Benue killings: Justice must conquer Revenge!

So many speculative comments have been made concerning the political, ethnic and religious implications of the unending killings in Benue State that some simple truths are being lost in all the conjecture. At this crucial time its pertinent to quote the late Dr Chuba Okadigbo who said: “if you are emotionally attached to your tribe, religion, or political leaning to the point that truth and justice become secondary considerations, your education is useless and your exposure is useless. If you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments you are a liability to mankind”. As far as Benue is concerned, there must be no compromising rigid enforcement of the restraint that no citizen or group of citizens has the right to take the law into their own hands. The scale of killings by “herdsmen” in the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria represents a clear and present danger to national security.

History teaches us that people will only be pushed to the wall for so long before they themselves react violently. It isn’t difficult to predict that if unchecked, the killings will eventually lead to a complete break-down of law and order. The murderous massacre of people who have not been declared guilty of any crime through any process of police investigation and judicial pronouncement can never be justified.

The Chairman of the Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Benue State said the slaughter was in retaliation for the loss of 1,000 cows stolen when his members were trying to relocate to Taraba. This is hard to swallow. How easy is it for anyone with no experience in cattle herding to steal 1,000 cows? How fast do cows move that 1,000 can disappear without a trace? Are the cows not branded or marked permanently in any way? Who buys or keeps these stolen cows?

Decent and humane people all over the world were left speechless by the audacity of this unashamed defence of the slaughter of unarmed women and children. There is no reason not to believe that some cattle were indeed stolen or even that son of their members have been killed. As far as losing property or means of livelihood goes, the majority of Nigerians have at one time or another suffered the same fate. Imagine the carnage if all of them had resorted to mass killing in revenge! Even as regards their far more serious allegation of murder, the laid down procedure is that such matters should be reported to the police who will investigate, apprehend suspects and charge them to Court for justice to be meted out.

At the end of the day genuinely seeking justice means allowing the legal system to operate to its logical conclusion even when its wheels are slow and its processes imperfect. Most Nigerians are dismayed with our snail-paced, unequitable, corruption laden legal system. Never the less seeking revenge rather than justice is in itself a crime to which the Myetti Allah have confessed. There no reason to doubt that the vast majority of cattle herders are honest and law-abiding, and shouldn’t be tarred with the same brush as the criminal element amongst them. Rampaging homicidal maniacs shouldn’t be grouped with the innocent and referred to as “herdsmen”.

There is understandably a worldwide sense of outrage at the genocide being perpetrated against Middle Belt Region indigenes by these criminals. The routine nature of the horror stories and ghastly pictures filling the news and social media is beginning to deaden genuine feelings of compassion, indignation, and incense. It’s abundantly clear that the Nigerian State as currently structured doesn’t have the capacity to protect Benue State citizens from these attacks. The State Governor Samuel Orton who is “on ground” and nominally the Chief Security Officer is powerless under Nigeria’s current policing system to do anything to protect the lives and property of his citizens.

Unfortunately, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) gaffed badly when he tried to belittle the problem. The Nigeria Police Force is underfunded, undermanned, inappropriately structured, ill-equipped and basically impotent to fight crime with intelligence. As such an increasing number of groups such as Boko Haram, the Niger Delta Avengers, Badoo Cult Boys, the Independent Peoples of Biafra and Myetti Allah self-righteously constitute a law unto themselves. But for reasons best known to those at the highest levels of government Myetti Allah appear to be treated differently from the other groups. Not a single one of them has ever been jailed for their numerous atrocities, and the army has never been mobilised against them despite the fact that since 2013 there have been over 50 deadly attacks in Benue and over 300 nationwide!

Mysteriously, security agencies habitually act too late even in cases where prior notice is given of a pending attack. Tragically no significant sustainable initiatives have been implemented to end the carnage because there is no consensus on the genesis of the problem. The increasing bravado and lawlessness of these marauders simply reflects the failure of government to adequately protect lives and property of citizens. Historically where ever security agencies fail to perform this primary duty people eventually take matters into their own hands and anarchy prevails. Government must get its priorities right.

As Afro-American orator Frederick Douglas said “where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”. As President of the African Initiative USA Amb Hagher wrote in his open letter to President Buhari, the protection of lives and property is far more important than the war against corruption. The only way forward is that Nigerians who feel aggrieved must learn to forego revenge and seek justice according to the laws of the land.

The bottom line is that revenge is neither a constitutional nor legally justifiable process, and justice must conquer revenge.