The herdsmen, farmer’s crisis in the North Central of Nigeria has taken a turn for the worse as accusation and counter accusations have led to tension in the country.
Social Media has not helped matters. It has only made the situation worse by aiding hate speech. Several hate materials are published via social media everyday so much that it has become evidently difficult to decipher, which is real and not real.
The herdsmen and farmers clashes in the country have been aided by social media. Some of the statements circulated through social media are fabricated.
The pictures we see today are herdsmen who have grown from stick wielding to Ak-47 wielding nomads. With their weapon of destruction, they have been sacking villages in some states in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria.
What was once seen as a clash between the herdsmen and farmers has now snowballed into an invasion.
The herdsmen had been having altercations with farmers for many years, mainly in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Farmers and herdsmen lost their lives in these clashes. Today, the herdsmen wield sophisticated weapons, and have become vicious and savagery in their attacks in the Middle Belt.
Early this year, while other Nigerians were celebrating the New Year despite the fuel scarcity, residents of Benue went through the horror of the herdsmen. It was reported that 50 persons including women and children were gruesomely murdered in cold blood by Fulani herdsmen on January 1 in Guma and Logo local government areas. Some of the causalities included livestock guards who were assigned to enforce anti-open grazing law. The diseased, 73 of them were given a mass burial by the Benue State government.
Many Nigerians thought that that would be the end of such carnage. The government promised to fish out the perpetrators and put an end to it. Sadly, a more devastating attack took place last month in Plateau State, claiming no fewer than hundred lives.
The question on the lips of most Nigerians is: how did Nigeria get to this sorry state?
President Muhammadu Buhari is a Fulani man. It is perceived by some quarters that he is treating the issue with kid gloves as a result of his ethnicity. Buhari himself has promised to put an end to the madness. However, the people are losing faith in him due to the continuous killings.
What has even become more troubling are hate speeches associated with this crisis. Everyone has an opinion about it. Whether informed or not. There have been speeches from the pulpit urging members to arm themselves against Fulani people. Some communities in the eastern parts of the country have called for the sacking of the herdsmen as a video that went viral showed.
Social media has been home to most of the purveyors of hate speech. Lengthy broadcasts are being forwarded with the aim of causing panic in the land. Some names are attached to these messages. One of such was credited to Danladi Ciroma, North Central Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).
MACBAN is an advocacy group centered on promoting the welfare of Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria. The organization was founded in the early 1970s with its headquarters in Kaduna.
According to the report, Ciroma claimed that the mass murder in Plateau State was a revenge for stealing 300 cows from herdsmen.
He reportedly said “The attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support killing of human beings, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on revenge mission.”
A few days later Ciroma countered earlier report saying he was misquoted by the media. “I was media misquoted me. I did not issue a statement,” he said.
As a result of the controversy surrounding the veracity of the story, Premium Times, an online publication, sacked its Jos-based reporter, Mr. Andrew Ajijah.
The management of the online newspaper also apologized to Mr. Danladi Ciroma. According to reports, the reporter filed the story based on a ‘statement’ from Mr. Ciroma. What put the reporter in trouble was that he did not give credit to the source of the story. He was said to have lifted the story from The Nation Newspapers without attributions.
Meanwhile, Yusuf Idegu, a correspondent of the Nation Newspapepr who shared the story on WhatsApp has dismissed reports that he circulated a false story about Ciroma.
In a message circulated via a WhatsApp group last week Tuesday, Idegu maintained that Ciroma made the utterances attributed to him.
To further heat up the polity, Publicity Secretary of Southern People Forum, Isuwa Dogo, accused leaders of Miyetti Allah of engaging in and sponsoring terrorist activities.
Dogo made the claims last week on Channels Television Programme, Sunrise Daily. According to him, MACBAN and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore are the ones responsible for sponsoring killings and attacks.
The two groups have, however, denied this allegation saying that it is the other way round. Saleh Alhassan, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore’s Secretary-General is claiming that there is an agenda to “exterminate” Fulani herders. Alhassan alleged that thousands of herders have been killed in Plateau as part of a genocidal attempt to force them out.
During an interview on Channels Television on Monday, July 2, 2018, he claimed that over 5000 Fulani pastoralists have been killed in Plateau State.
He said, “What we have in Plateau State is an agenda by an ethnic group to expel the herders on the Plateau. It has been there for over 15 years. I schooled there. I grew up there. I am very familiar with the crisis.”
President Buhari, on his part, has blamed the problem on politicians, claiming that the attacks are sponsored by desperate politicians to destabilize the his government.
READ ALSO: Exclusive: Fulani Herdsmen Erecting Homes within Deserted Plateau Communities – Report
Many are of the view that the president himself as the chief security officer of the country and number one citizen ought to be better informed than ordinary Nigerians. Statements like this are not the solution. Permanent solutions are what the country needs right now to heal all the wounds.
It is the wish of Nigerians that these killings are stopped and the perpetrators are brought to book. That is the only way to put an end to the hate speeches threatening to tear the country apart.