The last time I checked, Nigeria was ostensibly synonymous with murder. The ubiquitous bad omen, usually occasioned by the activity of the so-called herdsmen and/or bandits or what have you, has made virtually every rational Nigerian resort to sleeping with one eye open.
The ugly scenario has lingered unabated that many have begun to insinuate that the Nigerian State is now a ‘Banana Republic’. In some quarters, most dwellers are endlessly of the notion that Nigerians as a people are facing a nemesis owing to the perceived mistake made in 2015.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement if one opines that we have lost statistics of cases pertaining to massacre or homicide that transpired in recent times. The worst of all remains that no locality across the federation is exempted while discussing those that have suffered from such dastardly acts.
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Little wonder, even a kid could with ease take to the social media just to write all sorts of trash against the President Muhammadu Buhari – led government.
The purported farmers, rather than acting as guests while breeding their livestock, end up constituting evitable nuisance in their various host communities. This domineering and nonchalant idiosyncrasy of the armed herders who parade themselves with unspeakable ammunition and weapons has overtime been arguably overlooked by the government and other concerned authorities.
Five years ago, precisely on Monday, 25th April 2016, a certain group of herdsmen unleashed an astonishing and untold terror on the people of Nimbo Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area (LGA) of Enugu State. The attack resulted in a massacre that could only be imagined. In the crisis, reportedly scores feared dead, countless persons maimed, about a hundred residents injured, several houses cum worship places razed, thereby rendering over two thousand dwellers homeless.
Though the above incident may have come and gone, it’s pertinent to acknowledge that the peril it inflicted on the living victims is unarguably an experience they will live to recall. Myself, each time I recollect that a certain community in Enugu in the history of this country woke one morning only to be brutally taken unawares by a group of total strangers who had supposedly been their beneficiaries, I only take solace in the perceived notion that it could be a mere dream. Yet till date, no one has been convicted in regard to the mayhem.
Subsequently, as if that wasn’t enough, such an ordeal transcended to other states. Currently, it seems states like Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Plateau and Kaduna have abruptly become the headquarters of the cruel herders. At the moment, no day that comes on board, we wouldn’t hear that a certain part of any of the said provinces had been attacked by the ‘herdsmen’.
On Tuesday, 24th April 2018, the same set of individuals unleashed terror on the people of Ayar-Mbalom village of Gwer East LGA in Benue State during a requiem service in a Catholic Church identified as St. Ignatius. The incident, which claimed the lives of two priests – Reverend Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha – and seventeen worshippers, commenced at about 5:30am (WAT) when gunmen who had been lurking in the bushes swooped on the villagers who had sorrowfully gathered to bury their dead.
It was gathered that the attackers first started the attack in a neighbouring community in the evening of the previous day being Monday, but were repelled by the locals. They subsequently made effort all through the night in some villages within the surroundings and further met with stiff resistance. The invaders, who were with both machetes and firearms, reportedly numbered about thirty.
It was further reported that aside the Catholic Church, the supposed herders burnt down various homes, destroying thousands of food items and properties. Some residents who tried to flee the scene were stopped dead in their tracks by a hail of bullets.
President Buhari described the incident as vile, evil and satanic. AS at then, I strongly wished someone could tell Mr. President that it wasn’t about issuing a condolence message from the State House but swinging into action without much ado towards averting reprisal, which I had long foreseen.
It’s noteworthy that barely twenty-four hours after the aforementioned ordeal being Wednesday, 25th April 2018, a different set of attackers, or perhaps the same people, descended on another locality identified as the outskirts of Daudu still at about 5:00am. A cross-section of the villagers confirmed the attack and disclosed that people were killed, though the police couldn’t give the exact picture of what transpired. According to the report, the residents were awoken by gunshots and the cries of agony from victims.
The ugly unabated incidence of bloodshed has remained unchanged on a daily basis across the shores of the country. Worse still, in some cases, the security agents end up causing more harm than good.
It’s indeed mind-boggling to realize that while Nigerians are continually being eaten up by gunshots from these terrorists, most politicians are busy endorsing canvassing for their gains ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Isn’t it so disturbing to note that at a time when every sane mind in Nigeria is expected to be sober, we’re rather preoccupied with frivolities all in the name of 2023 elections?