The unrelenting insecurity aimed at ethnic nationalities of Southern Kaduna, in the Middle Belt of Nigeria seems to have taken another dimension.
Southern Kaduna, is the buffer belt between the majority Muslim population of Northwest Nigeria and the Christian stronghold of Nigeria Middle Belt.
The Southern Kaduna People Union (SOKAPU) – the umbrella socio-cultural body of the 57 ethnic groups of Southern Kaduna estimated at 5.2 million spread in 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna state, Thursday raised the alarm over increasing cases of select kidnap and murder of some of its prominent members.
A Statement made available to the press in Kaduna, Friday, signed by Josiah Yusuf Abraks, Public Relations Officer of SOKAPU said that the District Heads or traditional ruler of Garu community, Alhaji Babangida Adamu Suleiman was kidnapped in Lere LGA, Wednesday by suspected armed herdsmen. The statement said further, that a popular evangelist, Pastor Peter Shabanyan was assassinated in his home in Katul Crossing community of Kachia.
“In another development in Kwassam Dr. Ishaya James was killed and eight other people kidnapped also in Kauru LGA”, the statement added.
Dr. Ishaya was a very beloved Doctor in his community for his charitable medical assistance to local farmers of his community.
In the same vein, Caleb Musa Kantiyok Dogo, Chairman, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) Kaduna State branch narrowly escaped assassination as he visited his village, Ayagan Kukwan, Zangon Kataf LGA, Wednesday, according to findings.
Dogo was the immediate past National Deputy Chairman of Bajju Development Association (BADA) .
Confirming the incident to our reporter from Abuja on phone yesterday, Dogo said, it’s true that there was an attempt on my life. “I was having supper with my cousins Wednesday evening. “The Four gunmen came to my village around 7pm on two motorbikes pretending that I had given them an appointment to see me, so they wanted to be shown where I was. They were four in numbers,” he said.
“But their looks betrayed them as herdsmen,” he said.
“People were still moving around, especially our ever vigilant youths. So, when the herdsmen were further questioned by the youths they got angry. They reached out to their long flowing trench coats, brought out two AK 49 rifles and started shooting in the air. And they zoomed off into the night.
“When I came out to see commotion all over. I was told that they had come for me and I was vividly told what happened,” he said.
“The entire villages around were on red alert. I had to find my way to Abuja that night,” he said.
According to him, for years he has had a hunch that he was a mark for assassination or kidnapped after his uncle, Sunday Katiok, 64, was killed and their family compound set ablaze by suspected herdsmen in 2015.
“I hardly visit the village since my uncle was killed and our family home destroyed by fire set by the attacking Fulani herdsmen,” Dogo told our reporter..
“I have always known that my life was in danger, because after the murder of my uncle, who was a very successful farmer in Zangon Kataf LGA, many of our outstanding sons were either killed or kidnapped for huge ransom,” he told our Correspondent.
In May, 2023, the National President of BADA, Habila Madaki, a retired Director with the Central Bank of Nigeria, was kidnapped in his home and kept for two weeks until an undisclosed amount of ransom paid the kidnappers, said to be armed Fulani bandits, this medium can confirm. Shortly before Madaki was kidnapped, Dr. Yakubu Sankay, a former Director General of National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Jos, Plateau State, was murdered in his village when he came to visit his home folks in Zonkwa, Bajju land, Zangon Kataf LGA. NIPPS is Nigerian most elitist government run college of administration.
“So, if you heard that I escaped an assassination attempt, it is true,” he said and I have reported the case to the police.
I have also notified SOKAPU and the Middle Belt Forum,” he told our reporter.
The Chairman of the Middle Belt Forum, Kaduna State Chapter, Comrade Luka Binniyat confirmed the incident to our reporter.
“I heard about the assassination attempt on Caleb Katiok from some of our members from Zangon Kataf LGA before he called to inform me,” said Binniyat who was also the immediate past national spokesman of SOKAPU.
“What is going on in Southern Kaduna looks like the Fulani herdsmen are picking our important and useful members of our communities for elimination or humiliating kidnap.
“The Middle Belt Forum is calling on all our members to do everything within the law to secure their communities since it looks that the government is incapable of securing us in the Middle Belt,” he said.
The Middle Belt Forum is the pan-socio-cultural body of all the over 250 ethnic groups of the Middle Belt of Nigeria spread in 14 States, including Southern Kaduna.
On Monday morning at nine o’clock, Christians from Plateau state in the so-called Middlebelt of Nigeria came together to call for an end to the genocidal killings that have wounded and damaged their communities for decades. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) spearheaded the event in response to the ongoing terrorist attacks in Plateau and other parts of Nigeria. The protesters marched to the Governor House of Plateau, where former lawyer Caleb Mutfwang, sits in office. In front of the gathered group of protesters, he stated that he did not come as a governor to: “preside over burial ceremonies, but that it was time to move from the book of Lamentations to the book of Acts.” During the peace rally in front of the Governor House, Plateau state church leaders submitted a petition to Mutfwang to put an end to the killings.
This was not the first peace rally in Plateau, last Saturday there was a demonstration in the state capital Jos as well. Wednesday, January 10th, there will be a demonstration in London, England as well and another one is scheduled in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, on the 17th of this month. On social media Christians from the Middlebelt have held several debate groups, which I joined a few times to hear their stories. From what I have learned, there is a growing sense of the need to join strength and unite for a more safe and secure future of Christians in the Middlebelt.
Genocidal campaign
According to a 2022 report by Genocide Watch, fourteen Christians are killed daily and 420 monthly in southern Kaduna, Benue and Plateau states. In fact, Genocide Watch published a Genocide Emergency Alert concerning Nigeria in December 2022 in which it stated that: “Nigeria is currently undergoing one of the deadliest genocides in the world. More people die in Nigeria every month than in Ukraine.”
Greg Stanton, founding president and chairman of Genocide Watch, said that: “Fulani militants are committing human rights violations and massacres against Christians. This is not a herdsmen versus farmers conflict, but a genocidal war between ethnic groups, fueled by Islamic extremists with modern weapons.”
Christian persecution watchdog, Open Doors, writes that there are Islamic preachers from Saudi-Arabia and Iran joining the Fulani militant groups. According to Open Doors there is an agenda to spread Islam and turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.
Herdsmen or Jihadists?
Christians in Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara and other Middlebelt states, have been defensively murdered, abducted, raped, robbed and forced to flee for years. In April 2023 Fulani jihadists beheaded a 5-year old boy in Southern Kaduna. In August 2021, Thomas Wollo (46) was beheaded together with his 7-year old son, Nggwe in Plateau. Second, these attacks often take place during church services or at nighttime when people are either sleeping, or getting ready for bed. For example, a 25-year old seminary student, Na’aman Dalami, was killed when Fulani jihadists burned down the house of the parish priest where the young man was serving. Already in bed, he could not escape the fire and was burned alive.
During the peace rally in Plateau last Monday morning, people held up signs saying: “It is not a clash, it is pure terrorism” and “Terrorists are not natives.” One of the elements in the petition that the church leaders handed to governor Mutfwang on Monday addresses the question whether we are talking about herdsmen or jihadists.These messages are in sharp contrast with the predominant narrative, both in Nigeria and the international press, that the ongoing massacre of mostly Christians from the Middlebelt is a clash between herdsmen and farmer communities.
This idea in Nigeria and the West alike, that we are dealing with a confrontation or conflict between two involved parties; nomadic, predominantly Muslim, herdsmen and sedentary, often Christian, farmers is an often repeated narrative. According to CNN it is an “escalating conflict between herders and farmers,” Al-Jazeera describes it as a “grazing conflict between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers.” These are only two examples of a widespread narrative. On the other hand, Genocide Watch speaks of Jihadists Herdsmen and the International Organisation for Peace-building & Social Justice (PSJ), the International Committee On Nigeria (ICON), politicians such as Baroness Cox of the United Kingdom’s Hous of Lords and retired member of United States Congress, Mr Frank Wolf, in a joined report refer to the Fulanis as extremists or militants. International Christian Concern (ICC) also speaks of Fulani militants, a name also used when the Global Terror Index in 2014 named them the world’s fourth deadliest terror group.
There is a serious discrepancy between what politicians and the experts say on the one hand, parroted by the media, and the analyses of human rights organizations when it comes to the murderous attacks on Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt states. Delineating the beheading of innocent people, including children, during their weakest or most vulnerable moments as a clash between two groups having a dispute over grazing land is misleading, only allowed to hold because of the media’s lack of reporting on what happens on a daily basis in Nigeria.
On top of this, Nigerian Christian journalists, such as Steven Kefas and Luka Binniyat, who reported about the massacres on Christians in their land, have been arrested and imprisoned.
SK “The Kaduna state government traveled about 800 kilometers to River state where I used to work and they abducted me. They did not arrest me, because there was no warrant for that arrest, I was abducted.”
Climate Change
Another favorite theme, when trying to analyze the ongoing persecution in Nigeria, is that this is all due to climate change. A while ago I spoke with Nigerian Christian journalist Steven Kefas and asked him about this narrative:
SK “It has nothing to do with climate change. They bring in climate change to deceive the international community and some gullible Nigerians, but we here in Nigeria, we have loved ones being killed, we have witnessed these attacks, we know that the attackers just come in to kill people. Sometimes when they kill people, they tell them: “Why don’t you call on your God to come and defend you?” There is a lady I interviewed, who was taken by these terrorists, she was raped and molested in the forest and they told her: “You say you have a God, why don’t you call your God to come and safe you from our hand?” This tells you that these people have an agenda, it is a jihadist agenda, that is not just restricted or limited to Nigeria. It is an agenda that is across Africa, we have them in Mali, Somalia, Guinea and some other places. So that is what is on the plate and it has nothing to do with climate change.”
Talking Politics
Former president of Nigeria, Buhari, is a Fulani Muslim himself. During his administration the Nigerian government, according to Genocide Watch, turned a blind eye to the Fulani massacres of Christians. Genocide Watch, in the same report, also stated that the United State Department is in full denial of the Fulani massacres of Christians. According to Open Doors there are alarming reports that show deliberate neglect and sometimes even complicity of the Nigerian Security Forces with regard to these deadly attacks by Fulani militants. Buhari, according to Open Doors, has “openly and publicly admitted knowledge of the atrocities, often adducing justifications for the criminals.”
When Trump left office, he had put Nigeria on the list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ after the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had been advising the government to do so for several years. This is a list of countries that violate religious freedom. Then, when Biden took office, Nigeria was taken off of this blacklist and Secretary of State Blinken had a virtual meeting with then Nigerian president Buhari in which they wanted to “strengthen their communal interests” as it was called. I asked Mr Kefas what he thought of that decision, considering that by then it was already widely known that there was a genocide happening on the Nigerian Christian population, specifically in the Middlebelt region. Climate change, security, a strategic partnership, all was brought to the table, except the murdering of Christians.
SK “As to your question why the United States took Nigeria off of the list ‘Countries of Particular Concern’, well unfortunately only the Biden administration can answer that question.”
SK “The current administration in the USA seems to be more concerned about their own interests, they don’t seem to be interested in human rights, the rights of Christians across the world or traditional worshippers across the world. Whatever is going to affect their interest, they don’t joke with it. I think that is what is really top on their priority list right now.”
In addition to this, on January 4th of this year, the State Department published a list of countries that violate religious freedom. Nigeria is not mentioned and yet, Christians are murdered during church services or specifically targeted during Christian holidays, as we have seen recently when over 200 Christians were massacred on Christmas Eve in Plateau state. And, equally important, the Fulani militants are not mentioned in the same document as part of the Entities of Particular Concern, whereas for example Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa, both active in Nigeria, are listed as such. Yet, the Fulani militants commit crimes that are no different from those committed by Boko Haram, i.e. killing, raping, plundering, kidnapping, using coercion, intimidation and installing fear among the Christian population of the Middlebelt.
One of the ten points on the agenda, submitted to the governor of Plateau State, Mr Wutfang on Monday, is to recognize the Fulani militants as such: “We unanimously call on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice as a matter of urgency, to initiate the process of officially proscribing the armed terrorist militias responsible for these mindless killings. They should be officially designated as terrorists. This will give the military the power to fully engage them as provided in the Terrorism Act of 2022.”
This demand is repeated by the many Nigerian Christians I speak almost daily. Recognize the militants as such, to give the armed forces the tools to deal with the massacres in a proper way. It would also allow for a clear distinction between Fulani herdsmen who are indeed looking for grazing land for their cattle and armed militias who massacre innocent citizens and drive them away from their ancestral lands, driven by a radical agenda to conquer the land and spread Islam. This becomes even more apparent when we realize that Fulani militants are also active in neighboring countries such as Chad and Cameroon, to combine forces may be the best way forward if we can agree who we are fighting against.
…unearthing the ethnoreligious conquest of Africa’s largest democracy from Dan Fodio’s 1804 jihad to Tinubu’s 2023 jihad
In 2014, terrorist group Boko Haram’s infamous schoolgirl mass abductions spawned the trendy #BringBackOurGirls campaign but it had even more seismic unexpected effects in the global jihadi spectrum.
First, Al Qaeda, still the world’s top terror group, condemned the northern Nigerian Islamists for the mass kidnaps of almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls. Next, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) began to emulate and then compete with Boko Haram for ruthlessness. Then in 2016, Boko Haram and ISIS merged creating ISWAP (Islamic State in West Africa Province), a marriage of two groups that had alternately been ranked deadliest terrorists in the world!
My visit to Islamic State in Nigeria (ISIN) in 2023 was not to the non-state actors’ territory on the fringes of Nigeria’s border with Chad.
It was to a new and disturbing “merger and acquisition” political alliance that placed Nigeria’s democracy, the world’s largest country with an equal population of Christians and Muslims, on the precarious path to Islamization.
In February’s presidential elections, President Muhammadu Buhari found himself in the best position he could possibly hope for.
Ex-dictator Gen. Buhari ignited religious politics when he declared in 2002 that an infidel should never again rule Nigeria which was his only ideology for his subsequent serial runs for office.
Once finally in power in 2015, he perpetrated not just Islamization but “Fulanization” of the government, even to the exclusion of other northern and southwestern Muslims who’d turned an admitted “unelectable religious bigot” (their prior descriptor) to Nigeria’s worst misruler.
His ruling party’s succession candidate Bola Tinubu helped Buhari achieve his ideology of non-infidel rule by running on a Muslim-Muslim ticket (as a SW Muslim with a NE VP) which was celebrated in the north by Governors and clerics as fulfilling their jihad quest in Nigeria.
Buhari had thus set up a Muslim-to-Muslim 8yrs+8yrs succession hegemony rather than a southern Christian power rotation as was the convention in national politics.
If main opposition party PDP won, a Fulani Muslim Atiku from his paternal tribe would continue 16 unbroken years of Fulani presidential rule. If his ruling party APC won, a Kanuri Muslim from his maternal tribe would be Vice President and continue 16 unbroken years of Muslim APC rule.
Both Buhari’s parental Fulani and Kanuri stock spawned jihadi militia whose gruesome atrocities simultaneously earned them first and fourth deadliest global terrorists by the Global Terrorism Index.
Although Peter Obi was the main non-Muslim outlier who shocked the system with a third-party run, even the remote possibility of his emergence would have given Buhari another Fulani VP in power providing an unbroken Northwestern Fulani in the Presidency/VP for 33 years (from Pres Yar’adua in 2007) or an unbroken Fulani rule for 40 years (from re-inception of democracy in 1999 with NE Fulani Atiku.)
In the end, under extremely dubious circumstances, Bola Tinubu, the SW Muslim candidate of Buhari’s party was declared elected in an election that terribly divided the country’s fragile unity even further.
It would have seemed that the solitary Fulani nomadic tribe that used and abused religion to conquer fellow Muslims in jihad in 1804 and is again abusing it still to dominate other tribes they couldn’t conquer precolonialism has temporarily lost power but the reality is more sinister.
The same Southwest-North coalition that starved 1Million Southeastern Christian Igbos to death during the Biafran civil war of 1967-1970 was essentially reestablished by Tinubu (without the Christian middlebelt mostly) as an Islamic political alliance/hegemony – the ruling APC.
Ironically, the predominantly Christian Igbos who were bombed and starved to death are more developed today than the north who bombed and starved them! Power has done nothing for the north but yet the Islamic political alliance once again foreclosed the Igbos’ aspirations for the presidency via Peter Obi in 2023.
Igbos have been great contributors to national development in contrast with the north. The Fulani imperialists brought little development. Till date their militia kill and pillage infidels like they did 200 years ago except they now use bikes instead of horses and AK47s. Pillaging and looting is not a sustainable development model.
The British imperialists brought systems and institutions along with reasonable looting. Yet the Igbos who never colonized Nigeria, were egalitarian and not imperialists, have produced more value added communal and national wealth and enterprise than the Fulani colonizers.
The Igbos are a naturally prescient group whom the country has failed to optimally leverage for national upliftment. If not that SE governors have generally been the worst-performing, their region would be unmatched but still individual drive and industry has made more millionaires out of the region the rest of the country starved to death (One day that story will be told to an amazed world.)
Nevertheless it should be clear that one invading tribe cannot dominate a nation of over 500 ethnic groups like that forever. The Dan Fodio invasion of 1804 was reprised in 2014 with another invasion orchestrated by Gen. Buhari. Dan Fodio was a great tactician and Nigeria’s highly educated elite being subservient to his 200 year old expansionist playbook and his less brilliant acolytes is a testament to his enduring legacy. Buhari was incompetent to achieve his Islamist takeover until Tinubu gave him legs.
The Fulani Islamic jihad of 1804 and the British economic invasion subsequently were two sides of the same colonial/imperialist/supremacist ideologies masqueraded in religion and noble garbs.
Britain completed the failed annexation of non-Muslim tribes by the Fulanis and donated said unconquered tribes to them at the faux independence in 1960.
This faulty foundation is attributable to both the Fulani and British conspiring colonialists which contrived this country contraption. When the first Prime Minister, Ahmadu Bello vowed to dip the Koran in the Atlantic, the British were his main facilitators post-jihad and Tinubu merely brought the Atlantic to the jihadists via his political merger thus bypassing the formidable middlebelt and southeast bulwark buffering them for centuries. Who would have thought that in this day and age, the path forward for Nigeria emanating from Lagos of all places would be the ethnoreligious alliance called APC?
Hundreds of Buhari’s killer mobs during the 2011 Post-Election Violence were arrested and prosecuted. However, when Buhari came into office in 2015, they were freed from prison.
Before the 2015 elections, Buhari and co had brought in significant Fulani reinforcements from the west African subregion to saturate Nigeria and violently overtake her if he didn’t win the election. Tinubu’s Islamic alliance and President Jonathan’s conceding the elections averted the violent plan but it left hordes of armed killers deployed around the country with no war to fight.
Tinubu has now appointed another Fulani as National Security Adviser who had publicly justified their killing of Nigerians.
“Former EFCC Chairman and former Presidential candidate of the ACN, Nuhu Ribadu has stated that the Fulanis in Nigeria feel marginalised and are not happy with Buhari.
Ribadu said the Fulanis are landless and are not well respected politically. He further revealed that the tribe feels abandoned by President Buhari and are completely out of everything.
“We forget that people who are landless will continue to be a problem and part of the problem we are facing today is these people fighting to say we are part of this country. They want a place of their own where they will be taken care of, but there is resistance. That is why you see what is going on in Zamfara, Birnin Gwari and most of the places,” he said.
“You can hardly see any nomadic Fulani man that is part of state assembly or the national assembly and they form about 15 to 20 million of the population and they are marginalised. They are not in any way benefiting from what is happening in the country today.” “ https://politicalstewng.com/fulanis-feel-marginalised-are-angry-with-buhari-ribadu/
Ribadu made these claims despite the fact that at the time 90% of Buhari’s National Security Council members were northern Muslims and predominantly Fulani.
We must never forget that at his inauguration in 2015, Buhari declared that Dan Fodio was the “founding father” of Nigeria – a historic anachronism because Nigeria did not exist in 1804 jihad.
Tinubu should be blamed for sacrificing the great Oduduwa and Oyo empires to an extraneous caliphate. Excoriating Igbos simply because they celebrated election victory against him in Lagos is nothing compared with the northernization of Lagos ports etc seen over the years (Of course it’s always easier to blame the victim than the real villain.)
Additionally, Tinubu’s people deployed witchcraft, fetish and juju against Igbos and non-Yorubas in the elections in Lagos alongside violence.
Given this background, I was unsure what to expect on my visit to Nigeria’s new Islamic state weeks after inauguration. Here’s what I saw:
the new government in Kano state demolished a prominent sculptured roundabout built by the predecessor claiming it contained a Christian cross which is “anti-islamic.” The prior government made Kano the most extreme islamist state in the north with blasphemy lynchings and death sentences.
the new government of Sokoto state justified the blasphemy lynching of a Muslim man from a rival sect. Barely a year before, his predecessor had condemned the blasphemy lynching of Christian Schoolgirl Deborah Emmanuel even though her killers’ charges were recently dropped.
In Plateau state, 346 people were killed in three months and 32 villages destroyed by Fulanis but security forces disarmed local hunters and killed village watchmen claiming they were bandits. The prior government had appeased the killers who it appeared were now targeting the Mangu community of the new governor who succeeded them.
In Benue state, 25 youths were slaughtered in a massacre by Fulanis even though the new state government is from the ruling APC party. The former governor had been blamed for massacres in the state because of his opposition to the APC’s mishandling of the insecurity.
A Libyan-trained Nigerian jihadi convert, addressed the media from Tinubu’s presidential villa claiming that his “forces” were responsible for security more than the army. His Niger Delta militants had previously been disarmed and granted amnesty under a prior government.
It got worse. Days after winning election petition, Tinubu announced the carving out of indigenous lands in the states for building of Fulani enclaves – even where millions of victims of Fulani massacres are still displaced! His political state capture was rapidly following with physical “states capture”.
It is unclear how things will go from here but the security situation in the new Islamic State in Nigeria has not improved. This is despite the fact that Tinubu has consolidated power unlike anyone ever in Nigeria’s history.
Tinubu has co-opted Muslim mujahid Asari Dokubo’s South South Niger Delta militants, influencers of North East jihadi Boko Haram terrorists, cross country islamist Fulani militia, his Southwestern thugs & legitimate Nigerian federal security forces under his control – a massive consolidation of legitimate state and illegitimate non-state coercive forces. Only IPOB and ISWA are outside his control.
If Buhari’s 2015 influx of foreign Fulani fighters into Nigeria was the second invasion after the 1804 jihad, then Tinubu’s power consolidation in 2023 is the second amalgamation after the British colonialists’ of 1904. Tinubu imposed a Muslim Muslim ticket that even Buhari did not do and building Fulani rugas cross country that even the fanatical Fulani bigot Gen. Buhari didn’t do!
Tinubu was not good for Lagosians as Governor- a global cosmopolitan city ruled by thugs mafia-style – the same way the amalgamation of north and south Nigerian colonies into one nation was not good for Nigeria.
British imperialism, for all its pretensions versus intentions did do some basic good but what does Tinubu’s Islamo-mafia coalition portend and intend for Nigeria? As Nigeria marks 63 years of faux independence, it is clearer now more than ever that the once proud and noble Oyo empire has been conquered and surrendered to northern caliphates that never conquered Yorubaland by a mafiosi who conned his way to power.
Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq, is a prominent US-based international human rights lawyer and Nigeria pro-democracy advocate with the US NIGERIA LAW GROUP in Washington. Last month, he marked the 27th anniversary of his abduction and torture by Gen. Abacha for demanding an investigation of the assassination of pro-democracy icon Kudirat Abiola over the June 12 election annulment. His advocacy led to the naming of Kudirat corner by Nigeria house in New York, the US designation of Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization and International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s determination of crimes against humanity in Nigeria amongst others.
The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed this in a statement on Friday.
He said two pilots onboard the aircraft survived and were being observed in a military facility.
“Luckily, the two pilots on board survived the crash after successfully ejecting from the aircraft. Additionally, there was no loss of lives or damage to any property around the area of impact.
“Both pilots are currently under observation at NAF Base Hospital, Makurdi. Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Hasan Abubakar, has constituted a Board of Inquiry to determine the immediate and remote causes of the crash,” he said.
Suspected killer herdsmen have written to residents of some communities in Ogun state, threatening to invade their house in a reprisal attack.
The unknown herdsmen in the notice letter of attack, a copy which was obtained by our correspondent, threw fear into the minds of the residents of Asa, Agbon, Ibeku and Oja-Odan communities in the Yewa-North Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The latter was reportedly written on Saturday.
The herdsmen, in the letter written in English and Hausa languages, informed the residents of their intention of attacking the communities through the notice letter reportedly pasted on the walls in some strategic places within the communities.
The herdsmen told the leaders of the communities to expect their visitation to their homes between December and January.
The notice reads, “Attention! Attention!! Attention!! to all following communities; Asa, Agbon, lbeku, Oja-odan and its environs.
“You think you can send away our people from the land they bought in Nigeria, our fathers land, you kill our people, you kill their cows, you take over all their properties, you think you can go scot-free. It’s high time we come for revenge.
“All the above mention communities leaders should prepare for the war between December and January. We are coming to take back our father’s property.”
When contacted the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the development .
Oyeyemi said he had seen the letter, as he assured the concerned communities of the command’s commitment to unravel those behind the hideous act.
“Well, I saw the letter purportedly written by a baseless group. We believe it is a baseless group that wrote the letter. We are not losing any sleep because no information is too small to take note of.
“We are not neglecting it. We are working on it to unravel those behind it,” he said.
…We will not Recognize the Chiefdoms – Dio Maisamari
By George Makeri, Kaduna
The creation of chiefdoms in the middle belt was usually received with jubilation, because it symbolises a form of liberation from the erstwhile emirate rule imposed on the people by the British colonialists’ indirect rule.
Ironically, the announcement of the creation of two chiefdoms by the El-Rufai government on 10th November, 2022 for the Adara people of Kajuru and Kachia, did not excite any positve reaction. In certain quarters, the government announcement was long anticipated with resentments. Speaking with some Adara leaders, elders and opinion leaders, the sentiment is the same across board with some negligible exception.
“We will not Recognize the Chiefdoms.” – Awemi Dio Maisamari. “The chiefdoms are calculated to weaken the unity of the Adara people.” – An anonymous opinion leader “One or two persons asked for it, and they were given.” – Anonymous “I only know one Adara Chiefdom.” – Feylom Kajuru.
Reacting to the development, a certain Adara opinion leader, whose name is withheld for fear of being persecuted by the government, expressed frustrations, though not surprise, at the newly created chiefdoms, claiming they were kept to herald a more sinister agenda of enthroning a non-adara on the chiefdoms by the El-Rufai government in tandem with the El-Rufai master plan. When asked whether that was possible given that the name “Agom” is still indigenous to Adara, she pointed out that the moniker is simply a trojan horse to allow for acceptability among the indigenous Adara people. “This is orchestrated to weaken the political, cultural and religious capacity of the Adara people”, she concluded.
A certain adara youth, Feylom Kajuru, on his Facebook wall, disowned the newly created chiefdoms, recognizing only the scrapped chiefdom and the assassinated monarch Raphael Maiwada Galadima. His statement can be found here.
An opinion leader I spoke with, whose name I have no permission to mention here claimed a person or two asked for the chiefdoms and they were created.
Going through the Facebook message of one Makeri Danjuma Mohammed, one can easily surmise that this Mohammed is one of the persons who asked for it on 2 November 2022.
The President of the Adara Development Association, Mr. Dio Awemi Maisamari insisted that the government has so impoverished the people such that the people have no recourse but to support unpalatable government decisions against themselves. He, however maintained that those whom the government has subdued through the weaponisation of poverty and are supporting the government among the Adara people are few. Maisamari has, in many prior publications, made serious allegations against the Kaduna State Government Anti-Adara Activities.
These allegations are condensed in a facebook message written by a fierce critic of El-Rufai, Steven Kefas, who is now on a self-imposed exile in europe.
Steven Kefas, in his ‘Adara people persecuted by tyranny’ write-up, suggested that the 2018 crisis that preceded the abduction and assassination of the late Adara monarch, Raphael Maiwada Galadima, was instigated by the state government to pave way for the easy abolition of the Adara chiefdom. He also suggested that the waves of attacks against the Adara people, was calculated to weaken the people’s resolve to resist tyranny. He however urged his readers to connect the dots and do the maths, while encouraging the Adara people to keep hope alive in the eternal fight against tyranny.
A May 6, 2019 publication by Sahara Reporters lends support to Kefas’s facebook postulations in claiming that the Late Agwom Adara, Raphael Maiwada Galadima, was assassinated for resisting the balkanisation of Adara chiefdom. These claims can be said to have materialized with these recently created chiefdoms after over four years of leaving the Adara people without a chief.
To show government biases against the Adara people whose chief was assassinated and corpse dumped along Kateri road on 26 October 2018, a Daily Trust 4 October 2020 publication authored by one Lami Sadiq, quipped that while much attention was turned on who to succeed the recently deceased Emir of Zaria who died of natural causes on 20 September, nothing was said of the successor of the Agwom Adara who was assassinated about two years earlier.
Lami claimed that out of the 32 chiefs in Kaduna state, only 29 were on seat as three were not; and while much attention was focused on replacing one, the Emir of Zauzau, nothing was being said about the replacement of the other two. According to Lami, the composition of the Kaduna State Council of Chiefs had 10 first class chiefs, 13 second class chiefs and 9 third class chiefs.
Both the Emir of Zaria and the Agwom Adara were first class chiefs. While the Zaria emirate retains its nomenclature, first class status, unity and an emir almost immediately succeeding the deceased, the Adara people were forcefully given a name change, their chiefdom balkanized and stripped of its first class status.
Awemi Dio Maisamari has also been repeatedly quoted on the issue by several media houses over the years. A Vanguard publication of 23 May 2020 titled ‘Adara people in Kaduna count losses from Kajuru crisis’ and written by Ibrahim Hassan – Wuyo, Maisamari expressed shock at government support of the atrocities visited on Adara land by fulani herdsmen. The publication read in part: “We are therefore shocked that government has become brazen enough or descended so low as to justify terrorism, butchery, and savagery of monumental proportions on such flimsy and illogical grounds.”
When government takes responsibility and even apologizes for terrorist attacks on Muslim communities, why does it perpetually blame the victims of attacks in Christian communities for similar terrorist acts? “Even if government thinks Adara people have done wrong, is it part of public policy to allow or encourage jungle(terrorist) justice as a remedy?” A 5 December 2019 publication by The Cable titled; ‘We are suffering under you’ — Adara people write el-Rufai’ and written by one Ebunoluwa Olafusi, Dio Maisamari was quoted enumerating the sincere wishes of the Adara people which the government ignored to create two chiefdoms.
These concerns “are the widespread criminality and dastardly attacks in Adara land, the suffering of IDPs and other crisis victims, the assassination of HRH Agom Adara, the scrapping of Adara Chiefdom, the partitioning of Adara community in to two, the subordination of our people in Kachia LGA under a proposed Kachia Chiefdom, the subordination of the predominantly Christian population in Kajuru LGA under a tiny minority Muslim population in Kajuru Emirate and the refusal of government to engage with or at least be sensitive to the concerns and feelings of the community in any way during this dark period,” the letter read.”
Given the above concerns, it is no surprise why the creation of these chiefdoms amidst IDP crisis and repeated raiding of Adara villages by Fulani herdsmen with overt and covert government support, met lethargy instead of jubilation.
HIGHLIGHTS @ Excerpts @ How it all began @ Gov. Matawalle’s frustration @ Implications of Matawalle’s Self defense declaration
Is Nigeria near a failed state
Is the Nigerian military a failure
Has General Muhammadu Buhari been conquered by a rag-tag group
How far with APC manifestoes of 2014-2023 @ What is the position of the Nigerian constitution @ Where is The Firearms Act in all of this @ Conclusion EXCERPTS [ “Self defense has always been part of human survival strategy therefore as governor I will do everything possible to uphold this responsibility within the ambit of the law” The implication of this call is not only an indictment on the Nigerian military inability to curb the menace of the rag-tag groups, but also a failure of the Buhari led APC government to govern. ]
HOW IT ALL BEGAN You would recall when at the height of the fulani herdsmen attacks on farmers in Benue state, Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, and other parts of the Middle Belt from 2016 to date, coupled with the Buhari forceful planned aquisition of land in all local governments of the country for RUGA, grazing reserves, cattle colonies, cattle routes, etc, followed with clashes leading to a monumental loss of human life with catastrophic consequences. Leaders such as T.Y Danjuma called on the affected communities to rise up and defend themselves. While Benue state governor Samuel Ortom initially called on his people to defend themselves, he quickly followed up with the enactment of the much talked about Anti open grazing prohibiting law. On his part, governor Ahmed Nasir EL-RUFAI of Kaduna State announced in a press conference that he had gone outside the shores of Nigeria to pay monetary compensation to foreign fulanis for the killing of their cattle and men by Southern Kaduna people.
On his part, President Buhari kept forging ahead with his plans for the comprehensive launching of the cattle colonies grazing policy for his fellow Fulani kinsmen despite stiff opposition from other tribes and nationalities of Nigeria. The stage was therefore set for more deadly clashes with the Fulani heardsmen where the indigenous owners of the land across the various communities refused to relinquish their ancestral lands for the Fulani-only cattle policy. As a consequence of these clashes many villages and communities were sacked by the fulanis who in turn forcefully occupied those lands. While these communities had remained in Internally displaced camps as IDP’s to date the fulanis had become the occupation forces in such conquered territories.
While the anarchy persisted, governor Samuel Ortom who persistently carried his Lamentations to President Buhari was not only told to “go settle and live in peace with your neighbours”, but was outrightly banned from setting foot on the presidential Villa.
As the fulani herdsmen carnage persisted in the Middle Belt, Banditry and kidnapping began to ravage the North West and North Central states from 2020, getting to a climax in 2021/2022. As a result a few of the people that can afford have left their homes to various state capitals and Abuja, abandoning the poor ones at the mercy of God and the wickedness of the bandits.
As we speak, the entire country is engulfed in a kidnapping and killing spree in a magnitude never witnessed in Nigeria, as pepetrated by young terrorists identified from their language to be fulanis by the luckiest released victims and video/audio clips.
This discourse is an attempt to highlight the level of insecurity leading up to governor Bello Matawalle’s ‘self defense’ declaration. It also seeks to bring to the fore the level of security consciousness of both government and the various security outfits in securing the lives and property of the Nigerian citizens, the legal issues surrounding gun and firearms control. Finally, this attempt is to contribute my little quarter in ensuring awareness to the provission of a safer country for you and I in an egalitarian society where there is justice, equity, faireness and above all, a right to life for every citizen.
BELLO MATAWALLE’S FRUSTRATION “Self defense has always been part of human survival strategy therefore as governor I will do everything possible to uphold this responsibility within the ambit of the law” – Matawalle. Due to the level of insecurity leading to wanton destruction of life and property, the Zamfara governor Bello Matawalle recently called on the citizens to aquire and carry guns for self defense. He went further to encourage the Inspector General of police to issue firearms licences to them. Man generally have a tendency for safety in the face of danger. Thus as the rate of insecurity increases in the country , without commensurate protection by the armed forces, coupled with the inability of the people to defend themselves, the governor seing that the people have been abandoned at the mercy of the mercy of the killer terrorists had no alternative than to call on the citizens to posses guns and firearms for self defense. Like him or hate him, governor Matawalle just like Samuel Ortom cannot afford to standby to watch his people being killed on daily basis.
Highlighting the increasing level of insecurity leading up to Matawalle’s ‘self defense’declaration, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Matthew Hassan Kukah has been unrelenting in calling on the Buhari led APC government to be up to its responsibility of good governance and the protection of life and property. For these relentless efforts Bishop Kukah had been criticize and ostracized severally by the same North that is now bleeding from self inflicted wounds.
IMPLICATION OF MATAWALLE’S SELF DEFENSE DECLARATION This declaration is not only seeking to save lives, but a direct indictment of the federal government of General Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to protect Nigerians. The list is inexhaustible : (1) Symptoms of a failed state. (2) Indictment of federal government. (3) APC failure to fulfill just one of its 3 major manifestoes. (4) Personal Failure of Buhari as a former military General, Military head of state, and commander in chief before becoming a civilian president. (5) Failure of the Armed forces of Nigeria to carry out it’s primary functions of securing life and property of Nigerians in Nigeria. (6) Invitation to anarchy and lawlessness. (7) Influx and proliferation of Firearms into Nigeria. (8) Militarization of Nigeria. (9) A prelude to the emergence of warlords, and balkanization of Nigeria. (10) Influx of militia/terrorists groups into Nigeria. (11) The creation of an Afghanistan or Libya type in Nigeria. (12) It costs #400,000.00 to #500,000.00 to purchase an AK47. At these hard times of paucity of funds, I wonder how many people people can afford a gun. (13) Who does the training on use of firearms ?
WHAT DOES THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION SAY ? The idea of gun possession in a Nigeria of today looks not only appealing but also a deterrant to a would be terrorist. However, the existing laws of the federation of Nigeria do not provide for a right to gun possession. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which provides for the actionable and non – actionable rights of Nigerian citizens is silent on the rights to the possession of guns and firearms. In the same manner the constitution do not also expressly prohibit the possession of firearms by private citizens.
THE FIREARMS ACT 1959 The Laws relating to the possession of firearms in Nigeria are the Firearms Act and the Firearms Regulation. These laws make provision for, and regulate the possession of, and dealing in firearms and ammunition. Section 3 of the Firearms Act provides that “No person shall have in his possession or under his his control any firearms or ammunition except in accordance with a licence granted by the president acting in his discretion”, or the Inspector General of Police. Further more, the criteria and qualifications for granting the license is expressly laid out in the 1959 Firearms Control Act.
CONCLUSION Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state is right after all for requesting the IG to grant gun license to people of his state who desire to have such for self defense. This is more so especially at a time that the military is likely overwhelmed by the activities of terrorists, armed bandits, and gun men in the country. The Firearms Act and the Firearms Regulation both contain salient provisions on the sale, purchase, transfer, importation. It is hoped that more state governors will join Bello Matawalle in calling for their citizens to posses guns for self defense. This may likely go a long way in curbing the menace of the so called bandit gunmen.
I woke up on the 5th of June to see “Owo” trending on Twitter, thinking maybe the governor of the state Rotimi Akeredolu had done something a typical Nigerian government official would do, which would not surprise me, and, to which I didn’t care to take a look at. I found the real story after going through my WhatsApp status updates from contacts. Indeed, it was a horror, the pictures that confronted me.
Two days later, I found out that, three hours after the Owo attack, something worse happened in one of our villages in Southern Kaduna. The military shot at unarmed villages that were under Fulani militia’s attack and secured the militia.
THE JOURNEY
As is the norm with me, some stories strike more than just a chord. Some things should not happen in a democratic society, and even if not so, the 21st century should present us with better opportunities for conflict resolution.
I left Abuja a couple of minutes to 7 PM after the day’s tasks have been completed and headed to Kaduna. One notable thing on the road that night was an accident with survivors in it, but no one dared stop to help them, because of the fear of kidnappers and the elements of destabilization in that death trap called Abuja-Kaduna Express Way. Even my soul felt pity for those trapped in that vehicle.
Minutes later would be our turn. We were two in the vehicle when at 9:45 PM, we had a flat tyre that left us stranded on that road for an hour. I got to Kaduna minutes past 11 PM, crashed at a friend’s place, and continued my journey to the destination where a Nigerian Military helicopter was said to have shot and killed people.
KADUNA-CROSSING-MAIKORI VILLAGE
At first, I thought the attack happened somewhere close to Kaduna city, and at most, somewhere around Kajuru which is about 60KM from the city. Wrong!
First, my guide told me he was not in the village where the attack happened any longer. He had moved on to be with the IDPs in Kaduna and asked me to contact another survivor who would lead me to the village. The second guide was in Kachia, and had to take a cab to Crossing where we met.
“Oga Sir, are we leaving the car here?” he asked.
“No! Why should we leave it here bro?” I inquired.
“It is because the road is not good and the place is far…”
We would go on to travel in the car for convenience, but the motorable road came to an end at Maro which is about 25KM at least, from Crossing. We crossed into Ugakala, drove past quite a number of settlements for almost an hour, and decided to park at Chibiya village when our guide noticed how difficult it was navigating such a jungle. He pleaded with his kinsmen he met on bikes, borrowed their bikes, and rode on one with the cameraman while I and one passenger of the other bike rode on the other for another 30 minutes till we got to Maikori village.
HOW THE ATTACKS HAPPENED
A Sunday is a resting day for these agrarian communities. After Sunday service, it is a well-known fact that Southern Kaduna Christian communities see Sunday as a holiday where you don’t have to work or toil for anything. It is mostly all about going to Church, fellowship, coming back home, resting, or going to the village markets to relax and, or catch up with old friends and families.
According to one of the eye witnesses from Maikori Village,
“We were resting under a tree when we heard gunshots from Ungwan Sarki. We immediately mobilized to know what was happening and were told Fulani men had attacked the village. In the process of mobilizing ourselves to go help our brothers, we saw an influx of men on motorbikes. There were over 100 motorbikes carrying two people each, at least!”
Eyewitness
Another eyewitness said,
“They came in their large numbers. They were many, with sophisticated weapons and we were ready to confront them. It is our village. It is our streams and rivers. It is our farms. It is our bushes. Even though they used to graze here, they don’t know these places better than we do. So we were strategizing on how to defend ourselves when all of a sudden a helicopter came and started to shoot at us, while the attackers were left to burn our houses!”
Eyewitness
Mass grave of the victims
An elderly woman in her 70s said, “We thought the helicopter was there to help us but it was not. It opened fire on us as we ran. We were running and hiding under shrubs. If this were to be a dry season, the casualty figure would have been worse than this.
“Up till now, we don’t stay in our houses anymore. We are here because we are hungry. We stay in the bushes and not in the houses. We just came to get some corn to grind and then go back to the bushes where we are hiding. We fear they would come back.”
70 years old survivor
Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed the helicopter chased them into the bushes, shelled them, and left the terrorists to loot their barns and burn any structure they could. This operation that lasted for two hours had two people killed and one injured. Maniya Inuwa was killed by the terrorists, while Titus Yusuf was shot and killed by the helicopter. Shadrach Joshua was also shot by the helicopter.
A white Rooivalk Mk1 attack helicopter for illustration purpose. Credit: Australian aviation
Every effort to see Joshua was not successful, but luckily, he called me on the phone past 8PM just as I had arrived in Abuja. Apparently, Joshua woke up that morning, was taken to the hospital for treatment, and later hidden in the bush perhaps the Fulanis come back to re-attack the village again.
The attack on Ungwan Sarki claimed two lives, at Maikori two lives and one injury from the helicopter’s shelling, and thirty four lives at Dogo Noma.
ECWA Church Maikori after the attack
The people at Dogo Noma were in a market square having a good time when two men arrived on bikes, surveyed the environment, and left. Minutes later, they were rounded up in the market. Those who tried to escape were shot down while quite a number of them were captured numbering twenty-nine. To date, others cannot be accounted for.
KADUNA STATE GOVERNMENT’S ACCOUNT
The Kaduna state government had kept mum for four (4) days since the Sunday, 5th of June’s attack in Dogon Noma, Maikori, and Ungwan Sarki communities. The government only decided to speak when it became obvious that Southern Karuna was trending on Twitter and other social media platforms. The helicopter story was also spreading like wildfire.
The government speaking through its Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan acknowledged that there was an attack on Sunday 5th June but didn’t explain why it took her four days to comment. The government took time to mention the names of the victims killed during the attack but denied that the helicopter shot at the villagers. It said the helicopter belongs to the Nigerian air force and was on the ground to engage the terrorists.
What the state government has not been able to show to the world is proof that terrorists were killed by the so-called military helicopter. It is baffling to say that a military attack helicopter was on the ground to repel terrorists yet not a single terrorist was killed.
A destroyed vehicle at Maikori
This is not the first time victims of Fulani terrorist attacks are alleging sighting helicopters during attacks. In 2018, communities in the same Kajuru local government area of Kaduna state narrated how they sighted a white-painted helicopter landing in the bushes near them prior to the attacks. There was a video to that effect, where community members narrated their ordeals in the hands of the terrorists.
In June 2020, a captured terrorist confessed during interrogation in a viral video that a certain white painted helicopter was supplying them with weapons for operations.
In February 2022 a certain helicopter flying at low level shot a teenage boy in Kagoro, a community near Kafanchan, the boy survived with an injured arm.
The onion of proof that the terrorists are not in possession of air assets lies in the Nigerian Air Force. The Air Force must as a matter of urgency clear the air with satisfactory evidence otherwise the testimony of victims and survivors will continue to shape public discussions on terrorist attacks in Nigeria as it has never been heard that terrorists used planes or helicopters to visit their victims.
Two weeks before the Sunday 5th June attack, a retired senior intelligence officer had told MBT in confidence about the presence of a certain white painted helicopter which he said was suspicious and that it might be used for nefarious activities.
He said the white chopper is often seen landing at the Air Force Base in Kaduna. Even though he could not tell much about the ownership of the chopper, he said going by its flight nature and timing, he suspects the chopper was being used to either provide cover or facilitate the operations of terrorists or used to kill targeted people in the state.
With the statement earlier released by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan crediting the Nigerian Air Force Base with the helicopter being a rescue helicopter, it is left for them to verify who was the pilot of the helicopter, who gave the command for the helicopter to go to the rescue of the people which ended up killing one person and injuring another person and also providing cover for ground terrorists to kill and burn down houses.
Also, every helicopter has a visible number for easy identification, but this specific helicopter which is white in color does not fly close to the ground as would do other military helicopters. In Zangon Kataf for instance, the presence of the same white helicopter signals that an attack is imminent. This can be confirmed by residents of the local government which leaves us with no option but to request the Nigeria Air Force Base to do a proper investigation to identify this helicopter and its owner.
If the Nigerian Air Force Base cannot investigate, then we call on the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology to do due diligence. Both NAF-Base and NCAT are in Kaduna and are supposed to be privy to information on any flight within the territory in question!
RECOVERED HIGH CALIBRE AMMUNITIONSFROM TERROR SCENE
Middle Belt Times correspondent came in contact with some high calibre ammunitions recovered from the scene of the attack by the villagers. The sizes and shapes of the ammunition look different from the conventional AK-47 bullet shells usually found after attacks in southern Kaduna and elsewhere. These ammunitions look bigger than normal.
High calibre ammunition recovered from Maikori community
Middle Belt Times reached out to a retired senior Air Force officer who agreed to share his views on the matter on condition of strict anonymity. When he sighted a photograph of one of the ammunitions recovered from the attack site, he said the bullets are either 30 or 50mm calibre round mostly fired by machine guns mounted on attack aircrafts. Speaking on the yet to be identified attck helicopter alleged to be providing cover for terrorists, the retired Air Commodore said the government could deny such allegations as long as no clear evidence to hold onto.
The government could deny the helicopter because there are many around. Even the Nigerian Air Force has had some close incidents with unknown aircrafts. What would be overwhelming is the aircraft shot down else anything you put out can be denied.
Retired Air Force officer.
He went further to state that such ammunitions have no business in a rural community not at war.
Such high calibre weapons do not have any business in Kajuru except if the terrorists were also flying attack aircrafts or riding on armoured vehicles.” He said.
Retired Air Force officer…
Middle Belt Times carried out further checks on the 30 and 50mm calibre round and discovered that such ammunitions are typically not used against personnel, but rather as an anti-materiel or armor-piercing round. “Rounds of this size can be effective against lightly armored vehicles as well as fortified bunkers. 30 mm is also a popular calibre for shipboard close-in weapons systems, such as the Russian AK-630 and Dutch Goalkeeper CIWS.” [Wikipedia].
MBT reporter holding a recovered high calibre ammunition
Similarly, the 50mm calibre round is used typically as anti-materiel or armoured-piercint ammunition mostly mounted on attack aircrafts. The question begging for answer is, what could such dangerous weapons be doing in an agrarian community not at war with anybody?
CONCLUSION
While this investigation may not go down well with the powers that be, Middle Belt Times is not out to foment trouble. We are asking every stakeholder to get to grips with themselves and do the needful. Yesterday, it was AK47 riffles. Today, it is a helicopter. We do not know what befalls our communities tomorrow, maybe, chemical or biological weapons.
INTRODUCTION Hunger looms in Southern Kaduna as farmers across the region cannot access their farms for agricultural activities. This is as a result of the genocidal herdsmen terrorists and gunmen who kill every indigenous person on sight at the farms, and in their homes. In same manner, the surviving displaced persons who’s towns and homes have been burnt down and taking refuge in IDP camps will be unable to vote in the forthcoming 2023 elections. This voter disenfranchisement will definitely affect the already precarious existing situation, and the uncertainty associated with the never-seen expected accrued dividends of democracy.
This discourse is an attempt to bring to the fore the consequential effects of the many years of genocide, destruction, hunger, neglect, and voter disenfranchisement as lethal weapons of war on the people of Southern Kaduna.
HOW HUNGER IS USED AS WEAPON OF WAR Hunger is said to be the most potent, deadliest, and lethal weapon used as a deliberate arsenal in the destruction of a people during conflict and war. This inhuman act which is more of catastrophic consequences than the bullet began to gain attention from World War I, gaining notoriety during world war II. The Biafran War came, then the middle east wars including the on going Syrian war, to the present Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen rampage, and now the menace of Banditry. This is achieved by causing disruption and instability in food production, preservation, distribution, and the supply chain. This war strategy forces people away from their homes, land, farms, and livestock. The act also include blockade of supply and delivery routes, closure of land and sea borders, and airports. As a result, hunger, starvation, famine, malnutrition, and diseases sets in, thereby causing the deaths of children, women, and men. Then the few surviving helpless men surrender their sovereignty, franchise, heritage, pride/dignity, and land to the conquering forces of occupation.
USE OF HUNGER AS WEAPON OF WAR IN HISTORY (1) During World War I Germany was confronted with wide – scale food shortages which led to a breakdown in the will of the German forces and the people to fight. This hunger brought about Germany’s collapse and surrender. From the ashes of that defeat arose the notorious Adolf Hitler and his ascendency to power, and the rise of the Nazi Party. This was the period Hitler’s Nazi Germany popularised the frugal ‘Guns or Butter’ policy. (2) The ‘Hunger Plan’ introduced in Nazi occupied countries inflicted deliberate mass starvation on the Slavic population and other territories under German occupation such as Greece, and France – including the Jewish race. (3) In Italy, the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini employed the politics of food as a weapon of war to subdue his enemies. (4) During World War II Napoleon’s ‘An army moves on its stomach’ Philosophy became a watch word for the US and Canada in their production of grains in the plains of the Prairies. (5) In World War II period, the war time leaders of the Allaid forces came together to liberate the conquered peoples of Europe and Asia with adequate supply of food as a priority both during the war and the post war years. (6) As the war in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan rages on, the closure of land borders, sea and air ports have led to starvation and deaths due to non delivery of food to opposition’s controlled territories. (7) During the 30 month Nigerian Civil War of 6 July,1967 to 15 January, 1970, Obafemi Awolowo as the war time minister of finance in the Gowon administration is widely alleged to have introduced the ‘Starvation policy’, a policy of blockade of food from reaching out to the Briafran Igbo region. This brought about hunger, malnutrition, diseases, and widespread deaths of children, women, and men. This deaths badly affected the morale of the Briafran troops – the last straw that broke the camel’s back, with defeat staring the young “Country of the Rising Sun” in the face. The Briafran leader Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu personally hit the final nail down the Igbo coffin With his escape to Ivory Coast, leaving behind the second in command Col. Philip Effiong to surrender – a surrender that marked the eclipse of that rising sun.
THE CASE FOR SOUTHERN KADUNA The crisis of food insecurity as a result of communal, tribal, religious, farmer/herders conflict on the indigenous people of Southern Kaduna has lingered for too long. This prompted both past and present State & Federal government to set up Judicial commissions of enquiry, fact finding and recommendation committees, boundary delineation committees, peace and reconciliation commissions, white paper/ and implementation committees, compensation and resettlement committees, etc in order to solve the problems. The present state governor Mallam Nasir El Rufai even admitted paying monetary compensation to foreign Fulani herdsmen for loses to their cattle and men suffered in Southern Kaduna. However, the crisis have not abated.
Southern Kaduna have been under constant attack by Fulani herdsmen for prior to 2011 with hightened attacks in 2016/2017. There was a resumption of hostilities prior to the 2019 elections, and the attacks are now assuming a frightening dimension. Armed men are having a field day hunting and killing Southern Kaduna people like rats and wild animals for a game unhindered and without repercussion. Farm crops and livestock have been abandoned and are being vandalized. The farming season had since commenced but farmers are killed in their farms and homes on a daily basis by the herdsmen terrorists. War is declared on the people from all fronts, towns, and villages. The menacing herdsmen terrorists kill, burn, drive, and occupy Southern Kaduna land. Woman and men have deserted their burnt down towns and villages, and a respite seems to come from nowhere. Hunger looms in the land with catastrophic consequences.
Whether the Southern Kaduna race will survive this war or will get to the brink of the precipice and eventually go into extinction remains to be seen.
SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (1) Since the government lacks the political will to take decisive actions to protect life and property of the people, the affected communities should resort to self defense in order not to be killed continuosly like wild animals. (2) The United Nations Security Council adopted the ‘Resolution 2417’ at its 8267th meeting on 24 May, 2018 to act accordingly to save vulnerable populations where hunger is used as a weapon of war. (3) ‘Humanitarian Appeal’, a leading UK charity organization have called on the International Criminal Court to begin prosecution of military actors, dictatorial regimes, War Lord’s, terrorist groups, armed bandits who deliberately employ measures to starve the people to death as a weapon of war. (4) Nigeria is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to her conventions and protocols. – The needful should be done by appropriate agencies. (5) The creation of a state for the Southern Kaduna people who inhabit 12 local governments, with a population of over 3 million people (2006 census : Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette no. 2 vol. 96 Extraordinary) is more cogent now than ever before. You may wish to also know that according to that 2006 census, Southern Kaduna is more populated than 11 states in Nigeria. These are : Abia – 2.8 million Adamawa- 3.1million Bayelsa – 1.7million C/River – 2.8million Ebonyi – 2.1million Ekiti – 2.3 million Gombe – 2.3million Kwara – 2.3million Nasarawa-1.8million Taraba – 2.2million Yobe – 2.3million It is interesting to know that Kachia Local government, and Zango Kataf local government each alone has a land mass that is more than some 3 states put together.
VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT Voter disenfranchisement in Southern Kaduna to a large extent affect the people’s participation, and by extension the expected accrued dividends of democracy as already observed in recent times. We need to have an informed citizenry on the effects/consequences of disenfranchisement as not only to defend the people’s rights to vote and be voted for, but also to serve to ensure a sustainable democratic culture. (1) It will be impracticable for displaced people who’s towns, homes and settlements have been burnt down by herdsmen terrorists, and living in IDP camps to vote in the 2023 elections because of loss of voters cards to fire etc. (2) The existing political wards/polling units delineation does not favour the high population of Southern Kaduna. Meanwhile, Kaduna State is the third most populous in Nigeria with more than 6 million (2006 National population census) with an allocation of a 25 year old 255 wards and 5,102 polling units. Although INEC has created additional 2,910 voting points in Kaduna state so as to expand and enhance voter access to polling units in 2023, Southern Kaduna is still not having a commensurate fraction of this increase as compared to the other part of the state. (3) Despite Kaduna State’s bigger land mass and population than Katsina state, Katsina state has 34 local governments while Kaduna State has 23 local governments. In spite of this lobsidedness, Katsina state still has more wards and polling units than Kaduna State, thereby leaving Southern Kaduna to bear the brunt of the shortfall. (4) Disenfranchisement and denial of voting rights by whatever guise as experienced in Southern Kaduna over the years may be comparable with the racial discrimination against blacks in the USA leading up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In addition, the racist and apartheid system by white South Africa where the majority blacks were denied voting rights is still fresh in our memory.
SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (1) Community leaders, tribal associations, religious leaders/groups, politicians, elective/appointive representatives, etc to embark on aggressive voter/public education, as well as constructive engagement with relevant government agencies. (2) Concerted efforts be made to re-register people who have lost their voter cards to the endless crisis. (3) If unable to re issue or replace such to displaced voters who lost their voters cards with new ones before the expiration of the dateline, INEC should ensure the use of some kind of identification to enable them vote in the 2023 elections. If it was done in the North East during the 2015 and 2019 elections why not in Southern Kaduna for the 2023 elections. (4) If, for example, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been in the vanguard of defense of the rights of disenfranchised people especially the blacks and coloured minorities, similar organizations in Nigeria should intensify efforts to eliminate all forms of voter disenfranchisement in Southern Kaduna.
CONCLUSION As highlighted above, hunger and voter disenfranchisement is imminent in Southern Kaduna and other Middle Belt communities ravaged by the menace of herdsmen terrorists, and other criminal gangs/gunmen. Though it would be easier to sit idly by and do nothing, there is no way to secure and change our society if we don’t take action. I therefore implore you to consider contributing your quarter towards eliminating these vices that will drive Southern Kaduna and some parts of the Middle Belt to extinction.
The 2023 race for the Kaduna South Senatorial seat today is the most competitive and talked about in the history of the area, not just within the 8 local government areas that make up Kaduna South senatorial District but by extension Kaduna state as a whole. Not even the race for Sir Kashim Ibrahim House has generated as much public debate as the Kaduna South senatorial race. This is partly due to the fact that some of the finest political juggernauts from the zone have thrown their hats into the ring for the contest.
The social media have been saturated with narratives and counter narratives on who should be the next Senator to represent the over 4 million people of the area, a people that have suffered various kinds of marginalisation, terror attacks, forceful occupation and injustices of the highest proportion, especially in the last seven and a half years. The area has within the period buried in Mass graves no fewer than 5,000 of its citizens murdered in the most barbaric manner and lost over a hundred communities in the last seven years.
Amongst the aspirants under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is a gentleman by name Sunday Marshall Katung, an honourable in the real sense of the word, a lawyer, a philanthropist, one who personifies the word “humility”. Katung, who is popularly known as SMK, is a former Commissioner of Finance and Water Resources under late Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, a former House of Representatives member representing Jaba/Zangon Kataf Constituency from 2015 to 2019.
Looking at the many challenges confronting Kaduna South Senatorial District, Katung by his antecedents and impeccable track record best fits the moment and should earn the trust of the people to deliver robust representation to them, a representation that goes beyond stomach infrastructure and giving of handouts to a negligible few, in contrast to the self-serving representation that is obtainable today. Honourable is one who will put his wealth of experience, training and experience as a lawyer, a business administrator and his international and local connections together to create legislations that will directly impact the lives of the people of Kaduna South positively.
Katung by all indications has prepared himself for this great and daunting task beforehand, and this could be seen in his style of politicking in the last two years. While others were still contemplating whether to run for Senate or not, Katung clearly defined what he wanted and rolled his sleeves to get the job done. It is also evidently clear that Katung has won the hearts of some of the best and patriotic young people from Kaduna South who have been spreading the gospel of his campaign tagline “GetInvolved” to all nook and crannies of the district.
With no disrespect to any aspirant, Sunday Marshall Katung as of today is ostensibly the only aspirant that has been able to clearly outline via a concise manifesto, how he intends to tackle the many challenges confronting Kaduna South senatorial district.
My Plea to Delegates.
It is just 11 days to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Primary election, and you, our delegates, once again, will decide who becomes our Senator for the next years. Opportunity has once again presented itself to you our wonderful delegates to write your names, individually and collectively, on the sand of time. Would you vote for competency, capacity and commitment to service and active representation or you would vote for mediocrity and passive representation that has bedevilled Kaduna South in the last seven and a half years thereby short-changing the people in the committee of senatorial districts in the country? The choice is yours to make but remember that whatever decision you make on whose name appear on the ballot, we all, you included, will live with the consequences in the next four years.
I therefore urge you all to put into consideration the points I have highlighted above in making your decisions.
The ball is in your court, but we are watching keenly.
Steven Kefas writes from Kenyi, Kagarko local government Area of Kaduna state.
