And while the masses and civil society continue to condemn and blow their whistles and trumpets against the continues spat of killings around the country, the men and institutions saddled with the responsibility, by oath, of rescuing the situation continue in their act of silence that can be taken as consent to the fulani herdsmen scourge. They have also continue to proffer solutions riddled of common sense and elementary reasoning while making idiotic, mindless, careless and incendiary utterances laden with explosives capable of shocking the senses of any rational mind and shattering the already weakened tolerance of those directly affected by the situation at hand. I must enunciate here that what we rashly define as peace in Nigeria is actually the unending sacrificial tolerance at self peril of a section of the country to the recklessness, excesses and oppressiveness of the other. If we are to define peace as what it is, being a state of true justice, equity and mutual respect of human rights and freedom, then Nigeria is far from being at peace.
That stated, I return to the main objective of this article, to illuminate the nonsensity of some statements I have been reading in the news attributable to the IGP of police Mr Solomon Arase. For simplicity of understanding and following, I shall present the various statement ascribed to the IGP one after the other then run a diagnostic analysis on each one of them to elucidate the degree of their preposterousness
The IGP while addressing stake holders recently in Niger state was reported to have said that the extent of killings in Agatu by the supposed Fulani herdsmen was being exaggerated. To buttress his point the IGP reportedly made the following statements.
1. “I was around; I travelled to Makurdi, I did not see where 300 people were buried" IGP Arase.
While the fulani insurgents are having a field day and killing spree in Agatu and recently Logo local government areas of Benue state, our intelligent IGP went to makurdi, the state capital to appraise the situation and look for the graves of people killed and left to rot in Agatu and Logo in Makurdi. I guess he came with some hi-tech binoculars with which to see from such a distance against geographical and structural obstacles. The IGP should have as well gone to Cameroon so he can have a closer perspective of the situation on ground. People are being killed, sacked and their lands occupied by fulani herdsmen in Agatu and Logo and the IGP confidently without shame said he was in Makurdi to look for their graves. Is the IGP telling us that he lack proper intelligence and information about the security situation that he went to Jerusalem to confirm what was happening in Jerico? How do we justify this statement from the number one man as long as internal security of the nation is concerned? Where is the sense in it. Common reasoning will tell you better than to come openly and make such statement to the audience of the whole world. It is humiliating to say the least.
2. “If you kill, you don’t just bury; you must take the corpse to the Police station before you bury. We don’t have that number of people.” IGP Arase.
And here comes the mother of all idiocy. Absurdity of reasoning can't get worse than this. By this statement, the IGP is telling the world that the supposed fulani axe men are supposed or mandated by some law of sort to take the corpse of those killed in their attacks to the police station for the police to confirm that such killing really took place. So, the murderers will gather the corpse of those they killed, take it to station and say; "officers, here are the bodies of those we killed, record it so that we can go bury them, we are coming back with more". Lord have mercy. I am yet to see a more embarrassing, humiliating, sense deprived and reason impoverished statement coming from a highly placed and respected figure in the person of the IGP.
So the IGP is telling us, the entire world, that he, in his intelligence as an experienced officer of the law, actually expects murderers, cold blooded killers, to bring the corpse of their victims to the police station before going to bury them? As what? Head count? Or to collect some bounty? It is like saying a thief should bring the items he stole to the police station before proceeding to sell or use them. What kind of absurd reasoning is this my people? I consider this statement by the IGP an embarrassment, both to himself, the Nigerian Police and the entire nation. It is appalling, it is unthinkable, it is utterly unbelievable that a man of such high standing would be associated with such lowly gutter reasoning. Am still in shock. No, I don't want to believe this.
So until the fulani insurgents start bringing their victims to the police, then the police wouldn't believe or be aware that people are being killed in their homeland. Such deplorable intelligence.
3. The IGP was also reported to say that the killings in Agatu is being exaggerated.
Now I ask, is it that there is a requirement of the number of people to be killed and the number of properties to be destroyed before an action is taken by the police and other relevant law enforcement agencies? That the people of Agatu have to exaggerate the number of those already killed in an attempt to meet this required number? Is this why nothing is being done to stop the madness of the fulani herdsmen? Is this why the government seem to have taken a "sit down look" approach on this issue? What has happened to our humanity and sensitivity to the sanctity of human life? Is one death not enough to elicit immediate government reaction? How many have to die before something is done? Maybe they should just let us know so that we can save our breath until the number of those killed gets to the required figure.
Before I drop this point let me quickly reiterate that contrary to what is being sold by some media houses, as I read on thisdaylive, what is happening in Agatu land and other parts of the country is not a clash between Agatu people or farmers and Fulani herdsmen. It is an outright attack, an orchestrated military pattern offensive carried out by hired mercenaries, who raid people's lands, kill men, women and children mostly in the wee hours of the day, sack them from their ancestral land and occupy it with gusto, confidence and audacity that suggests a sort of backing from high places.
4. According to the punch news sometimes last month, the IGP, during a visit to Ondo state and neighbouring Ekiti was reported to have said that the notorious, trouble making herdsmen are not actually Nigerians but Malians and Chadians who gain entry into the country due to the porous nature of our boarders. The IGP went further to say that the Nigerian herdsmen are predominantly law abiding.
My question for Mr IGP is this, how are we to differentiate between the law abiding and non law abiding herdsmen? Since they all look practically like copies of each other. Is there like an insignia or mark to show which herdsmen is from Nigeria and which is from Chad, or which is peaceful and which is a messenger of death?
5. The IGP went further to say; "But when people come from outside with their cattle, we should not deny them entry because of ECOWAS protocols, good neighborliness but, at the same time, we should not allow them to embark on criminal activities.” IGP Arase
And here is another ridiculous, ill thought statement from the IGP. Which ECOWAS law or any other international law for that matter says you must allow a sect of people that have been identified as trouble makers and lawless into your territory in the name of good neighbourliness? The same people the IGP described as notorious trouble makers who have been identified as agents of destruction of lives and properties for decades, yet the IGP stands to tell the world that we have to keep letting them into the country with their cattle as good neighbours? Maybe we should as well let in ISIS and Al Queda when they come knocking, as good neighbours and hospitable host. After saying we should not stop known criminals from entering our territory, the IGP went further to say that we shouldn't allow them embark on criminal activities. It's like saying, let a thief into your home but don't let him steal. It's like saying, let a virus gain access into your system but don't let it multiply and crash the system. And by the way, who are the "we" the IGP talked about when he said we should not let them embark on criminal activities?
I just want to believe that the IGP made much of these statements in a rush and without passing them through proper scrutiny of reasoning. I consider them absolutely ludicrous, reprehensible and ridiculous of his personality.
Before rounding up this piece let me quickly react to another statement by the IGP: "I have taken suggestions about how we can develop big ranches so that they can stop grazing on farmlands,”.
As much as I have criticised the misguided utterances of the IGP, I must commend him on this one statement. For acknowledging the fact that the employment of ranches and banning of open grazing is the surest way of putting a halt to the menace of cattle and their herdsmen around the country. And not the 16th century establishment of grazing reserves as suggested and supported by many including our highly esteemed members of senate. But in as much as I applaud the IGP for his accepting the idea of cattle ranching, I hope it would not be another case of using tax payers monies and public funds in sponsoring private businesses. The cattle breeding business is a huge private sector industry. It is the personal businesses of the cattle breeders from which they amass enormous profits, hence they should take the sole responsibility for the cost of running their business. Cattle should be ranched and ranched at the cost of the owners of the business not from public funds. Otherwise it amounts to another form of financial misappropriation tantamount to corruption that the present administration has vowed to root out.
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