Killings And Farmers-Herders Clashes

The first approach to solving a security problem is stripping it of all political pretences and nuances. The killings in Plateau, Benue, Zamfara and other places should be properly phrased.

The casual resort to tagging or reducing mass killings or massacres to "farmers-herders clashes" is sadism. It mocks the dead and drives a dagger deeper into the wounds of the bereaved. Nigeria is at present an island of blood. Too many souls have been dispatched to the place yonder untimely.

Framing the killings in the central part of the country as “herdsmen-farmers clashes” is skirting around a serious issue. What happened in Plateau at the weekend is pre-meditated massacre. What happened in Benue, where Catholic priests and parishioners were killed, is a deliberate massacre not “herdsmen-farmers” clashes. What happened in Taraba, where a seminary was attacked, is intentioned criminality not “herdsmenfarmers” clashes and so is that of Zamfara.

As a matter of fact, I have always given this government the benefit of the doubt on matters of security.

But the government has been inconsistent in the excuses it gives for the killings in the north central region lately.

First, the government said the killers were not Nigerians - that they were foreign invaders. Even President Muhammadu Buhari said the killers were aliens from Libya.

However, the government later changed its narrative and said anti-open grazing laws were the smoulders of the killings. Second, John Agim, defence spokesman, said the killers were political thugs hired by desperate politicians to cause disharmony in the area.

But Dan-Ali, defence minister, said openly that for peace to reign in the north central region - that is, for the killings to stop - all anti-open grazing laws must be suspended, implying that the laws were the reason