Politics and Southern Kaduna killings

GRUESOME and barbaric killings have already become a phenomenon in Nigeria. They have become a tool of division various ethnic groups and tribes, including religion in the hands of desperate and callous political and religious leaders in the country. All too often, people react in different ways, projecting their political, religious, tribal affiliations and interests. Sometimes pieces of information on the killings are distorted in order to either conceal the facts or inflate them. All these are characteristic features of Nigeria in which suspicion, anxiety and tension define our coexistence.

According to the Catholic Archdiocese of Kafanchan, the unrest in southern Kaduna State has claimed (among others) 808 lives, 1,422 houses, 16 churches, 19 shops, and one primary school were destroyed. None of the data given above has been independently verified and confirmed. Political and religious gladiators usually cash in on these crises for their obnoxious objectives, to the detriment of the victims of the conflicts. It will not be surprising to hear the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, trying to justify the killings allegedly perpetrated by many armed Fulani cattle rustlers just because he belongs to the tribe. This is justifying the assertion that the country is already divided along several parallel lines. Killings, no matter what provoked the killer(s), can never be justified. A governor is expected to defend his/her people while not giving undue favours to members of his/her ethnic group, which is just one out of many in such a state.

Also, the statement released by the Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, would seem to suggest that the Federal Government is insensitive to the plight of the people over whom it reigns. The minister said: “True religious leaders do not fan the embers of hate, but ensure that communities live in peace and harmony.” From this, Dambazau is condemning the CAN leaders instead of the killings. Having refused to visit the scenes of the crime and killings, it is really unfortunate to hear the minister say that. He ought to have first-hand information before he makes comments on what the religion body, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said.

Such a statement from his office can incite people against one another. And that is how our political leaders become instigators of crisis in Nigeria.  Granted that the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria may have increased the figures, the Federal Government ought to have provided the actual and verified information after the attack. By doing this, CAN would not be in a position to fan the embers of hate. But it is ludicrous that the government can only dispute the information given by CAN.

Perhaps as suggested b CAN, the Interior Minister can wait for the outcome of the investigation into the attack before he can condemn CAN’s statement which he described as being exaggerated. Of course, exaggeration and inflation of figures to posit a particular group of people as being endangered is not a new development. It is possible for CAN to politicize the massacre by multiplying the actual figure of the casualties since the government (state and federal) has failed to ascertain and confirm the figures.

Serial attacks on community people by the Fulanis, many of whom are foreigners, as Malam el-Rufai held, are becoming a scourge that should be stopped. The Agatu people, residents of Ndiagu, Attakwu, Akegbe-Ugwu in Nkanu-West Local Government Area of Enugu State, are some of the victims of the herdsmen’s mayhem. Also, no fewer than 20 people were killed in two separate attacks in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital as gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen unleashed terror on the communities. How many more souls will be lost to the herdsmen’s incessant rampage?

It’s high time those at the helms of affairs halted the blame game and exchange of words. The perpetrators of the killings should be unveiled and brought to book. Security of lives and property should not be treated like politics. Arresting and prosecuting the criminals will serve as a deterrent to others who are minded to carry out more attacks.

• Faboade writes in from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.