Herdsmen’s renewed onslaught on communities

LAST week, a newly-wed couple were killed and another person injured when suspected herders attacked BECO Comprehensive Secondary School in Kwi, Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State. The victims, who had got married in March, were teachers in the school, while the injured victim is the vice principal. According to the school principal, Dandoro Gyang, members of staff were holding a meeting when the suspected herders invaded the school with their cattle and started shooting sporadically, throwing the school into pandemonium. The two teachers were killed while the vice principal, Dalyop Emmanuel Ibrahim, managed to survive the dastardly incident with gunshot wounds. Following the attack, the president of a sociocultural group in the area, the Berom Youth Moulders, Solomon Dalyop, urged the Plateau State government to ban open grazing in the state. According to him, this is because it has become a ploy to wreak havoc on lives and properties in the state.

In the South-West, according to reports, the indecisiveness among state governors in implementing their various anti-open grazing laws has enabled the resurgence of cattle movement on highways and streets in the region. The situation is the same across the country even as the casualty figures steadily mount. According to an organisation, Save the Children International (SCI), armed herdsmen killed over 128 farmers and kidnapped 37 people between January and June this year. That is, of course, a conservative estimate. However, we are not suggesting that all kidnapping cases in the country have the imprimatur of the herders. For instance, last week, a prospective member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Esther Abosede Akande, with Call-up No.: NYSC/IFE/2023/201810 (Batch B stream 2), was kidnapped in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, but it is yet unclear who carried out the attack. Akande, a graduate of Education/English from the Obafemi Awolowo University, was reportedly abducted on Wednesday, August 16, while on her way to the NYSC permanent orientation camp in Magaji Dan Yanusa Keffi, Nasarawa State.

In May, herders killed a couple, their only child and seven others during attacks on communities in Benue State. The communities included Akpanta, Ochumeko and Ijaha in Apa Local Government Area, where three persons were murdered in cold blood; and Ucheen, a border community between Makurdi and Gwer West, where six people lost their lives. According to the national chairman of Apa Development Association, Mr. Eche Akpoko, the invaders razed the affected communities after killing the victims. The following month, 15 persons were confirmed killed in separate attacks in Bwai and Chisu communities of Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State. The herders reportedly stormed the two communities simultaneously killing and setting ablaze any house in sight. A COCIN RCC Church in Bwai, along the Mangu-Bokkos Road, was burnt down together with several houses, vehicles, and tricycles in the attacks.

To say the very least, the attacks are horrendous, pointing to state capture by the outlaws whose activities seemed to have reduced a bit during the naira redesign crisis when Nigerians had to buy money to even feed. But they are now back to business, raping, killing and mutilating people with impunity. The agony of the victims can never be adequately captured in words; the herders have left vast numbers of families ruined and in despair. During the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, the herders turned the entire country into a vast killing field, exulting in their power to kill and kidnap people with impunity. They staged pogroms and scoffed at the authority of the Nigerian State. Sadly, even with the change of governments across the country recently, they are still a potent danger to citizens. They have continued their murderous onslaughts across the country, bringing sorrow and despair to households. Worse still, there is the nagging feeling that their occasional arrest by the security agencies is a mere gimmick, as they are sooner or later released back into the society to wreak more havoc.

The reports on bandits attacks, kidnapping and increasing criminal activities have made it difficult to know what really has changed, even with all the hollow promises by those newly elected to take charge of affairs in the country. All the security structures put in place to checkmate such criminal brigandage, including the Amotekun security outfit in the South-West, have been unable to provide a respite. We have repeatedly warned that it is useless for the government to leave citizens at the mercy of brigands and terrorists who take great delight in mowing them down at will anytime they want. We insist that the primary responsibility of any government is the protection of citizens and that everything has to be done to actualise it for the society to have meaning. We expect governments across the country to have come to the inevitable conclusion on the necessity of state police. This is the way to even have any chance of protecting the people at the level of each locality, as it is done across the world. In the same vein, it is imperative to further strengthen the regional security outfit, Amotekun, to make it much more effective in providing succour from the evil acts of the rampaging herdsmen.

During the ninth National Assembly, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila promised that the Green Chamber would amend the constitution to allow for state and regional policing, but that was the last Nigerians heard about the matter. The 10th National Assembly led by Senator Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas must revisit the matter and amend the law to allow for the democratisation of policing in the country. The government must halt the descent into disorder inherent in the killings that have become the norm across the country. It must act urgently and decisively to checkmate the herdsmen and other criminals now.

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