Herdsmen Attack: Has Buhari Done Enough To Douse Rising Tension?

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has come under serious fire over his alleged lackluster attitude towards the Herdsmen Attack in Benue State.

The security situation in the country seems to be worsening as the progress made in the fight against Boko Haram and kidnapping is now being offset by the escalation of the Fulani Herdsmen attacks.

There has been an increase in attacks and killings in farming communities in Taraba, Benue, Adamawa and Kaduna States.

It is believed that no fewer than 100 persons have been killed in Benue and Taraba by suspected Fulani herdsmen in 2018 alone.

 

Many groups have condemned the President for initially maintaining silence even as the security agencies were hugely criticised not only for failing to prevent the occurrences but also allegedly acting sluggish in responding to the Benue bloodbath.

Following the incessant killing of farmers by herdsmen across several local governments, the state government in May last year promulgated the Open Grazing Prohibition and Establishment of Ranches Law. It outlawed open grazing in the state and compeled livestock breeder to ranch them.

Fulani cattle rearers massed in the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association determined that the law was made to exclude them from the state and opposed it, vowing to frustrate its implementation.

Their agitations against the law, that took effect in November last year, persisted culminating in the New Year day massacre of 73 people in Logo and Guma.

Benue governor, Samuel Ortom blamed the killings on the Federal Government’s “silence”, lamenting that the ugly act would have been forestalled if the government had acted on the reports he gave it concerning the threats of attacks by the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.

 

Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, in an essay berated President Buhari over the failure of his government to act decisively against the group.

“President Muhammed Buhari and his government – including his inspector-general of police – in near identical denial, appear to believe that killer herdsmen who strike again and again at will from one corner of the nation to the other, are merely hot-tempered citizens whose scraps occasionally degenerate into ‘communal clashes’ – I believe I have summarised him accurately. The marauders are naughty children who can be admonished, paternalistically, into good neighbourly conduct. Sometimes, of course, the killers were also said be non-Nigerians after all. The contradictions are mind-boggling,” Mr Soyinka wrote.

However, the President is now taking conscious efforts to douse the tensions caused by the herdsmen attack perhaps to repair the dent the herdsmen crisis have left on his administration’s image.

Recall that Mr. Buhari on January 9 – seven days after the attack in Benue – ordered Ibrahim Idris, the inspector-general of police, to move to Benue to restore law and order, prevent further loss of lives and forestall the crisis from escalating.

The President on Sunday met, behind closed doors, with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting which was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja was called to discuss “the security situation in Benue & other parts of the country”, a Presidency statement said.

According to the statement, the meeting was called by President Buhari to brief the National Assembly on efforts taken by the Executive to tackle the security situation in Benue State.

Similarly, Mr. Buhari on Monday met with with a delegation comprising political, traditional and opinion leaders from Benue State to comprehensively address the security challenges facing the state.

 

The delegation led by Governor Samuel Ortom had the the Tor-Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, Benue State Deputy Governor, Benson Abounu, former Senate President, David Mark, former Benue State Governor, Sen. George Akume, Sen. Barnabas Gemade and other members of the National and State Assemblies from the State.

Speaking after the meeting President Buhari assured the government and people of Benue that all the perpetrators of violence in the state will be made to face the wrath of the law.

While commiserating with all the victims of the attacks, and the families who lost loved ones and properties, Mr Buhari vowed that all those involved in the conflict would not escape justice, including any illegally armed militia in the state.

“I am appealing to you to try to restrain your people. I assure you that the Police, the Department of State Service and other security agencies had been directed to ensure that all those behind the mayhem get punished.

“I ask you in the name of God to accommodate your country men. You can also be assured that I am just as worried, and concerned with the situation,’’ Buhari said.

In his remarks, the Benue State Governor said the tension would be reduced with the Federal Government’s intervention to find a lasting solution to the herdsmen attacks.

“We will leave here to rebuild confidence in our people,’’ Ortom said.

However, there are indications that the President’s words did little or nothing to calm the tension in and around the state.

Benue leaders told the president in clear terms that while they were open to peace, they had no luxury of land for cattle colony, as proposed by the federal government.

According to them, the idea is totally impracticable in Benue State because the required 10,000 hectares of land for such project is not available in the state.

Ortom added that the total land size currently available in Benue State is 5,000 hectares, which he said was far below the requirements for the implementation of the concept.

The governor said the leaders made a strong appeal to the president in the meeting to ensure the arrest of perpetrators of the heinous crimes, noting that the assailants have continued to issue threats of further killings in the state.

Reactions –

Dr John Akperashi, President, National Council of Tiv Youths, said: “The Federal Government is obviously shockingly unwilling to proffer a lasting solution to this lingering rascality of herders and today they have baptised and clothed them in fancy regalia — cattle colonies.

“This is another official licence to invade, sack, occupy and if need be kill and take over the farmlands of the natives. Of course, what is a colony? It’s the Federal Government’s open desperation to foist Fulani supremacy over the nation. Many are beginning to suspect there might be more than meets the eyes especially with the name: cattle colonies. Let’s hope we are not taking another route to Jihad; we pray we should not because Nigerians shall fight with their blood to resist this malicious assimilation.”

“The Federal Government has not even shown that it is sensitive and responsive to its responsibility of maintaining peace and protecting the lives and property of Nigerians with respect to the clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

“The havoc being wreaked by the herdsmen, whom I prefer to call, marauders, is a national disaster because the havoc cuts across the country,” Mr. Taiwo Otitolaye, Ex-National Vice President, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights said.

Godwin Erhahon, a Benin-based public affairs commentator said: “The Federal Government’s reaction to the violence caused by herdsmen for now is inadequate and unimpressive. Above all, it is coming too late as if it is being done reluctantly. The Federal Government should order the arrest of all those suspected to have either taken part in it or supported it in any way. It should order security forces to disarm all herdsmen.

“Furthermore, it should punish all heads of security units, such as divisional police officers, whose negligence or acquiescence enabled the callous herdsmen to wreak such havocs unchallenged. It should also compensate the families of the victims. But I believe the success of the plan by Christians to boycott beef from February 1 will be the most effective solution.

“Herdsmen may stop leading their cattle to our land, once we stop buying from them. There is no assurance yet that the creation of cattle colonies would not lead to the massacre of host communities. I cannot say whether the government has the will to ban open grazing. But I believe that is the surest way to peace.”

Olaniyi Ajibola, Executive Director, Advocacy for Advancement of Peace and Harmony in Africa Initiative, said: “The body language of the Federal Government to the spate of killings by the Fulani herdsmen is disheartening and unfortunate.

“While Buhari-led government was quick to initiate military action against harmless members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, he looked the other way to the gruesome murder of hundreds of farmers in many states of the federation by his kinsmen. This is really sad.”

Buhari’s response at this point in time is perceived by many as coming rather too late.

Whereas some think the president’s recent actions may be a clever move to protect his seat ahead of the 2019 presidential elections.

Meanwhile, source in the Presidency who spoke anonymously to newsmen said the presidency has been embarrassed by the large-scale loss of lives caused by such repeated violence against innocent people.