In the course of the most recent bi-weekly media update on military operations against insurgents in various theaters of operation across the six geo-political zones of the country, the Director, Defense Media Operations(DMO), Major General Markus Kangye, disclosed that foreign herders were the perpetrators of recent violent attacks on local communities and the vicious killings of farmers in Plateau, Benue and other adjoining States.
General Kangye buttressed his assertion thusly:”When you hear them talk in some instances, you’ll be able to decipher whether these people are from here or not, and from the North”. He further elaborated:”there are some herders who are Nigerians who also get involved in crime, but most of violence and incessant killings you are hearing in some parts of this country are perpetrated by mostly those who find their way in through porous borders of our country”.
General Kangye’s revelation is what we had known or suspected long before now. As a matter of fact, these have been the refrains of the Governors of Benue and Plateau States, Hyacinth Alia and Caleb Mutfwang. These rooftop refrains were sadly either disdained or given the short shrift.
It is valid that we have had incidents of farmer-herder clashes, going back to decades, if not about a century. These clashes have since been worsened by climate change and the desperation of herders to graze their cattle in the more verdant and lush parts of the Middle Belt. Also, some of the communities in the Middle Belt had clashed. Some of these clashes were over boundaries or farmlands. Occasionally in the past, some of these clashes had been galvanized and spurred by our unscrupulous elites and politicians. In spite of these, the animus or hatred occasioned by these clashes were neither entrenched nor were they ingrained. The communal clashes had always been papered over or resolved by our institutions or persons of goodwill. Also, these clashes did not prompt the wanton killings, and on the massive and genocidal scale, we are witnessing today.
It is clear that these foreign herders are exploiting these fault lines. They are shrewdly taking advantage of our differences to serve as convenient canopies or covers for their dastardly acts. And they use these guises/disguises to unleash deaths and mayhem on these embattled States.
Additionally, and what is worth underlining, is that these attacks, going back to decades, were unprovoked. The victims, mowed down in their hundreds in one tranche, are innocent, unsuspecting farmers. The attacks, until now, took place at night. Elements of surprise and stealth are deployed. The attacks are co-ordinated and precise. This suggests that they may be carried out by a militia or persons who had prior military training. Most of the time, these attackers escape without trace.
Now that we have incontrovertible and unimpeachable evidence that these heinous attacks are being perpetrated by foreign herders, certain matters must arise. Who are the enablers and sponsors of these terrorists? What is their grand design or agenda? Why is it that they come in, carry out these devastating attacks and escape with ease? What are the strategies they have deployed thus far and the ones they are likely to deploy in due course?
It is only when we can address the aforesaid posers that we can appreciate the magnitude of the challenge we face and formulate our strategies to either neutralize or uproot them. It is also when we answer these questions that we can frustrate their logistics, block their source(s) of funding and weaponry.
One of the points General Kangye underscored in his update was that these foreign herders were taking advantage of our “porous borders”. If it is so, this an indictment of our Immigration Services. It is the remit of the Nigeria Immigration Services(NIS), among others, to protect our borders and profile those who ingress and egress our country.
His comment too may suggest that in spite of clarion exhortations to our security agencies to work in concert, and with synergy, they may still be working in silos and independently of each other. To accomplish the mission of ridding the country of insurgents, terrorists and kidnappers, the security agencies must work in unison. Information should be shared amongst them. There should be collaboration and partnership. Each agency must bring to bear its unique talent and make available its resources in a robust and unwavering manner.
At a time when retired Generals are being abducted and military bases are being recklessly attacked and soldiers and weapons are being seized by callous insurgents, surely these humiliations should serve as a rude awakening. They should also provoke the gallantry and patriotism of our security agencies.
Following the humiliation that America received in Vietnam, the commanders of that war, led notably by Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., vowed that never again would their military’s nose be rubbed in the mud. This explains the single-minded determination and the massive destruction that informed Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the Gulf War.
Our security agencies should view these terrorist attacks both as a professional affront and an existential threat to the corporate existence of a country they have sworn to protect. These attacks should serve as a wake up call to restore their, and Nigeria’s, dignity. This is do-able.
It is a mission that can be accomplished. After all, our armed forces have won plaudits and laurels during our fratricidal war, the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and several Peacekeeping theaters such as the Congo, Lebanon, Sudan etc. Besides, some of us, who in the course of our storied careers, have interfaced or worked with our security agencies, can vouch for, or speak proudly, of their professionalism.
This is yet another opportunity for all our security agencies to work as one, to act with stout determination and to once more proof their mettle. It can be done!
