Plateau Killings: the tragedy of a nation
Last week top echelons of the All Progressives Congress (APC) bedecked in their finery were pictured at their National Convention laughing and backslapping each other while the nation descended into an abyss of death and destruction. The number of needless deaths in Nigeria is ever on the increase. There is the unending daily carnage on […]
Last week top echelons of the All Progressives Congress (APC) bedecked in their finery were pictured at their National Convention laughing and backslapping each other while the nation descended into an abyss of death and destruction. The number of needless deaths in Nigeria is ever on the increase. There is the unending daily carnage on our express roads especially by trailers belonging to the richest man in Africa, epidemics of killer diseases occur regularly, and Petrol tankers routinely incinerate dozens of citizens. Yet none of these compares to the recent killing in Plateau State of more than 200 people by suspected “herdsmen”.
Anyone except the most hard-hearted would be put to tears at the scenes of carnage and slaughter which unfortunately the APC government is attempting to rationalise rather than put a stop to. In their immediate reaction to the killings they tried their hardest to find an explanation instead of condemning the perpetrators. Ultimate responsibility for the security of the nation lies with the Federal Government. All their talk and finger pointing blame game is no excuse for incompetence or deliberate ostrich impersonation.
A Government that cannot identify let alone prosecute a single killer of a serial killer group responsible for hundreds of deaths this year alone, is either grossly incompetent or doesn’t want to take on its responsibilities. Their failure to act decisively is an encouragement for the killers to continue murdering Nigerians who they are duty bound to serve and protect. The whole world with the exception of APC bigwigs is grieving for the Plateau people.
BBC and Reuters News Agency reported that Plateau State has a decades-long history of violence between ethnic groups which has now flared out of control and that fighting between semi-nomadic cattle herders and more settled communities over land use now claims hundreds of lives in Nigeria annually. Aljazeera reported that drought in the northern areas of the country has driven the Fulani nomads and their cows further south in search of fresh grazing fields further escalating the conflicts. The New York Times reported that President Buhari accused unnamed politicians of taking advantage of security lapses to create chaos ahead of next year’s elections.
The killings were even debated in the British House of Lords. Woefully, the international community has generally agreed by that the negative impact on the Nigerian economy of these well-defined attacks are expected in the long run to be greater than that of Boko Haram which has been largely localized in the North East.
Government itself has been contradictory, shallow, pedantic and counterproductive in its response to the killings. They have blamed everyone and everything except the herdsmen. The farmers are blamed for planting crops, State Governments are blamed for passing anti-grazing laws, un-named politicians are blamed, and even late Colonel Ghadaffi has been blamed! Attributing the increase in murders to gunmen from the Sahel stretches the boundaries of reason. The truth is that the killers have been emboldened by implied if not tacit support from the highest quarters.
One thing defies logic. Plateau State hasn’t enacted any anti-grazing laws and yet it’s become a genocidal killing field for “herdsmen”. It’s the only State in which murderers invade houses at will and are never caught and in which security agencies are incapable of preventing carefully planned and efficiently executed mass killings. A simultaneous attack on ten villages requires careful planning and the success of such an operation is a classic case of the failure of security apparatus. The APC has proved ineffective in solving the problem and are happily living with it while planning for re-election.
The killings are far too many and happen far too consistently for government to be forgiven in the matter. The questions which need answering are quite simple. Who are these faceless killers? Why can they not be apprehended? Why is human life so cheap in Nigeria a supposedly democratic nation governed by the rule of law? Former Chief of Defence Staff Theophilus Danjuma claimed that the situation could only be the result of collusion between military top brass and the killers. Perhaps it is better to believe him than accept the fact that our security agencies are corruption ridden, inefficient, and incapable of securing lives and property within the nation.