After retired General T. Y Danjuma’s call for Nigerians to defend themselves, the Emir of Anka in Zamfara state, Alhaji Tahiru Ahmad and the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Jubril Zubair Mai Gwari II in Kaduna state, made similar remarks. In this report, ELEOJO IDACHABA examines the loud condemnations that trailed Danjuma’s statement and the deafening silence that followed their Royal Highnesses’.
Retired Gen Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, former Chief of Army Staff, had belled the cat on March 25 in far away Jalingo, the Taraba state capital, and the statement has become the new battle cry for communities under siege.
At a convocation lecture of Taraba State University, the usually reticent Danjuma shot from the hips at his former constituency. Point blank, he said that it is time for everyone to defend themselves as ‘’the armed forces are not neutral.’’
According to him, ‘’they collude with the armed bandits that kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movement. They cover them. If you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will die one by one.’’ The retired general warned that more violence will erupt should the killings in his state and other communities in the country continue.
“The ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba State. It must stop in all the states of Nigeria, otherwise Somalia will be a child’s play. I ask everyone of you to be at alert and defend your country, defend your territory, defend your state. You have nowhere else to go,” he had said.
However, two weeks later, the Emirs of Anka in Zamfara state, Alhaji Tahiru Ahmad and his Birnin Gwari counterpart, Alhaji Zubair Mai Gwari the II, a traditioanal ruler in Kaduna state, echoed Danjuma’s outburst.
Traditional rulers’ outbursts
On March 30, the Emir of Anka’s lashed out at security agents when Governor Abdul Azeez Yari paid him a condolence visit over the death of some of his subjects. The Emir, without mincing words, had said that he has lost confidence in the ability of the security agents to protect his people.
Specifically, Alhaji Tahiru said that international communities like the European Union and United Nations should come to his peoples aid since the Nigerian government can no longer guarantee their safety.
Similarly, Governor Yari had earlier spoken in the same manner last February, when he visited the Emir of Zurmi, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to condole him over the massacre of 42 people by unknown gunmen. Yari said that his administration had alerted security agencies on the impending invasion, 24-hours before the gunmen struck. In frustration, Yari said that “I feel I let down the people of this state whenever I remember the promise I made to them that when they elect President Muhammadu Buhari into power, these killings will end. But unfortunately, things are now getting worse.”
Mai Gwari’s clarion call
Significantly, the Emir of Anka was a bit restrained in venting out his feelings but Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, went full blast like General Danjuma in providing solution to the incessant attacks on his community. For a long time, the people of Birnin Gwari have been living at the mercy of gunmen as they kill, abduct and steal with impunity. Regularly, the bandits kill security agents that have been posted to secure the area and recently, 11 young soldiers were killed while on patrol. On March 31, the Emir virtually said enough is enough in an interview he granted a national daily.
According to him, ‘’what we have been preaching to our people is that they should not sit down and watch themselves and their families get killed. If you can do anything to protect yourself, go ahead and I will repeat it in front of anybody. We can’t be fools to wait for somebody that will not come. Nobody can stop me from telling my people to protect themselves and that is what we are doing now because the policemen that are in BirninGwari cannot protect. The soldiers that are being brought came and sometimes make matters worse.”
Emir Sanusi’s charge
Specifically, this is not the first time that Emirs have put niceties aside and spoken bluntly against the seeming intertia of security forces. In 2014, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II had admonished Nigerians to defend themselves from the marauding Boko Haram insurgents who were on the prowl in the entire northern part of the country. The Emir, without mincing words, spoke in Kano during the closing ceremony of the weekly Holy Quran recitation which was done as part of prayers to bring peace in the country.
He said that “Boko Haram has mounted a bloody campaign by killing Nigerians and overrunning many territories. These people when they attack towns, they kill boys and enslave girls. People must stand resolute. People must not assume that the crisis will not reach their areas. People must not wait for soldiers to protect them. There are even instances where soldiers on ground ran away in the face of attacks”.
Same message, different reactions
Curiously, the same defend-yourselves message has been greeted with mute silence and deafening response. For instance, Minister of Defence Mansur Dan Ali was mild in his rebuke against General Dajuma’s statement. According to him, ‘’a recent comment by one of the nation’s elder statesman alleging that the Nigeria military colludes with bandits to kill people and therefore calling on them to rise and defend themselves outside constitutional provision is highly uncalled for and is an invitation to anarchy and should be disregarded by well meaning Nigerians.’’
The Defence Minister further said that ‘’the effort of the Nigeria Armed Forces towards the restoration of peace, security and order in Nigeria has continued to receive appreciation in changing the security environment from what it was before. The armed forces is well organised and highly professional in discharging it’s constitutional responsibilities”.
However, Army spokesman Texax Chukwu came down heavily on the former Chief of Staff. According to him, it was unfortunate that such a statement would come from a highly distinguished statesman especially now that the military has embarked on demilitarisation of the North Central region of the country. Chukwu had argued that “while the Nigeria Army would not join words with the elder statesman, it is however necessary that certain facts be clearly stated in the interest of the Nigeria public. The Nigeria Army is constitutionally charged with the responsibility of defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria and to aid the civil authority whenever called upon.” According to him, Taraba state government failed to cooperate with the military on its stand towards neutrality at the beginning of the exercise.
In the same vein, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen TukurBuratai, represented by Maj Gen Muhammed Muhammed, the GOC 1 Division Kaduna during the burial of the 11 soldiers killed by armed bandits, had berated those whom he said doubted the loyalty of the armed forces. Buratai, who was obviously referring to General Danjuma’s comments, wondered “how can we tell our fallen (heroes) that they were aiding those who killed them? If we are responsible enough to make a statement, we should not generalise”.
Similarly, General Danjuma had his own army of defenders, especially from opposition politicians and political parties, civil society organizations as well as security and legal experts.
Nigerians have right to self defence –Prof Nwabueze
Professor Ben Nwabueze, a constitutional lawyer and author, rose stoutly to Gen Danjuma’s defence. He said that the former Army Chief merely echoed Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution which guarantees Nigerians the right to self defence. He warned that “anarchy and consequent ethnic cleansing loom in the horizon if the attacks, killings and destruction of property and displacement of people by Fulani herdsmen continue unchecked and punished. Given the failure or inability of the federal government to take action to that effect, it may lead to a state of things that may likely force the communities at the receiving end to resort to self defence as guaranteed in Section 33 of the Constitution.”
Self defence is constitutional—Ex FCT Commissioner
Similarly, Mr Lawrence Alobi, former commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), told Blueprint Weekend that self defence is constitutional. ‘’In fact, Section 33 of the Constitution as amended provides that every person has the right to life and that nobody shall intentionally deprive the other of his/her life except in matters of criminal offence. This section of the Constitution stipulates that you have the right to protect yourself when your life or property is being threatened through violence.”
Speaking further, he told our correspondent that “as a retired police officer, I can tell you categorically that there is what we call Justifiable Homicide under the Penal Code. By that, if anyone tries to kill you, the law even permits you to defend yourself and property. There is also what we call Minimal Force in law which permits an individual to use a certain level of weapon in self-defence. Even the state actors like the police who are involved in enforcing the law know this. However, you use the force that is proportional to the threat being carried out against you.”
According to him, the act of self defence is not new as it had been there right from the traditional societies, where a certain group of young adults under the aegis of age grade system, were assembled to protect the society from invasion.
Christian elders support Danjuma
Similarly, the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) defended Danjuma’s call for self defence. In a statement signed by the chairman of the forum, Solomon Asemota and others, NCEF replied the Supreme Council for Shariah which earlier called for the retired general’s arrest. According to the statement, “NCEF stands with Gen Danjuma and the Christian elders support him totally that Nigerians should defend themselves since it is clear that the security services have become tools of Islamists in the promotion of Sharia ideology in Nigeria. This conflict between Sharia and democracy was smuggled into the 1999 constitution thereby making Nigeria the only country in the world with dual conflicting ideologies”.
The statement noted further that, “nowhere is the unconscionable intolerance and narrow mindedness of Sharia proponents manifested as in the abduction of innocent children on account of their faith. While the nation is still nursing the wounds of the abduction of Chibok girls, the Islamists abducted another set of school girls in Dapchi and released over 100 of them who professed Islam as their religion and retained in captivity Leah Sharibu on account of her Christian faith.”It said that the founding fathers of the country agreed at independence that democracy was adopted as the national ideology to provide equity, freedom and liberty for all.
As the back and forth still continues, so far no one has either berated Emirs of Anka and Birnin Gwari for their equally ‘provocative call to arms’ statements.
Army probes Danjuma’s allegations
Last Monday, General Tukur Buratai inaugurated a 10 man panel to investigate Danjiuma’s allegations. The panel, which is headed by Major General Joseph Nimyel (rtd), is expected to submit its report within ten days. In particular, other members of the committee are Brig. General Saka Abubakar (rtd) Brig. General Sani Mohammed, Brig. General Kayode Olajide, Brig. General Alexander Ridley and Brig. General Stanley Eze. The rest are, Abdul Atadoga Ibrahim of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mrs Comfort Davut of the Civil Society Organisation, Abdulrahman Yakubu of the National Human Right Commission and Col Gambo Mohammed. Thereafter, Buratai reportedly met with the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, behind closed-doors at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
However, it is not clear whether the committee will summon Danjuma or even investigate similar allegations that were leveled by the two Emirs, let alone ask for their evidences.
