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Ukpabi-Ninbo Killings In Enugu: A Rhetoric Response Stained By Display Of Ethnic Card By “Madmen”

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Ukpabi-Ninbo Killings In Enugu: A Rhetoric Response Stained By Display Of Ethnic Card By “Madmen”

By Churchill Obinna Okonkwo… In one of his famous proverbs, Chinua Achebe wrote that, “A madman may sometimes speak a true word, but you watch him, he will soon add something to it that will tell you his mind is spoilt.” In response to the latest senseless killings be herdsmen in Ukpabi- Ninbo, in Enugu State, different self-serving religious, political, ethno-cultural and militia groups across the country have been making comments that confirm the state of their rotten minds. In what I can only describe as placing political gain over the lives of Nigerian citizens, the polarizing destructive forces in Northern and Southern Nigeria have once again shown that nothing matters much to them but political power as they now play political games to score cheap points over actually addressing the problem of herdsmen-farmers’ perennial conflict.

 

Admitted that there’s no easy answer to the herdsmen-farmer conflict, but what we shouldn’t be doing is playing politics with the lives of these Ukpabi- Ninbo victims. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what everyone appears to be doing.

 

From the beginning, majority of Nigerians from the Southeastern Nigeria have been calling President Buhari names (without a tangible justification), but the Ninbo Killings presented a good reason for them to hang the dog be giving him a bad name. Suddenly, calls of genocide and threat of Armageddon started trending on social media. But like a madman, the spoilt mind of the mischief makers was on display when they started circulating false news that Buhari and his aides (including the GOC 82 Division Enugu) refused to answer a call from the Enugu State Governor to give ample time for the herdsmen to complete their mission in Ninbo. The video of a visibly shaken Enugu State Governor debunking that rumor sent the small ‘trouble’ makers back to their holes.

 

As they moved in, the bigger ants comprising of the members of the South East caucus of the Nigerian Senate crawled out and accused Buhari (rightly this time) of “ominous silence”. They however exposed their ulterior motive by playing the ethnic card when they called for an emergency summit of South-East and South-South political and traditional leaders as a platform to proffer “coordinated response” to the menace of marauding herdsmen (we are still waiting for that “coordinated response”). Why call for a coordinated response with South-South and not Middle Belt or South-West or the rest of the regions in Nigeria for that matter?

 

Did the governors of Middle Belt feel betrayed and/or threatened?

 

In a classical response with ethnic card written all over it, the 19 Northern States insulated Nigerians by telling us that it’s an insult to link the madness of Ukpabi-Ninbo to Fulani herdsmen. What is however interesting was the participation of states in the Middle Belt that has been hit most by these conflicts and their endorsement of the communique throwing that jab at Southeast. It is simply astonishing that after the tensions arising from the atrocities committed by the herdsmen, the Northern Governors Forum is more worried about political fallout than seeking a way to prevent a reoccurrence.

 

What the South East Senate caucus of the Nigerian Senate and the 19 state northern Governors did by their unpatriotic rhetoric about the entire situation while tugging at our senses was pure political extremism. Currently everyone concerned have done nothing of any substance, other than score some political points for their base in order to remain relevant and retain control.

 

Now Afenifere has come out swinging (and rightly too) at the northern governors forum. But again, like a madman and everything in Nigeria today, they (Odumakin) messed up their argument when they added that “it is a tragedy of monumental proportion to be in the same country with these elements.” Spoilt minds. You can’t stand Northern Governors but what have you done with your Fayose (the lunatic at your backyard) or Oba of Lagos that want to throw some people into the Lagoon? Afenifere’s statement does not only connote a spoilt mind but it is passive-inflammatory and dangerous – playing the politics of “they are the worst” in Nigeria.

 

So far, the only tangible (yet ineffective) movement was the pronouncement by the Presidency directing the Nigerian army to “deal decisively with rampaging herdsmen.”  I wonder how and whether the army will follow the herdsmen that moved into Anambra from Enugu after the Ukpabi- Ninbo madness or the hundreds that are still heading south from different parts of northern states. Forget about the purported use of helicopter by the Anambra Sate Government to monitor the movement of herdsmen. I’m not at all opposed to the deployment of security operatives to disarm the herdsmen, and prosecute any law breaker. But, if their AK 47 are taken away; what of their machetes? So, as long as they remain on our streets and encroach on the farms and destroy crops, there will always be conflict.

 

Because it is the woman whose child has been eaten by a witch who best knows the evils of witchcraft, you would expect the governors from Middle Belt and recently affected states to be serious. But hell no, rather, it is all rhetoric and dangerous speeches. “We won’t allow federal grazing reserves in Oyo – Gov. Ajimobi”. “The Enugu State Government is opposed to the creation of grazing reserves across the country.”  “Blaming Fulani Herdsmen for Benue, Enugu Attacks Absurd” -Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) (Sultan’s reaction).   “Kidnapping in this country originated in the South-east, were they called Igbo kidnappers?” Cacophony from madmen. They all forgot that if you go after a mad man who took away your gown while you are having a bath, you will be considered a madman too.

 

You pause and wait for details on something concrete with timelines, you wait for an authentic reaction to the real problem, but the madmen have thrown their stones into a crowded market and moved to something else, forgetting that their own mothers could be hit by their madness.

 

Back to the problem: because these Nomads have distinct cultures from their sedentary neighbors, conflicts abound. Because the cattle of the herdsmen every now and then destroys properties of local farmers, violent conflict do occur. In some cases too, blockage of stock routes and water points by local farmers in an attempt to prevent damage to their crops can result in conflict. So, irrespective of the cause of the farmer-herdsmen conflict in Nigeria is, our responsibility as neighbors is to find a workable solution.

 

So, how about proposing something that actually has a chance of getting these herdsmen out of our streets and farms? Isn’t that the shortest cut to permanently resolving this issue? Why do we keep doing stuff that is purely designed to inflame the situation?  Is any of this rhetoric and shameful display of ethnic sentiment getting anybody anywhere? Are we just waiting for another massacre?

 

Finally, the Australian journalist Geraldine said that, there are always a few who stand up in time of communal madness and have the courage to say that what unites us is greater than what divides us”. I am standing up. Are you? It is not just enough to throw japs and display ethnic cards. The serious business of doing whatever we can to prevent another case of Agatu/ Ukpabi-Ninbo should be the concern of all well-meaning Nigerians. That’s what governance and citizenship calls for.

 

As I conclude this, I just heard that the Ebonyi State Government (in consultation with communities) have offered to provide grazing routes (where there is no farm) and make same known to herdsmen. WAY TO GO EBONYI! So, as we wait for more adults to stand up, we have to realize that not all conflicts will be resolved- at least not right away. After everything has been said and done, we have to still see conflict between herdsmen managing these ranches (if we ever get to that) and the local communities as inevitable. That is the reality of life in a multicultural-multiethnic society like Nigeria. Combat in the face of these conflicts is however, optional.

 

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  1. 3ice

    May 9, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    Hmmm! Mature, objective, free of ethnic sentiments and full of high ideals. But I wonder if this writer will still be this idealistic about this matter if one of the victims of the herdsmen menace was his own brother, or sister, or wife, or mother. I do not see anything shameful in a people saying “we are tired, this fraud of a union is costing us too much”

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