YES, “change” has come. But it was not the kind of change most people who voted for General Muhammadu Buhari this time last year had expected. I am not talking about the economic sense of change. That is a topic for another day. And I am not talking about it in the sense of political change. That is a basket of topics for the days to come. I am talking about the growing insecurity of some sections of Nigerians who are now increasingly being turned into second class citizens in their country in a way never experienced before. We have heard so much about the so-called “Fulani herdsmen”, a network of well-armed people of Sahelian stock invading farmlands with their cattle, destroying crops, killing, maiming, abducting, robbing, raping, invading and occupying communities all over the North Central, South East, South-South, South West and the Taraba fringes of the North East.
Apart from these criminals, some of whom are said to be non-Nigerians, we have also seen a rash of abductions of Christian under-aged girls selected from the same geopolitical zones. They were taken to the Muslim North, hidden in the palaces of emirs or highly-connected Islamic clerics, forcibly converted to Islam and their family members banned from seeing them. In most cases these minors were raped and impregnated and forcibly married off without the consent of their parents and families and in total disregard of the laws and the constitution that sternly forbid such things being done to Nigerian citizens. Each time family members made efforts to rescue their children; they are arrogantly and insolently told that they would never see their children again. The Nigerian Police Force does nothing, even when notified.
The Directorate of State Services (DSS) pretends not to read the papers and watch TV to see reports of these criminalities running crazy all over our country. The Federal Government and its organs keep mum, and the reign of evil continues. Nothing happens, just as the criminals had boasted. Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped from his farm by these “Fulani herdsmen” and kept for three days until his family paid a huge sum before he was released. Three months later, they returned to his domain and murdered a member of the Oódua People’s Congress (OPC), whom Falae had hired to guard his property. The Nigerian Police ran aimlessly around. Without the ransom, who knows what would have become of Falae? A couple of weeks ago, the same “Fulani herdsmen” abducted two women from Ugwuleshi, a community in Awgu LGA of Enugu State. A search party made up of 76 able-bodied men went in a search for their women, a job that was supposed to be done by the Police but which they failed to do. According to media reports, “an Alhaji” from the Obinwanne Hausa/Fulani settlement in Umunneochi in Abia State, was reported to have made a phone call and soldiers arrived and carted the Enugu men to a detention facility in Umuahia. They were alleged to be armed with dangerous weapons.
They were also accused of burning down some shacks in the settlement. They only breathed the air of freedom after media outrage forced the Police to arraign them in court, which enabled them to be granted bail. See how efficiently the Nigerian security and defence forces act when some favoured Nigerians are touched? See how civilians become military commanders? For your information, the Obinwanne Hausa/Fulani settlement was donated as a temporary camp for victims of Sharia reprisal riots by former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu in 2001. The “Fulani herdsmen” now hide in this location and launch forays of attacks in nearby communities in Abia, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi States. Will this be allowed in the North? Just about a week ago, the DSS carried out a rare feat that showed just how “efficient” they can be. They announced the discovery of shallow graves where 50 bodies were unearthed in a forest in Ugwuanyi community of Abia State (though the traditional ruler of the town, a former journalist who worked for Champion Newspapers, Eze Ogbonnaya Uwadiegwu, denied that the graves were located in his communal land).
A statement from DSS Spokesman, Tony Opuiyo read as follows: “Service has uncovered the heinous role played by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the abduction/kidnap of five Hausa-Fulani residents, namely Mohammed Gainako, Ibrahim Mohammed, Idris Yakubu, and Isa Mohammed Rago at Isuikwuato LGA in Abia State. “The abducted men were later discovered at the Umuanyi Forest, Abia State, where they were suspected to have been killed by their abductors and buried in shallow graves, amidst 50 other shallow graves of unidentified persons. “Arrests and investigation conducted so far revealed that elements within the IPOB carried out this dastardly action”.
This statement is not only seditious, it is also most unbecoming of an organisation in charge of state security. It is capable of setting off ethnic wars across the country and beyond. Even if it is true, there are better ways of decently conveying the information. Those of us in conventional media houses are forbidden from reporting even the truth in manners that will compromise the security of the country. It is, indeed, unfortunate for the DSS to be at the centre of such an inciting outrage. I have the following questions for Service over the Abia shallow graves incident. What evidence of forensic experts and tools used to ascertain the ethnic identities of the dead bodies do they have? Let them show us. What about the identities of the rest of the corpses? Which ethnic group did they come from? Or is the Service saying that five dead bodies are more important than 45? Another question: what concrete evidence can they present to justify their accusation of IPOB or any other pro-Biafra separatist organisation? It is obvious that the other 45 bodies must be those Igbos, the indigenous people of the locality. Would IPOB, a self-professed non-violent group, be killing their own people along with non-indigenes? It does not make sense. The corpses could be victims of violent criminals.
They could also be bodies of armed robbers and kidnappers apprehended, extra-judicially killed and buried in those shallow graves by law enforcement agents. They could even be bodies of suspected IPOB members murdered by the armed forces. Such graves have been found around Aba, and this has been trending online. We have also been hearing about the hundreds of Shiite members killed and buried in Zaria by the Army. It is not impossible that IPOB is being demonised to divert attention from the real perpetrators. That is why the call by the Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu and his Imo Counterpart, Rochas Okorocha, as well as the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, Chief Gary Enwo Igariwey, that an independent investigation of the incident should be conducted to unravel the perpetrators is relevant. I am very suspicious of the speed with which the DSS, an organ of state security that had played deaf and dumb over the activities of the armed Fulani Militias all over the country, jumped to the dangerous conclusion that IPOB killed those people. A thorough investigation will unearth any ulterior motive behind this act, and if officers are found to have betrayed their oath to protect Nigeria and its citizens without fear, favour and ill will, such officers should be flushed from the Service and sent to jail.
VANGUARD
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