The Department of State Security (DSS) have claimed that five Fulani herdsmen were abducted,
The implications of this announcement is obvious. It will create more
tension and fear in the land and it will lead to reprisal killings in
the north. Violence is never the way out and I have always believed that
it has no place in any civilized society. Yet what I find curious about
this announcement is the fact that it is unique and historic.
I say this because thousands of Igbos, Yorubas, Niger-Deltans and
Middle Belters have been killed by Fulani militants and herdsmen over
the last ten months since President Buhari came to power yet the DSS has
never announced it and told the country about the details and ethnic
identities of the victims.
When one thousand
Shiite Muslims were slaughtered in Zaria and buried in mass graves the
DSS did not speak. When five hundred Idomas were massacered in Agatu by
Fulani militants the DSS did not speak.
When hundreds of
southern and Middle Belt farms were raided by AK-47-wielding Fulani
herdsmen who murdered, raped, burnt down and took over the land of their
victims the DSS never gave us details of the victims or made any
announcements.
When our leaders in the south were
kidnapped and when men witnessed their wives and children being raped
and butchered by the Fulani militias before their very eyes the DSS made
no announcements.
When the International Terror
Index told the world that the Fulani militias in Nigeria are the "fourth
most deadly terror organization in the world" the DSS said nothing and
neither did they give us details about their activities or their
victims.
Worse of all is the fact that our
government and our President, who himself happens to be a Fulani, has
never deemed it fit or necessary to condemn the activities of the Fulani
herdsmen and militants and neither have they expressed any sympathy or
displayed any empathy for their many victims.
Let
me be clear: the murder of anyone, regardless of their ethnicity or
faith, is unacceptable to me. I deplore murder and violence and in my
view the killing of one innocent soul diminishes the humanity of every
single one of us as a community and nation.
However it
seems curious that the minute that Fulanis are killed in the east the
DSS is quick to rise to the occasion and express concern about it whilst
they do not express the same concern when Nigerians from other ethnic
nationalities are killed by the Fulani in their own homes and land.
Therein lies the double standard and it is sad and unfortunate.
Furthermore not only is it very dangerous but it also confirms the view
that our government and security agencies are not only partial but that
they are also attempting to implement an ethnic and religious agenda.
Three questions must be answered: firstly who is funding the Fulani
herdsmen and where do they get their weapons from? Secondly why does our
government not only turn a blind eye to the mass murder and genocide
that they regularly indulge in but also go out of their way to protect
them?
And thirdly why do the government and
security agencies have so much hatred and contempt for those that the
Fulani regularly target and their victims and why do they believe that
those victims do not deserve to enjoy the full protection of the
Nigerian Federal Government?
Could it be
because they are regarded as slaves and second class citizens? Is
Fulani blood and are Fulani lives more important than others? Indeed do
non-Fulani lives matter in President Buhari's Nigeria?
Are we
compelled to begin a ‘’non-Fulani lives matter’’ movement which is based
and fashioned on the ‘’Black Lives Matter’’ movement in the United
States of America before we can draw the attention of the world to what
is going on in our country?
Is it not obvious and
logical that when the security agencies refuse to protect the citizens
from the murderous hordes and herdsmen from hell those citizens will
eventually seek to protect themselves and go on the offensive? That is
human nature and it is to be expected.
Is it not
clear to those in power that when a people are convinced that their
government is no longer impartial in any conflict and that the security
agencies of that government have been directed to go out of their way to
actively and openly support those that constantly and regularly
slaughter their people it will eventually lead to open war?
Is it so difficult to accept the fact that no government and no force
from hell or on earth can compel or intimidate a man into lying down
passively and silently watch his family, loved ones and kinsmen being
butchered and slaughtered morning, day and night without trying to
protect them and without indulging in some form of retaliation?
With the sort of things that are going on in our country today it is
time to tell ourselves some home-truths. No-one wishes to accept it let
alone say it but sadly war will come to Nigeria again within the next
few years. I do not want war and I consider it to be the ultimate evil
but I am constrained to speak the truth and say things as I see them.
The fact that a war is coming is a testimony to the fact that we have
all failed to manage the peace that God has given us since 1970 and the
cessation of hostilities after our brutal civil war. We have failed so
badly that the remote and immediate causes of that civil war are back
with us today even though we hate to admit or acknowledge it.
Our country is like Yugoslavia unfolding before it exploded and
violently broke into five separate countries. All the signs are there.
Anyone that knows about the history of Yugoslavia or that is a student
of world history will agree with me and appreciate what I am saying.
Consider the dangerous mix. A crumbling economy. An inept, weak,
failing and paranoid government. A hungry, angry and increasingly
desperate civilian population. An ignorant, obsessive, arrogant,
insensitive, corrupt and self-absorbed political class who are out of
touch with reality.
The ruthless implementation of an
ethnic and religious agenda by a government that refuse to consider the
implications of such a course and that have an early-‘60’s mind-set. The
growing unrest, ethnic killings and sectarian murders.
An
ethnic and religious division within the Armed Forces and security
agencies. A relentless clamp-down on and persecution of the opposition
and all dissenting voices by the government and the use of fear as a
tool of governance and control.
The constant and
open abuse of power. The impunity and insensitivity of the Buhari
administration to the plight of the masses. The hunger, hardship,
poverty and suffering in the land. The failure of the government to get
rid of the fuel queues and supply electrical power.
The demonisation of peaceful and law-abiding self-determination groups
and the unlawful incarceration of their leaders. The breach of the
constitutional rights of the citizens and the ignoring of court orders
and judicial processes by the government.
The
attempt to intimidate and control the Judiciary and Legislature by the
government and so much more. The list goes on and on and history proves
that such a mixture of circumstances is dangerous and can only lead to
open conflict if not halted.
The country is badly
divided today and the people are suffering as never before. The division
and hatred amongst some of our ethnic groups has reached pre-civil war
levels.
We in the south must prepare for the worse and not be
found wanting when the trouble starts. That is my greatest fear. We must
not end up like the Bosnians did during the Yugoslavian civil war.
They were the only ethnic group in Yugoslavia that was not prepared for
it when the war started. They had no arms, no plan, no allies and no
fall back position.
When the fighting started they were caught
unawares and for two years they suffered immeasurably for their
stupidity and naivety whilst their people were killed like flies and
their women and children were raped and enslaved. God forbid this should
happen to our people.
The reason that
they suffered for two years was because there was an international arms
embargo placed on all the ethnic groups and warring militias and armies
in Yugoslavia when the war started.
And sadly the Bosnians were
the only ones that did not buy and stockpile arms in preparation for war
months and years before it actually broke out.
Plagued by a cowardly and weak-minded ruling elite and a naive,
self-serving, servile, ignorant and intellectually-challenged middle
class the Bosnians just kept talking, writing newspaper articles,
appeasing the aggressors and their tormentors, praying and hoping for
peace whilst all the other ethnic and religious groups and warring
parties were quietly preparing for war. Sounds familiar?
They suffered immensely for their lack of understanding, insight and
foresight and their civilian population paid a heavy price. For two
years after the civil war started the Bosnians could not even buy a gun
or bullet to defend themselves. Their towns were besieged and blown up
whilst their women and children were raped, enslaved and butchered.
Their men were rounded up into Second World-like Nazi concentration
camps and starved and tortured to death and their dignity and
self-respect was taken from them. They Bosnians were turned into an
internally-displaced people and their land was transformed into a sea of
desperate and suffering refugees.
It was a
nightmare from hell and suffering on this scale had not been seen on
European soil since the First and Second World Wars. It was after the
international community silently watched them being slaughtered by their
Serbian and Croatian compatriots for two long years that they were
compelled, as a consequence of pressure from the people of the world
and on moral and humanitarian grounds, to lift the arms embargo on them
so that they could buy arms to defend themselves.
The war dragged on for more years after that but at least the Bosnians,
though two years late, were now able to fight back and defend
themselves. It took the intervention of NATO, the bombing of Belgrade by
the international community led by the Americans and the eventual
break-up of the entire country into five pieces to stop the carnage and
barbarity of the Serbs and eventually bring the civil war to an end.
It was during that war that the term "ethnic cleansing" was first used
by CNN to describe what was being done by the Serbs to the Bosnians, the
Croats, the Kosovars and the Monte Negrans, all of whom represented the
other four ethnic groups. Eventually the country broke up and each of
them got their independence from the dominant Serbs and one another.
If such a thing could have happened in the heart of Europe in the early
1990's why on earth would any reasonably intelligent person dismiss the
notion that it can happen here? The only difference would be that if
such a thing were to ever unfold in our country it would be far worse
than what happened in Yugoslavia due to the sheer size of our
population.
The signs are already there and it
left for us to recognise them and prepare ourselves for the worse or
ignore them and, like the Bosnians, eventually pay a very heavy price. I
pray that I am wrong but as far as I am concerned, for Nigeria, the
bell is tolling.
END
This article corroborates the last post I made on this blog just yesterday night. I am delighted to know that we have a few men whose mind are free and eyes open to the reality facing us. If I do not command enough audience and influence to reach a wider audience , at least FFK does. And it is my ernest prayers that the men who God has given the privilege of respond to this clarion ans awakening call, get the message and act appropriately.
I do not wish to be caught on the Bosnia end of any Nigeria Yugoslavia play back.
See below for pictures of the gruesome activities of fulani herdsmen (a nickname for something bigger) around the country - Nigeria.