Femi Fani-Kayode
The Department of State Security (DSS) have claimed that five
Fulani herdsmen were abducted, killed and buried in a mass grave by
members of IPOB in Abia state a few days ago. They have also claimed
that there were up to fifty more bodies in that mass grave and that they
are all Fulani. 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 massacred 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
reckless and irresponsible government that refuses to consider the
implications of taking such a course of action and that have an
early-1960’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 entering into a secret and covert treaty and military alliance
with a group of Arab Sunni Muslim countries that seek to Islamise our
country, that have, over the years, funded the most brutal and barbaric
jihadist and radical Islamist terrorist organisations all over the world
and that seek to impugn our national integrity and violate the
secularity of our state.
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.
About the Author:
David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode is a Nigerian
politician, essayist, poet and lawyer. He is a member of the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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