi had continued to witness killings and abductions by over 30, 000 bandits reportedly in Zamfara forests.
The sad thing about Gumi’s outburst is that it has come at a time Nigeria is expecting the delivery of her $593 million 12–29 armed super Tucano light attack aircraft from the United States to further its campaign against the terrorist groups of Boko Haram and bandits.
In fact, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will reportedly take delivery of six of the 12 embraer A–29 Super light attack aircraft in the middle of this year. A second batch of six of the aircraft will be delivered before the end of the year. At present, five Nigerian Super Tucanoes are at moody AirforceBase (AFB) in Georgia, United States, for modifications and for NAF pilots and maintenance personnel to further train in the aircraft.
The sale of the planes have been dogged by controversy. Under former US President Barack Obama, the aircraft deal had been held off due to congerns about the Nigeria military’s alleged human rights abuses. In one instance, up to 170 people died after the Air force mistakenly bombed a refugee camp in the north eastern town of Rann.But Obama’s successor, President Donald Trump, signaled his support for the sale of the attack aircraft to Nigerian. The Army is worried by Gumi’s allegations because every U.S. administration under the Democratic Party is focused on respect for human rights and freedom in their relations with other nations. Violations of these rights adversely affect her military and technical cooperation with them.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter first introduced human rights as an element of U.S. foreign policy. At the time that was noted as a radical move, but it has endured through the decades. It was on this basis that the U.S. Democratic Government began arms restrictions on Indonesia in 1991 when Indonesian soldiers opened fire on a pro–independence demonstration, leaving more than 270 East Timorese dead. Later Indonesia staged a military intervention in 1999 to prevent East Timor’s secession, killing more than 1,500 civilians and razing70 percent of its infrastructure. In response, the United States Democratic government and the European Union imposed arms embargoes on Indonesia.
Drawing inspiration from Carter, President Joe Biden has ‘pledged a foreign policy that would restore U.S. moral leadership, end U.S. complicity in human rights abuses, civilian harm , and humanitarian crises’ after four years of a president who was indifferent and often hostile to human rights.
Gumi’s allegations have given the Biden administration the reason to further delay the supply of the Super Tucano the country had fully paid for on the grounds that it could be improperly used by some partisan Nigeria security operatives in the on –going ‘ tribal war between herders and other tribes in the country’.
The super attack warplanes was sold to Nigeria by Republican President Trump who was seen as a disaster for human rights as he at home, flouted legal obligations that allow people fearing for their lives to seek refuge, ripped migrant children from their parents, empowered white supremacists, and abroad, cozied up to one friendly autocrat after another at the expense of their abused population.
This has put the Biden presidency under pressure to face the challenge of redeeming a U.S. role for human rights – to change the narrative on human rights in a more fundamental way, both in U.S. domestic and foreign policy.
The Nigerian Army aware of the implications of Gumi’s allegations said in a statement that: “The Nigerian Army … has conducted its constitutional responsibilities in the most professional manner in line with global best practices of adherence to the rules of engagement and protection of the fundamental human rights of the citizenry .’ And warned that ‘patrotism must be taken to a trajectory where subversive conversations on the state are brought to the barest minimum…’
Mohammed writes from Abuja
