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By Musa Simon Reef
One of Nigeria’s cerebral columnists, Malam Mahmud Jega, has not only paid
his dues, but commands remarkable readership across the country, especially
in the North where his analytical prowess has become almost an awesome
machine of intellectual coercion. To most of his readers, including yours
sincerely, when Jega writes, there is little to add or subtract. His
writings are always backed with facts and his sense of history is simply
amazing. To me, he is one of the very few writers that can be trusted with
the pen.
I have known Jega through his writings many years before I met him. Jega’s
sense of humility is renowned, just as his observance of ethics of the
journalism profession is unquestionable. Perhaps, that explains why I
remain a regular reader of his column. However, for some auspicious
reasons, I missed out on his January 15, 2018 column published in Daily
Trust, titled, ‘This Thing Called ‘Killer Herdsman.’
After reading a rejoinder to his article by Barrister Ballason Gloria
Mabeiam, another columnist with Blueprint Newspaper, I was persuaded to
read Jega’s entire piece. After going through the article, I was worried
that the columnist’s piece was bereft of his insignia: thoroughness and
absence of a roadmap on the way forward.
The greatest problem facing us as a nation today is not Boko Haram, which
the Buhari-led government claimed it has technically defeated, but
herdsmen’s attacks that have cast gloom on the nation’s life. In most parts
of the North-central geo-political zone, including Southern Kaduna and some
states in the North-east where these herdsmen have left hair-rising spectre
of killings, bloodshed, tension and suppressed anxieties have become the
order of the day.
Jega’s write-up is laced with historical dialectics of once upon a time
peaceful herdsmen metamorphosing into present day ‘killers.’ However, the
article is disturbingly mute on how we can clear away the current
frightening clouds of present uncertainties hovering over our nation’s
skies brought by these attacks.
From the writer’s column of January 15, there was the obvious attempt to
justify the narrative that the continued murderous attacks on Southern
Kaduna as reprisals for the post-2011 violence. His reference to migratory
traits of herdsmen and their ignorance to conventions are non-debatable,
just as the writer paints the picture of the ‘killer herdsman’ as someone
who neither forgives nor forgets any offence unleashed on him by any
community.
Not a few believe that many issues abound that clearly portray herdsmen as
the most favoured group by the Federal Government. Many Nigerians are
asking why billions of Naira are appropriated in national budgets for the
development of grazing reserves. Why is the government so committed to
ensuring the welfare of the pastoralists when they are also exempted from
taxes? Some are wondering why government is not concerned with providing
lands for spare parts dealers and poultry farmers. It is obvious that the
seeming privileges for herders did not start with Buhari. Former President
Goodluck Jonathan was said to have budgeted N100 billion for grazing
reserves, but the Buhari-led administration is yet to discover how the fund
developed wings.
And because herders have been seen as most favoured, it is normal for some
groups to be envious of them. Instead of being taxed by government, they
walk freely and sometimes engaged in destroying farmlands. They seem to be
above the law as they walk and graze their cows oblivious of traditional
and state authorities. How can government re-enforce the peaceful mien of
the Fulani? Jega was completely silent on what government should do to the
‘killer herdsman’ in order to recreate the peace and respect for
traditional authorities that were once his hallmark. Why must herdsmen be
allowed to continue their migratory trait in a modern world devoid of any
form of respect for farmers’ right to their source livelihood?
Let’s agree that the post-2011 post election violence started from the
northern and spread to the southern part of Kaduna state. Over six years
after, why continuing these attacks against the southern part that has lost
nearly, if not over, 1,000 people and still counting? Has the ‘killer
herdsman’ not attacked enough to revenge for his losses?
Nearly three years since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed reins of power;
it is obvious the herdsmen have become more vicious in their blood thirsty
mission. Despite the loss of lives in various parts of the country, the
Federal Government is yet to send a strong signal of its commitment to deal
with anyone involved in taking the lives of Nigerians in the name of
herders/farmers’ clashes. Murder of anyone by anyone is criminal act, and
government must rise up to its constitutional responsibility of punishing
criminals involved in murdering Nigerians. The long arm of the law has been
shortened in bringing to books people involved in herders/farmers’ clashes.
When cattle rustlers threatened Zamfara and some parts of Katsina and Kano
States, among others, President Muhammadu Buhari, dressed in full war
attire, deployed a military formation to end the ugly episode. However,
when attacks by suspected herders continued in Southern Kaduna,
presidential spokesman Femi Adesina was quick to say that military
deployment was unnecessary as Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai was on top of
the situation.
When the gruesome killings in Agatu, Benue State, attracted national and
international outrage, they were not enough to inspire the federal
authorities to deploy the military to bring the killers to book. Then,
Taraba almost went up in flames over the anti-grazing law, and was soon
followed by killings of herdsmen in Mambilla. A Federal Government’s
delegation, led by Minister of Internal Affairs, General Abdulrahman
Dambazau (retd), flew into Jalingo and quickly visited venue of the
bloodbath, and thereafter returned to Abuja, after issuing empty threats to
deal with the killers.
Considering the seeming levity government has displayed in dealing with
these killings, it gave vent to potential killers to embrace the culture of
violence. If the Buhari-led Government had re-enacted the serious posture
it adopted in Zamfara on the issue of cattle rustling, the killings in
Southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba and Adamawa would not have been. Many
believe that Buhari’s handling of ‘killer herdsman’ has not been strong
enough to end bloodshed.
What the Buhari-led government needs to do now is to punish those denying
Nigerians the right to live as enshrined in the country’s constitution. The
allegation that those killing Nigerians are foreigners should be thoroughly
probed in order to unearth the identity of these killers. As long as we
show differences in opinions and reactions to these mindless killings, so
long will the problem remain with us. There is also the need for government
to tackle all forms of criminalities being perpetuated in the name
herders/farmers’ clashes. Government must renounce its seeming lethargy and
rise to the task of tackling these killings by herdsmen.
The problems that confront us as Nigerians are not beyond us to resolve.
What we all need from our leaders is sincerity of purpose and the political
will devoid of political sentiments. That explains why Nigerians,
particularly patriots and journalists, should always tell the truth to
powers that be in a bid to promote peace and never give up in the face of
adversity.
Reef is the Editor-in-Chief of Forefront, and can be reached via: