SAN FRANCISCO, January 11, (THEWILL) – Over the years, there have been recurring violence in Kaduna State between its ethnic nationalities in the south, who are dominantly Christians and the others, who claim to be the majority and are Muslims.
The frequent attacks against the Southern Kaduna people, as they are often called, have made them endangered species with about a thousand people killed so far while real estate worth hundreds of millions of naira have been destroyed.
The recent attacks on people of the area by suspected Fulani herdsmen have again heightened the fear that a permanent solution was not yet in sight. But, of great worry is the suspicion that Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who is a Muslim, took sides with the herdsmen, against the Southern Kaduna Christians.
Close watchers have blamed the dimension, which the fight assumed on El-Rufai’s poor handling of the crisis. This is more so as the governor was allegedly informed about the looming attack but failed to take a preventive action.
Unfortunately, he was quoted to have dismissed the alert, insisting that the attackers could be herdsmen from neigbouring countries who were on a revenge mission over the killing of their relatives and livestock in 2011 post-election violence.
It is ridiculous that the governor failed to act on such delicate intelligence as the chief security officer of the state until very late after it had begun. The crisis had reportedly claimed over 800 lives before he imposed a curfew in December.
It is worrisome that while El-Rufai could have requested that troops be immediately deployed to flush out the supposed foreign herdsmen, the herdsmen operated unhindered even while the curfew lasted. This indicates that the more recent attack is a continuation of the old rivalry between the two divides.
This mutual distrust between the people of the state has permeated the socio-political activities in the state, especially in the election of its leaders. Curiously, this mutual distrust dates back to the military era and has unfortunately continued in this democratic setting without a solution in sight.
THEWILL condemns Governor El-Rufai’s utterances and his very poor handling of the matter. We also condemn the allegation that he paid ransom to the Fulani herdsmen, who he claimed had come on a reprisal from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and other countries, against his own nationals who elected him as governor.
The governor’s tweet on April 26, 2013 while commenting on the payment of stipends to some ex-Niger Delta militants comes to mind at this juncture as he had posted: “Any society that responds to crimes by forgiving and bribing the criminals will inevitably create large contingents of criminal waanabes (sic).”
Meanwhile, THEWILL regrets President Muhammadu Buhari’s belated intervention in the matter after his spokesman had shockingly stated that the president does not need to speak on it. Little wonder that it took Buhari several days before directing security agencies to take action on the crisis.
Buhari’s directive that the Inspector General of Police deploy its officers and men unfortunately came after hundreds of people have already been sent to early graves. It is pointless mediating in other countries’ crises when the president cannot solve his teething domestic problems.
Also unduly delayed was his order that the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and its sister agency in the state wade in to determine the level of response required by the victims. Where was the president when the massacre lasted? Indeed, there would have been no need to respond to the plights of war victims if requisite actions were taken to prevent the crisis from festering.
We commend the move of the Senate, which has promised to probe the killings. We also laud individuals and organisations that have called for a permanent solution to the protracted crisis.
Since attacks by herders have become a recurring decimal in the county, THEWILL urges collaboration between the Federal Government and the National Assembly to save innocent lives and dispel the rumour that faceless government goons are behind the attacks to take over the lands of Southern Kaduna people where a major mineral resource, Nickel, has been discovered.
