Tossing the herdsmen’s coin

One of my many positive flaws is bursting the pipes of miscreants. Detractors have often complained about my hard-ball approach and the way I just rip off band aids without notice. It is not in my genes to dance around a bonfire or do the ring around the roses. However, to set a background for today’s discourse, I must tell a tale. It is a story not so quaint but bountifully apt for getting into the crux of today’s matter.

While I was growing up, I loved the dark; I still do. It was my special friend as I could get away with mischief under the covers of the dark. My sister hated the dark and paid dearly for it. For once the lights went out, I tormented her unreservedly. I would scream for no reason, mimicking the ghost scenes on TV or simply, while she is fast asleep, dump some clothing on my head and abruptly wake her up.

She would scream for help and our mother would come running. So much satisfaction I derived from it. I would guffaw endlessly into the night and my mom would pacify my upset and scared sister. This went on for years until one night; I became the centre of my joke. My mom and sister made a meticulous plot to give me a dose of my medicine. I would be writing a prolix to go into it but I learnt my lesson by having a taste of my own poison. That was the end of my night time pranks.

It was Nelson Mandela, in his autobiography the Long Walk to Freedom who said, “A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a point, one can only fight fire with fire”

Benue State is oppressed and has been oppressed by Fulani herdsmen for almost a decade. As a matter of fact, Governor Samuel Ortom in one of his numerous elegies sang, “for several years, these attackers have turned our beautiful and endowed land into their killing fields”. It is no longer news that Benue is under serial herdsmen attacks, but this did not start yesterday.

According to Governor Ortom, these attacks, which started since 2011 have led to the loss of illustrious sons and daughters of the state as well as approximately N95bn.

The manner in which Ortom now conducts and oversees mass burials like a priest amidst sobs and wailing, reminds me of the screams of my sister in the dark decades ago while I plagued her with my mischief.

Recently, he cried wolf while accusing the Federal Government and security agencies of abandoning the citizens of his state to be slaughtered by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. Didn’t Ortom hear the words of the great Madiba? The point has come when one can only fight fire with fire not, with salty tears or lamentations.

My heart keeps breaking for the people of Benue and the massacre they would yet face as long as Ortom keeps wailing but there is one that makes my heart leap for joy. A few days ago, an instructive picture featured on the front page of some national dailies. One of the dailies had this caption: “Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose with hunters in the state, after addressing them at the Government House.”

One would wonder, what was Governor Fayose doing with hunters? Is he planning to learn a few tricks with the Dane gun? The answer to these questions has been reported but I must again make reference to them to form another layer of substratum on this discourse.

Fayose, clad in camouflage to reflect the mood of the nation, urged hunters from the 16 local government areas in the state to defend their territory while explaining that, based on intelligence, some ‘Bororos’ have surreptitiously gained entrance into the state with the mission to maim and make a mockery of his anti-grazing laws.

His words were: “I’m not going to Abuja to start crying like a woman. I will take steps to protect my people. There is nobody that is greater than the laws of the land. We must stop the killers; they must not enter our land. My people arise and defend our land. It is those who want to take our land that will die for us.”

I wasn’t in great Madiba’s head when he wrote Long Walk to Freedom but I can place a wager that this was exactly what he meant when he talked about mirroring the methods of the oppressor.

Nigeria is under attack from Fulani herdsmen and like Noble Laureate Wole Soyinka pointed out, they have declared war against the nation using the weapon of undiluted terror. What can better quench terror than fiercer terror? What can better stop intimidation than a greater form of it?

If Ortom did not read Madiba’s autobiography, he could at least watch Fayose’s actions and take a cue from him.

In a failed republic like ours, waiting for help from big brother is as good as signing one’s death warrant. No, big brother would not be coming to fight off the bullies. The sad, hard truth is this; it has become an ‘On Your Own’ nation. So, if Ortom chooses to fiddle while Benue burns, I am glad for Ekiti that there is a Fayose who will face fire with reinforced fire.