By Jude Atupulazi
The announcement of the arrest of 26 people suspected to be part of those who perpetrated the Benue State massacre by the Nigeria Police, barely a week after President Bola Tinubu gave the order, just shows us what the leadership, the police and other security agencies are capable of doing but which they have refused to do over the years.
It will be recalled that Tinubu, while on a visit to Benue State a week ago, to commiserate with the Government and people of the state over the killing of two hundred of their people in an Internally Displaced People’s Camp, had turned to the Police Inspector General, Kayode Egbetokun, and asked, ‘How come no one has been arrested for committing this heinous crime in Yelewata? Inspector General of Police, where are the arrests? The criminals must be arrested immediately!’
That was a week ago. Now, 26 suspects have been arrested, or so the police told us. The announcement of the arrest of the killer herdsmen marks the first time since former President Muhammadu Buhari came to power that such has been done.
All this while, throughout the eight-year tenure of Buhari, and the first two years of Tinubu, what happened was that government would go through the motions of sympathizing with families of the dead, urge the communities to live in peace with their neighbours and then, maybe, ask them to be prayerful.
This prayerful part was what former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, took to ridiculous heights when he told the people of Nimbo after their kit and kin were wiped out in an attack by Fulani herdsmen to keep praying. God! How we abuse prayers in this clime! Till this day, not one of the killers has been caught and I’m sure they are part of those still killing people today.
Whenever people were told these things before now, that would be that. Nothing would happen again and before the blood of those killed would dry up, other killings would follow and the same things would be said all over again.
Thus, when Tinubu gave the directive to the IGP in Benue to go after the killers, I’m sure many Nigerians would have shaken their heads in doubt, believing it was the normal thing said on such occasions. But two things were different about it time: it was the first time a President would visit after such killings. Remember that under Buhari, when 70 Benue dead were buried in one day, he neither spoke in sympathy nor attended the event, as other leaders in the world are wont to do during such tragedies.
Also, it was the first time an express order would be given for the arrest of those idiots who kill while shouting the name of their God (Allahu Akbar!).
Indeed, that this would mark the first time such killers would be arrested, speaks volumes of the hypocrisy of our leaders and the security agencies who know what to do but refuse to do it. I have often joined the rest of Nigerians in wondering if there was a written agreement that none of these smelly killers should be arrested. I wondered if there was an oath taken by leaders and the security agencies which forbade them from going after these killers who are not fit to breathe the same air with us.
This was just as I would wonder how any human being would wake up and all they would have in mind would be how to kill as many innocent people as possible, including men, women and children. I also would wonder what kind of God they prayed to who took delight in hearing them shout its name as they killed fellow human beings. Really, if ever there was such a God, I would rather be an atheist.
And so, the IG of Police has told us about the arrest of 26 people connected with the Benue killings. The inclination will be to shout hallelujah! Yes, hallelujah! This is because this doesn’t always happen. The killer herdsmen have become so comfortable and know that nothing will happen after any killing. They gloat in the knowledge that they have become sacred cows, while the ordinary cows are the rest of us who can be slaughtered at will at their whim. Knowing this makes some of us very skeptical about the final outcome of the recent arrests.
I recall the very few times in the past we heard about the arrests of these same people and the next day nothing was heard about it. We would not read about any court they were charged to or about any conviction. Even when the people succeed in defending themselves when attacked, the defenders turn aggressors.
Was it not in the last edition I wrote about a man who was attacked in his farm and who managed to overpower one of them and kill him. Instead of the man being hailed for his heroics, he was arrested and charged to court which sentenced him to death by hanging for daring to defend himself. The judge told him that he should have run away, rather than fight back!
Thus, in the light of the recent arrest of the suspected killers, I hope that they will not finally tell us that they are not the real culprits and then let them off the hook. I hope this will not be the last we will hear about them as happened in previous cases. We want to see them face trial amid media blitz; the kind of blitz in the Nnamdi Kanu matter. Then we will expect to see them condemned to death and then executed.
This is not trying to preempt the court judgement. At least we have not been told their matter is already in court. So, for now, it is not sub judice. The fact that they have been arrested in connection with the massacre tells us that the police believe they have serious questions to answer.
If these arrests can stand and go through the whole hog of the judicial process, this will represent the biggest achievement of Tinubu so far. It will be the first indication that killing human beings are no more to be tolerated. It is not rocket science to posit that if such arrests had been happening in the past, the herdsmen would not be this brazen. They would not be attacking and killing frequently.
So I ask Tinubu to ensure that this latest development will not disappear from the radar like the American B-2 Bombers. These people participated in the single most brutal killing of innocent men, women and children and their trial should not be hidden.
Let it generate enough hype, such that their brothers in the business of taking human lives will also be watching or listening. It will have the effect of making them less enthusiastic and confident. It will begin to dawn on them that killing fellow human beings has a consequence; a serious one at that.
Also if the President wants us to believe that the country has turned a corner in the kid-glove treatment of killer herdsmen, let the President order the release of the man convicted for defending himself from those who came to kill him. Let the President grant him state pardon.
It will be inconceivable that a man should die for defending himself from those who came to kill him. Civil societies should lend their voice to this case. The noise should be strident. Those who waste no time in marching along the streets to protest bad government policies should hit the streets. This man should not be allowed to die or else his blood will haunt this God forsaken nation.
Talking about policies
As we deal with the case of this seeming unspoken policy of keeping mum when it concerns killer Fulani herdsmen, I want to revisit two pronouncements by the Anambra State Government recently. The first was the directive by Gov Chukwuma Soludo that some agencies of the State Government should from July 1 usurp the duties of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) by stopping vehicle owners and demanding for their licences and particulars.
When I heard this, I wondered what happened to the FRSC. I wondered why Soludo would want to create chaos by unleashing agberos on citizens to perform the duty of an established organization (FRSC). We all know how agberos operate. They will turn this into grand extortion and people will get beaten up or even killed.
Why not allow the FRSC to continue with their job? Why create another avenue for thieves in uniform to harass and intimidate people? Is Soludo not tired of complaints from citizens about those called Ndi Aka Odo in Onitsha who have been maiming people with pestles in the name of enforcing orderliness?
Two: Soludo has also ordered house owners whose homes are in vantage positions to repaint their homes before July 1 or face sanctions. The order was given barely two weeks ago and July is already upon us. Pray, even if the house owners are up to it, why the short notice? Beyond that, does Soludo not know the cost of painting a house? I would have thought that if he considered house painting as the easiest route to turning Anambra into his fabled Dubai-Taiwan, he should have funded the project.
He just cannot wake up and add more hardship on the already long suffering masses. Is this even the state’s most urgent need at this material time? As noted before, he has just created another window for touts to harass, extort and intimidate citizens.
As he lives in the splendor of his new home called Light House, he should know that there are people who barely eat well, not to talk about painting their houses. Many of them have seen better days and are just marking time. Are they expected to use their pension money to paint their old homes? Are they expected to use hard earned cash that should have gone into training their children in painting their homes? Haba! Sometimes I wonder if Soludo has advisers.
I just hope that he has not opened the door to civil unrest. Time shall tell.
