A popular adage says that he who brings home termites-infested firewood should not complain when the lizards pay him a visit.
Former Chief of Army Staff, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, a retired lieutenant general of the Nigerian Army, is a man reputed for his taciturnity. But the deleterious exigencies facing the nation occasioned by the insidious spread of the herdsmen violence across the country particularly in his home state of Taraba, have triggered a rare outburst from the former Minister of Defence.
Speaking at the maiden convocation ceremony of Taraba State University in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, on Saturday March 24, Danjuma, who received the award of honorary Doctor of Science from the University, alleged that the Fulani herdsmen killings unleashed on Taraba citizens and parts of Nigeria with the tacit support and cover by the Nigerian military is nothing but grim attempt at ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Nigerian people by foreign bandits.
Danjuma then warned that “the ethnic cleansing must stop now otherwise Somalia will be a child’s play”. He also admonished the people of Taraba and all the indigenous people of Nigeria to rise and defend themselves against attacks by marauding herdsmen in some parts of the country, or continue to suffer casualties. “You must rise to protect yourselves from these people; if you depend on the armed forces to protect you, you will all die. “I ask all of you to be on the alert and defend your country, defend your state,” he advised.
An enraged Danjuma charged the people to resist any attempt by the Fulani herdsmen in whatever guise to grab ancestral land of the indigenous Nigerians even as he denounced the military authorities accusing them of complicity in the violent incidents by providing protection for the killers. “This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba, and it must stop in Nigeria. These killers have been protected by the military; they cover them and you must be watchful to guide and protect yourselves because you have no other place to go,” he said.
Danjuma’s anger is coming on the heels of the incessant Fulani herdsmen attacks in parts of Nigeria, especially in Benue, Plateau, Taraba states and other parts of the Middle Belt, in the last three months, which have killed close to 1,500 people and displaced many others.
The civil war veteran in his latest statement perhaps has confirmed the fear of many Nigerians who have expressed concerns that President Muhammadu Buhari has deliberately refused to take decisive actions against his Fulani kinsmen.
It also becomes even more dangerous for indigenous communities following the recent attempt by the Nigerian Police to allegedly mop up illegal arms within Nigerian indigenous communities whereas it has allegedly allowed the Fulani herdsmen to carry about all manner of dangerous weapons with which they carry out their dastardly acts, which suggest that the herdsmen could be perfecting an ethnic agenda with state backing.
The gale of dereliction of duty or more appropriately, the alleged connivance of the security operatives with the Fulani herdsmen began to gain real currency during the unprovoked attacks in Enugu state in April 2016. When the Fulani herdsmen attacked Ukpabi Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the State in 2016, the Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, reportedly told a bemused nation that before the attacks, he had received security reports and mobilised all the security agencies to nip it in the bud. But to his chagrin the herdsmen invaded the community and killed close to 60 people and disappeared without a trace even with the presence of the security forces. Suddenly the security operatives sprang to action when a group of youths decided to raise issues and began indiscriminate arrests of the youths.
In Agatu, Benue State in February 2016, the Fulani attacked the community allegedly in the full glare of security forces and killed about 500 people, displacing many others. No arrests were made. The killings continued and the Fulani allegedly claimed brazenly that they must be given grazing land at a point and sometime later, they wanted cattle colony but the indigenous communities are rising up to the challenge.
Then the one that perhaps took the most share of barbarity in recent times were the attacks in Logo, KatsinaAla and Guma local governments in the same Benue state, in January 2018, where 73 were killed and their bodies mutilated. While the 73 victims were being given mass burial, the state authorities, especially the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali and Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, were quoted to have blamed the Benue state government for the anti-open grazing law enacted by the state government.
President Buhari came under intense criticisms for his alleged lackadaisical approach to the herdsmen crisis. Then he woke up from his slumber and embarked on visits to areas heavily affected by the crisis. He visited Taraba, he visited Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue States to assuage the feelings of the traumatised. But even as he visited these states, the violence heightened and more people were killed.
Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, has been reduced to a wailing governor, as his people have been rendered hopeless amidst the security threats facing them in their ancestral land. His frustration led to the call for state police as he accused the federal security agencies of looking the other way while is people are massacred. The governor at a point called on his people to defend themselves.
And in quick succession, Plateau state, the traditional battle field of the Fulani attacks over the years, again came under devastating attacks last week, even after Buhari had paid a visit to the state to address the lingering crisis there. Residents of the state had said that the pattern and sophistication of the Fulani militia invasions and attacks in Plateau suggest that it was a choreographed attacks by people recruited and paid for their services.
Kogi State, whose governor, Yahaya Bello, had promised to provide thousands of hectares of land for the Fulani cattle-rearers, had a taste of the Fulani fury last week when a traditional leader and about 10 others were killed and their homes razed, yet the security agencies are sitting still.
Some Nigerians have also joined the list of those calling for self-defence against the Fulani herdsmen rampage, but this admonition can only lead to an uglier scenario and a possible reprisal against the Fulani, which may cause anarchy in the country.
An analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, recently posited that the victims of Fulani herdsmen should embark on reprisals. He said, “It takes courage to defend oneself. If we start attacking them with whatever we have then Buhari will sit up because there will be internal mutiny in the army. It only takes a people that have guts to lead the attack and you will see that others will follow.
“A reprisal attack by the south on the herdsmen will surely trigger a serious war that will sink Nigeria. It takes a people that have the audacity to start killing the herdsmen and you see others follow and by then Buhari will sit up or Nigeria will break.”
The political backlash of the alleged Buhari’s inaction and tacit support of the military to the Fulani is now glaring. Recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had issued a letter in January to Buhari, accusing the President among other things of failing to curtail Fulani herdsmen rampage. Then in February, another former military President Ibrahim Babangida also in a letter to Buhari, warned about the incessant attacks and predicted that it is capable of triggering unprecedented crisis that may sink the country if not addressed. They former leaders condemned Buhari’s actions and advised him not to seek reelection in 2019 elections.
Now Danjuma, appearing more direct and brutal in his accusations of the security support for killers and to a great extent labeling the President Buhari as backing the murderers, analysts said that Buhari does not stand a chance in the 2019 elections if he seeks reelection stressing that these retired army officers are kingmakers in Nigeria and now that they have discredited Buhari, his reelection bid, though yet to be declared, is already in shambles.
A member of one of the political parties, who wished to remain anonymous, had told BusinessDay that Buhari’s electoral fortunes have been greatly diminished by the untamed Fulani violence across the country. He stressed that the class of retired generals have concluded plans to work with civil society organisations, religious groups, professional bodies, market women, and political parties, student groups on the need to unite and unseat Buhari, who they largely regard as a “repugnant and nepotistic leader.”
From Benue state BusinessDay can deduce that Buhari’s recent visit to the state and his interaction with the people and their governor have exposed to the people that Buhari is probably too dangerous to be trusted with power for a second term following the herdsmen crisis. The Benue citizens, who told Buhari the bitter truth, are perceptively tilting towards anti-Buhari position in the 2019 election.
BusinessDay gathered that Plateau is also agog with a burgeoning anti -Buhari sentiment and Kogi people are at the moment said to be having a rethink about the Buhari choice following the latest attacks in the state while Taraba state BusinessDay gathered will reject him again in 2019.
Elder statesman and a chieftain of the Pan- Yoruba socio- cultural organization, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, also accused Buhari of aiding and abetting the Fulani to kill Nigerians. Adebanjo said this while participating in a gathering of ethnic nationalities in recent times, organised by leaders drawn from the Niger Delta, South West, South East and the Middle Belt.
Adebanjo said: “I accuse the president of aiding and abetting the cattle rearers to kill us and I mean it. I don’t want Adesina (President’s Spokesman) to come and say it’s not true. What the President should do to refute my accusations is to declare the cattle rearers a terrorist organisation. How many people did IPOB kill before he declared them a terrorist organisation?
“It should not take him anything to disarm the cattle rearers. They don’t rear cattle with ak47. The people must be disarmed and arrested,” he declared.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the call by the former minister of defence, Danjuma, that Nigerians should defend themselves against killers, is yet another testimony of the tragic situation which the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have dragged the nation.
The party said General Danjuma’s statement justifies its stand that the Buhari Presidency and the dysfunctional All Progressives Congress (APC) must be held responsible for our agonizing state, adding that, Nigerians are now daily paying the supreme price because of the failures of a grossly incompetent leadership and a deceitful ruling party.
The PDP, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Sunday, said the pronouncement, coming from an army general, a former chief of army staff and former defence minister of Danjuma’s status, is weighty and directly reflects the ugly situation in the country under the APC.
It said the fact that citizens and communities across the country are now resorting to self-defence is also a clear demonstration that Nigerians, across board, have completely lost confidence in President Buhari and the APC.
“Nigerians are no longer feeling secured in their land. Our country has, in close to three years, assumed a status of killing field where defenceless citizens are despoiled, raped and mowed by insurgents and marauders in Benue, Taraba, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna, Adamawa, Borno, Plateau, Nasarawa, Rivers, Enugu, Kogi, among other states.
“Unfortunately, the Buhari-led APC federal government remains aloof and has failed to take decisive steps that will apprehend the masterminds of the carnage.
“Instead, what we are witnessing are complete government insensitivity, allegations of complicity and compromise of security around soft targets and dishing out of false information, as was the case in Benue, Yobe, Taraba and other states where Nigerians have come under heavy attacks from marauders.
“More intriguing is that the Presidency and the APC Federal Government have refused to come out clear on their roles in the alleged compromising of security in troubled areas, particularly the reported withdrawal of troops from Dapchi prior to the abduction of the schoolgirls.
“Nigerians are also yet to see the action taken by President Buhari against the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris, for flouting the presidential orders that he should relocate to troubled Benue in the heat of attacks on the state,” he said.
The die is cast and if the Nigerian populace heeds the advice of Danjuma, there is enough anger to exploit to inflict perhaps the most heinous attacks against the herdsmen, with unimaginable consequences.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
