First off –let me begin by saying I am an unapologetic fan of President Muhammadu Buhari. I deeply admire his principles on ending corruption, upholding the rule of law, justice and fair play.

President Buhari, in my opinion is on course to steer the Nigerian proverbial titanic from doom (i.e., away from the iceberg), towards safer waters. He is slowly laying down the ground work for a safer and more prosperous Nigeria –exactly what we conceived and dreamt of when we were young.

He is working assiduously to end endemic corruption in our civil service, working meticulously to curb the industrial scale oil theft that has blighted our oil sector and diligently tracing our stolen common wealth. If he successfully achieves a fraction of these points –he’d leave a legacy which will outlive him –akin to the great “Lee Kuan Yew” of Singapore –who singlehandedly turned around and transformed the highly corrupt and ailing Singaporean economy from the brink of collapse to economic prosperity.

How much will Plateau Benefit from Buhari’s presidency?

From my vantage position, I can say with a lot of confidence that the wider Nigerian state stands to benefit immensely from the dexterity, principled standing and calibre of this fine gentleman. But the big question remains, would Plateau state benefit in the same way? Would the wider benefits of economic progress in the Nigerian state be translated to the ordinary man or woman in Barkin Ladi or Riyom? I wish I could say yes, but the reality of it is that, I am far from optimistic. My honest opinion is that I am not confident that Plateau stands to gain in the same way as other states. Now, before I am called a naysayer or a pessimist –here are the reasons why.

The most pressing problem in the middle belt today is not that of the economy, power supply, unemployment or healthcare. It is that of the fundamental right to live and survive – same for people in Borno and Yobe. The insecurity challenges have made all other challenges of poor sanitation, erratic power supply and low quality healthcare etc seems so mundane and trivial.

What is Buhari’s stance on the genocide on the Plateau and environs?

Whether we accept it or not, Muhammadu Buhari, being an ethnic Fulani man is naturally inclined and sympathetic to the plight of his kinsmen, who have equally been victims of cow rustling etc. He probably doesn’t even believe the evidence being presented that herdsmen are killing middle belt tribes and may even be staunchly in defence of the fact that these herdsmen equally suffer in the hands of cow rustlers purported to be middle belt natives.

To illustrate this point, consider the order that the President gave few weeks back to the Nigerian military. The order was point blank, he ordered the Nigerian military to heighten their efforts at protecting herdsmen from cow rustlers, see link below

http://www.nairaland.com/2435842/buhari-order-military-protect-fulani.

In giving such order, Buhari appeared to suggest that these Fulani herdsmen are the victims, not the aggressor (and that they required protection). He did not equally order the military to protect people who are killed by the same herdsmen over allegations of cow rustling. The order was simple –“there is a problem of cow rustling, sort it out by protecting the herdsmen”.

With this order in mind, the president’s deafening silence over Plateau killings/genocide is rattling or at best uneasy. It either suggests he does not sympathise with the victims and thinks people who allege that their cows are being stolen and therefore go on to kill innocent villagers under that guise, are fully justified to do so or he has been rather nonchalant about what is happening in the state. I am not sure which of these two situations is the case, but I choose to give him the benefit of the doubt -perhaps a statement is soon on the way.

For the avoidance of doubt, whilst writing this article, I trolled through the archives of the NTA, AIT, Channels, Punch, Vanguard etc to see any press release by the president on the recent killings on the Plateau, but there was none. Silence, they say –is also an answer. But I have refused to accept that as an answer and would rather wait to see if and when there would be a response.

What can Simon Lalong learn from this situation?

There are a lot of lessons for our Governor to learn from this situation. Lalong must devise clever ways of managing the escalating situation in Barkin Ladi, Riyom and environs –else it might consume his governorship/rising political influence. Why do I say this?

Well, recall, that the simmering tensions and attacks in Yelwan Shendam and Jos North was the reason why Obasonjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau during Joshua Dariye’s administration. Subsequently, Jonah Jang only narrowly escaped being made a scapegoat by President Musa Yar’adua, during his first term, because of the 2008 Jos North election riots and he (Jang) only escaped the wrath of the president (who had already promised to deal with him), because he died unexpected –after that, of course Jang cleverly established a close relationship with Goodluck Jonathan and was then subsequently immune from all the simmering problems.

In closing, being a Fulani man, the situation brewing on the Plateau is very close to Buhari’s heart (whether we like it or not), he may pretend not to know what is going on, by choosing not to release a press statement, but the reality of it is that he fully up to date with what is going on. If you doubt my assertion, wait until a day when natives fight back, by attacking or decimating the Fulani marauders in the same way and see if there would be no condemnation from the Aso rock. In view of this, Lalong must device a clever strategy of managing all the warring parties, the interests, stakeholders and groups or else we might see a repeat of the illegality perpetuated to Chief Joshua Dariye.

Dr. Chinan Mclean

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Plateau Genocide and President Muhammadu Buhari