The Concourse
By Soney Antai, serial award-winning columnist
- Still on Uromi 16
The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government and ….
S.14(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)
On 28 March this year, news of the killing of 16 northern Nigerians in Uromi,Edo State, broke, spiking a maelstrom of condemnation from across the country. It also drew the ire of elements from the North, who threatened retaliation against Southerners, reminding us of our age-long pretension to be a united country.
The victims of the killings were said to be travelling through Edo State en route Kano State when the incident took place. Persons who spoke for Uromi outside officialdom insisted that the victims were kidnappers. They claim that vigilantes found automatic rifles and huge cache of cash suspected to be part of kidnap ransom inside the vehicle they were traveling in. The implicature?The victims received their desert. On the other hand, those who speak for the dead, insist that the victims were only hunters. Meaning: The vigilantes committed murder and deserve to be punished. Here we have either party showing themselves to be judges in their own case, a situation unknown to our case and statute laws. Jungle justice is utterly condemnable, even as kidnapping is criminal.
Now that the heat of the fury over this unfortunate and avoidable disaster seems to be dying down, perhaps our whole shebang should be to start reflecting on it with a view to finding out why it happened,and how it may be avoided in the future.
It is no longer news that kidnappings are almost a daily reality in our country. Among these kidnappers are armed Fulani herders, who are fanatically opposed to banning open cattle grazing. They had a field day during the administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), when Benue State passed its Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017.Though they are not indigenous to that State, their group,Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), after initially describing the Law as good for pastoralists and farmers, later condemned and started fighting it. Thus, its National Secretary, Baba Usman Ngelzarma,called for its repeal. No voice from the political hegemonic North condemned MACBAN for this meddlesomeness in Benue’s internal affairs. If anything, the Buhari government backed the call to repeal that law. The aftermath was the killing of hundreds of Benue people blamed on Fulani herders.
At a point when 200 Benue people were killed in one fell swoop, a frustrated Governor Samuel Ortom said, “I’ll no longer announce the deaths of those killed by Fulani herdsmen; rise up and defend yourselves with weapons not prohibited by law, bows and arrows, spears, knives, and similar ones” (Premium Times, 28 May, 2021).
Across the country, media reports accuse Fulani herders of showing love for bloodletting. They are reported to have done this in Delta, Kaduna, Edo, Enugu, Rivers States, not to talk of the North Central of this country, where countless indigenous peoples of the area have suffered terribly in their hands. From rape to deliberate destruction of farmlands, killings,kidnaps, and you name it.
At this point, it is difficult to say what really happened in Uromi. What is certain is that some persons took the law into their hands and killed the 16 unfortunate folks. Even if they were kidnappers, as is generally believed by many, jungle justice has no place in a sane society, and we enthrone anarchy if we deodorise it.
The blame for that incident is on the head of the federal government that controls every legitimised tool of violence and coercion.When evil is not punished; when we politicise and desecrate justice, we earn and attract more insecurity and instability. Against this backdrop, the governments of Edo and Kano should be commended for acting promptly to douse tension in the Uromi 16 matter. If this kind of public diplomacy is pursued consistently, the country will be the better for it.
On the other hand, the reactions of self-styled Arewa groups in the political, as opposed to geographical North, are as ignoble as they are shameful. You cannot approbate and reprobate: on one hand, you are condemning the killing of the Uromi 16, and on the other hand you are threatening retaliation even when there are still many northerners living peacefully in Edo.
Until our government is firm on dealing with criminals regardless of whoever they may be or from wherever they may come, cases of resorting to self-help will not cease. Since our security agents are getting overstretched trying to contain spiralling insecurity across the nation, there is need to constantly educate vigilance groups and their operatives on the basics of crime detection, prevention, and handling. The vigilantes, as much as possible,should be led by retired senior police officers or detectives to ensure that they don’t take the law into their hands. Similarly, hunters should be registered with the police to ensure they are hunters indeed. This way, Uromi 16 may never happen again.