IT is tempting to describe the horrendous killings in Zamfara last week as poetic justice, considering how many state governors quibbled over herdsmen killings, including the Nigeria Governor’s Forum delegation that visited Benue after the New Year’s Day attack that led to the killing of some 73 people in parts of the state. But it really is not justice of any kind. Instead the Zamfara killings that led to the death of about 40 persons last week represent something much more sinister, more worrisome, and more threatening to national stability. Though Governor Abdulaziz Yari, who is also chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), argued on February 1 that herdsmen/farmers clashes had been going on since 2007 in Zamfara, he seemed to have downplayed the significance of the killings by suggesting that criminal elements had hijacked the clashes and turned it into a money-making venture.
But quite clearly, whether criminals were making money out of people’s misery or not, the threat of destabilisation the killings constitute to the country should propel the government into taking very firm and intelligent measures to stop the flow of blood in many parts of Nigeria. For whether the government wants to hear it or not, the country is in turmoil, and that turmoil is quite bloody and deeply unnerving. The turmoil obviously predated the assumption of office of President Muhammadu Buhari, but by a combination of weak policies, misapplied panaceas, and appointment of officials whose ideas and competence have been repeatedly called into question, the problem has been left to fester very badly and dangerously.
There is hardly any part of Nigeria that is not threatened by one militia or the other or plain criminal groups, whether cattle rustlers, kidnappers or even armed robbers. Compounding the problem is the disturbing lack of responsiveness by law enforcement agencies. When they do not misinterpret the criminal phenomenon unfolding before their eyes, they lack either the personnel or the logistics to combat the problems. Hear Gov Yari’s plaintive cry: “Whatever was humanly possible that needed to be done, we as a government have done to mitigate this disaster. But it does appear that security agencies are failing in their responsibilities. I feel let down facing the people of this state whenever I remember the promise I made to them that if they elected President Muhammadu Buhari into power, these killings would end. But unfortunately, things are now getting worse. As such, I urge security agencies to up the ante so as not to lose this war. If you let us put the matter in our hands, anarchy will reign, which is not what we hope for. On this particular incident, we had intelligence reports 24 hours before it happened, that the bandits were grouping and ready to attack. I alerted the security agencies but unfortunately, they sent inadequate personnel to confront these people.”
When the Benue crisis began many years ago, there were warnings that it needed to be nipped in the bud before it ballooned out of control. Some 73 people were massacred on New Year’s Day, and both the killings and burial assumed very dramatic colourations. However, in the same Benue, more than 300 people were killed in early 2016 in Agatu local government and environs, with both the police and the government disputing the casualty figure rather than be gingered into taking concrete actions to forestall future occurrences. Now, Benue is delicately poised on the tip of a disaster, pinning down thousands of security agencies, including the army, and with allegations of official collusion or connivance.
It was Zamfara last week. Who knows which state will be next on the blood line? It speaks to the country’s sense of inurement against bloodshed and the government’s indefensible apathy that little attention is paid to crises where less than four or five people are killed. The media and the government tend to weigh the nuisance value of the crisis by the casualty figure. This is awfully wrong. Every militia-related killing, whether by herdsmen or farmers, or even by kidnappers and armed robbers and cattle rustlers, must be denounced and must attract government’s full attention and objectivity. The proper way to begin is for the government to re-examine its security architecture, not simply by tinkering with a panicky resort to state police, as desirable and appropriate as this is, but by a measured and sincere calibration and redistribution of its law enforcement assets. Nigeria’s security architecture is today obsolete, inefficient, deliberately not inclusive, and seemed designed to fail. If real change is not introduced to rejig the country’s security system, the situation can become really uncontrollable. And for Nigeria, where there is hardly any state at peace, the prospect can be truly frightening. The government must stop pretending not to appreciate the disaster ahead.
