Wanton killings in Nigeria question value govt places on citizens’ lives
Ikokwu, Odumakin, Henshaw, Dogo, others accuse FG of insensitivity CAN kicks, demands halt of carnage Buhari in rehash of regret, says rise in insecurity ‘very disturbing’
The inclusion of ‘don’t kill’ in the code of conduct God handed down to man through Moses as Ten Commandments underpins not just the sanctity of human life, but also the value and premium God has placed on life.
In spite of that, man with his cannibalistic instinct, still destroys and wastes life using lethal instruments, ballistic missiles and poisonous concoctions.
In Nigeria, this waste has, in recent times, assumed monumental proportion such that the value of life has been reduced to the level of sand and clay.
Nigeria had seen mindless killings before but that was when it was embroiled in needless and avoidable civil war. It was understandable.
Now, the country is not in a war situation, yet human life is being seared in such a gruesome manner that what is clearly abnormal and condemnable has become a new normal.
While the poor masses that are almost always the victims wait helplessly for the next assailant, the government whose duty it is to protect lives watch unconcernedly.
Densely killing in Nigeria has reach a point where observers say that what have taken place in the last five years are more than such killings since the return of the country to civil rule.
“The tacit support of government evidenced in the deafening silence from the seat of power in Abuja has continued to embolden the killers. In no other country do you see the hopelessness of citizens as it is seen in Nigeria. Here is a government that does nothing other than writing releases saying it is on top of the situation. That is the refrain,” a concerned Nigerian moaned, seeking anonymity.
According to the citizen, who claimed to hail from the North Central geo-political zone of the country, “The day I wrote off this government was that day when over 70 people were buried in Plateau State; those killed by Fulani herdsmen in a country where there is a sitting president with all the instruments of power at his disposal.
“Look at what is going on in Taraba, Plateau, Kaduna, even the President’s own state of Katsina. Can you beat that?”
Stop killings in Kaduna now – Groups
In a statement jointly signed by Guy Ikokwu, Yinka Odumakin, Bassey Henshaw and Isuwa Dogo on behalf of South East, South West, South-south and Middle Belt, respectively, titled ‘Stop killings in Southern Kaduna now’, the group noted that the Southern and Middle Belt Forum (SMBLF) was outraged by the latest wave of killings in Southern Kaduna in which SOKAPU has claimed the death of 63 people.
“It is quite worrisome that the orgy of killings has continued in spite of the curfew imposed by the state government,” the groups said.
According to them, “In the past weeks, there have been reports of killings, especially in the southern part of Kaduna state with the most recent massacres at Kukum Daji and Gora Gan put at 33 deaths, aside from the scores who are in hospitals receiving treatment from various degrees of gunshots,” the statement said.
According to the groups, “However, instead of the Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria stepping in to find a lasting solution in the midst of tardiness by the state government it is unfortunate that it has resorted to provocative statements. One of such is the annoying claims credited to the Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to the President of Nigeria, Malam Garba Shehu on the 21st July 2020 that ‘the problem in Southern Kaduna is an evil combination of politically-motivated banditry, revenge killings and mutual violence by criminal gangs acting on ethnic and religious grounds.’
“As if the above confusion is not enough, Shehu Garba further misinformed the Nigerian and the international community that ‘Southern Kaduna enjoys comprehensive security deployments, including the Army, Special Forces of both the Army and the Air Force, surveillance aircraft by the Air Force and mobile police units that are on the ground on a 24-hour basis to forestall criminality and keep the peace.’”
The groups faulted that “These are not responsible statements from any government in the midst of body bags daily being counted by the people of Southern Kaduna in the hands of alleged Fulani marauders. We therefore, call on the Buhari government to immediately stop the killings bring the perpetrators to book and stop making statements seeming to justify the killings and deceive the world about the situation in the area. Only bloodyminded people will refuse to heed this advice now.”
Halt unholy bloodshed – CAN Reacting to the incessant killings in Southern part of Kaduna State, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has charged government to stop the unholy shedding of innocent blood across the country.
“There is an urgent need by government and the security forces to walk their talk and combat the raging insecurity across Kaduna state and other parts of the country,” CAN said in a statement signed by Pastor Bayo Oladeji.
According to CAN, the demons of murder are yet to sheathe their swords against Southern Kaduna communities and that the government appears not to be sincere in walking its talk.
“People should not be allowed to resort to self-help. But if this situation is not addressed, selfhelp might be the alternative,” said CAN stating that people would not look on while their lives are being wasted.
However, in commiserating with families of victims, the Christian body appreciates government’s efforts but states that its present best is unacceptable. “It is not the best Nigerians expect. How can we be seeing and reading in the news about mass burials and be happy when we are not fighting a civil war? We deserve peace in Nigeria,” said CAN.
The Christian umbrella body pointed out that “While the present bloodbaths in the southern part of Kaduna State have shown to be acts of criminality that should have attracted sanctions, the lackluster disposition of the government in stopping further massacre of
Christians and decimation of their communities by terrorist herdsmen speaks volumes on how government values human lives and genuine intervention.”
“We have discovered that whenever security personnel are deployed to a place, the herdsmen go to other villages to attack and kill people in their sleep or when they are about to sleep or when they are waking up,” CAN notes, wondering if criminals should be more professional in tactics than governmenttrained security personnel.
Kingsley Essien, a security expert, said that the attrition war in the North East of Borno State between Boko Haram insurgents and the military captures the hopelessness of the situation at hand.
According to Essien, “The Boko Haram insurgency has since assumed a controversial dimension under this regime. It is so bad now that soldiers are voluntarily resigning and some are dropping their uniforms and running away from their duty posts. It has never been this bad.
“We are not just talking about the insurgents, herdsmen and bandits killing Nigerians with reckless abandon; we also have cases of unprovoked and senseless killings by Okada riders in some towns and cities of Nigeria, who have now come to think that the country belongs to them. Many of such killings across the country go unpunished. No country succeeds this way. Nigeria is gradually shutting down.”
Wale Oshun, leader of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), deplored the level of insecurity in the country.
“You know that for quite a while we cannot say we are secure in Nigeria, whether it is the Middle belt, Southwest, Southeast, the Northwest, and Northeast. I have mentioned this zones now where there is palpable insecurity, whether it is in Kaduna and Katsina States, it is the same story,” Oshun said.
According to him, “Whatever has been done is not enough, if the attacks are still continuing, we can only say they have done enough when there are no more killings. There are unlawful killings, terrorism in the country. It is not about sacking the service chiefs; it is about the underlying causes?
“This is why we are talking about security in relation to restructuring; that the security apparatus must be restructured, so that the federating units, the police can maintain their security institutions.
“I mean the police, army working with federal security agencies which would see only interstate crimes. And you can have each federating units have their own security; it is part of restructuring we are talking about. What is going on right now in the country is sad.”
Speaking with BDSUNDAY, Adesina Fagbenro-byron, candidate in the 2019 presidential election, said the Chief of Army Staff made a very serious statement recently, which Nigerians have allowed to be swept under the carpet.
He recalled that the Army Chief had said that it was not their business to pursue the source of the funding of Boko Haram.
“But for me, the only way you can check insecurity is to check the source of its funding, what gives it live. You entirely investigate those you have captured and deal with them. What we are seeing now in terms of the security situation in Nigeria is the failure of intelligence both internally and externally,” Fagbenro said.
“So, when the military high command says that all they need to do is to occupy a place and clear them that it is not their work to go and investigate where they get their funding from, then you would know that there is a problem in terms of intelligence,” he further said.
He also said that “it is rather ironic that Kaduna State where you have the highest concentration of military and security institutionsthe NDA, Jaji, among others- that is where there is a security threat, they need to act. This is the kind of question that needs to be asked.”
Buhari in rehash of regret, says rise in insecurity ‘very disturbing’
In what seemed a rehash of regret, President Buhari bemoaned the increasing rise of insecurity in parts of the country, saying it is “very disturbing”.
But the President said his government would make more resources available for the country’s military, police and other security agencies to deal with the unwanted security situation in some areas of the country.
The President remained adamant on retaining the Service Chiefs despite contrary opinions from the nation’s legislature and security experts who had since 2019 consistently passed a vote of no confidence in the top echelons of the security hierarchy.