Nigeria is passing through unusual times; she has been reduced to a seething cauldron of fratricidal feuds that have now made hate, bitterness, sorrows and mutual antagonisms the companions of Nigerians. Strongmen and criminal gangs have carved the country into spheres for peddling unwholesome atrocities. Boko Haram militant Islamic sect has turned the North East part of the country into a desolated war zone where life has become short, brutish and nasty and the people are daily confronted with gory maelstroms. Kidnapping- for-ransom, a new striving business in the country, is creating social convulsions in the South East and South South, while ritual killing has discounted life in the South West.
As if these are not enough burden for one nation, a new scourge of mindless killing of innocent people and large scale ruination of people’s economies has manifested in parts of the North Central and North West of the country in particular and the entire country in general. Cattle rustlers or Fulani herdsmen have been fingered as the masterminds. All these add up to a painful reality that Nigeria might become a failed state unless she is mended back to good health by the political leadership. This is the challenge before President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the 36 states of the federation.
Last weekend, the Unguwar Galadima community in Zamfara State came under ferocious attacks by yet to be identified gang of marauders, and when the dust settled, deaths, sorrows and pains were everywhere. Though there were conflicting reports of the casualty figures, the toll was so heavy that when the state governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, visited the place to assess the damage, he broke down and wept profusely on sighting the corpses of women, children and other residents wasted by the gang. Coming on the heels of last March gruesome attacks on some villages in Kaduna and Katsina states that left about 269 dead and several houses torched; the ravaging of farming communities in Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue states that has become a daily routine; the daring ambush of the convoy of the Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, and equally troubling attacks in parts of southern Nigeria, we think the time has come for the authorities to take appropriate measures to arrest the dangerous situation.
This current unrestrained attacks on defenceless Nigerians that is systematically pushing the nation towards the tipping point might though be a new quotient in the insecurity equation in the country, its devastating effects on the psyche of Nigerians would most probably further erode the confidence the people have in the authorities to protect them and their property. Very confounding is the fact that the identity of these merchants of death is not clear. The two groups much touted as responsible for the gory development are cattle rustlers and Fulani herdsmen. However, the Miyetti Allah Fulani Herdsmen Association has denied any involvement of its members in most of the attacks, deposing that linking them with the violence and deaths was a mere propaganda to demonise Fulani herdsmen. Denial alone does not lead to exoneration; the federal and state authorities therefore must resolve the riddle. This is because such information as the true identity of the marauders would help in developing an appropriate template for addressing the scourge.
This pattern of attacks is not new because the activities of Fulani herdsmen extend to all parts of the country, and the incidents of violence associated with the forced cohabitation between them and host communities are well documented. Human Rights Watch reported last December that such violent clashes had claimed at least 3,000 lives since 2010. The security agencies have a responsibility to gather and process the necessary data from the fields, and do reports for the political leaderships that would serve as inputs into the policies designed to address the scourge.
One key area the authorities must address is meeting the grazing needs of the Fulani herdsmen. This is a challenge for both the federal and state governments. Open grazing of cattle has become anachronistic in the serious parts of the world. Many countries have developed large grazing reserves to contend with the challenge. We expect the 19 state governments in the North to invest heavily in livestock farming so as to both empower their people and address the problem of herding cattle to dangerous grazing grounds outside their states.
President Jonathan has to mobilize the security apparatuses of the country to contain the new unprovoked aggression. Nigerians must cease to be victims of mindless blood thirsty gangs in their own land.
National Mirror.
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