₦airaland Forum

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, yesterday, slammed President Muhammadu Buhari, over what he described as his government's seeming inability to contain the violent activities of herdsmen across the country.
In his address to the National Conference on Culture and Tourism, Soyinka said the President Buhari-led government was yet to come up with an articulate solution to tackle the menace, reports Premium Times.

This came as Fulani herdsmen on Monday unleashed terror on Ukpabi Nimbo, a community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, killing dozens of people.

The attack came weeks after a similar wave of violence by herdsmen in Agatu in Benue State. Soyinka said: "I have yet to hear this government articulate a firm policy of non-tolerance for the serial massacres that have become the nation’s identification stamp."

"I have not heard an order given that any cattle herders caught with sophisticated firearms be instantly disarmed, arrested, placed on trial, and his cattle confiscated.

The nation is treated to an eighteen-month optimistic plan which, to make matters worse, smacks of abject appeasement and encouragement of violence on innocents.

"Let me repeat, and of course I only ask to be corrected if wrong: I have yet to encounter a terse, rigorous, soldierly and uncompromising language from this leadership, one that threatens a response to this unconscionable blood-letting that would make even Boko Haram repudiate its founding clerics.

"When I read a short while ago, the Presidential assurance to this nation that the current homicidal escalation between the cattle prowlers and farming communities would soon be over, I felt mortified. “He had the solution, he said.

Cattle ranches were being set up, and in another 18 months, rustlings, destruction of livelihood and killings from herdsmen would be ‘a thing of the past’. 18 months, he assured the nation. I believe his Minister of Agriculture echoed that later, but with a less dispiriting time schema.

"Neither, however, could be considered a message of solace and reassurance for the ordinary Nigerian farmer and the lengthening cast of victims, much less to an intending tourist to the Forest Retreat of Tinana in the Rivers, the Ikogosi Springs or the moslem architectural heritage of the ancient city of Kano.

In any case, the external tourists have less hazardous options.” Recalling with nostalgia how he – in the company of the late Segun Olusola – journeyed across Nigeria in the pre-war 60’s, mostly out of curiosity, Soyinka said: "But now, would the young adventurous set out to visit the mystery caves of Anambra and its alleged curative pools from mere interest? "They would think twice about it. It is not merely arbitrary violence that reigns across the nation but total, undisputed impunity.

Impunity evolves and becomes integrated in conduct when crime occurs and no legal, logical and moral response is offered.” Narrating his experience with cattle herders, right at his doorstep, recently, he said: "I returned from a trip outside the country about to find that my home ground had been invaded, and a brand-new ‘Appian way’ sliced through my sanctuary.

“That ‘motorable’ path was made by the hoofed invaders. Both the improvised entry and exit are now blocked, but interested journalists are invited to visit. "In over two decades of living in that ecological preserve, no such intrusion had ever occurred.

I have no idea whether they were Fulani or Futa Jalon herdsmen but, they were cattle herders, and they had cut a crude swathe through my private grounds.

"I made enquiries and sent alerts around, including through the Baale of our neighborhood village. There has been no repeat, and hopefully it will remain the first and last of such invasion. What it portends however is for all thinking citizens to reflect upon, and take concerted measures against.”

The Nobel laureate noted that herdsmen are among humanity’s earliest known tourists and must be taught a culture of settlement with their hosts. His words: The leadership of any society cannot stand idly and offer solutions that implicitly deem the massacres of innocents mere incidents on the way to that learning school.

"For every crime, there is a punishment, for every violation, there must be restitution. The nomads of the world cannot place themselves above the law of settled humanity.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/fulani-herdsmen-killings-soyinka-slams-buhari/

I can remember being so broke at a point in my life I never knew I would live to see the coming years.

It was a very rough time for me and not that I am okay presently as I desire but I never pray to ever be taken back to that time.

I had actually gone through a lot of brokenness, most especially as an undergraduate, but this one was on EasyBlaze, it was faster than me and I could not meet up with the basic things of life.

Being broke sometimes is actually part of being a student, but mine was different as sometimes I would have to eat Eba as breakfast and not with stew, but with beans I bought from the food vendor. To make it last, I would make the Eba so much so as to sustain me till the following day. Once the Eba was on ground, getting the beans wasn't much of an issue.

I could always get that on credit and promised the woman to pay the following day, but that would be the last time she would see me for that week.

I had seven vendors I worked with then, and I would always rotate my patronage from then on credit. When I buy from Iya Yodi on Monday, she would be of the opinion I had gone on Hajj as I would nowhere to be found for the rest of the week.

Same thing applies to Basic, Iya Rafia, Eat n Bellefool, Standard, Iya Sultan and Mama Agba.

They all knew me as a loyal, credit man. But you know what, they loved me because I was so young and cute they just took me as their kid. I was this kind of Independent student then. I never always wanted to bother my peepz at home.

Though my monthly allowance was always regular, kudos to Baba Sanya for that, but you know now. It would never be enough for you as a student. At a point, I began to go about with my special spoon anytime I wanna visit a friend.

They know me, I had this kind of soft knock. So when they suspected I was the one at the door.

They hid whatever meal they had. I remember visiting Wale at a time and he had hid his meal under his bed, totally forgotten about Kuku, the cat he had as pet.

It was so unfortunate for him that Kuku was right under the bed when he hid his meal. We gisted for some time and when I noticed he had nothing, I left. He later confessed to me in school how his pet had eaten the food he hid from me.

This never disturbed my Academic performance, I wondered how I was able to cope. But I just always passed without having a CO throughout my stay on campus and I left with a 2.1.

I got a turn around eventually when I began organizing tutorials for kids in Secondary and Primary schools.

And it was a very good decision I made then as the kids in the area made me their mentor and always looked up to me for both moral and financial assistance. They all called me Uncle SY, not even realizing I was just some few years older than majority of them.

School was fun and I will still be letting you guys know about I got tear gased in my first ALUTA EXPERIENCE on Campus, and My Soujourn to FUTA in search of true love. LOVE YOU ALL.