There is more to herdsmen attacks in Nigeria —Rev Fr Bakeni

Rev Father John Bakeni is a former vice chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Borno State. He speaks with BODUNRIN KAYODE on the state of the nation and the danger signals the insurgency war is being managed are sending to the world.

 

HOW do we stop the lingering security lapses in the North East of Nigeria?

It is rather unfortunate that these things keep repeating themselves. Many people have been abducted, kidnapped and even killed. There are still young girls of the same age with the Chibok and Dapchi girls who were captured and are still in captivity. People have spoken on their behalf, but what has caught our attention are the Chibok and the Dapchi incidents because of their large numbers. It is important to understand the complexity of what is really happening. Since the abduction of the Chibok girls, we are yet to get to the end of the insurgency matter, and now, we have Dapchi episode which is also yet no end. These are schoolgirls being taken at a time that we are encouraging young girls to embrace western education. These discouraging incidents are really shameful. It is the primary responsibility of the government to stop this from happening. Every government has a responsibility of security of lives and properties and once that is not present, that democracy is questionable.

 

Is it not right to conclude that there are some lapses somewhere?

If our president is not prepared for leadership, he should resign. Before getting to that office, he knew clearly what the job entailed. He has no excuse because he has a military background, having been a Head of State in the past. These things are not supposed to be as challenging to him. But what we are seeing is that people have too many expectations from Buhari, so it might be right to say that he is not even in charge of the government from recent events. He is supposed to swing into action and give orders, so he has no excuse as Commander-in-Chief not to be able to get all the abductees out of the den of insurgents.

 

What can you say about the capacity of the military to end Boko Haram in Nigeria?

It is suspect. You know our greatest enemy in Nigeria is corruption. It has killed nationalism and patriotism. It has killed motivation, goals, passion and even enthusiastic disposition towards anything people do. This is because people buy their ways into offices. Also, there are no structures. Our structures in Nigeria are not just working. They are just on paper, so the sense of nationhood has long been eroded in Nigeria. That sense of nationhood that should exist, instead of the one where people today are defined by religion, ethnicity, class and all of that, is gone. This has affected even the military class you are talking about. What happened to the military and why were they running away initially when the insurgency started? I have listened to so many testimonies. I have seen so many who claim they did not have the right weapons as at that time. A soldier who does not have the right weapon is like a farmer going to the farm without equipment. If they were properly equipped, trained and motivated, things would have been different. At some point, I lived with about 35 soldiers in this church. I used to supervise their feeding. How do you expect somebody who is not well-fed to work? When you interact with them, we hear that they do not pay their allowances for months. So, how do we expect them to be motivated?

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What’s your take on the dwindling capacity of the police considering what happened in Dapchi?

I do not think the police, as they are now, have the capacity to have stopped those people from taking the girls. It has been a recurrent decimal. Why can’t we properly train and equip the police? Given the number of abductors that came, I don’t think the division in Dapchi could have been able to withstand them. We were told that they came in military uniforms, that was why they were able to get the attention of some of the students and they told them; ‘don’t worry, we are soldiers and we have come to protect you against Boko Haram’. The police do not have that capacity. We must get our security personnel to be properly equipped and trained.

 

Are you satisfied with the way President Buhari is handling the issue of herdsmen attacks?

The crisis is a failure on his part, but we may not blame him entirely for it. This is democracy. It is different from his days as a military officer. But he has the responsibility of giving orders. If he gives it, and it is not done, we will understand. But sometimes his silence over many things show that he is unable to help when his experience is most needed. I think there is more to it than meets the eye. This is not the first time they have been attacking us. They are not found only in Nigeria. From the Futa Jallon mountains down to this place, we have Fulanis. But why are they suddenly violent? Not just violent, but carrying AK 47 guns? The government says it has expended so much [resources] to stop this insurgency. I see all this as part of the expansionist tendencies of the Uthman Danfodio camp. The whole thing is to subject and expand their territories. That is why they have tested the waters, even as far as the eastern part of the country. And unfortunately, we live in a country where we don’t have control over our land borders and air space, so everybody can just fly to NIgeria.

 

What’s your message to the parents of the remaining abducted girls?

My heart goes out to them in this time of our history. I want to encourage the Chibok parents to remain hopeful that their daughters would be found. We pray that God will complement the efforts of the military so that those missing shall be re-united with their loved ones. I call on parents not to be discouraged, regardless of what is being said about the girls. God is in control and He shall return them safely. I also want the parents not to deny their kids western education because it’s their rights. They should be patient and not allow education to pass them by. I believe that as Christians, we have been sleeping too much. We are politically backward coming too late in the game. To some extent, we have not taken our responsibility as we should. We have not been able to balance our faith and work. We are always learning to be spiritual to the detriment of what we should do in the physical. I have been telling my people to go and register for their PVC’s because it’s important they possess it. The days of sitting in the corners of their churches and complaining that the wrong people were ruling them is gone.

 

How is the church coping with the influx of IDPs from the war against insurgents?

At the beginning we had over 5,000 IDP’s registered with us, apart from those in the CAN centre. Those are mostly our brothers and sisters from other denominations. It would surprise you that we are one of the first to assist our Muslim brothers in getting relief supplies in the camps. We have tried to support where necessary, and based on the resources available to us. Few church organisations partner with us. A large number of our people are from Adamawa. At some point we had about 50,000 of them. We also have those in the neighbourhood. Some are from Pulka, Gwoza and Cameroon. We have spent a lot, but we are not complaining. We have about 86 children, mostly orphans, who are being cared for by one particular organisation. As a church, we do not have oil wells and in this insurgency, we have lost quite a fortune. Lots of churches have been destroyed. However, we are happy that close to 30 churches have been rehabilitated by the state government. From Hawul to Biu. Governor Kashim Shettima is the first governor in Northern Nigeria to help us with about N100m to rebuild our churches.