Uneasy quiet in Benue

Has anyone noticed that news about killings in Benue State have dried up just about the time President Muhammadu Buhari departed the United States for Nigeria after his last visit there and just after the admonition from President Donald Trump to go back home and stop the killings of Christians?

This is the most worrying of it all and the worry is that these killings could actually be stopped in their tracks, as it were, but why did the Presidency dally so long until it took a reproach from Trump to halt, maybe temporary, the slaughter at Benue State. It does seem, then, that the killers at Benue State could not be mere “Gaddafi-trained mercenaries” or some fictitious “ISIL West Africa” but that those who sponsor and encourage these killings are sophisticated Nigerians who follow news item with great interest and they could deduce the implications for Buhari now that Trump is interested if these killings are not brought to a halt before the next general elections.

Thus, now, the lives of Benue folks have been equated to mere political-calculating statistics that could be taken out or spared for a brief respite depending on the mood of the US president. For President Buhari, there is a huge stake for a possible familial negation if he does not act according to Trump’s counsel.

If Buhari fails to heed the counsel of Trump, then it could mean a reprimand for Buhari and his family horde. No matter how Buhari presents a pro-talakawa façade and humble public mien, this man is not a fool at all when it comes to matters of indulging in absolute luxuries; he never returned to Daura to farm after General Ibrahim Babangida freed him from detention and he sure would not give up the privilege of travelling to London at the expense of talakawas for ailments that any university teaching hospital could be impelled to manage here at home.

Sunday Adole Jonah, Minna