Many criticisms have trailed the alleged high-handed approach used by President Buhari in tackling the Fulani Herdsmen menace in Nigeria. Despite the fact that several reports have substantiated the ruthlessness of these herdsmen, it does not appear as though anything will be done to quell the crisis anytime soon. As it escalates, there are suggestions that the killings perpetuated by the Fulani Herdsmen may stop if Buhari utilises the same measures he applied against cattle rustlers in Zamfara State, Nigeria.
In addition to the number of Nigerians massacred almost every week, three persons, including a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, were murdered in separate attacks by some suspected Fulani Herdsmen on Sunday night in Kaduna. The area where the incidents occurred – Ningon village, near Gwantu, headquarters of Sanga Local Government Area and Unguwan Anjo, near Godogodo in the Jema’a Local Government Area – has just been visited by the state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to appraise the attacks.
“We were happy that Governor Nasir el-Rufai visited and assured us of improved security and that the killers would be found and punished.
“To our shock, Pastor Luka Ubangari was ambushed, shot and killed as he was riding his motorcycle after an evangelical visit to Golkofa. He was killed by Fulani men who were out to remove us from our ancestral lands,” a local resident told The Punch newspaper.
In July, President Buhari deployed a special military task force comprising of hundreds of soldiers, up to 1000 to combat armed gangs that are terrorising residents of Zamfara State. The armed bandits have killed dozens of residents and stolen cattle. Before that time, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, called for severe punishment for cattle rustlers. Obviously, the Nigerian government is attending to the issue of cattle rustlings, while the rampaging Fulani Herdsmen are left to continue committing their atrocities. Last April, the information minister, Lai Muhammed said the government is working “silently” to resolve the crisis. Of course, the silent approach has truly been silent, since there have been more reports of killings by these people and no word from the leaders.
With the continued and unchecked freedom of execution, granted by the silence of the Nigerian authorities to these Fulani Herdsmen, Nigeria continues to sit on a keg of gun powder. Sooner or later, those affected may no longer be comfortable watching their people being butchered by these mindless glorified terrorists; reactions from victims of the herdsmen killings may be too violent to control. Last month, Ventures Africa explained everything to be known, in order to understand the Fulani Herdsmen crisis in Nigeria.
