The fragile unity of Nigeria has moved forcefully once more into the front burner of public discourse, triggered by the forthright intervention of a former military chief, Theophilus Danjuma. His categorical statement that the military are not a neutral force and urging self-defence in the wake of serial massacres, compel urgent, critical introspection by leaders at all levels.
Moved by the wanton killings currently sweeping through the country, the former Chief of Army Staff had called on Nigerians to start defending themselves against Fulani herdsmen attacks and also accused the military of compromising their integrity by colluding with the herdsmen, whose impunity has set the country on edge. “Our Armed Forces are not neutral. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings, you will all die, one by one,” was Danjuma’s stern warning on Saturday.
This is a stinging rebuke of the Muhammadu Buhari government’s handling of the security situation and an obvious loss of faith in the military, an institution he served and led until his retirement as a lieutenant-general. It will be difficult to fault Danjuma’s observation given the mass killings recorded across the country in recent times. In fact, his allegation aptly captures the mood of many Nigerians, who feel betrayed by the government and its security forces.
Aside from past killings linked to Fulani herdsmen in Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Adamawa and Southern Kaduna, which also flare up sporadically in the Southern parts of the country, encounters with the arms-bearing herdsmen have assumed a bloodier dimension since the turn of the year. In January, Taraba State buried 63 victims of herdsmen attacks in the Lau Local Government Area, coinciding with the burial of 73 others in Benue State the same day. In spite of the military’s Operation Cat Race, meant to stem the tide of the killings, the scorched-earth policy of the herdsmen is not abating.
Danjuma, who was Defence Minister 1999-2003, is not one given to frivolities, or seeking cheap publicity. On the contrary, he is a man of few but very blunt words. That is why his claim of “an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state (Taraba) and, of course, some rural states in Nigeria,” should not be taken lightly. It should be thoroughly investigated because of the many instances of past killings under the noses of the military but for which no perpetrators were arrested.
Besides, the reaction of the President and his security chiefs has been appalling, following the usual, instinctive pattern of denial and name-calling. While the President has been appealing to the decimated communities to “accommodate” their tormentors, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, through their comments, have shown patent bias.
In the heat of the killings in Benue, Idris did not only falsely describe the situation as a communal clash, he also accused the Benue and Taraba governments of triggering the massacres by enacting the anti-open grazing laws. But the herdsmen have been killing before the promulgation of the laws. For Dan-Ali, the Fulani killings are justified because farmers allegedly blocked their grazing routes. This is not only insensitive, but a display of a warped sense of entitlement.
Danjuma’s assertion that security agencies were complicit in the orgy of killings can be sustained by accounts of past and recent bloodbath across the states. Jonah Jang, a retired air commodore and former governor of Plateau State, held the same view when Berom villages were invaded by suspected Fulani herdsmen in 2012, resulting in about 500 deaths. Jang had explained that as soon as he got intelligence report of the impending attack, he duly informed the Army commanders and pressed for a pre-emptive response.
Surprisingly, when the marauders struck, the soldiers were nowhere to be found. Jang said, “I started trying to locate the commanders, but I couldn’t get any of them on the telephone.” It could not have been a coincidence that none of the commanders could be reached at such a most trying moment.
Similarly, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi wept as he recollected how the police, Army and State Security Service betrayed him during the April 2016 Nimbo massacre of 46 persons in Uzo Uwani LGA of Enugu State. Just as in the Jos attacks, Nimbo was a tragedy foretold. According to the governor, shortly after receiving an intelligence report, a Security Council meeting, involving the Commissioner of Police, a representative of the GOC 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, and the state Director of the SSS was convened. He was assured of adequate deployment of troops and policemen after which he provided the necessary logistics. Yet, the attack took place.
Similarly, a heart-broken Samuel Ortom, the Benue State Governor, blamed the Federal Government, the service chiefs, and SSS to whom he said he wrote to inform of the two recent attacks that claimed 102 lives. A state that experienced the Agatu killings in 2016 that claimed about 500 lives should not have gone through similar ordeals again with security agencies watching idly.
The list is endless. Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State said he was disappointed with the way security agents handled an intelligence report he got 24 hours before armed invaders killed scores in the state early this year. Yari said, “I alerted the security agencies,” who deployed inadequate personnel that were easily overrun by a group of gangsters. Rather than arrest and prosecute them for their impunity, the Fulani militia seemingly enjoy protection.
Buhari can still save the country from imploding by first, fulfilling his oath of office to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians. Crime must be punished. Dan-Ali, Idris and Abdulrahman Dambazau, the Minister of Interior, should stop acting like spokesmen for Myetti Allah. Killing, raping, looting and burning down farmland and houses, as the Fulani herdsmen terrorists do, are reprehensible and perpetrators should be apprehended and prosecuted.
Idris and the military should prioritise tracking down and disarming the Fulani militants instead of swooping on survivors of Fulani attacks as alleged by victimised communities in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Kogi, Kaduna and Plateau states. As a Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, noted, the most critical element, justice, is signally absent in Buhari’s response to the Fulani rampage.
As long as Buhari’s security and inner circle remain skewed in favour of pro-Fulani personalities, he will deny himself unbiased diagnoses and advice. His Presidency is failing on many fronts because of his rabid sectionalism and the bias of his appointees, whom he has serially failed to rein in even when they demonstrate partisanship and crass incompetence.
As usual, instead of an investigation or well-reasoned response to Danjuma’s allegations, Dan-Ali’s response has been denial and vile accusations. Danjuma’s is only the latest in long-running accusations against the military, police and SSS. These agencies should be overhauled and complicit officers identified and flushed out. We should avoid the Afghanistan situation, where treacherous servicemen turn their guns on comrades instead of the Taliban enemy.
Buhari and his team are trifling with the fragile cohesion of Nigeria. A country with a divided military and security forces is in mortal danger of implosion, a one-way street to Somalia or the worst years of sectarian bloodletting in Lebanon. Idris, Dan-Ali and other security functionaries cannot inspire confidence in all parties; Buhari should, therefore, no longer delay in shaking things up to reflect the country’s diversity.
We restate our commitment to state and community policing, starting with strengthening and arming state vigilante and neighbourhood watch outfits. State governments should resist every pressure to disband their vigilante bodies to stop the body count.
Our present experience is because Nigeria is running a dysfunctional federal system. The country has to restructure or crumble under the weight of its contradictions that are playing out at a faster pace than at any other time since the Civil War of 1967-70.
The imperatives of devolving power to the states, fiscal federalism, resource control and state policing are more urgent now than ever before. Buhari and all other stakeholders should hearken to the voice of reason before self-defence grows into a monstrous, unstoppable presence.
