By Rev. Polycarp Gbaja
Please let us recall in full what the Presidency said and described as revenge killings that are worsening the situation in Southern Kaduna.
None other than Presidential spokesman, Mr Garba Shehu said: “The Presidency wishes to state that the problem of insecurity in Southern Kaduna State is more complicated than many people are willing to admit.
“From available records, Southern Kaduna enjoys comprehensive security deployments, including the Army, Special Forces of both the Army and the Air Force, surveillance aircraft by the Air Force and mobile police units that are on the ground on a 24-hour basis to forestall criminality and keep the peace.
“But unlike other parts of the country, the problem of Southern Kaduna is more complicated than many critics are ready to acknowledge and understand.
“From available security records, the problem in Southern Kaduna is an evil combination of politically-motivated banditry, revenge killings and mutual violence by criminal gangs acting on ethnic and religious grounds.
“It is a situation in which one criminal group will kill a member of another criminal group out of ethnic and religious motivations which in turn leads to the eruption of revenge and counter-revenge, thereby making the job of the security personnel deployed to protect lives more difficult.
“We note that revenge and counter-revenge only creates a circle of violence, thereby making everyone else unsafe, especially innocent people.
“The Presidency advises the people against taking the law into their own hands which makes the job of security personnel more difficult. Instead, they should report any security breach or threat to peace to the law enforcement agencies.
“What is required is for the local authorities to radically improve their intelligence capabilities so that security agencies will be alerted in a timely manner to enable them forestall any planned attacks.
“The Presidency in the same manner condemns the recent attacks by bandits in Igali, Birnin Gwari and Giwa local government areas of the State while urging security agencies to intensify their response.”
This statement from the Nigerian Presidency released by Garba Shehu shows the very reason blood has continued to flow in Southern Kaduna, shed gruesomely by the well known Fulani Militia, aka ‘Bandits’, ‘unknown gunmen’, etc. It is this now well repeated position of the Presidency that gives credence to the view of ineptitude, irresponsibility and complicity of the regime to these atrocities, that have remained a recurring decimal in the region, throughout its tenure since its inception.
The same incredulous, insensitive, statement and narrative was made by no less than the President himself as hapless women and children were being killed in Katsina State, months ago.
We ALL know who is carrying out the killings in Southern Kaduna and other areas.
The facts speak for themselves.
WHATEVER the silly excuses being made on behalf of the marauders of indigenous communities, it is sick and insane for the Government to continue to speak with such impunity over its clear FAILURE TO SECURE LIFE AND PROPERTY OF ITS CITIZENS CONTINUOUSLY. It has woefully failed to deliver on its primary and sworn DUTY of security of its citizens.
Where else in the world does the Federal Government hold brief for bloody TERRORISTS?!!
This is self indictment by the Federal Government’s spokesman, in this Crime Against Humanity on indigenous communities of Nigeria being carried out by the Fulani Herdsmen Militia, politically and deceptively referred to as ‘Farmers-Herders clash’. Like the ongoing kidnappings and abductions could be renamed ‘kidnappers-travellers clash’!!
Both the State and Federal Governments must be made to answer for their part and crass negligence of this sick horror-flick playing before our eyes in the 21st Century, by its citizens and the Global Community.
Even the Global Press has stopped reporting on the vile happenings going on daily on Nigerian soil because WHAT IS NOW HAPPENING IN NIGERIA DEMEANS THE REST OF HUMANITY IN ITS SHEER VILENESS, ABSURDITY, BLATANT INCREDULITY AND DEVALUATION OF LIVES.
The same blood of the innocent children, women and men being shed, cries out to the God of the Universe, in Whose Hands is ultimate Justice. And He promises to repay on the foot soldiers and their sponsors in air conditioned enclosures.
We must together ALL rise and condemn this condemnable position of the Federal Government, as we OUGHT, whose constitutional DUTY it also is, to have set up and coordinated an Early Warning System/MECHANISM and working template of RESPONSE, defense and offensive, long before now.
It has failed, not due to lack of capacity, but a lack of political WILL to use the instruments of governance of a 200-million persons country at its disposal to deploy and secure life and property.
We refuse this lame, unacceptable and heartless excuse from the Presidency.
▪︎ Gbaja, a reverend and social critic, is based in Abuja and sent this via WhatsApp