INTRODUCTION
It was inevitable. It was just a matter of time before one of them would also be wasted by the bullets, sword or cudgel of jihadi Islamists, armed bandits, kidnappers or the ubiquitous itinerant criminal who has become all too common to Nigeria’s commoners. For Gulak, it was the bullets of criminals whose motive still remains a matter of conjecture. Just like hundreds of thousands of ordinary Nigerians before him, the quicksand of Nigeria’s sharply spiralling insecurity has claimed yet another victim.

Yes, it was certainly inevitable that the failure of the political class to protect the lives and property of Nigerians would soon boomerang this way; resulting in this type of horrific blow that has struck at the heart of Nigeria’s Political Establishment. Dilly-dallying about calling out Mr. President about his inability to live up to his responsibility on this matter of life and death and a relentless partisanship that thrived on political correctness have conspired and combined to rob Ahmed Gulak of his precious life.

Those Nigerians who say they were surprised at the killing of Gulak are either once again resorting to that well-crafted tradition of living in denial, which Garba Shehu and Mr. President have perfected so excellently, or they are simply trying to hide the fact that Nigeria had long since degenerated into a country were violence and terror have become a daily fact of life for majority of citizens.

OUR AD HOC LIVES
In Nigeria today, we live our lives on an ad-hoc basis. This is because the next moment, the Islamist jihadist, well-armed herdsman or bandit can decide to raid your village; the dare devil kidnapper could abduct you or loved ones for ransom; or some local hoodlum could decide to pay you and your family a late night visit.
So you count yourself lucky at the end of each day when you escape with your already battered life intact. Those who are not lucky enough to escape this all pervasive reign of violence and terror are simply added to the ever swelling data of Nigeria’s unfortunate lot.

In Nigeria today, we have become so familiar with brutal killings, so numb to the tragedy and the real meaning and impact of death because we perceive death as the mere disembodied numbers/figures/statistics of victims which pour in each day and are captured by our conventional and social media. The lucky ones among these soaring statistics of the dead always receive the rare compliment of a terse statement from Buhari’s Garba Shehu mourning their heinous killing, ending with a sentence swearing to make that death the last one their administration would tolerate.

For Gulak, a grieving President Buhari, of course through his spin doctor, Garba Shehu, once again cautioned, inter alia: “Let me warn… that anybody or group of people who engages in such despicable acts should not expect to go free.
“We will deploy all resources at our disposal to ensure that such callous and criminal elements are brought to justice.”
Nigerians would tell you that this is only a rehash of a thousand of such statements the Presidency has become so adept at issuing condemning the killings, murders, massacres, kidnappings, etc, which have become all too common across the country. And because these statements are not always followed up by effective action, Nigerians have long decided to disregard them as the hollow excuses of a government that has woefully failed to protect its citizens. Critics say that if the government matches its words with action this time around, it may well be because it is one of its own that has been cut down.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Nevertheless, even as we mourn the painful loss of Gulak, we must not fail to also tell ourselves the painful truth about how we got to this painful juncture in the first place.

Did we get here in those early hours of Friday, May 28, 2021, when suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked Ekpoffo in Ela-Amufu Community of Enugu State and slaughtered four persons? No.
Neither did we only arrive this bloody cross-road on that fateful Sunday, May 30, 2012, when Gulak was so mercilessly mowed down by the bullets of a murderous gang on his way to the Owerri International Airport at 7.30 in the morning. Incidentally, earlier that same Sunday, at 3AM, suspected Fulani herdsmen had attacked Odoke, Ndiobasi and Obakotara communities in Ebonyi LGA of Ebonyi State where they killed 30 persons. Later that day, at about 4.30 PM, about 200 students were kidnapped from an Islamiya school at Tegin, Rafi LGA of Niger State.
No, we did not only reach this horrendous point in time when suspected Fulani herdsmen also killed 12 people in Tolaga, Ndi-Obasi and Odoken in Ado LGA during a siege that lasted from Saturday, May 29, to the early hours of Sunday, May 30, 2021.

Did we get here those terrible days last week when 16 innocent women, children and their husbands were gruesomely murdered in cold blood by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Kwang, Jos North LGA of Plateau State? Of courses not. The Plateau Peace Building Agency has disclosed that over 30 people have been killed in the last two months in the state. But observers here believe that the figure could be much higher. This is the harsh truth that defines the daily existence of Nigerians all over the country.

And according to data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), no fewer than 1,525 persons were killed across the country in the first six weeks of 2021. The Vanguard newspaper (March 1, 2021) reports that this figure, “which is conservative, covers only reported cases arising from the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, herdsmen crisis, kidnapping, communal and cult clashes, armed robbery, and brutality security agents, among others.” This means that the number could be more than is being reported here and, certainly, the figure must have spiked since that report was released in early March.
But even then, March was not the period Nigerians started witnessing the above situation which the Vanguard referred to as the “flames of violence and other forms of lives-guzzling insecurity in many parts of the country….”

Still going back in time, Nigerians still recall the gory Zabarmari, Borno State, massacre of November 29, 2020, in which, according to The Washington Post (November 30, 2020) at least 110 rice farmers were brutally slaughtered by Boko Haram jihadi insurgents. In reaction, Buhari tweeted to an outraged nation and the international community: “The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings” and described the loss as “insane.” But his alter ego, Garba Shehu, would later accuse the innocent victims, who had been forced by sheer hunger to risk going to their farms, of not obtaining permission from the military stationed in the area before venturing out to harvest their rice!

As can be seen from the gory picture painted above, Gulak’s murder was only the continuation of a bloody story which beginning can be traced to the Buhari administration’s tendentious swapping of state policy and the collective national interest with nepotism, double standards, hypocrisy and pandering to religious, tribal and primordial sentiments. Although these negative tendencies have had a most debilitating effect on the overall progress and unity of the country since the Buhari administration assumed power in 2015, their consequences have been most visible in Nigeria’s security department.

WHY WE GOT HERE
It is indeed true that the challenge of high insecurity predates the Buhari administration. But the situation has now spiralled out of control because this government has not been honest and straightforward in tackling this hydra-headed monster.
First, the Buhari government has consistently displayed a proclivity towards protecting the interests of his fellow Muslims and Fulani against the overall progress, well-being and development of the country. A case in point is the appointment of the current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) whoe replaced the last one who recently died in a plane crash. While there are many Christian officers of higher rank who are eminently qualified to occupy that position, President Buhari decided to select an officer of lower rank for that position mainly because he is a fellow Muslim from the same Northern Nigeria as him. The same nepotism and disregard for seniority and merit had characterized the appointment of the present Inspector-General of Police.
As matters currently stand, those officers who senior the new COAS must be forced to resign. Sadly, this trend has also consistently run through the appointments into the top echelons of the country’s armed forces in the Buhari era. Security experts believe that this has had the effect of diminishing the morale and motivation of both officers and men because they are well aware that the merit, hard work and sacrifice that are some of key the hallmarks of military service are not commensurately rewarded. Rather, religion and tribe are held up as the main requirements for elevation and progress in the armed forces.

No doubt, a country that has been practically pushed to the brink of collapse by insecurity can ill-afford this pervasive and long running feeling of disillusionment and discontent in the rank and file of its security forces. But six years down the line, the Buhari administration does not seem to care that this problem is pushing back the fight against insecurity in the country.
Second, the Buhari government has been very unapologetic about its pro-Fulani stand. Famous for its spectacular failures in key sectors of the country’s economy, the Buhari administration has shown a rare resilience and consistency in pursuing policies that enhance and secure the socio-economic and political well-being Nigeria’s Fulani population. One of such has been the deliberate and desperate agenda to illegally corner state resources towards building ranches for Fulani herdsmen. It first came under various guises such as cattle colony, ruga, etc.

It has now been modified, dusted and given the harmless, even development-oriented, appellation: National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP). It is aimed at using government land and money to create ranches and other infrastructure for the livestock, but mainly cattle rearing, industry. We need not emphasize the social, economic, political and religious implications this would have on indigenous communities who do not share any common affinities with the Fulani, who are expected to be largest beneficiaries.

But this arrant selfishness has transcended the economic and social fronts and is now wreaking great and deep havoc on Nigeria’s security and in the process threatening her survival. Nigeria’s Fulani herdsmen have been designated by reputed world organizations as one of the deadliest terror groups in the country on account of the bloody atrocities they have continued to perpetrate all over the country, some of which we have outlined above. But, surprisingly, not a single Fulani man has been convicted for the multiplicity of criminal and heinous acts they have carried out against citizens, most especially indigenous communities all over the country.

Although it has been argued that these herders kill mainly to access grass for their cattle, there are strong indications that their motives could be far broader. Why, for instance, have herdsmen sacked indigenous communities from their ancestral lands in parts of the Middle Belt and Southern Kaduna and permanently settled therein? In fact, only recently, the member representing Barakin Ladi/ Riyom Constituency in the House of Representatives cried out that Fulani herdsmen had renovated and occupied houses belonging to locals in his constituency. The Fulani had attacked and sacked those communities and grabbed their lands, farms and houses.

There is no doubt that the Fulani are having a free run all over the country because they have found an accomplice in their brother, a fellow Fulani, who is at the helm of affairs. Analysts are of the view that President Buhari has demonstrated a stronger bond and affinity to his Fulani kindred that to Nigeria and all of the ideals it stands for. This can be seen in the way and manner the Presidency consistently sides with the Fulani herdsmen whenever they get entangled in matters arising from their serial attacks on indigenous peoples.

Third, pushing its self-righteousness and double-standards to ridiculous levels, this same government has designated the pro-independence group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as a terrorist organisation and proscribed it. While the Fulani herdsmen, who have been formally declared a terrorist group roam free, unleashing death and mayhem on innocent Nigerians, an organization (IPOB) that has been compelled by the sheer inequities of the Nigerian state to demand for self-determination has been forced to go underground as it is fiercely hunted by the same security forces that have failed to curb the ever rising threats of terrorism, armed banditry, herdsmen’s attacks, kidnapping for ransom, etc, that are undermining our progress and unity. Another irony out of the many ironies that underpin the very existence of Nigeria! Unfortunately, this is one of the factors that has continued to fan the ever raging embers of insecurity in the country.
Fourth, this double-standards, duplicity and hypocrisy can also be found in Nigeria’s political class, especially high ranking members of the Buhari administration and the ruling party – APC. A section of the northern elite and oligarchy have also displayed this eggregious, dangerous, tendency to prevaricate and stand truth on its head whenever it comes to objectively assessing the true nature, sources and causes of the current security challenges and the reasons for the consistent failure to successfully nib them in the bud.
Members of the ruling party fear that putting the blame squarely on President Buhari would amount to disloyalty to the Party. And in a political system where the Presidency controls huge resources and dispenses favours to those deemed to be loyal, directly telling the president such home truths could amount to political suicide. In Nigeria where politics is seen as one of the most lucrative businesses around, no politician with sharp survival instincts would dare go against the Presidency so openly.

Thus, the politically savvy politician would always scratch the surface of the problem without risking pointing an accusing finger at those really responsible for the spiraling insecurity in the country. That is why many Nigerians believe that the political class has always been playing politics with the problem of insecurity as long as it does not tamper with their hold on power.

For instance, it was only on May 26, 2021, that the Senate President, Dr. Hassan Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, openly accepted the fact that the country was in very dire straits as a result of the security challenges confronting it. This Day newspaper (May 27, 2021) reported that both men raised the alarm about the spiraling insecurity in the country during a special summit organized by the House of Representatives. Although they once again fell short of directly placing the blame for the problem on Mr. President, for once they agreed that the country would collapse under the burden of insecurity if practical steps were not taken to address the situation.
But the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, was more direct, forthright and unequivocal in a way most politicians would never be. As a fact, his words were a direct indictment of the political class and, incidentally, even his fellow traditional rulers. He has been praised for saying the minds of most Nigerians.

The monarch had declared: “…. From the time I became Sultan till now, 11 years plus, we have been having meetings [such as this] to talk about Nigeria, national security, development and so on. We have talked and talked. We have talked at Northern Governors’ Forum level, talked at the national level where I happen to be the chairman of that body, we have talked and talked.”
While stating that enough talking had already been done, he advised that it was time for practical action: “Let’s work; let’s work the talk, the more we sit here and talk, the more time we waste in getting real actions. We know the problems…. My own take on this summit is yes it’s important to sit and talk but it’s more important to implement what we talked about. We cannot just continue to talk and not implement.”

The sultan further touched on some of the factors militating against solving the problem of insecurity in the country which analysts say struck a chord with most Nigerians. He said, “Certain things our leaders do, you say something in public and they clap for you. You go back to your comfort zone and throw everything away…. I call on our leaders to fear God, do what’s right, don’t look at ethnic, religious or personal interests while you’re carrying out your duties.”
But the Sultan himself, the northern elite and their traditional institutions have been accused of looking the other way when the spates of Fulani herdsmen’s attacks began to rise in the Middle Belt region in the early years of the Buhari administration. It has been claimed that some of the Fulani herdsmen may have even received more that moral support from the core north.

Political analysts believe that had the Northern Establishment hearkened to the cries of the peoples of the Middle Belt and Southern Kaduna and reined in the Fulani militia, violence and criminality would not have become so acceptable and widespread in most parts of the north. By allowing the Fulani herdsmen have a free reign in the Middle Belt and Southern Kaduna, the northern elite were unconsciously sanctioning the kind of devilry that has now returned to haunt them and Nigeria as a whole.
The kind of violence that had caught up with Ahmed Gulak that fateful Sunday morning.

CONCLUSION
While we should continue to interrogate the reasons for Gulak’s murder, we cannot question its inevitability in a Nigeria where the commonest currency is violence and death. Therefore, it was inevitable that such a high profile killing would also take place, sooner or later.
Gulak’s death was mainly a collateral damage in the much bigger, complicated and complex interplay of the factors that have combined to give rise to and speed up the tempo of Islamist insurgency, armed banditry, killings by unknown gunmen, kidnapping of innocent school children for hefty ransoms, hired assassinations, etc, in today’s Nigeria. It has brought into sharp focus the factors, individuals, groups, tendencies, etc, that are responsible for Nigeria’s fast deteriorating security situation.

And, most significantly, it is hoped that this death would force the powers-that-be to take another critical and dispassionate look at their actions and inactions regarding this state of insecurity which has become an endless nightmare to all Nigerians and make amends before it is too late.
(Gyang is the Chairman, Journalists Coalition for Citizens’ Rights Initiative – JCCRI)

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GULAK’S DEATH: A COLLATERAL DAMAGE? BY CHRIS GYANG