Nigeria: Once A Nation Under Jonathan, Now An Abattoir Under Buhari

In July 2012, clashes between natives and herdsmen reached
a head in Plateau state leading to tens of deaths on both
sides.
Then President Jonathan, when briefed about the situation
insisted that there wouldn’t be such impunity under his
leadership and immediately ordered the army to go to the
affected communities and fish out the perpetrators and bring
them to book.
The military immediately obeyed the then President’s orders
and sent troops to Barkin Ladi Local Government Area.
They ordered all residents to leave their residence for
temporary accommodation provided for them so they could
conduct a joint air and ground operation to flush out the
armed herdsmen who had been suspected of killing innocent
Nigerians.
The residents complied and the soldiers went in and not only
did they clear the area, they made arrests which led to trials.
That is how a Commander-in-Chief acts.
When your people are being slaughtered you don’t send them
commiserations, like the frequent commiserations President
Buhari has been sending to the people of Benue State. No. You
assert yourself as the leader by using the nation’s symbols of
strength to quash any threat to the national security of the
nation. That is what Jonathan did in Plateau state in July 2012.
So effectively was Jonathan’s orders carried out that Malam
Nasir El-Rufai tweeted his now infamous tweet on the 15th of
July 2012 threatening that “We will write this for all to read.
Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan
repayable one day no matter how long it takes.” (his exact
words).
So when he was elected governor and we began to hear him
say that he had paid public monies to herdsmen to prevent
further killings (there was actually a spike in killings) and that
he as a governor was of the same ethnicity as these
herdsmen, I was not at all taken aback as others were. The
man had publicly signified his intentions long before he
became governor.
But the point I am trying to make is that former President
Jonathan, who was called weak by the All Progressive
Congress, did something to end the menace of herdsmen
killings, but President Buhari who is called ‘strong’ by his
supporters, has refused to do anything.
And so today, when I read about the killings perpetuated by
herdsmen in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Taraba and
other parts of Nigeria, I really feel for our citizens who have to
go through these ordeals of impunity. No arrests are made, no
forms of deterrence whatsoever is carried about by the Buhari
administration.
I heard that the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, wept
when he saw corpses of his citizens massacred by herdsmen.
It might sound harsh, but can Ortom recall that only last
month he smiled as he told Nigerians that President Buhari
deserves a second term?
My question to Ortom is this: If President Buhari gets a
second term, would there be human beings left alive in Benue?
It is a fact that herdsmen belong to the same wider ethnic
nationality as President Muhammadu Buhari, although most
killer herdsmen are not mainstream Fulani, but rather fringe
Fulani of the Wodaabe (also known as the Mbororo or Bororo)
subgroup of the Fula people. It is also a fact that President
Muhammadu Buhari was the grand patron of the umbrella
union of herdsmen in Nigeria known as Miyetti Allah Cattle
Breeders Association of Nigeria.
From that vantage point, he had in the past angrily and
malevolently confronted state governors in states were
herdsmen had received the wrong end of the stick in their acts
of marauding.
As a matter of fact, on October 13, 2000, Muhammadu Buhari,
in his capacity as the Grand Patron of Miyetti Allah Cattle
Breeders Association of Nigeria, demanded for and got a
meeting with the then Governor of Oyo state, Lam Adesina,
were he angrily said the words below to Governor Adesina:
“Your Excellency, our visit here is to discuss with you and your
government our displeasure about the incident of clashes
between two peoples… the Fulani cattle rearers and merchants
are today being harassed , attacked and killed in Saki.
That some arrests were made by Oyo State Police Command
in the massacre with their immediate release without court
trial.
This was said to have been ordered by Oyo State authorities
and they were so released to their amazement. The release of
the arrested suspects gave the clear impression that the
authorities are backing and protecting them to continue the
unjust and illegal killings of Fulani cattle rearers…”
MuhammaduBuhari then ended his speech by demanding for
an “immediate stoppage of the killings, justice and
compensation to the Fulanis.”
After listening to Muhammadu Buhari, Lam Adesina asked the
then Commissioner of Police for Oyo state to respond to his
angry visitor and the Commissioner responded thus: “The
killing of the natives by the Fulanis was duly reported to the
police and, of course, we can’t make arrest because, as soon
as they kill, they migrate to other areas. Who are you going to
arrest? That is the problem”.
On the killing of Fulanis, which he said was as result of “piled
up anger”, the commissioner disclosed that arrests had been
made and the suspects were in police custody.”
When the Commissioner was done, Governor Adesina
responded to Buhari thus: “I want to say also that we really
have to appeal to our people, the itinerant Bororo people, that
they should observe less aggression. It is not good , it is not
right just coming from somewhere then you just pass through
farm lands cultivated may be with the person’s life savings
and then over night everything is gone. That is not right, even
Allah does not approve of that. We even wonder when they
talk about this people carrying dangerous weapons, I say do
they really believe in Allah? When you just take life like that
and go away!
“Are we not forbidden not to take human life? So I think
General Buhari, General Marwa, you have to be educating
them. It is my pleasure to inform you that at the Presidential
Lodge, we have made some arrangements for refreshments so
that before you go we can refresh together.”
That meeting of October 13, 2000, was recorded and the
quotes above are from Agbaakin Kehinde Olaosebikan, then
Chief Press Secretary to late Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo
state.
Now imagine the level of concern and care that President
Muhammadu Buhari showed for his kinsmen in October 2000,
that he went to challenge a sitting Governor to a pissing
contest when herdsmen were killed in reprisal killings.
Why hasn’t Muhammadu Buhari shown that level of concern
for Nigerians killed by herdsmen? Now that same man is our
President and Commander-in-Chief, and herdsmen killings
have exploded exponentially under his watch to the extent that
the United States Congress declared Nigeria as the most
dangerous place to be a Christian in the entire world bar none,
principally because of the killings by herdsmen.
Can it be a coincidence that herdsmen killings has multiplied
just as soon as their immediate past Grand Patron became
President? Where is the anger that Buhari displayed to
Governor Lam Adesina now that Fulanis are killing Nigerians?
How many people were killed in the Southeast before
President Buhari ordered Operation Python Dance? Now ask
yourself how many thousands have died at the hands of
herdsmen in Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa?
The answer proves we are not all equal in Buhari’s Nigeria.
That is why I laughed when Governor Ortom said “I have
reiterated my call on the Federal Government to arrest the
leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.”
Why is Governor Ortom talking like a child? Can a Mafia
godfather order the arrest of a mafioso to please a non mafia
member? You are asking their Grand Patron to arrest the
people who made him Grand Patron!
Apparently, Governor Ortom does not know his friends from
his enemie.