Nigerian Soil is Red with Blood

Mass killings and destruction of property, bloodbath, cold war, jihad, terrorism, Fulani herdsmen, miyetti allah, etc; these are becoming the key words to search out Nigerian news. Nigerian soil is wet and red with blood – the blood of men and women working hard to meet their needs and that of others. Many souls have been wasted, yet those elected to protect the lives of Nigerians and property act like nothing is happening. Even if the presidency is acting unconcerned, what about the governors of these states; were they not elected to protect the people and properties in their states? Are they also negligence just to have a good relationship with the federal government and secure their positions to the detriment of the people who elected them? How can a group of people continue to play deadly game that questions the intelligence of the rest of people in a nation, and all those concerned still handle the matter like a game of ludo and chess?

The special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, while answering questions on citizens attachment to ancestral lands on a morning programme on AIT  said that it is better to be alive than to keep a land as a dead person. He also said that Nigerians are better off living with the ranches and colonies than dying through the persisting conflicts. Since when has it become a law for one to give out land to another by force? And since when has it become a practice for people to kill others because they refused to give out their lands?

Our president told the governor of Benue state in January to learn how to live with herdsmen. This only means that we should not expect any solution from the presidency.  Is it a crime if the herdsmen also learn how to live with their neighbors for the relationship to work? Femi Adesina once told us that the killings done under Buhari in three years have not equaled the number of deaths that occurred under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We are really trapped in the government of comparison, or are we not?

A journalist with The Nation newspaper, Yusuf Idegu, had said in a report that the leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Plateau chapter, Danladi Ciroma described the killings in Plateau as retaliation for 300 rustled cows and loss of some herders’. He said this based on the interview granted him by Ciroma, who had denied saying such to Idegu. But we believe that even if Idegu is lying, the truth is not far from us.

According to Daily Post of May 1, 2018, Governor Otom of Benue had said: “These people had, after our ranching law was signed, addressed a press conference and said they would mobilize their kinsmen to attack Benue and true to their words they started attacking Benue. Maybe, Benue State governor is also lying.

According to Daily Post of July 1, 2018, the Chairman of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Abdullahi Bodejo, had declared that land all over Nigeria belong to the Fulani. According to him, those claiming to own land and would not release it to government for ranching were being selfish and do not want peace in the land. He said “if Fulani have the culture of staying in one place, do you think anybody can claim land more than Fulani”? That means if they have the same culture of land ownership, they will never let go of their lands; so why are they angry if people chose to hold on to their inheritance?

Furthermore, he said “Is it not a good idea to also settle the Fulani? This will be a solution to the herders-farmers’ conflicts Insha Allah”. He also said that Fulani’s have not gained anything from government and that if they close all the cattle markets in Nigeria, the economy will come down. What settlement are they talking about? Are they the only people contributing to Nigerian economy? Do they even pay the tax that other entrepreneurs are paying? Even if they do pay tax, there is no reason for government or citizens to be responsible for their ranches because they are just like any other person in small and medium enterprise.

Idealolive considers the words of Alhaji Abdullahi Bodejo as a cheap blackmail. His words only describe their level of insensitivity. Are we all going to die because we have herdsmen living among us? Is it supposed to be anybody’s problem if most Fulani’s are insensitive, uncivilized and antagonistic? Are there not exposed persons among them that can teach them to attain at least a level of understanding? 

According to First Africa News on July 5, 2018, Southern and Middle Belt leaders had stated that the role of the President of Nigeria and the duty the President owe to the herdsmen are in conflict and that there is greater allegiance to the cowry above the country. They added that Nigerians would have to proceed to the International Criminal Court with the charge that what we are facing is state-sponsored terrorism. Whatever legal approach that must be taken to stop these killings should be encouraged and pursued.

A stanza of “The Second Coming”, a poem by W. B. Yeats states:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre  

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst,  

Are full of passionate intensity.

This is the Nigerian situation. Recall that idealolive had sometime also described Nigerian situation as “Animal Farm” scenario where brainwashing and propaganda are the mechanisms used to gradually enslave the gullible masses. The time to restructure is now, as scorpions and rabbits cannot be in a relationship. It is clear that the fulanis lack all the characteristics needed for a peaceful cohabitation. They are forcing others to understand them but do not want to understand others. They want to seduce everybody to dance to their beating using cheap blackmail. They are just being who they are, and will always be who they are, but others should not go into extinction or lose their inheritance just because of them.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

BLOODBATH IN BENUE STATE BY FULANI HERDSMEN

It seems to me that people in power are waiting for the total annihilation of the lower class and even the middle class before they will decide on what to do to stop the incessant killings going on in the country.  The rate at which they theorize issues or speak grammar of regret and condemnation of killing without doing anything serious to stop it is heart breaking. Slowly, the strength of Nigeria and its manpower are butchered in their tens and hundreds, yet all we hear is news of how government regrets and condemns the killings and what they are planning to do. If our lives are not valued even in our own country, why will it be valued outside Nigeria? No wonder Nigerian illegal emigrants are slaughtered by other Africans outside Nigeria.  

When will all these killings stop? When will President Buhari perform the magic that he said his predecessor is incapable of performing? We are talking about human beings here, not animals. Are they waiting for Nigerians to be wiped out completely before they swung to action? If they are actually Nigerians they should act fast, otherwise, I don’t see them as Nigerians because they are just the smart ones who receive salaries and allowances for doing nothing. As far as I am concerned, the active Nigerians are being slaughtered and it has to stop.

Meanwhile, below is the report of the Benue killings culled from This Day of January 4, 2018.

Anger spilled out onto the streets of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Wednesday over the gruesome killing of about 50 persons by suspected armed herdsmen in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the state on New Year day and Tuesday.

Protesting residents, mostly youths, booed and stoned the state governor, Samuel Ortom, forcing the government to draft troops to quell the massive protest in the state capital and neighboring towns and to prevent mayhem.

The governor had gone to placate the restive youths at Wurukum where the protest was taking place in Makurdi Wednesday but he was met with angry youths who were incensed over his seeming inability to keep the marauding herders in check.

The placard carrying protesters also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over his failure to provide adequate security for the state.

The president, however, condemned the mindless killings and wanton destruction of property in the state, and ordered the security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.

This is just as the police in Benue said Wednesday they had arrested eight herdsmen over the deaths of 10 persons and seven livestock guard in the Guma and Logo on Monday.

There has been tension in the state since the passage of the Anti-open Grazing Bill into law last November.

The law is meant to encourage ranching and check the menace of herders and their cattle, which often destroy farmlands in Benue and has led to bloody clashes and attacks in the past, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people in the state.

However, since the enactment of the law, the cattle breeders association, known as Miyetti Allah, have vowed to resist the law and were accused of threatening to carry out attacks against citizens in the state.

But in order to quell the protest in Makurdi Wednesday, soldiers from the 72 Battalion North Bank were brought in to control the protesting youths and restore order, after word got out that two protesters had been wounded.

The protesters called on the presidency to bring the culprits to book and carried placards with inscriptions such as “presidential intervention needed”, “why value cows more than humans”, and “stop this incessant blood bath”.

Some of them chanted: “We will not vote for the present administration again at both the state and federal levels if this crises don’t stop.”

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the protesters also barricaded major roads leading in and out of Makurdi, and vowed not to leave the streets until the presidency spoke on the killings.

They also called on the government to intervene in the series of other attacks on rural communities by armed herdsmen.

A resident, Mr. Terhemen Anum, told NAN that residents of Guma and Logo were yet to determine the number of peasant farmers, women, children and the aged that were massacred during the two-day killing spree.

Also, Mrs. Ruth Agba said the killing of Benue farmers and destruction to their homes and farms was no different from Boko Haram activities in the North-east.

Despite the anger, Ortom, while briefing reporters, called for calm over the situation and asked residents not to take the law into their hands.

He disclosed that more casualties of the attacks were still been brought to Makurdi, and confirmed that the carnage had been reported to the president.

“I have reported the matter to the president and we are expecting action. Some of the people we have evidence against are the leaders of Miyetti Allah who have been threatening the state. We are calling on the president to arrest them immediately,” he said.

He said the federal government should rise to its responsibility “if not they are saying Benue is not part of Nigeria”.

Buhari Orders Arrest

Reacting to the wanton killing spree in Benue, Buhari Wednesday in Abuja commiserated with the state governor and ordered the security agencies to fish out the killers.

The president, according to a terse statement by his media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, expressed immense sadness over the attacks on the two local government areas in Benue, describing them as wicked and callous attacks on even innocent children.

Shehu said the president assured the governor and people of the state that the relevant security agencies had been directed to do everything possible to arrest the culprits of the regrettable incidents and avert further attacks.

Describing the destruction as “one attack too many”, Shehu said the president added that “everything must be done to provide security for the people in our rural communities”, adding that Buhari also commiserated with families of the victims and wished those injured speedy recovery.

Also commenting on the wave of killings in the country in recent days, a former vice-president of Nigeria and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, described as unacceptable the cycle of blood-letting that has led to the loss of precious lives across the country.

Atiku made the charge against the backdrop of recent killings in Rivers, Kaduna, Benue and other parts of the country, including Wednesday’s early morning suicide bombing at the Gamboru mosque in Borno, barely three days into the New Year.

The Waziri Adamawa, according to a statement by his media office in Abuja Wednesday, said the killings in those states, and other senseless killings and reprisal blood-letting that had preceded them in the past across the country were ungodly, “a throwback to the stone age and a hindrance to the promotion of peace and unity in the country”.

Atiku stressed that the diversity of Nigeria remains one of its strongest points, reminding leaders of all persuasion and at all levels to ensure that they promote the things that unite Nigerians rather than those that create divisions.

“That the Almighty in His Wisdom made us a nation of different tongues and tribes; made us Africa’s most populous nation with more than 300 tribes is no accident. If well enhanced, our diversity should be our biggest strength.

“There cannot be development when innocent lives are being lost in a seemingly endless cycle of attacks and reprisals. While we should hold every life as precious, it is more painful that the victims of these attacks are women and youths – the demography that we depend upon to drive development,” he said.

The former vice-president called on Nigerians to use the opportunity of the New Year to reflect on these needless killings and to resolve to live in peace and harmony.

He also prayed for the fortitude of the bereaved families.

In its reaction also, the national leadership of the PDP condemned the recent terror attacks and killings unleashed on innocent Nigerians in Benue, Kaduna and Rivers States.

While reacting to the unfortunate incident Wednesday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan said the president should take immediate steps to arrest all those behind the dastardly act.

“PDP condemns the wanton killings in some parts of our nation, particularly Benue State. We urge President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate arrest of the criminal herders murdering the people Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue State.

 “These killings are horrible, senseless and wicked. This is a time when silence is not noble,” he said.

Similarly, the Benue State chapters of the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) condemned the horrific killing of innocent people in the local government areas by suspected herdsmen.

The Benue PDP, in a press statement signed by its publicity secretary, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, said the state chapter of the party totally condemned the barbaric act, which it said qualified by every standard as an act of terrorism employed in the pursuit of an agenda that was genocidal in character.

“Our hearts go out in sympathy to the victims, the dead, those injured, and the displaced ones wandering about terrorized, dehumanized and thrust into the cruel, merciless embrace of destitution and hardship,” the state PDP said.

The party said it was unacceptable that Buhari has continued to concentrate on the deployment of security resources of the federal government solely on the Boko Haram challenge, while turning a blind eye to the bloody carnage of armed herdsmen in Benue communities and a deaf ear to the cries of their helpless victims.

Adding that Buhari must, as a matter of duty, urgently shift or share his focus from an “already defeated” Boko Haram to the rapidly growing menace of armed herdsmen killing helpless farmers and burning down their properties, it said this will be in fulfillment of the oath he took to protect one and all Nigerians from harm and injustice, without fear or favour.

The spokesman of the APC in Benue, Mr. Abba Yaro, also described the massive killing of over 50 people by the herdsmen as an invitation to civil war.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Yaro decried the recent killings as an attempt to spark a second civil war in Nigeria, insisting that it was a clear case of ethnic cleansing around the Benue valley, which must be stopped immediately.

While calling on Buhari to immediately call the herdsmen to order and direct the security agency to apprehend the killers, APC also called on all Benue sons and daughters, irrespective of party affiliations, to rise in defense of their communities.

 “This is above party politics, it is about human lives. How can you kill a pregnant woman and remove the unborn child and slaughter it? It is barbaric, unspeakable and generally unpalatable,” the APC statement read in part.

APC said the Anti-open Grazing Law in Benue was not targeted at any set of persons but for the general security of the state, a measure against cattle rustling and a solution for herders/farmers perennial clashes.

It maintained that its enforcement was ongoing and the state APC was in support of the governor and will not be deterred.

“The Anti-open Grazing Law has co

me to stay,” the state chapter of the ruling party maintained.

It also warned that if the herdsmen are not called to order by the relevant authorities and refuse to stop the ethnic cleansing, Benue people shall take the law into their hands in self-defense.

Eight Herdsmen Apprehended

Meanwhile, the police in Benue said Wednesday that they had arrested eight herdsmen over the deaths of 10 persons and seven livestock guards in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the state on Monday.

The police public relations officer in the state, Moses Yamu, who made this known during a briefing in Makurdi, said: “Eight herdsmen, six in Guma and two in Logo, had been arrested in connection with the attacks.”

He added that the state police command had made additional deployments in the troubled areas to forestall further attacks and restore the confidence of the people.

Yamu stressed the situation in the two local government areas had been brought under control while investigations were ongoing.

He said: “They attacked Tomater village in Sengev council ward, Akor village in Nzorov council ward, and Bakin Kwata village in Umanger council ward of Guma LGA.

“Among those killed were seven members of Benue State Livestock Guards, their vehicle burnt and an uncertain number of persons injured in separate attacks between 31/12/2017 and 02/01/2018.

“Again, Agba-Uko near Azege village and Tse-Aga village of Logo LGA experienced the same fate, where one person was killed, one motorcycle burnt and four persons injured.

 “All the injured from both LGAs are currently undergoing treatment in various hospitals in the state.”

According to him, five combined teams of riot and conventional policemen led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Operations, Emmanuel Adesina, had engaged the armed herdsmen in a gun duel in Guma.

Brought to you by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

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