We are in State of Emergency!

My heart goes out to the survivors of the ongoing serial depopulation in Benue and other states around Nigeria’s Middle Belt. When killings become a daily occurrence, what other name shall we call the monster? Previously sleepy, sedate communities have now become theatres of terror. Against all assurances by government, the merchants of death continue […]

My heart goes out to the survivors of the ongoing serial depopulation in Benue and other states around Nigeria’s Middle Belt. When killings become a daily occurrence, what other name shall we call the monster? Previously sleepy, sedate communities have now become theatres of terror. Against all assurances by government, the merchants of death continue to have a field day, compounding their ruthless savagery with sacrilege.

Take the attack on St. Ignatius Quasi Parish Ukpor-Mbalom village in Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State where Reverend Fathers Gor Joseph and Felix Tyolaha were killed after suspected herdsmen attacked then during Mass. God rest their souls and the souls of other victims. Death in the house of God? 

The event has so shaken the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria that they have all but lost faith in the capacity of the Buhari-led administration to halt the descent to anomie in the Middle Belt and other places. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) even called on all Christians to join street protests slated for last Sunday.

Benue State alone has about 170,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in camps, while thousands more are seeking refuge in neighbouring Plateau State and other places.

Before that church desecration in Benue, some terrorists had killed 30 people in Bawan Daji village of Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State, making a horrified Governor Abdulaziz Yari to direct security agents to shoot and kill anyone caught carrying firearms in the state. “We cannot continue to watch criminals as a parallel government, doing what they want and carrying sophisticated firearms, maiming and killing innocent citizens in the state”, he fumed.

In terms of parallel, I recall that in 2014, in Kano, suspected Boko Haram terrorists had attacked a mosque at prayer time and killed over 100 people. It was pure terror, with all the fingerprints of the delusional religious fanatics. 

Whereas killings are fast becoming the normal fare in many parts of the country, particularly in the Middle Belt area, the most tendentious are the ones with religious colouring and ethnic cleansing undertones. When a group of apparently well trained bandits kill, maim and burn down settlements forcing the survivors to seek shelter elsewhere, the allegations that the terrorists are after territory become justifiable. 

When defenceless people are chased from their ancestral homes while government belts out one excuse after the other instead of bringing the full might of the armed forces to extirpate the invaders, nothing the government says can be remotely considered a healing balm for the survivors’ irreparable loss.

If this is not war, I don’t know what else it could be. 

The fact that the killings in Benue increased in frequency and savagery since the promulgation of the Anti Open Grazing Law by the state government has further lent credence to the widely held view that the shadowy sponsors of the killings have territorial ambitions. The distinction between the ‘normal’ pastoral herdsmen and gun-wielding merchants of death is becoming blurred by the minute.

A Middle-Belt activist group with the hashtag, #MiddleBeltMassacres, has catalogued 89 instances of killings in the region between January and April 2018. A cursory look at a few: 

 

·January 1, 2018:  50 Benue indigenes Killed, 30 Injured in Logo Benue

·January 1, 2018: 25 Nasarawa farmers Killed in Keana, Nasarawa.

·January 4, 2018: Gun men KILL 6 in Wukari, Taraba

·January 5, 2018: 60 indigenes Attacked And Killed in Lau, Taraba

·January 6, 2018: Village head and 15 others Attacked And Killed in Logo, Benue.

·January 13, 2018: At least 10 locals Attacked And Killed in Birnin-Gwari, Kaduna

·January 16, 2018: 6 KILLED in attack on Guma, Logo and Okpokwu, Benue

·January 2,1 2018: Reprisal attack leaves 6 dead in Juman, Adamawa

·January 23, 2018: Gunmen kill family of 9 in Ardo Kola, Adamawa 

·January 24, 2018: Gunmen kill 4 in Kaiama, Kwara

·January 29, 2018: 7 Killed in Keane, Nasarawa

·January 31, 2018: Herdsmen KILL 9 in Birnin-Gwari, Kaduna

·February 2, 2018: 10 Killed in Song, Adamawa

·February 5, 2018: Herdsmen attack Gov Ortom Farmhouse and KILL 2

·February 26, 2018: Worship Centre torched and 12 Killed in Kajuru, Kaduna

·February 27, 2018: 20 Killed in Demsa, Adamawa

·March 4, 2018: About 20 Killed in Sardauna, Taraba

·March 5, 2018: 24 Killed in Okpokwu, Benue

·March 9, 2018: 9 Killed in Bokkos, Plateau

·March 12, 2018: 26 Killed, 26 in Bassa, Plateau

·March 14, 2018: 32 Killed in Daima/Omala, Kogi

·March 19, 2018:10 Killed in Omala, Kogi

·March 20, 2018: 11 Soldiers Killed in Birnin Gwari

·April 5, 2018: 30 Killed in Gwer, West, Benue

·April 10, 2018: More than 51 bodies recovered in Wukari, Taraba

·April 20, 2018: Herdsmen kill 31 in Guma, Benue

·April 25, 2018: Marauders Kill 39 people in Guma, Benue

 

And just as I was about wrapping up this piece (I’m away in Monrovia, Liberia), news came that armed bandits had stormed Janruwa community in Maganda District, Birnin-Gwari local government area of Kaduna State, last Saturday killing at least 40 people. The terrorists reportedly burnt many of their victims beyond recognition. 

Judging from historical antecedents, no crystal ball is required to predict that Nigerians would eventually resort to self-help if the killings persist. Isn’t the first rule of nature self-preservation? A State of Emergency has declared itself in Nigeria. But is the government aware?