Buhari: too little, too late By Ochereome Nnanna

SOMETIMES when you examine the way things are done in this country, especially at the level of government, you get this feeling that Nigeria is a huge circus stage where acts of inanity are elevated to high art in the name of leadership. President Buhari On Wednesday, 27th April 2016, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, woke up at last and directed his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, to issue a statement commanding the Inspector General of Police and other heads of security agencies to take “urgent” steps to halt the murderous menace of Fulani militias in the country.

Many Nigerians may not see what is funny about it is because they are used to the practice of the president or governor  ordering government functionaries and agencies constitutionally charged with specific responsibilities to do their jobs before they do so. In saner climes, people employed to do their work simply do them; they don’t wait to be ordered. You may wonder why in Nigeria the IGP, Director-General of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and the rest, would wait to be told to do their constitutional duties by the President before they do so.

The answer is simple. IGP Arase, a Bini man from Southern Nigeria with a few months to his retirement, has to wait for Buhari to give orders because he is not sure if he would last another day on his job if he did the right thing at the right time. If he had swung into action, disarming Fulani herdsmen all over the country, arresting and prosecuting those found culpable (for leading their animals into the farms of poor villagers who have no other means of livelihood) and ensuring that the lives and property of citizens are guaranteed, he could step on the big toes of the high and mighty who employed and armed the herdsmen. His orders might even be disobeyed by some of his subordinates in that the Police, the security agencies and the Armed Forces are generally perceived to be “owned” by people from a section of the country. These people also own the cattle. He might find himself being arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) shortly after being forcefully retired, for an offence that would have been conveniently overlooked if he had played the “good boy” to the ruling class. Because such officers choose to play the “good boy”, thousands of innocent Nigerians are killed and communities destroyed by the rapacious armed Fulani militia as if the nation has no provision for the safety of its citizens.

What about the DSS which is headed by Lawal Daura, President Buhari’s kinsman? They are more interested in chasing after those they call “cattle rustlers” or people who steal the cows of the high and mighty. The nefarious activities of the herdsmen against innocent Nigerians mean nothing to them. If any thing happens to any of the cattle herders, as we saw in the Abia shallow graves episode, they raise dangerous alarm and blame local agitators for culpability without any shred of evidence. DSS found fifty bodies in shallow graves and told the nation that five of them belonged to Fulani herdsmen.

They even named them, and heaped the blame for the deaths on the Indigenous People’s of Biafra (IPOB), a group that openly declares non-violence in their agitation for independence. Now that Buhari has ordered the Police and “other security agencies” to “investigate the attacks, apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice”, it is left to be seen exactly what these agencies will do. Can we realistically expect the armed forces to descend decisively on the armed Fulani militia, even if it means incurring the displeasure of the fat cats who employed and armed them? We watch and see. But if I know my country and the way it is ruled by the evil forces that have held it hostage since independence, not much is going to change. Who wants to bet? By this time next year, we will still be talking about the menace of Fulani herdsmen, quote me. In any case, the preliminary findings of the Police team dispatched to Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu and Agatu in Benue States do not give much cause for cheer. Police say these communities were not attacked by Fulani herdsmen; they were attacked by “hoodlums”! This manner of approach is designed to complicate and obfuscate the matter.

They have to be hoodlums to carry sophisticated arms and ammunitions without licence or authority. How many of them have the Police arrested with the arms seized? They have to be hoodlums to attack and kill innocent Nigerians, burn their houses and churches and destroy their farms with hungry animals. But if you refuse to pin them down to a specifically identified group, what manner of “hoodlums” would you be chasing? The most important thing, however, is that the President and the Federal Government have, at last, officially recognised the need to mobilise to site on this matter, with “clear instructions to take all necessary action to stop the carnage”. We hope the action we will see will be as sweeping as the instruction on paper.

Taking “all necessary action” in military terms (at least based on our experience when an American president utters the directive) means military action if that is what it takes to achieve the ultimate objective of eliminating the threat. We want Fulani cattle herders to be stopped from bearing banned and unlicenced firearms. We want them, in the short term, to stop leading their cattle into people’s farms and property; and in the long term, to be settled in ranches acquired by the owners of the cattle. After all, cattle business is a business just like any other. We want cattle owners and herders to stop asking for “grazing reserves” because we won’t give it to them, especially here down South.

Any governor who donates land belonging to his people to these killers and their sponsors will be brought to account. We want the Fulani herdsmen and nomads who are Nigerian citizens to be settled so that they too can benefit from the welfare that Nigeria has to offer its citizens, such as education, good health, access to potable water, electricity and the opportunity to integrate with the rest of civilised society. We want them to be Nigerians like others, and not some medieval outcasts living like wild animals in the forests slaving for their multi-billionaire kinsmen who live in opulence in big cities. We want cattle farmers to also benefit from modern agriculture which guarantees increased productivity, profits and food security for all.

We want the ethnic and religious conflicts which Nomadism breeds to disappear. We want people to farm their lands and reap the harvests in peace. If cattle owned by Fulani keep eating the crops of farmers, how could Buhari achieve his agenda of diversifying the economy through agriculture? It is in Buhari’s political interest, as well as that of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government to end the Fulani herdsmen menace immediately. Already, it has scarred them very deeply because the nation has never had it this bad as in the past one year. More people have been killed in less than one year of APC in power than at any other time by Fulani herdsmen. This cannot continue. Let it be remembered that Nigerians are waiting to rate the Buhari government’s protection of their lives and property – with their votes – come 2019.

VANGUARD

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