A
Nigerian writer and columnist has penned an interesting and thought
provoking piece over the travails and controversies surrounding Apostle
Suleman after his 'inciting' comments on herdsmen.
Apostle Suleman
I am a Christian. I am the son of a pastor. My creed and breeding
predisposes me to denounce bloodshed and defend the incomparable value
of human life. All the same, I support the controversial 'inciting'
sermon of Apostle Johnson Suleman.
Suleman, leader of a thriving church in Auchi, Edo state, recently
decried the unqualified freedom with which murderous Fulani herdsmen
were killing Nigerians and advised his members that it was right and
proper to deal with the terrorist before he laughs first.
Since a video clip of Suleman's commentary on the killer herdsmen
went viral, Nigerians seem to have been liberated to discuss the
elephant in the room. People are beginning to feel empowered to opine on
a present and potent security threat the government is awkwardly
avoiding. The cowardly skirting of the collective has ceased. The public
domain is now resonating with a chaotic debate of the menace of the
nihilists.
The wide currency of Suleman’s view on the hot button issue
obviously scared the State Security Service into action. As has become
their obnoxious tradition, the DSS tried to arrest him at midnight.
The presumably smart DSS agents did not have the courtesy to invite
him. They chose to go and pick him up when he was most likely to be
fast asleep in his pajamas. The intent was to demystify Suleman as a
weak catch and to scramble the schedule of the preacher who was in Ekiti
for a well-publicized religious engagement.
After a distress call from Suleman to the governor of Etiki State
foiled the plot, the DSS beat a shameful retreat and resorted to the
afterthought of extending an invitation for an interview to Suleman.
Yesterday, he honored the DSS invitation and admittedly justified
his sermon. But the frenetic reaction of the DSS to Suleman’s sermon
raises a serious question.
Why is a DSS that has never taken a credible step towards
confronting the prolific headhunters working itself into a lather
because a reasonable man counseled his audience to choose self defense
whenever they encounter a terrorist? Why is a redundant DSS that has no
record of successfully aborting any attack by the herdsmen scapegoating
Suleman because the gentleman recommended that his members not surrender
like a sacrificial lamb when the vampires come to slay.
The DSS is a soulless organization. It is a negligent secret police
that ought to be disbanded. The frequency of the attacks of the Fulani
herdsmen is an ample indication that the DSS is a complete failure in
its most critical role.
The DSS boasts a security attaché in every local government area in
Nigeria. They live among the people, gather intelligence and transmit
same to the command center. Yet, the attachés prove to be of no use. The
Nimbo massacre happened despite the fact that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
of Enugu state alerted security agencies, DSS inclusive, of the
thickening plot of the marauders. The DSS did not spring a midnight
surprise on the vanguard of the murderers.
When an issue relates to the policy and politics of President
Buhari, the DSS goes into overdrive. Her agents would invade the homes
of judges at midnight so as to be seen as a crucial player in the war
against corruption. Her agents would raid the office of Nigerians
planning an anti-government protest at midnight just to be seen as
protecting the boss. But not once has the DSS channeled its penchant for
nocturnal disruption against Fulani herdsmen who mostly strike in the
night.
The DSS pythonesque reaction to Suleman is not surprising. Buhari
has effectively made the appeasement of the terrorist herdsmen a
fundamental principle of state policy. Thus, anyone who dares to
challenge the propriety of petting the vicious herdsmen cannot but be
treated as a troublemaker.
Fulani herdsmen have perpetrated countless scorched earth attacks
on peaceful and predominantly Christian communities under Buhari’s
watch. His response to the destruction of lives and livelihoods has
largely been silence. He just pretends to be blissfully ignorant.
This hypocrisy is deplorable because we now know Buhari’s
relationship with Nigerian news transcends the cartoon section of our
national dailies. He says he loves to watch a certain local TV only less
than he likes to visit a foreign hospital!
The irony is that the TV station Buhari affects love for has been
dutifully reporting the scourge of the Fulani herdsmen. But he watches
the news, observes the ghouls turning the country he governs into an
abattoir… and he goes to sleep!
After the herdsmen sneaked into some villages in Southern Kaduna on
Christmas eve and Christmas day and killed to their heart’s content,
the president’s spokesman appeared on his principal’s favorite TV
channel, and told the bereaved, Nigerians and the world at large that
the commander-in-chief would not comment on the carnage. Femi Adesina
didn’t whisper that with a fumbling voice. He declaimed it with the
authority of an assistant echoing the chief’s position.
Following Adesina’s lead, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris, improved on the administration’s line. He claimed the casualty
figure of 800 people put out by the Christian Association of Nigeria was
exaggerated. The minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, asked
pastors of the slain and stewards of the burnt churches to stop
lamenting in public. Dambazzau said the Christian clergy was escalating
the crisis by indulging in 'hate speech' and giving religious
colouration to the massacre.
The Council of Imams and Ulamas in Kaduna state maintained that
official line. They said Christians were massaging statistics. The
survivors were loudly supersizing a small loss instead of mourning with
muzzled mouths.
The Suleman sermon should never have happened. It was unilaterally
forced by the Buhari administration. A government that is demonstrably
more solicitous of Fulani headhunters than the victims created the
content of the ‘inciting’ homily.
If this government and the security agencies under its control were
conscientiously treating the mass murderers according to the magnitude
of their crime and bringing them to justice, Suleman would have had no
reason to openly advocate self-defense. The government put the
‘inciting’ sermon into his mouth!
The Buhari government is actually guilty of what it accused Suleman
of. The government is nudging Nigerians to violence. Its appalling
handling of the headhunters is provocative. It abundantly telegraphs
that, in the Manichaean battle between the herdsmen and the people, the
state is rooting for genocide!
In October 2015, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo told Nigerians in a
Townhall meeting in Texas that Nigerian security agencies had arrested
"about 800 violent herdsmen" in connection with the bloody attacks
across the land. Osibanjo said the sluggish pace of the judicial system
was ‘’affecting’’ their prompt trial. A clear three months after the
professor of law said this, prosecution of the ‘’violent herdsmen’’ has
yet to begin.
That’s more ‘inciting’ than any sermon!
Granted, Suleman tends to be feisty behind the pulpit. But the
Metropolitan Archbishop of Catholic Diocese of Abuja, John Cadinal
Onaiyekan is a renowned sage. The peaceable and reflective Onaiyekan has
also suggested that self defense is the need of the hour. He advised
that Nigerians must do better than "sit down and allow themselves to be
killed" by the herdsmen.
This is an era of survivalism. Every voice of reason should project
the basic wisdom of self-defense. Under the circumstances, it would be
foolhardy for a Nigerian to be so carefree as to trust that this Fulani
supremacist administration is ready to protect them from the heartless
headhunters.
The DSS and the Buhari government are essentially trying to impose a
gag order. "Don’t speak ill of the terrorist herdsmen. Don’t tell
Nigerians not to be too afraid to dramatize self-love through
self-defense. Any remark that diverges from the pacifist manifesto is
hate speech."
The government is purporting to safeguard against the state from
anarchy. It dreads the scenario of the balance of brutishness; of the
reaction of the victims becoming equal and opposite to the horror of the
terrorists. It wants the millennial reign of the peace of the
graveyard. People should quietly bury their dead and resignedly wait to
be butchered in like fashion!
Suleman’s sermon is consistent with the gospel. The Scriptures
teach intelligent peace: it does not mandate passive suicide. It
instructs believers to "be wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove."
On this vexed issue of the terrorist herdsmen, self-preservation is
the only option the Buhari government has left Nigerians. The people
must defend themselves or be wasted. And the people would rather defend
themselves than be wasted.
According to The PUNCH, the DSS warned Suleman to "watch your
tongue" henceforth. That’s futile censorship. As long as the government
continues to flinch from tackling the killer herdsmen as terrorists,
there will always be calls for citizens to defend themselves.
Survival instinct is an elemental part of human nature. People will
naturally opt for self-defense in the face of a deadly threat, whether
they are so commanded or not. To defend self is as human as to kill
innocents is terrorist!
About the Author:
Emmanuel Ugwu is a Nigerian writer and columnist for SaharaReporters. e-mail: immaugwu@gmail.com
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