By Emeka Alex Duru
(08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)
Few days ago, President Bola Tinubu put up a courageous argument for the establishment of a regional counter-terrorism centre that will serve as a hub for intelligence sharing, operational coordination, and capacity building throughout Africa. He spoke against the backdrop of the pervasive tendencies of terrorism in many parts of the continent and the attendant costs in human and material resources.
According to Tinubu, terrorism’s harm is felt far and wide for the very reason that it has no respect for national boundaries, ethnic bloodlines or religious creeds. “We must, therefore, fight this threat together, combining determined national efforts with well-tailored regional and international collaboration”, he pleaded.
Those were fine remarks which on the surface, were enough to earn the president the status of concerned African statesman. But while Tinubu lectured on security in Africa, Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, was in serious pains and has remained so, counting its losses from a recent Fulani herdsmen attack. The invasion which took place on Sunday, April 28, left many dead and others wounded. Various figures have been posted on the number of victims.
But the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze, has identified four of the dead. These were Okeh Oruku, Okeh Chukwuemeka, Julius Odiegwu, and Gabriel Ezea. They were attacked while mourning one of their own at Ugwuijoro Nimbo community.
This is not the first time such mayhem would be visited on Nimbo. In 2016, about 40 persons were reportedly killed in the same community by suspected Fulani herdsmen. Seven villages (Nimbo Ngwoko, Ugwuijoro, Ekwuru, Ebor, Enugu Nimbo, Umuome and Ugwuachara) were among the areas attacked. Ten residential houses and a church, Christ Holy Church International, aka Odozi Obodo, were burnt by the atrocious herdsmen. Vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed and domestic animals killed.
The shocking aspect of the 2016 invasion was how the hoodlums outsmarted the security agencies in the state before unleashing their attack. The then governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had narrated how on Sunday, April 24, 2016, by 7 pm, the night before the carnage took place, he got security information from Uzo-Uwani Local Government Transition Chairman, that such an incident was in the offing.
According to him, based on the information, he summoned a meeting of the State Security Council that was attended by the Garrison Commander who represented the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division Nigerian Army; the Commissioner of Police; the State Director of Department State Security Services (DSS); the State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps; representatives of the Nigerian Air force, Federal Road Safety Corps and Nigerian Prison Services, who attended as observers. Ugwuanyi claimed that at the meeting, he received assurances from the Commissioner of Police that the Area Commander of SARS was on ground in Nimbo, in addition to the Anti-Terrorism Unit.
Despite the assurances and the impression given of the state being on top of the situation, in the early hours of Monday, April 25, 2016, reports of the massacre broke out. More disturbing was that the attack of innocent and defenceless citizens were carried out at about 6 30 am, without the state and security agencies lifting a finger.
At the site of the mayhem, Ugwuanyi was captured on camera, crying like a baby. The next day, he hurried to a meeting at Aso Rock with the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, who issued directives that the perpetrators of the heinous crime must be fished out and dealt with accordingly. But that was where it all ended.
At the burial of the over 40 victims, there was no federal government presence. It even took the Presidency clear two days to release a statement on the attack, pledging justice to the victims, that was not effected. Apart from Ugwuanyi the host, other South East governors and politicians went their separate ways. No arrest, nor trial of the brains behind the attack was made. Nimbo was left to mourn its dead members and carry its can.
Eight years after, the community is passing through similar painful route. As in the 2016 episode, there is no clear-cut statement from the authorities or programme of actions at apprehending the hoodlums behind the April 28 attack and bringing them to justice. It will therefore not come as surprise if the blood hounds visit the hapless community again.
That is what happens when certain groups or individuals commit crimes and are allowed to go unpunished. That is an extreme form of indulgence in which one is allowed to carry on with particular bad habit without bothering at how it affects others. If you read impunity on the side of the actors or allege complicity on the part of the state, you may not be wrong.
Aside other incidences of criminality, especially the Boko Haram insurgency that we have had to contend with since 2009, the immediate challenge facing the country, is the menace of the Fulani herdsmen. Apart from Enugu, the states in the North Central, South East and some parts of South West, are experiencing the impacts of their menace.
How and why the government looks the other way while the Fulani herdsmen keep drawing blood and inflicting pains on Nigerian citizens, remains strange. Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is emphatic that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. In Nimbo, Enugu community and other settlements in Benue, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra, Kogi, Edo, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Nasarawa where the criminal pastoralists have killed and maimed Nigerians and escaped unpunished, the government has failed in its primary function.
Prof Chinua Achebe captured it that “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There’s nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership”. The problem in the government keeping blind eyes on the activities of the Fulani herders in Nimbo and surrounding communities, is that it may be difficult to estimate how the people may fight back when they feel that that they have been sufficiently pressed to the wall.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo is right in describing the Nimbo killings as “a heinous and deliberate assault on its people, particularly those living in boundary communities.” It has therefore called on South East governors to come up with proactive measures to forestall another attack in any community in the zone. President Tinubu and Enugu state governor Peter Mbah, should come clear on how they intend to guard against another attack on the peaceful residents of Nimbo and other towns in the state.
That is the least the people expect of their leaders, not shedding crocodile tears or paying lip-service to their plight. Importantly, there must be an end to the unprovoked Fulani herdsmen attack on Nimbo and other communities in Igbo land.
*DURU is the Editor, TheNiche Newspapers, Lagos