State Complicity In Atrocities by Fulani Herdsmen/Terrorists.

by Eze Eluchie,

First, the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar who happens to be Fulani, announces with relish, that the Fulani herdsmen/terrorists on a killing rampage across several States in Nigeria are foreigners from other West African countries;

Now the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, who also happens to be Fulani and a very close confidant of Nigeria's ruler, announces that the murderous Fulani herdsmen/terrorists are from identifiable countries, have specific grievances against their victims and that his government has paid some monies to these terrorists to prevent further attacks#%*. Paid monies to terrorists to stop killings that continue with more viciousness by the day? - Its either Mr. el-Rufai thinks his audience are dumb or that he is invincible.

When one recollects the statement by the sly governor of Kaduna Statement on his twitter account on the 15^th of November 2012 to the effect that: “we will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable no matter how long it takes”, it begins to dawn on even the most optimistic, that the killings being effected now are really part of the payback, loan repayment, Mr. El-Rufai had assured would happen.

Yet the Department of State Security remains silent in the face of all these murders? Yet, the Immigration and Customs Services, the Police or other security authorities have not informed the polity of any massive failures at the borders.

When the Fulani herdsmen/terrorists embark on their killing sprees, there is usually no interference from the law enforcement agencies for howsoever long these killing sprees last. But the moment the herdsmen/terrorists are through with their dastardly acts, security operatives from virtually all the security agencies inclusive of the military descend on the already vanquished territories and peoples under the mien of ‘safe-guarding’ the victims. Evidence abounds, particularly in the Fulani attacks against the peoples of Uzo-Uwani in Enugu State and Uzo-Item in Abia State that State security authorities were sufficiently warned by the local authorities about imminent attacks and that the State security agencies, inclusive of the military authorities, failed to provide security and only came in after much damages and killings have been effected.

The unfortunate lack of condemnation of the genocidal and terroristic activities of the herdsmen/terrorists by Nigeria’s ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, who himself also happens to be a Fulani, serves to provide state cover for the impunity with which the killings, which in some instances have been described as acts of ethnic cleansing, are carried out.

CONCLUSION: The Fulani herdsmen/terrorists are known to the State. The Fulani herdsmen/terrorists are well paid and protected by the State, under the present rulerships, to carry out their vile killing sprees.

The interest of posterity and the peoples of Nigeria will be best served if the Nigerian contraption is Restructured and Renegotiated as soon as possible, to address fundamental faults in its structure and composition.

Governor el-Rufai of Kaduna State admits to paying herdsmen/terrorists (vanguard newspapers)  http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/weve-paid-fulani-stop-killings-southern-kaduna-el-rufai/

Picture: Armed Fulani herdsmen with their livestock

As Buhari Unleashes Soldiers on the South East Region.

by Eze Eluchie, 

Ostensibly in response to scathing reports from international human rights organizations evidencing the fact that the Nigerian military has been engaged in monstrous acts of mass atrocities against pro-Biafra activists, the ruling government in Nigeria, headed by a man who not only played an active role in the Biafra genocide (as a military officer on the perpetrators side – 1967 – 1970) but has recently, from his insider knowledge of the atrocities committed, placed the death toll in the Biafra genocide at over 2 million persons, has most unfortunately, decided to up the stakes in its efforts to strangulate any aspiration for the universally acknowledged right to self-determination for which pro-Biafra activists are agitating.  

In the wake of the yuletide and end of year seasons, when the Igbo’s who are indigenous to Nigeria’s south-east region usually travel to their homelands in their millions, the Buhari regime in a most devious manner, announced the launch of what it cynically refers to as ‘Operation Python Dance’ under which soldiers will be deployed across the southeast region on, as the representative of the regime (Nigeria Army Deputy Director, Public relations, Col. Sagir Musa) of puts it, ‘internal security measures and deal with secessionists as appropriate’ and address ‘robbery, kidnapping, herdsmen-farmers clash, communal clashes, amongst others’. The falsehood inherent in the army’s excuse for deploying troops to the south east region is exposed by the fact that in ‘National Human Development Report for Nigeria 2016’ published by the United Nations Development Program earlier in the year, the south east region of Nigeria had been declared the “most human security secured geopolitical zone of Nigeria”.

When one recollects the deplorable records of the Nigeria military in its engagement with civil society and the civilian population, and the often stated resolve by the ruling junta in Nigeria to integrate ‘reformed’ Islamist terrorists and the civilian militia in our northern regions into the Nigerian military, it becomes easier to appreciate the apprehension felt by peoples of the south east region over the unwarranted deployment of soldiers in the region.

As the provocative deployment of ‘Operation Python Dance’ to the south east region of Nigeria commences from the 27^th of November 2016, residents in the region are encouraged to recognize the deployment for what it is, a bait to violent reaction; and thus exercise utmost restraint, where possible, whenever they encounter these soldiers on the street of the various cities, towns and villages of the region. In the event of the expected, those in the vicinity are encouraged to document whatsoever atrocities are committed, and share same as widely as possible (preferably on social media)  – pending when a dedicated channel will be set up.

The disdain, bothering on a dire psychological situation, for the people of the south east which spews out from the very persona of the head of the ruling junta in Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, perhaps explains why in over one-and-a-half years (18 months) of his ascension into Office of President of Nigeria, Mr. Buhari has not bothered to visit any of the states of the South East region of Nigeria – an area which he expressly stated during a visit to the United States Institute of Peace that he must treat unjustly, or at the very least cannot be expected to treat in the same as he treats other parts of Nigeria. 

The United States is hereby called upon, in all its dealings with the present Nigerian rulership (we don’t have a leadership in Nigeria), particularly in the areas of sale and supply of military hardware to be mindful of the Leahy Law and its abhorrence of US military equipment being used to arm or beef up the arsenal of countries or entities who use such weapons against their domestic civilian populations and violate human rights with impunity. Western allies of the US and the overall international community should likewise be mindful of the use to which national security apparatus is being deployed in Nigeria. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the ECOWAS Court on Human Rights and all other multi-State and international mass atrocity adjudicatory, investigatory, adjudicatory and punishment authorities, and international human rights organizations are also called upon to take special and particular interest in the unfolding activities of Mr. Buhari’s ‘Operation Python Dance’ in Nigeria’s south east region.

There should and will be consequences for mass atrocities...

The Nigerian contraption simply must be restructured before the building conflagration consumes more than necessary.

                                                  

Amesty International Video on atrocities of the Buhari regime:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_oid2s9fxQ

Video of Nigeria’s ruler, Buhari, affirming resolve not to treat regions of Nigeria (the South East region which also constitute the area of the Biafra region) at the United States Institute of Peace , Washington DC:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYUBTU2ZgFY

Pictures: Flag of the erstwhile separatist Republic of Biafra and Nigeria’s current ruler, Muhammadu Buhari.

In Nigeria, The Trump-Effect Kicks In.

by Eze Eluchie,

Prior to the emergence of Donald Trump as President-elect, several massacres and mass killings committed by the Buhari-led junta in its short period of existence, had, to the astonishment of most Nigerians and observers at the international level, gone virtually unmentioned by the US Embassy in Nigeria. Such events as the massacre of pro-Biafra agitators across the South Eastern states (in one instance, pro-Biafra agitators who had gathered in a field in Aba for prayers, were surrounded and several killed by Nigerian soldiers), the earlier mass killings of Shiites in Zaria (in which over 1000 members of the Shiite sect were mowed down by Nigerian soldiers at the behest of Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai) and the ongoing Fulani herdsmen ethnic cleansing in Nigeria’s middle belt region (the continuing pogrom where so-called Fulani herdsmen/militia sacked entire communities, killing at will with virtually no response from Nigeria’s military authorities until each killing episode has ended) seemed of not  much concern to the global leader of democracy and justice.

To the chagrin of discerning Nigerians, in the face of the myriad killings; abuse of people’s rights; outright avowals by the head of Nigeria’s ruling junta to reject court orders that were not in support of the Government; extreme nepotism, ethnocentrism and partiality in the administration of national affairs and assets; and bare-faced horrendous acts of monumental corruption involving key officials of the Buhari-led junta; the message that emanated from the White House, personally pronounced on at least two occasions by out-going President Barack Obama himself, was that the head of Nigeria’s ruling junta, a former dictator who had the blood of innocents on his hand, a man who emerged President in a skewed process and felt no qualms about flaunting partisanship and other impure traits in the governance of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society was that: 'Nigeria was being ruled by “a man who comes with a reputation of integrity”'.

Clearly, with its swift response condemning the dastardly slaughter of several Shiites in Kano by Police authorities last week, the US Embassy in Nigeria that Nigerians have come to know and cherish as a sure and tested voice and partner in the advancement, protection and enforcement of human rights and democratic values, is reasserting itself. Thank you, America. https://nigeria.usembassy.gov/pr_11172016.html

No doubt, this new direction can be traced to the new leadership that will assume authority in the White House come 20^th January 2017.  Had it not been for the tumultuous outcomes of the November 8^th US Presidential elections, it is my assumption that the continuing extrajudicial killings being committed with increasing impunity by the ruling junta in Nigeria would not have elicited the response contained in the Press Release by the US Embassy in Nigeria on the 17th of November 2017 on the killings in Kano. On the converse, one would not have been surprised if there had been, rather than a rebuke of the excesses of the ruling junta, a second special visit by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, or other equally high-ranking Obama administration official, directly to the palace of the principal head of Muslims and the Islamic faith in Nigeria (the Sultan of Sokoto) to commiserate with the Sultanate over the recent death of Alhaji Dasuki, a former Sultan - a visit that will, as previous ones before it, elicit domestic tension.

One cannot but imagine the unlikely scenario of the ‘rapport’ that is bound to ‘develop’ between the present Nigerian ruler and the incoming US President – One strives to visualize the two men exchanging locker-room banters over a game of cards, with one First lady locked away in 'the other room' (the location where the Nigerian ruler informed the world his wife belongs to) and the other championing positive causes across the world. As the incoming Donald Trump administration readies itself to assume control of affairs, considering the appointments announced so far and persons being considered for other offices, it should rightly have dawned on the incumbent Nigerian Government and those of its ilk across Sub-Sahara Africa, who got away with blue-murder in the past, that it is not likely to be business as usual.

Let there be no misunderstanding that the author of this piece believes a Trump presidency will overly focus on African affairs. To the contrary, there are indications that the African continent and its people's will not factor highly in the incoming administrations considerations. It is however far better that the continent and its people's are left to sort themselves out, at their own terms, than for a super-power state to weigh in on domestic issues in a partial and slanted manner indicative of outright support for an identifiable religion or ethnic grouping. 

A new dawn sets...

Pictures: Mr. Muhammadu Buhari and Mr. Donald Trump.