Terrorism: The damning data in Danjuma’s defence

IN yet another charge that rattled an increasingly antagonistic Establishment, Theophilus Danjuma, ex-Army chief, ex-Defence minister, billionaire businessman and elder statesman,  recently repeated his clarion call on Nigerians under siege to acquire the instruments of self-defence. Speaking  at the coronation and presentation of the staff of office to the 25th Aku Uka of Wukari, the paramount ruler of the Kwararafa kingdom in Wukari town of Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State, the Taraba-born military tactician lamented that innocent Nigerians were being killed by bandits with the collusion of the military.

Hear him: “When some few years ago I warned that the armed forces were either not capable or were unwilling to protect us and that we must defend ourselves, the first denial about what I said came from the Ministry of Defence. They said I was lying and they set up a kangaroo board of inquiry to investigate the truth or otherwise of what I said. They invited me to come and testify but I did not go. They wrote their report which stated that I was only speculating and that there was no evidence. But now there is evidence. The whole country now is being overrun and one very clear thing that is happening now is that these foreign invaders are destroying everything and our government allowed them to come into the country.

“I thank God today that the evidence is very clear to all Nigerians now. All Nigerian communities are now sacked by the same bandits I alleged, and all of these bandits are foreigners. As a soldier, I must say the best way to defend is to attack; I will not buy arms for you. Find out how those attacking you acquired them, acquire them and attack back to defend yourself and your territory.” And he told the new king pointedly: “You are surrounded by armed bandits who are out to kill and destabilise the peace of your territory and you must make serious effort to defend your people and the territory.”

Danjuma was referring to his bombshell at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University in March 2018 wherein he had said: “The armed forces are not neutral. They collude with the armed bandits. They kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movements, they cover them. If you depend on the armed forces to stop the killings you will all die one by one. The ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba State, and in all the states of Nigeria. I ask everyone one of you to be alert and defend your territory, your state. ” If  the killings in the country did not stop, he warned, “Somalia will be a child’s play.”

Texas Chukwu, spokesman of the army, had denied Danjuma’s allegation, saying that regarding the then ongoing military operation codenamed Ex Ayem Akpatuma, “the Taraba State government did not cooperate with the Nigerian Army due to the army’s stance to remain absolutely neutral in the herdsmen-farmers crisis.” But while the army maintained its vaunted neutrality, the herders were ranked as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world on the Global Terrorism Index. This year, Nigeria has been ranked as the  second most terrorised country in the world after Iraq by the global terrorism research/ analysis organisation, Jihad Analytics. The Nigerian Security Tracker, a project of the Council on Foreign Relations of the United States, says that about 53,418 Nigerians lost their lives to non-state actors between May 29, 2015 and October 15, 2022. The deaths occurred mostly from the genocidal onslaughts on farmers dubiously dubbed “farmers-herders’ conflicts,” clashes by religious groups and attacks by terrorists and bandits.

Indeed, with terrorism virtually crippling farming activities, it is no surprise that Nigeria features prominently among the 121 countries facing a hunger crisis, a fact which rankles the president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina. Noting that Africa faces huge challenges in meeting its food needs, with 283 million people going hungry annually, the AfDB boss said Africa had massive agricultural potential with 65 per cent of the uncultivated arable land left to feed over 9 billion people in the world by 2050 being in Africa. Adesina said: “According to the Global Hunger Index 2022 released just a week ago, Nigeria ranks 103rd among 121 countries facing a hunger crisis in the world. Hunger in Nigeria cannot be justified. Nigeria has the land, with 34 million hectares of arable land with rich and diverse agroecology.” The diversity is being destroyed by the genocidal onslaughts on farmers and farming communities, and sadly on the other side of the equation, floods are currently compounding the pain, removing everything in their way, including corpses.

In abandoning political correctness and statements dressed in finery of falsehood, Danjuma may be considering his place in history and the future of his people. He has for years been an outspoken defender of the minority North from which he rose as the son of a peasant farmer to become one of Nigeria’s most influential military men and wealthiest businessmen. When the General spoke almost as a prophet in 2018, the military rushed to self-defence. But the killings he deplored have  continued ever since, and Nigeria’s terrorism profile has worsened with  horrendous videos of the terrorists’ crimes sparking national outrage. In a particular instance, they fed the newborn twins of a woman in their captivity to their dogs. But the Federal Government, scoffing at the clamour for sub-national police, has done nothing to arrest the  slide.

Money that could have been channeled to productive sectors goes to outlaws who extort, maim, kill and mutilate people at will. The palpably privileged caste, unafraid of the power of the state, is hacking down Nigerians of working age, clipping human resources and intellectual capacity, and constituting a disincentive to foreign investment and Nigeria’s image.

Most of the killings that go on in Danjuma’s ancestral homestead are not even in the public domain and Danjuma, trained from his youth in the power of the balance of terror, knows that there is no stopping the carnage till the people, following international law, can lawfully defend themselves. After all, when the British cobbled the disparate nations now under the umbrella of Nigeria together, it was not on the basis that any group would have the power to rob, rape and root others out of existence. In fighting for the safety and dignity of his people despite his advancing years, Danjuma has become the truth teller of the town whom the Yoruba say is the wicked one in the town, a fact fostered by the unwillingness of the Establishment to embrace verity. Truth, they say, is bitter.

Sadly, as Nigeria’s population gets decimated by the day and as its production/manufacturing base shrinks even further, the apex bank is busy with the distraction of redesigned notes, this time the N1,000, N500 and N200 notes. It says the currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.2 trillion by September this year, but has not said even a word on the increasing worthlessness of the currency as it allegedly keeps printing money that the country has not earned. The aim seems to be the same as in 1984: to force Nigerians to remember the leadership that presided over their economic ruination, for currency change cannot easily escape from memory. If the aim is to mop up money and “spoil market” for outlaws who may be storing money in trenches, it is useless because they can always dispose of the old ones in markets; and collect the new notes when they abduct people after January 2023. What about money exchange at bureax de change and what about those keeping money at home in hard currencies?

Danjuma (GCON, FSS, psc), two-time Defence Minister and politician with a history of key roles in post-independence military and political events in Nigeria, was born in Takum, a farming community and in his youth yams, rice, cassava, and beniseed were widely cultivated. His angst is that such cultivations are increasingly impossible as terrorists cut down farmers at will. There is nothing he is saying now that he did not tell Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan during their time. History  and hard facts are on his side, and the Federal Government must shelve its opposition to state policing, a potent strategy for curbing the menace of terrorists. That is the consensus among statesmen.c