By ERASMUS IKHIDE
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s terse message of helplessness and abdication of his presidency came to a head over the killing of suspected kidnappers/terrorists in Edo State in a casual and invasive demeanor thus: “I condemn the murder of travelling hunters intercepted by local vigilantes in the Uromi community of Esan North Local Government of Edo State.
I have directed Police and other security agencies to conduct swift and thorough investigations and punish the suspected culprits. I commiserate with the families of the affected victims and assure them that criminals would not be allowed to shed the blood of innocent Nigerians in vain.”
This scripted press statement, which the Presidency simply adopts each time tragedy strikes to evade scrutiny and attract empathy, tells the story of security failure in Nigeria and fails to explains what actually led to the unnecessary carnage in Uromi.
In as much as I’m against extrajudicial killings as witnessed in Uromi, Edo State, which I condemned in the strongest possible terms, the whole story must be told holistically. Retired Major General Cecil Esekhaigbe on Channel Television corroborated what an eyewitness account said about the unfortunate incident. The General said based on intel that seasoned kidnappers were being hauled back to the North, the vigilante mounted a road block, searching all Northern-bound trucks. In an attempt to search this particular truck, one of the Fulani fellows drew a knife and stabbed one of the vigilantes. Seeing him in his pool of blood, the rest of the youths (mob) descended on the Northern travellers, and the rest is history, as they say.
What General Esekhaigbe didn’t mention while on a Channel Television live interview was the bundles of cash running into several millions of naira found on the so-called hunters, suspected to be cash from ransom collections from their victims; apart from dangerous weapons, including assault rifles and AK-47s. But there is no doubt that the consciousness of the vigilante group stems from the fact that Edo State has been under siege in the last few months, having recorded over 200 deaths arising from frequent Fulani terrorist attacks, maiming and several unprovoked murders across the state.
I read comments from people like @Auwal H. Mohammad on Facebook, threatening Northern revenge for the killings of these terrorists in Edo, whom he described as hunters. He also said Southerners are doing legitimate businesses in the North, unhurt. Obviously, Auwal and his co-travellers know better the mission of the Fulani herders/terrorists in Southern Nigeria. It certainly can’t be hunting as he claimed. If at all their initial motive was to hunt down animals, they have since graduated to hunting humans.
He also knows that Southerners in the North are not into hunting there. He is aware that if the Fulani invasion is purely for hunting, then they should be restricted to the Northern bushes like the Sambisa Forest and other parts of the Northern region to avoid tension and frequent bloodbaths. Auwal is one of the pretentious Northerners who often rush to the press with the claim that killer herders are not Nigerian Fulani; but when one of them falls victim to their own crime, they’ll rush to their defense.
Reports reaching me indicate that 14 suspects have been arrested in Uromi by the police, which is a significant development. But it’s equally concerning that the killers of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto State remain at large, despite being identified as students from her school and her classmates. The lack of progress in bringing them to justice is a stark reminder of the failures of the justice system in Nigeria. Similarly, the absence of arrests in the rapes and murders in the Esan area is another example of the systemic failures that allow perpetrators to go unpunished.
The recent rant vide a press statement by the spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Professor Abubakar Jiddere, over the unfortunate incident further reflects the double-standard nature of investigation and prosecution for heinous offences in Nigeria. Have we ever heard of the arrest and prosecution of criminal herdsmen in Nigeria who were involved in the maiming and killing of Nigerians? The demand by NEF that the arrest and trial of those involved in the Uromi mob action be made public will be an exercise of using different weighing scales to mete out justice to offenders, which is an abominable act in the sight of God Almighty. The request for an unreserved public apology from Uromi and Edo State authorities and demand for compensation of families of victims has never been implemented for victims of the activities of criminal herders in Southern Nigeria.
Furthermore, the police’s swift action in Uromi, where 14 suspects were arrested in connection with the killing of alleged 10 travellers, highlights the discrepancies in how justice is served in Nigeria and a reflection of the celebration of the travesty of justice, as highlighted above. It’s essential for the authorities to ensure that justice is served in all these cases, regardless of the circumstances or the identities of the perpetrators. The Nigerian people deserve to feel safe and protected by the law, and it’s the responsibility of the authorities to make that happen. The Northern Governor’s Forum should move beyond condemning the unfortunate incident in Uromi by outrightly condemning a repeat of such an incident anywhere in Nigeria.
Early last month, my dearly beloved friend, Mr. Peter Ogedengbe, was slaughtered on his farmland in Erha, Owan West Local Government of Edo State, after harvesting his cassava and feeding it to his cattle. There are several other incidents in Ovia-North East and South West, Etsako East, Akoko-Edo, and the two Owan local government areas where Fulani herders/terrorists brazenly slaughtered mothers and children in numbers and no one shouted revenge in the manner in which Auwal is screaming blue murder.
At the last count, in Edo State, more than 25 communities have been sacked by Fulani terrorists who daily graze their cattle over people’s crops and whoever challenges such a brazen act of impunity meets his/her untimely death on the spot!
It is instructive to note that the Fulani terrorists operating in the South and Middle Belt of Nigeria, when arrested and handed over to the security forces, are often released in less than an hour under standing instruction during the Buhari administration. No unlicensed state actors, hoodlums and terrorists have the right to carry assault weapons to maim and kill law-abiding citizens. It is unfortunate that criminality is being taken out of context, since governments at all levels have abandoned the responsibility to protect their citizens; community policing thus becomes a desideratum.
Nigeria’s security woes speaks to the heart of the issues I have relentlessly interrogated over the last few years: the total collapse of security architecture is at the heart of it, coupled with government’s treatment of terrorism with kid gloves. Until President Bola Tinubu acts fast, the disintegration of Nigeria will be quickened by the counter-attacks in response to Fulani terrorists attacks in Southern Nigeria.
*Ikhide, a journalist and political activist, wrote via: [email protected].
The post Terrorism, Tinubu’s lamentations and demand for justice by NEF, NGF appeared first on Vanguard News.
