It is shocking; it is not the news making the rounds; it is one too hard to swallow and too harsh to believe. Some would even go as far as subscribing to a “conspiracy theory” of a deliberate underplay, even blackout, of the event by the predominantly southern (and so arguably, Christianity-biased) media in Nigeria.

But brace for it, my readers: full cannibalism is afoot in the protracted and nasty Plateau War of annihilation between the so-called settlers (Fulani/Hausa and mostly Muslims) and the so-called original indigenes, the Beroms (mostly Christians) — and it is the Birom “Christians” doing the eating of the Fulani!

This scale of madness that is hard to fathom was brought to public glare (the author’s public, at least) a few days ago when my brother Femi Fani-Kayode (yes, the same ex-OBJ’s minister) posted this terse message on his Facebook wall:

“The other day, a crowd of Berom Christian youths butchered over 100 Fulani Muslims as they were praying in Jos after which they roasted and ate them. It was filmed. Today, a rocket was fired into an Islamic school in the same Jos and children were targeted for death as they were writing their exams. This barbarous descent into madness must stop. I weep for Nigeria.”

It was courageous and truly fair-minded for Femi to have posted that on the Internet, for, if there was a fiercely loyal (and vociferously so) Christian, there goes one in Femi and he has been known to be damning, even perhaps partially so, of the Muslim Hausa/Fulani in this ongoing war and in general. So, it deserves commendation to find him spearheading the drawing of public attention to the “other side” of the vicious campaign, for most of what we’ve largely known and believed is that only the Muslim Hausa/Fulani settlers have been doing the aggression!

Most of what is known and believed down south is of armies of “Fulani herdsmen” spilling down from mountain tops like mountain gorillas, armed with sophisticated guns (rather than bows and arrows) and sacking whole villages of Berom indigenes, killing children, women and all indiscriminately and mercilessly.

Hence Fani-Kayode’s posting was a shocking experience for me and for many of his FB “friends” drawing all manner of responses: from disbelief and shock to repulsion and anger.

I settled down to read the whole exchanges on the thread and went further to check the links (http://newsrescue.com/birom-christians-eat-roasted-flesh-of-muslims-they-killed-in-jos-nigeria/#axzz20szqpZS5) provided in validation of the charge. It is gory and chilling and not for the faint-hearted.

Lo and behold, as far back as August last year, the BBC had posted vivid images on one of its news websites showing large crowd of (Berom) youths wildly jubilating at the killing of a large number of “the enemy settlers” and roasting and feasting on their bodies to boot.

More disconcerting was the visible presence of a “law-enforcement” patrol vehicle in observance of it all!

The Jos Plateau sectarian war is truly bloody and muddied. The truth of how, when, and why it started is long lost in the hate-filled war of mutual annihilation; poverty driven economic consideration (of settler/indigene) muddied and combusted by religious identities (Islam/Christianity) of the warring parties.

What is going on in the once friendly and tourist-haven Jos Plateau is as gruesome, if not more so, as the horrors in the Nigeria/Biafra Civil War! I cannot remember if our senses then were accosted with images of bodies of those felled by the bullets on either side being feasted upon, even common as the ‘myth’ was then that in some parts of the country, human flesh was a palatable delicacy!

What I remember was that those of us away from the theatre of war, ensconced in far away Lagos and Kano, carried on with our lives, partying and nightclubbing, consigning the war to almost fable grade – well, in Lagos, until the ‘Biafran’ bomb fell on the Casino Cinema in our good old quiet Yaba environs. Then, and only then, did we wake up in Lagos to the reality, that, indeed, a war was going on and we all could go down with it.

Right now, as I write, whole communities have been asked to move out of their homes and localities by the Special Task Force that the Federal Government set up to intervene and restore order. Little is known of the arrangements for their relocation. But move they must, as the STF intends to mow down any moving object for fear of infiltration of the dreaded Boko Haram that has been associated with the last horrendous massacre of hundreds of Berom folks by so-called Fulani herdsmen.

A release during the week purportedly signed by Captain Salisu Mustapha, Media Information Officer of the STF, states:

“This is to inform the people residing in Barikin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas that a military operation is ongoing in the area. The inhabitants of Mahanga, Kakuruk, Kuzen, Maseh and Shong 2 are to evacuate immediately with their property within the next 48 hours.”

Of course, anything that can help clear the Plateau mess is welcome, but the forceful dislodgement of whole communities without adequate contingencies in search of “infiltrators” that have equally been alerted seem absurd and devoid of human feelings for the affected communities, to say the least.

But back to Femi Fani-Kayode’s FB wall and the exchanges, FFK added this touching invocation:

“To those that doubt the authenticity of this video tape, I really do feel sorry for you. Those are, indeed, Berom Christian youths and they are, indeed, eating the flesh of Fulani Muslims that they had earlier slain on the prayer ground during the Eid festival. I happen to have met the families of three of the victims and it is painful that the Nigerian media kept this atrocity so quiet. There was a media blackout on the event.

“Had it been the other way round and it was the Muslims that had killed and eaten the Christians, we would all have been lamenting and hurling insults against them on this wall and it would have been the headline of every major newspaper in our country and in the world. These double standards must stop. Please, I appeal to you that we must be more sensitive, balanced and fair…”

And nothing affirms the truth of the cannibalism insanity more than the posting of one Adam A. B. Galla, who must be someone on ground in the ‘war front.’ He says:

“My brother FFK, thanks for showing fairness on your postings in the ongoing saga on the Plateau. I visited the very school a few hours ago, guarded by 10 soldiers. Miraculously, none of the students was affected. The only victim happened to be a little kid playing with his bike by the school. Keep us in prayers and may this carnage come to a stop…”

And in another by him:

“The flesh eaters were real. I have the most difficult constituency in Nigeria. I work with these guys and it’s challenging. They have been indoctrinated with certain beliefs and it’s my job to prove otherwise. I am a suspect every day, but my sincerity to them is what keeps the relationship. As long as you respect them, respect their rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, you are okay with them…”

What is going on in the Jos Plateau zone is too saddening for words. The scale and intensity of hatred is unthinkable and the resort to cannibalism makes me wonder if there can ever be a peaceful resolution of the crisis. You cannot descend to the level of eating your fellow “neighbours” one day and return to being “friends” or even neighbours the next.

And so, with that realism, whither Nigeria?


Tunde Fagbenle

http://www.punchng.com/columnists/fagbenle-on-sunday/nigeria-gradual-descent-into-the-hades/