By George Longjan

President Buhari’s latest statement in London on the 11th of April 2018 has just vindicated those of us that have provided objections to certain policies like grazing reserves/colonies/ranches that were to be used to appease the Fulani Militia that have been terrorising our rural farmers.
President Buhari clearly stated that these “armed gunmen” (who we know as Fulani Militia) were trained and armed by Ghaddafi in Libya. Further adding that these same “gunmen” were encountered fighting with Boko Haram. Then concludes by saying the acts of the killers are not religious but sociological and economic.

I find this explanation disingenuous. If this is truly what Buhari believes, then why has he been consistently saying that we should learn to live in peace with our “neighbours” in reference to the killings? Why has his administration continuously stated that the killers are our “brothers” and that we should learn to co-exist with them peacefully?

Why has both the Inspector General of Police, Minister of Defence and other security officials of the Buhari administration constantly emphasised that the cause of deadly violence (genocide) in the Middle Belt is due to the passage of “Anti-Grazing Laws”? This is despite the fact that there is no Anti-Grazing Law in both Plateau and Kogi, yet these two states have been bearing the full brunt of these nomadic killers.

Another cause for concern is why these so called “Libya Trained gunmen” have a thirst for Middle Belt blood? These so called “foreigners” transverse all the states that lie on the northern border of Nigeria. They cross all those states without incident and then suddenly decide that they’ll unleash their terror on a certain group of Farmers living in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria?

These various conflicting explanations call for more suspicion.

We can’t be told in one breath that killers embarking on genocide are “foreign actors”, yet in another breath that they are our “brothers”.
The statement that these same Fulani Militia fought with Boko Haram provides an even more frightening possibility. The Buhari administration had recently floated the idea of an Amnesty programme for the Boko Haram fighters. Will this Amnesty extend to the Fulani Militia since they were once affiliated to Boko Haram, according to Buhari?

If so, who will provide justice for the tens of thousands of ethnic minorities and indigenous Middle Belt people that have been slaughtered by the genocidal acts of the Fulani Militia?

I must make it clear though that the contradictory explanations from the President, Senior Security Officers and Government Aides can mean one of two things. Either there is monumental incompetence in handling the menace of the murderous Fulani Militia or the Administration is going out of their way to protect the deadly herdsmen at the expense of the lives of the indigenous Middle Belt people.

If truly these genocidal killers are well trained foreigners from Libya, then I find it extremely strange that the Federal Government would be handling them with kids gloves.

It would be surprising that the security agencies would allow such violent actors to chase out farmers from their farmlands and illegally occupy those lands.

There is no sane nation that would allow a foreign group of well armed and well trained mercenaries to invade their sovereignty, chase out citizens from their lands, and occupy those lands. This is because those occupied lands can be used as a Forward Operating Base for destabilising the nation.

So I believe that we the primary victims of this grotesque bloodshed and genocide (indigenous people of the Middle Belt) are fed up with all these contradictory explanations and silly excuses. It gives us the impression that the government is not taking our harrowing plight seriously and are not ready to deal with the violent and deadly perpetrators known as the Fulani Militia.

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Fulani militia: Are they foreign agents from Libya, unknown gunmen or Nigerian herdsmen? by George Longjan