THE NIGERIAN MILITARY’S CONTRADICTION BETWEEN SELF-DEFENCE IN THE MIDDLE BELT AND SELF-DEFENCE IN THE NORTH EAST.

by

Gurumwal George Longjan

The contradiction between the military’s security agenda in the Middle Belt and the North East of Nigeria has become quite glaring in recent times.

While in the North East, the terrorists being confronted by the security forces are the globally known Boko Haram, in the Middle Belt, the terrorists are the lesser known Fulani Herdsmen Militia, which at one time (and possibly still currently) were ranked the fourth deadliest terror group in the world.

In the North East, the military wholeheartedly conscripted the indigenous people that were defending their local communities from the bloodthirsty villains into what was eventually called the “Civilian JTF”.

Whereas in the Middle Belt, each time indigenous people come out to protect themselves from the murderous Fulani Militia, they are then arrested and eagerly paraded before the media, giving the whole world a wrong interpretation of the conflict.

Note that in the Middle Belt, the Fulani Militia Terrorists are hardly ever captured by the security forces due to their mobile nature and sophisticated weaponry, hence they are never paraded before the cameras. In contrast the locals are stationary farmers who have to stay put and defend themselves, their families and farmlands.

This provides a skewed narrative of the conflict, indicating that only the locals are the aggressors since they are the only ones that can be easily apprehended.

In the most recent case of bloodletting during the week starting 12/3/2018 at Rafiki, Bassa LG, Plateau State, the military accepted and announced that the Fulani militia opened fire on them using sophisticated weapons which eventually led to the death of two soldiers while injuring some more.

Yet that same Military Division didn’t pursue and apprehend a single one of the hostile Fulani terrorists. On the contrary they arrested and paraded the innocent and dedicated youths who were using sticks and stones to protect their villages.

Subsequently the military rushed to parade these youths on camera. The only crime of these youths was that they wanted to protect their frail old parents and vulnerable young children. These acts of displaying these brave self-defenders has the effect of confusing those that have no knowledge of the situation.

Furthermore such insensitive acts of one-sided arrests go a long way in further reducing the confidence that local farmers and farming communities have in the Federal Government controlled security apparatus. Those acts also have the possibility of creating an impression in the minds of the locals that the military is acting with a hidden agenda or an ulterior motive.

The only consolation, if you can call it that, is that in the ongoing case at Rafiki, the military clearly stated at the bottom of their press release that “those arrested were from the Rafiki community and the aim of the arrest was to forestall “reprisal attacks””.

This makes it clear that these innocent youths arrested were the victims and not the aggressors.

There is the possibility that the soldier that authored that press release might be severely disciplined or dismissed for publicly revealing that vital information. The press release might even be deleted from social media when the military hierarchy hear of it, but I have made sure to create snapshots of the post to forestall such a possibility.

I hope the media and the international community are taking notes. We have cried our voices hoarse about the genocide currently transpiring in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, but the international community seems to consistently turn a blind eye to the carnage in the area.

The carnage in the Middle Belt of Nigeria at the hands of the murderous Fulani Herdsmen Militia has the potential of surpassing he genocide in Rohingya. Let’s hope the international community will not wait till it deteriorates to that historic level of bloodshed.

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George Longjan Writes on Military’s Contradiction Between Self-defence in North-East and Middle Belt