When Silence is Not Golden
Documents available to THISDAY indict the federal government for slow response to the killings in Taraba State, reports Chineme Okafor
The phrase ‘silence is golden’ has overtime become a universal way of helping people navigate through the everyday challenges of life with dignity and demeanour. It always suggests that it is a lot better to be silent than to be quick to speak in times of trouble or great difficulties, expecting that the wisdom of meticulous judgment would allow for a dignified expression. It was the Greek philosopher, Plato, who reportedly stated that, ‘wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something,” because he perhaps believed that when words are many, they could become prone to destructive expressions.
In Nigeria, words have been spoken about the repeated murder of Nigerians, mostly farmers in villages in Taraba State, allegedly by cattle herders of the Fulani ethnic stock. The herders have also been accused of enjoying some sort of backing from the federal authorities, including alleged protection by the Nigerian military as recently claimed by a former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.).
Danjuma, at a public function in Taraba, alleged that the country’s military was complicit in its response to cases of militia attacks in the state and elsewhere. He specifically claimed that the military was helping to keep the killings going, adding that, “the armed forces are not neutral,” and that, “they collude” with the armed bandits to kill Nigerians.
A retired lieutenant-general and civil war veteran, Danjuma’s words bore some elements of disquiet and to some extent, helped amplify earlier claims by state actors in affected parts of Taraba that the federal government had been curiously silent about the killings.
Calm and usually meticulous in his dealings, Danjuma is not known to be flippant in his personal expressions or assessments of issues bothering on the Nigerian nation, yet his outburst raised key questions on the commitment of stakeholders especially the federal government which is expressly in charge of securing Nigeria and its people from homeland and external attacks.
He had also reportedly asked Nigerians to defend themselves and homesteads against the attacks that have left thousands of people dead within months.
According to him, rather than protect the people, the country’s security forces “facilitate” the movement of armed attackers, in addition to allegedly providing them cover to engage in such maleficent killings.
“If you wait for the armed force to stop the killing, you all will die one-by-one. The ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba State and other parts of Nigeria, otherwise, Somalia will be a child’s place,” Danjuma warned, adding: “I urge all of you to be at alert and defend your country. Defend your territory, defend your state.”
His claims were, however, denied by both the federal government and the military who described Danjuma’s call for self-defence as insensitive, inflammatory and should be ignored by Nigerians.
Mr. Tukur Gusau, spokesman for the Defence Ministry said: “This is highly uncalled for and is invitation to anarchy and should be disregarded by well-meaning Nigerians.” Mansur Dan-Ali, Minister of Defence, stated: “The efforts of the Nigerian military towards restoration of peace, security and order in Nigeria are evidently clear and Nigerians should continue to show appreciation for changing the security environment from what it was before.
“Therefore, if anyone has evidence of wrongdoing or dereliction of duty against our troops (the person) should please bring forward such evidence through the channel for necessary action.”
In the same vein, the military through its spokesperson, Texas Chukwu, stated that the claims against it were unfair and sad. “The public is notified that Nigerian Army personnel have had to pay the supreme price for ensuring the sustenance of security in Taraba State. For instance, a gallant non-commission officer of the Nigerian Army was beheaded on 16 March 2018 in Takum, Taraba State by criminal elements,” it said.
Chukwu, equally alleged that the military was being attacked by politicians whom he claimed were forcing it to become partisan in its operations in Taraba, a push it has declined.
“It is noteworthy to state that at the inception of ‘Exercise Ayem Akpatuma’ or ‘Cat Race’ in Tiv, the Taraba State Government did not cooperate with the Nigerian Army due to the Army’s stance to remain absolutely neutral in the herdsmenfarmers’ crisis. The Nigerian Army will continue to remain as such,” Chukwu claimed. Documents speak otherwise With regard to claims by the military that the government of Taraba had been indifferent to the security exercise it initiated to restore peace in the state, as well as its alleged preference for a prejudiced containment of the killings, THISDAY obtained documents that suggest the state government warned of an imminent security threat to the state and called for security support.
Filed as far back as January 2016 and August 2017, the documents, which contained letters allegedly from the state Governor, Mr. Darius Ishaku, to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr. Babagana Monguno, called the attention of the president to the security threats. Another document called the attention of Monguno to an alleged unsatisfactory conduct of the Commanding Officer 83 Battalion, Ada Barracks in Takum, Lt. Col. Ibrahim Gambari.
In the letters to Buhari, Ishaku requested the president to reclassify and designate the state as one of the states in the North-east that needs improved security cover. He claimed that while Taraba was not directly impacted by the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists, its challenges with communal conflicts between cattle herders and farming communities had assumed a different dimension.
According to him, the conflict which was usually between local herders and farmers, and always contained with minimal security commitments, had now become too difficult to deal with following security reports that it now has the backing of some foreign herders.
He listed communities that had been sacked from their homesteads, as well as intelligence security reports submitted by the Department of State Service (DSS) on the new intrusions, which he said were also derailing the efforts of the government to resettle people that had been displaced from their homes.
Similarly, in his protest letter to Monguno, against Gambari, Ishaku, claimed the army officer had released without recourse to his office, about 224 cows allegedly abandoned by Fulani herders who were subdued by the military when they invaded Takum and Ussa communities on May 6, 2017.The governor told Monguno that the military overpowered the armed herders and their abandoned cows left with the state government as bait to eventually get whoever would come to claim them. He, however, noted that Gambari, without recourse to him, released the cows to an unknown group, thus raising doubt about his neutrality.
He also alleged that Gambari engaged in a military invasion and killing of people in communities in the Kashimbila area of the state, in addition to engaging in illegal lumbering in the state, and thus asked for his transfer.
Notwithstanding these complaints to both Buhari and Monguno, the state government indicated that no form of response came its way while the killings continued in Taraba. Deadly killings need proactive response While it is almost impossible to place an accurate figure on the number of Nigerians that had been killed in the herders versus farmers conflicts across the country, it would, however, be clear and accurate to report that the tempo of deadly killings recorded in several states across Nigeria had increased in the last couple of months with the government almost looking stranded with finding and prosecuting culprits.
At the last count, hundreds of people had been killed in attacks on villages in Benue, Kogi, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kaduna and Taraba in 2018 alone. In Benue about 100 people were killed in two local government areas on January 1. Similarly in Taraba, about 55 people were reportedly killed by Fulani herdsmen in Lau Local Government in the early days of January, while reprisal attacks in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State between Fulani and Bachama communities also resulted in multiple deaths in January.
Also in January, Kaduna reportedly had about 38 persons killed in two villages - Ankpon Village in Nandu and Kabamu Village in Fadan Karshi, all in Sanga Local Government Area. The killings according to the Council Chairman, Emmanuel Adamu, in his conversation with journalists, were simultaneously coordinated. Unfortunately till today, the killings are still on, with the security agencies apparently confused on what to do.