The recent horrific killings in Benue State, especially in the Yelwata area of the state shocked many Nigerians, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who rushed to the state to see things for himself and sympathise with the traumatized people.
The attackers and the attacks bore the usual imprimatur of marauding armed Fulani herdsmen who have been unleashing blood- chilling mayhem on defenseless communities across the state. While addressing President Tinubu during the visit, the revered Tiv monarch, Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayatse identified killer herdsmen as the invading terrorists.
The gory images of the mindless massacres in Benue are revulsive: Men mutilated with cutlass, pregnant women ripped open and babies in their wombs brought out and slaughtered too, heads of women, children and the aged chopped off.
Why are fulani herdsmen who were hither armed only with long sticks to control the cows they herded now wielding deadly assault weapons and rifles including AK 47 with which they intimidate communities, plunder and kill? Why haven’t Nigeria’s security apparatus been able to dismantle the nest of killer herdsmen whether they are foreign invaders or local breds? These are some of the jigsaw the Nigerian government has been unable to solve.
Fulani herdsmen(also known as Fulbe or Peul in other regions) are traditionally nomadic or semi-nomadic cattle herders from the Fulani ethnic group, found across many West and Central African countries, including Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Chad, and Cameroon.
In recent years, the term “Fulani herdsmen” has been associated with conflicts with farmers, particularly over land use, grazing routes, and water resources. These clashes have at times turned violent, leading to loss of lives and property.
One disturbing feature of the Benue attacks is the time factor. According to reports, the attackers came on several motorbikes at about 10pm to carry out their devilish mission. Now, the questions on the lips of many bemused Nigerians are: Where were security agents, including the police, Army and DSS while the attacks lasted? How come the attackers, possibly in their tens or hundreds, rode freely into Yelwata, carry out their heinous mission and freely left, leaving blood, destruction and anguish on their trails without being detected or intercepted by security agents? Why was there no intelligence report, and like the president Bola Tinubu rightly queried “why were there no arrests”?
killing of innocent citizens or shedding of innocent blood invokes the anger of God, so if God can be angry over the shedding of innocent blood, then Nigerians should rightly be angry with the police and other security agencies for not protecting innocent and defenceless Benue citizens and indeed Nigerians, afterall, policing is a 24 hours job.
Even the constitution of Nigeria mandates the police to provide security and protection for citizens . The massacre of over 200 citizens in cold blood should therefore, attract severe punishment to those the constitution charged with the security of lives and property. The Benue attacks ought to have resulted in the transfer or retirement of security Chiefs in the State. They ought to have been made to answer for their nonchalant attitude. The unprovoked massacre of hundreds of defenceless citizens should not be swept under political carpet as has always been the case. The terrorists rode on the road of in a convoy of motorbikes with their headlights on; such movement ought to have attracted immediate attention of security agents. One would have expected that the mobile unit of the Nigerian police be stationed in all the 774 local government area in the country, especially in the volatile and attacks prone local government areas in the north . Many have asked the question, “what has happened to the gallant mobile police squad of the Nigerian police that was trained as an anti- terrorist unit and charged with confronting the kind of terrorists that invaded Yelwata”? . Mobile police men and women received several commendations during the time of former Inspector-General of Police, IGP Tafa Balogun (now late ) when they were drafted into the anti-robbery squad to combat dangerous armed robbers and criminals terrorising parts of the country at that time. Today, these gallant men and women who ought to be fighting terrorists are now providing security for politicians. They are no longer of any effect in the security circle, you hardly find them again on the streets of Nigeria. They have rather been turned into personal security guards of politicians and highly placed individuals.
I recall that former IGP, Sir Mike Okiro, one of the outstanding visionary police chiefs Nigeria has produced, had despatched several personnel of the mobile police unit, during his tenure to Spain , Isreal , Egypt and south Africa for anti-terrorism training but later resorted to internal training by the anti- terrorism squad. Their scope and mandate were later expanded to include coping with any unforseen circumstances.
Many had argued that there was no need for such squad, terming it a waste of resources but I beg to disagree. Few months after his retirement in 2009 when the squad was disbanded by Okiro’s incoming successor, Inspector-General of police Mr Ogbonnaya Onvo, Boko haram terrorists struck and the police was caught napping. The argument then was that had the anti-terrorism squad and the training centre established in River , Lagos and some states in north were allowed to survive, Boko Haram would have been a thing of the past since . Nigeria is a country that quickly forgets it past history , if not, adequate arrangements would have been made with the aim of curbing further terrorist attack since 2007 when Boko Haram insurgents first struck in the country . Record shows that over 1000 innocent Nigerians have in the recent past been dastardly murdered by the marauding armed Fulani herdsmen. Reports note that on 11 June, two people were killed in a machete attack in Tse Ivokor, Unongu, and the following day five people were killed in an ambush on farmlands in Daudu as they were searching for the bodies of those who had been killed in the previous day’s attack.
Another search party comprising four people was killed on 13 June, also in Daudu, while five others were killed and eight injured in an attack on the Akondutough community in North Bank in the neighbouring Makurdi local government area. from 1st April to 1st June alone, according to an NGO, the Benue Network, over 5,700 lives were lost to terrorists attacks that have been ongoing in the state since 2011, with more than 150,000 people displaced. These attacks in Benue State could have been avoided had the National Assembly and the Executive done the needful by approving the establishment of state police system.
For the avoidance of doubt, the state police system are law enforcement agencies that operate under the authority of a state government, rather than a city or county. They are distinct from federal or local police forces, and their jurisdiction typically covers the entire state. According to international security records, as it stands today, out of the 25 African countries , Nigeria is the only one without state police. The state police system has been operational across the world, in countries like like Argentina, USA , Canada , Italy , India, Mexico , Spain , Italy , Germany , Australia and many others . It is unfortunate that a systems that would benefit the larger society is being resisted, with some people who do not understand the importance and benefits ignorantly kicking against it. Let us analyse the importance of state polic: Had there been state police in Benue State, the first attack would have been nipped in the bud because enough police personnel would have been on ground to forestall it. Secondly, intelligence gathering would have been very effective and thirdly, the terrorists would have been rounded up by vigilant state police personnel . Moreover, no state governor would have tolerated the nonchalant and lackadaisical attitude of a state police.
For the record, many state governor are now in support of state police. For example, Governor of Gombe state and Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Inuwa Yahaya, recently voiced support for the establishment of state police.
Inuwa said the country needed decentralised security management while emphasising the importance of bringing security closer to the people.
“State police will enable us to monitor and implement security decisions swiftly, with tangible results,” he had told State House correspondents after closed-door talks with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja recently.
Earlier in February the Federal and state governments resolved to develop modalities to create state police to tackle the country’s security crisis. Since their assumption of office, many state governors have routinely provided necessary tools to the police for the policing of their states which have translated to a stable and peaceful environments in some of them. There is no better time to introduce state police system than NOW! It is the option before us.
Credit:The Sun