Over 2200 Nigerians ‘die for nothing’ under Buhari’s watch

Ceaseless blood-letting appears the order of the day. The latest occurred on Friday when bandits killed at least 29 people in attacks on four villages in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that dozens of motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed the villages, firing at residents. Seven people were reported killed at Yan’ kamoji, nine at Sabon Gida, 11 at Tubali and two at Kaya village.

This seems to have become commonplace as government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari appears to have so far failed to put in place measures, facilities and systems to secure Nigerian citizens from attacks, and threat to lives.

Over the last 18 months, no less than 2219 Nigerians have been killed in incidences highlighting the state of insecurity in the country. Indeed, the 2015 Global Terrorism Index claims that between May 29, 2015 and May 2016, the Boko Haram insurgents were responsible for the death of 2,569 Nigerians while the Fulani herdsmen hacked to death 525 others.

The mindless killings have led many to ask if Nigerians are not ‘dying for nothing.’

The deaths, as noted, were occasioned by the insurgency of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, the now incessant clashes between Fulani Herdsmen and farmers in different parts of the country, clashes between security agencies and pro-Biafra agitators, confrontations between members of the Islamic movement of Nigeria, IMN, popularly called Shiites and security agencies and attacks by those simply described as unknown ‘gunmen’.

Though President Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, came to power with a firm promise to tackle insecurity headlong, the matter has proven to be a hard nut to crack.

The government which has made some progress in the fight against terrorism has however, so far, failed to bring it to a total end, while it has also failed to ensure the complete safety of many Nigerians who have been unnecessarily sent to the great beyond.

Statistics of the death toll so far show that the Boko Haram insurgents welcomed President Buhari almost immediately after he took office on May 29, by killing 97 people in different attacks in different parts of the North East.

On June 4, 2015, a female suicide bomber in Maiduguri killed two people near a military checkpoint. Still on That same date, a bomb blast in a market in Yola, Adamawa State, killed 45 people.

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One hundred and eighteen people were hacked to death at a hospital in Kukawa, Borno State on July 1, 2015, by suicide bombers.

Fifty other Nigerians were sent to their early graves on July 17, 2015 by suicide bombers who attacked a muslim praying ground in Damaturu, Yobe State on salah day.

An attack on Dalori village, Borno State, led to the death of about 86 people on January 30, 2016, while another attack by two female suicide bombers on an Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs camp in Dikwa on February 9, 2016 also in Borno State, left 60 people dead 78 others wounded.

These are just a few amongst several deadly attacks on villages, military locations, ambushes and the most popular, suicide attacks carried out by the insurgents since May 29, 2015.

For the rampaging Fulani herdsmen, the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari seem to have emboldened them, as they have become more daring in their attacks since last year.

In December 2015, the herdsmen killed about 22 people during an attack on Kwata in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

February 2016 saw what may go down in history as the most daring of the Fulani herdsmen attacks, as over 300 people were left dead after attack on Agatu people in Benue State.

The people of Enugu State received their part of the attacks in April, 2016, with an attack on Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area. The attack claimed 40 lives.

Also in April, 2016, about 40 people were killed in Dori and Mesuma villages in Geshaka Local Government Area of Taraba State.

May 20, 2016, Fulani herdsmen killed two people in Oke Ako, Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

The Fulani herdsmen also turned Southern Kaduna to a slaughter ground, killing and razing whole villages in the Godogodo area of the state.

The harvest of deaths also included deaths recorded in clashes between Pro-Biafra protesters and security agencies in the country.

On January 18, eight members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, were killed when they clashed with the military.

Also, on the 9th of February, six members of IPOB were shot dead when they protested the detention of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in Asaba, Delta State.

Between May 29 and 30, 2016, the Nigerian military reportedly opened fire on pro-Biafra protesters and onlookers, killing 30 people in the process in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Just like the Boko Haram insurgency and the Fulani Herdsmen issue, the death toll from the face off between members of the Shiite sect and security agencies is becoming disturbing.

On December 12 and 13, 2015, more than 300 members of the sect were killed in clashes with soldiers in Zarıa, Kaduna State.

The Shiites have also come under attack by fellow Muslims who do not belong to their sect in Kano, Kaduna and Funtua. A number of the sect members were killed in the attacks that took place soon after the sect was banned by the Kaduna State Government.

Also, the sect lost 10 members in Kano on 14 November, 2016 in clashes with the police during the traditional trek to Zarıa.

The over 2000 people who have been killed under the watch of President Buhari are Nigerians but critics say the current government has carried on as if their lives and those of other Nigerians do not matter.

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Though the President is quick to offer condolences for attacks on foreign nations, he is most of the time mute when even worse attacks happen in Nigeria, with Nigerians as victims. When there is a voice from the Presidency, it is the usual stereotyped statement that tends to say “we shall leave no stone unturned in fishing out the perpetrators”. This has started sounding like a broken record, as perpetrators are hardly caught or brought to book.

The case of Bridget Agbahime, the Christian woman that was brutally murdered in Kano for alleged blasphemy, and the woman evangelist that was hacked to death in Kubwa, a satellite town of Abuja, are still very fresh.

In the Kano case, the suspects in the murder were set free by the court because it was believed they were not involved. The police is, however, yet to produce the real perpetrators while in the case of the Kubwa murder, no one has been arrested months after.

Same goes for unknown gunmen and suspected herdsmen who have razed whole communities. No one has been successfully prosecuted, and or jailed, for any of these lives wasted.

These Nigerians, and others that may have gone unreported, seem to have died ‘for nothing’, as their deaths have been seemingly swept under the carpet, with no consequences for their killers as it were.

 

 

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