There is every indication that all is not well with the country. It is also obvious that the leadership is overwhelmed. The body language of Mr. President indicates this. His position and rhetoric on the herdsmen is a clear pointer that the center is not holding, therefore, the nation is falling apart.
Without wise leadership, a nation falls; with many counselors, there is safety
– Proverbs 11:14
The Television channels, Newspapers, Radio stations and internet are replete with stories of violence – killings, maiming and destruction emanating from different parts of the country, but especially, the North and Middle Belt. If it is not Boko Haram, it is herdsmen.
Not a day goes by without a record of some deaths either in the core North or the Middle Belt. Worst hit in all of these is Benue State. And recently too, Plateau State is added to the long list. The herdsmen seem to have taken it as personal assignment to ensure that Benue state is decimated or possibly erased from the face of the earth for reasons best known to them and their sponsors.
Read also: Plateau: Many killed in fresh herdsmen attacks
Herdsmen are not new in Nigeria. They have been around for as long as the country has existed. They have also always been nomadic in nature, moving from place to place to pasture their cattle. The herdsmen of old, were never a burden or threat to anybody as with their sticks, they shepherded their herds. But not the present day AK-47 wielding herdsmen, who are holding the nation to random while our leaders look on as spectators at a game of football.
Since the beginning of the year, hundreds of people have been killed, entire communities destroyed and many displaced by the so called herdsmen. So-called because the Mohammad Buhari-led government, so far seems not to be able to identify who truly these marauders are and where they originated from.
Sometime ago, while visiting the United States, President Buhari told his United States counterpart, Mr. Donald Trump, that the herdsmen had strong links to Libya and were trained as hit men by late Muammar Gaddafi.
He has also been known to deny knowledge of the fact that the herdsmen carry AK-47s and during a visit to Bauchi, he challenged the people to report any herdsmen seen with AK-47.
Read also: Herdsmen terror: Reasons Killings Continue from Benue to Kogi
It is indeed worrisome that the President is turning a blind eye to the carnage the herdsmen are causing and the effect it is having on the nation. The nation is standing on a precipice, ready to topple.The President remains the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and many believe and have said that he is deliberately keeping quiet over the herdsmen issue.
And because of this apparent disinterest or helplessness in dealing with the issue decisively, many, among them Rt. Gen.T.Y. Danjuma have called on Nigerians to defend themselves. Gen. Danjuma, went as far as indicting the military and accusing them of colluding with the herdsmen.
Long ago, the West declared the herdsmen terrorists, and urged the Federal Government to do so, till date the government has refused to pronounce them so, yet the same government did not hesitate to pronounce and label IPOB a terrorist group, deploying its military might to massacre innocent people for agitating for their freedom. The same military, in the face of the wanton and brazen killings by the herdsmen seem bereft of ideas and strategies to contain them.
As the killings go on, the President goes about his business as if nothing is happening; no empathy and no sympathy. No words of comfort to the families of those who have died, no encouraging or comforting words to the nation. Nothing!
Read also: Plateau killings: What Buhari told us –Saraki, Dogara
There is an anonymous quote which says; “A leader has two important characteristics: first, he knows where he is going; second, he is able to persuade others to go with him.” At this point, it’s either Buhari is rudderless and simply drifting and certainly, nobody would want to go that route with him, or he is deliberately feigning ignorance of the happenings in the country. Nigerians are ready to take control of their lives.
The people are restless, tension is rising and many of those who supported him at the last election are disenchanted with him. The many letters by former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, the comments of Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, the Christian Association of Nigeria, among others, are cases in point.
There is a lot of double speak even from the security apparatus. Recently, the acting Director, Defence Information, Brig Gen. John Agim, while reacting to agitations that the military should go into Taraba and Bauchi States to seize arms from the herdsmen while not touching residents of the communities they are terrorising said such measures would be “unfair because the military is in these two states and they are supposed to keep the peace and take sides with any faction.”
What a pathetic argument. Innocent, unarmed Nigerians are being killed by terrorists, nay, “hitmen from Libya” and the military sees it as a factional issue. Sickening and saddening! Yet in the thick of the killings, the Inspector General of Police, who at best can be called a deserter, ordered the policemen across the country to begin mopping up guns even from licensed owners. This, according to him, was to give effect to the Firearms Act 2004, which prohibits certain categories of arms and ammunition in the hands of individuals and unlawful possession of lethal weapons. Yet neither the military nor the police have been able to collect guns from the herdsmen. Perhaps, it is lawful for them to carry AK-47.
This is a wake up call for Mr. President to begin to live up to his responsibility as the head of security in the country. His partiality to the herdsmen has lasted long enough. It is time to end the bloodshed. Enough is enough. Nigeria is not at war, but the drums are beating and the clouds gathering and it is all on Buhari’s head.
Before the nation disintegrates Mr. President, rein in your herdsmen. The nation belongs to all Nigerians.
Another anonymous quote says; “Leaders go down in history- some farther than others.” How farther down President Buhari will go, depends on what he does now with the herdsmen. Rather than focusing on the 2019 elections, he should focus on saving the nation from chaos and anarchy.
Now is the time to act. Tomorrow may not come.
