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Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka - Politics - Nairaland

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Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by erunz(m): 2:23pm On Jan 10, 2018
It is happening all over again. History is repeating itself and, alas, within such an agonizingly short span of time. How often must we warn against the enervating lure of appeasement in face of aggression and will to dominate! I do not hesitate to draw attention to Volume III of my INTERVENTION Series, and to the chapter on The Unappeasable Price of Appeasement. There is little to add, but it does appear that even the tragically fulfilled warnings of the past leave no impression on leadership, not even when identical signs of impending cardiac arrest loom over the nation. Boko Haram was still at that stage of putative probes when cries of alarm emerged. Then the fashion ideologues of society deployed their distancing turns of phrase to rationalize what were so obviously discernable as an agenda of ruthless fundamentalism and internal domination. Boko Haram was a product of social inequities, they preached – one even chortled: We stand for justice, so we are all Boko Haram! We warned that – yes indeed – the inequities of society were indeed part of the story, but why do you close your eyes against other, and more critical malfunctions of the human mind, such as theocratic lunacy? Now it is happening again. The nation is being smothered in Vaseline when the diagnosis is so clearly – cancer!

We have been here before – now, ‘before’ is back with a vengeance. President Goodluck Jonathan refused to accept that marauders had carried off the nation’s daughters; President Muhammed Buhari and his government – including his Inspector-General of Police - in near identical denial, appear to believe those killer herdsmen who strike again and again at will from one corner of the nation to the other, are merely hot-tempered citizens whose scraps occasionally degenerate into “communal clashes” – I believe I have summarized him accurately. The marauders are naughty children who can be admonished, paternalistically, into good neighbourly conduct. Sometimes of course, the killers were also said be non-Nigerians after all. The contradictions are mind-boggling. Wole Soyinka Victor Dlamini

First the active policy of appeasement, then the language of endorsement. El Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, proudly announced that, on assuming office, he had raised a peace committee and successfully traced the herdsmen to locations outside Nigerian borders. He then made payments to them from state coffers to cure them of their homicidal urge which, according to these herdsmen, were reprisals for some ancient history and the loss of cattle through rustling. The public was up in arms against this astonishing revelation. I could only call to mind a statement by the same El Rufai after a prior election which led to a rampage in parts of the nation, and cost even the lives of National Youth Service corpers. They were hunted down by aggrieved mobs and even states had to organize rescue missions for their citizens. Countering protests that the nation owed a special duty of protection to her youth, especially those who are co-opted to serve the nation in any capacity, El Rufai’s comment then was: No life is more important than another. Today, that statement needs to be adjusted, to read perhaps – apologies to George Orwell: “All lives are equal, but a cow’s is more equal than others.”

This seems to be the government view, one that, overtly or by implication, is being amplified through act and pronouncement, through clamorous absence, by this administration. It appears to have infected even my good friend and highly capable Minister, Audu Ogbeh, however insidiously. What else does one make of his statements in an interview where he generously lays the blame for ongoing killings everywhere but at the feet of the actual perpetrators! His words, as carried by The Nation Newspapers:

“The inability of the government to pay attention to herdsmen and cow farming, unlike other developed countries, contributed to the killings.” The Minister continued:

“Over the years, we have not done much to look seriously into the issue of livestock development in the country….we may have done enough for the rice farmer, the cassava farmer, the maize farmer, the cocoa farmer, but we haven’t done enough for herdsmen, and that inability and omission on our part is resulting in the crisis we are witnessing today”

No, no, not so, Audu! It is true that I called upon the government a week ago to stop passing the buck over the petroleum situation. I assure you however that I never intended that a reverse policy should lead to exonerating – or appearing to exonerate – mass killers, rapists and economic saboteurs – saboteurs, since their conduct subverts the efforts of others to economically secure their own existence, drives other producers off their land in fear and terror. This promises the same plague of starvation that afflicts zones of conflict all over this continent where liberally sown landmines prevent farmers from venturing near their prime source, the farm, often their only source of livelihood, and has created a whole population of amputees. At least, those victims in Angola, Mozambique and other former war theatres, mostly lived to tell the tale. These herdsmen, arrogant and unconscionable, have adopted a scorched-earth policy, so that those other producers – the cassava, cocoa, sorghum, rice etc farmers are brutally expelled from farm and dwelling.

Government neglect? You may not have intended it, but you made it sound like the full story. I applaud the plans of your ministry, I am in a position to know that much thought – and practical steps – have gone into long-term plans for bringing about the creation of ‘ranches’, ‘colonies’ – whatever the name – including the special cultivation of fodder for animal feed and so on and on. However, the present national outrage is over impunity. It rejects the right of any set of people, for whatever reason, to take arms against their fellow men and women, to acknowledge their exploits in boastful and justifying accents and, in effect, promise more of the same as long as their terms and demands are not met. In plain language, they have declared war against the nation, and their weapon is an undiluted terror. Why have they been permitted to become a menace to the rest of us? That is the issue!

Permit me to remind you that, early in 2016, an even more hideous massacre was perpetrated by this same Murder Incorporated – that is, a numerical climax to what had been a series across a number of Middle Belt and neighbouring states, with Benue taking the brunt of the butchery. A peace meeting was called, attended by the state government and security agencies of the nation, including the Inspector General of Police. This group attended – according to reports - with AK47s and other weapons of mass intimidation visible under their garments. They were neither disarmed nor turned back. They freely admitted the killings but justified them by claims that they had lost their cattle to the host community. It is important to emphasize that none of their spokesmen referred to any government neglect, such as refusal to pay subsidy for their cows or failure to accord them the same facilities that had been extended to cassava or millet farmers. Such are the monstrous beginnings of the culture of impunity. We are reaping, yet again, the consequences of such tolerance of the intolerable. Yes, there indeed the government is culpable, definitely guilty of “looking the other way”. Indeed, it must be held complicit.

This question is now current, and justified: just when is terror? I am not aware that IPOB came anywhere close to this homicidal propensity and will to dominance before it was declared a terrorist organization. The international community rightly refused to go along with such an absurdity. For the avoidance of doubt, let me state right here, and yet again, that IPOB leadership is its own worst enemy. It repels public empathy, indeed, I suspect that it deliberately cultivates an obnoxious image, especially among its internet mouthers who make rational discourse impossible. However, as we pointed out at the time, the conduct of that movement, even at its most extreme, could by no means be reckoned as terrorism. By contrast, how do we categorize Myeti? How do we assess a mental state that cannot distinguish between a stolen cow – which is always recoverable – and human life, which is not. Villages have been depopulated far wider than those outside their operational zones can conceive. They swoop on sleeping settlements, kill and strut. They glory in their seeming supremacy. Cocoa farmers do not kill when there is a cocoa blight. Rice farmers, cassava and tomato farmers do not burn. The herdsmen cynically dredge up decades-old affronts – they did at the 2016 Benue “peace meeting” to justify the killings of innocents in the present - These crimes are treated like the norm. Once again, the nation is being massaged by specious rationalisations while the rampage intensifies and the spread spirals out of control. When we open the dailies tomorrow morning, there is certain to have been a new body count, to be followed by the arrogant justification of the Myeti Allah.

The warnings pile up, the distress signals have turned into a prolonged howl of despair and rage. The answer is not to be found in pietistic appeals to victims to avoid ‘hate language’ and divisive attributions. The sustained, killing monologue of the herdsmen is what is at issue. It must be curbed, decisively and without further evasiveness.

Yes, Jonathan only saw ‘ghosts’ when Boko Haram was already excising swathes of territory from the nation space and abducting school pupils. The ghosts of Jonathan seem poised to haunt the tenure of Mohammed Buhari.


Wole SOYINKA

http://saharareporters.com/2018/01/10/impunity-rides-again-through-killer-herdsmen-wole-soyinka

33 Likes 4 Shares

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Josephjnr(m): 2:25pm On Jan 10, 2018
Oboy. I have nothing to say.

5 Likes 1 Share

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by EternalTruths: 2:26pm On Jan 10, 2018
The Fulani Caliphate is the best thing after Sex for Northern Christians

All hail Fulani herdsmen

Biafrans are terrorists that is why Northern Christians avoid them and hug Fulani herdsmen terrorists.

53 Likes 1 Share

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by marooh: 2:26pm On Jan 10, 2018
Where is my reading google! grin

9 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by erunz(m): 2:26pm On Jan 10, 2018
Permit me to remind you that, early in 2016, an even more hideous massacre was perpetrated by this same Murder Incorporated – that is, a numerical climax to what had been a series across a number of Middle Belt and neighbouring states, with Benue taking the brunt of the butchery. A peace meeting was called, attended by the state government and security agencies of the nation, including the Inspector General of Police. This group attended – according to reports - with AK47s and other weapons of mass intimidation visible under their garments. They were neither disarmed nor turned back.

They freely admitted the killings but justified them by claims that they had lost their cattle to the host community

This question is now current, and justified: just when is terror? I am not aware that IPOB came anywhere close to this homicidal propensity and will to dominance before it was declared a terrorist organization. The international community rightly refused to go along with such an absurdity. For the avoidance of doubt, let me state right here, and yet again, that IPOB leadership is its own worst enemy. It repels public empathy, indeed, I suspect that it deliberately cultivates an obnoxious image, especially among its internet mouthers who make rational discourse impossible. However, as we pointed out at the time, the conduct of that movement, even at its most extreme, could by no means be reckoned as terrorism. By contrast, how do we categorize Myeti? How do we assess a mental state that cannot distinguish between a stolen cow – which is always recoverable – and human life, which is not.

no comment.

75 Likes 4 Shares

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by ettybaba(m): 2:36pm On Jan 10, 2018
Oyibo repete

3 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Blackfire(m): 3:01pm On Jan 10, 2018
Oga soyinka.....



There is a fulani man at your back.

7 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by dunkem21(m): 3:04pm On Jan 10, 2018
cheesy
Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by magoo10(m): 3:07pm On Jan 10, 2018
Talking about impunity soaking the dogs and baboons is still very fresh in our minds

32 Likes 1 Share

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by orisa37: 3:21pm On Jan 10, 2018
erunz:
Permit me to remind you that, early in 2016, an even more hideous massacre was perpetrated by this same Murder Incorporated – that is, a numerical climax to what had been a series across a number of Middle Belt and neighbouring states, with Benue taking the brunt of the butchery. A peace meeting was called, attended by the state government and security agencies of the nation, including the Inspector General of Police. This group attended – according to reports - with AK47s and other weapons of mass intimidation visible under their garments. They were neither disarmed nor turned back.

They freely admitted the killings but justified them by claims that they had lost their cattle to the host community

This question is now current, and justified: just when is terror? I am not aware that IPOB came anywhere close to this homicidal propensity and will to dominance before it was declared a terrorist organization. The international community rightly refused to go along with such an absurdity. For the avoidance of doubt, let me state right here, and yet again, that IPOB leadership is its own worst enemy. It repels public empathy, indeed, I suspect that it deliberately cultivates an obnoxious image, especially among its internet mouthers who make rational discourse impossible. However, as we pointed out at the time, the conduct of that movement, even at its most extreme, could by no means be reckoned as terrorism. By contrast, how do we categorize Myeti? How do we assess a mental state that cannot distinguish between a stolen cow – which is always recoverable – and human life, which is not.

no comment.
.


I concur.

27 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by dukie25: 3:23pm On Jan 10, 2018
First the active policy of appeasement, then the language of endorsement. El Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, proudly announced that, on assuming office, he had raised a peace committee and successfully traced the herdsmen to locations outside Nigerian borders. He then made payments to them from state coffers to cure them of their homicidal urge which, according to these herdsmen, were reprisals for some ancient history and the loss of cattle through rustling

Classic article from the erudite professor.
Lalasticlala Mynd44

22 Likes 3 Shares

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Nightwolf1: 3:23pm On Jan 10, 2018
Sai Baba 2090, Sai fulani herds men.

9 Likes 1 Share

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by orisa37: 3:24pm On Jan 10, 2018
ettybaba:
Oyibo repete
.
Nigeria Military is already compromised.

18 Likes 1 Share

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by orisa37: 3:27pm On Jan 10, 2018
Blackfire:
Oga soyinka.....


There is a fulani man at your back.

.
No Restructure : No 2019 Election.

3 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Sealeddeal(m): 3:34pm On Jan 10, 2018
The Fulani herdsmen has been wronged by farmers, if not there will not be massacre.Fulani herdsmen cow provides the nation with hides,meat and milk; something of inestimable value. We must accept Fulani herdsmen in the middle belt for peace to reign. Nigerians deserves well fed cattle and livestock. Govt should clear Agatu and convert it to cattle colony and also, clear gembu and mambila for a good Fulani pasture.
Just check out the skull of those people killed by Fulani herdsmen, do they look better than Cow? Why would they occupy a land where cattle are to be grazed? We need cow with correct 'tozo' down here

13 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Blackfire(m): 3:37pm On Jan 10, 2018
orisa37:
.

No Restructure : No 2019 Election.




Says who?
Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Preshy561(f): 3:39pm On Jan 10, 2018
guess you have realized your mistakes

5 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by fergie001: 3:46pm On Jan 10, 2018
Sealeddeal:
The Fulani herdsmen has been wronged by farmers, if not there will not be massacre.Fulani herdsmen cow provides the nation with hides,meat and milk; something of inestimable value. We must accept Fulani herdsmen in the middle belt for peace to reign. Nigerians deserves well fed cattle and livestock. Govt should clear Agatu and convert it to cattle colony and also, clear gembu and mambila for a good Fulani pasture.
Just check out the skull of those people killed by Fulani herdsmen, do they look better than Cow? Why would they occupy a land where cattle are to be grazed? We need cow with correct 'tozo' down here
Shey everything is alright abi?


Wole Soyinka,leave grammar.....
This one no need grammar ooooo
People dey off courtesy of the President's tacit support....

Use your good offices reach am because u follow navigate am,perhaps he listens to you.
Our shouts are deafening,he isn't listening to us.....

10 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by orisa37: 5:04pm On Jan 10, 2018
magoo10:
Soaking the dogs and baboons is still very fresh in our minds
.

I 've advised Restructuring to cover:-
1, Full Autonomous States Resource Control;
2, Full Autonomous States Police Control; and
3, Full Autonomous States Electioneering.
4, These three I've always advised, but now that our Military appears compromised, something should be done to decentralise the Military. Recruitment must be equal Representation of the 36 States. All Governors must be equal members of all Military Councils.
5. The F.G to be limited to Liaison Affairs only.

17 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by orisa37: 5:20pm On Jan 10, 2018
Blackfire:




Says who?
.

Jesus Christ The Righteous!!!
Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by AllTheWayUp: 5:24pm On Jan 10, 2018
El Rufai’s comment then was: No life is more important than another. Today, that statement needs to be adjusted, to read perhaps – apologies to George Orwell: “All lives are equal, but a cow’s is more equal than others.”
Hell Rufai hell fire is awaiting you


El Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, proudly announced that, on assuming office, he had raised a peace committee and successfully traced the herdsmen to locations outside Nigerian borders. He then made payments to them from state coffers to cure them of their homicidal urge which, according to these herdsmen, were reprisals for some ancient history and the loss of cattle through rustling. The public was up in arms against this astonishing revelation.
Hell Rufai a place in HELL FIRE has been reserved for you and your fulani herds men brother who are on your monthly payroll



I could only call to mind a statement by the same El Rufai after a prior election which led to a rampage in parts of the nation, and cost even the lives of National Youth Service corpers. They were hunted down by aggrieved mobs and even states had to organize rescue missions for their citizens.

The blood of innocent corpers who lost their lives by the blood thirsty mob in the North will forever hunt El Rufai


El Rufai, Kwankwaso are the younger version of Buhari with their Pro Jihadist Fulani mentality and philosophy
People like El Rufai and Kwankwaso should never be allowed to become President, they are fulani jihadist disasters waiting to happen like Buhari their mentor

grin grin cheesy


Wole Soyinka finally woken up from his slumber

Buhari is a gworo chewing bastard

18 Likes 3 Shares

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by Uyeye(m): 5:26pm On Jan 10, 2018
Now you are out of your cocoon Sir! Better late than never!!!

6 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by AllTheWayUp: 5:32pm On Jan 10, 2018

6 Likes 1 Share

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by purem(m): 5:36pm On Jan 10, 2018
My first post since Sunday

But wait o, shey na me put Nigeria 4 recession ni

Som nairalander be venting dia anger on innocent people like kilode

As in what av I done to deserve long time ban like dis

Weris da moderator da ban me

1 Like

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by grandstar(m): 5:36pm On Jan 10, 2018
He is stretching things a bit.

The Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram are not the same thing.

While the Fulani's issue is simply economic, that of Boko Haram is religious imperialism.

The herdsmen have nothing to gain from starting a full blown war with Nigerians or the government. It will be too costly and financially ruinous.
They just want to herd their cattle in peace even though it means their cattle munching on people's farm crops- the source of many battles.

The government should have treated this issue with an iron hand from the start. It's playing ostrich while killings occurred was inexcusable
Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by mosho2good: 5:37pm On Jan 10, 2018
Every girl wants 2 be engaged by a serious man,n wish †o get married, but wat kind of man will want †o engage a babe with status' like - "liquids loadin" "Elegushi loadin", "movida on point“, "wine bar Abuja toh badt“, "6 bottles I gallant", "clubbing mode activated",Champaign rain”, "missing my bed tonite", "u knw urself#" off to crystal lounge ", "Am gonna party real hard 2nite" "Owerri, Benin, lagos,ph, Abuja, Asaba,Bayelsa on my mind =-?", " painting accra blue and red ","Dubai n italy tins",u wear skimpy cloths,almost naked,loud nails n paintings u call makeup's ",n u'll put dem as ur dp,u put dp's u took in different hotels,hotel bedrooms n bathrooms, Alhaji thank you. Baby thank you ( As ur bf no get name.) Senator God bless you. Hon. Your too much. Take pix in differnent cars are you a driver. Ipad air, iphone 7, Porsche as DP and your bf dey use Tekno. Brazilian hair. Romanian hair. Peruvian hair etc. who is fooling who?....... Som Babes never ready!!!,or u tink those men aint seeing dem?,u better hav a rethink, Maybe wen u are 33years, u'll chnge ur status to" Church on ma mind", "I love Jesus", "Jesus saves" 35years you start all men are evil" @ 37 you no go miss any church service or crusade again by then u don expire comot for market. Fresh adventurous babes full university dey roll out then beef go start. You spend hours in your saloon gossiping about younger girls other married girls and how bad men are. I know say many girls go vex and I don't give a Bleep bout ur feelings but sharing this might save a frustrated depressed girl before its too late

4 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by psychologist(m): 5:38pm On Jan 10, 2018
Excuse me sir
You were among the people that sold us this hogwash

7 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by fratermathy(m): 5:38pm On Jan 10, 2018
Kongi has spoken again. On point, like always. No stone should be left untouched in addressing the herdsmen menace in Nigeria.

I like this submission about IPOB and I attest to it:

For the avoidance of doubt, let me state right here, and yet again, that IPOB leadership is its own worst enemy. It repels public empathy, indeed, I suspect that it deliberately cultivates an obnoxious image, especially among its internet mouthers who make rational discourse impossible.

7 Likes

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by itsandi(m): 5:39pm On Jan 10, 2018
He's back grin

1 Like

Re: Impunity Rides Again Through Killer Herdsmen By Wole Soyinka by fuckbmc: 5:39pm On Jan 10, 2018
Buhari is a terrorist!

6 Likes

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