ICC Note:

It is unacceptable when an entire population feels unprotected by their government. Christians of Northern Nigeria has been suffering from deadly attacks by the Fulani Militia Herdsmen for years.  And yet the Nigerian government has done nothing to protect this population from the unprovoked slaughtering of Christian farmers and their families.  Just recently, Christian young men spoke out stating they are being forced to take arms to protect their families.  

12/8/2016 Nigeria (Pm News Nigeria) – If there was any time when President Buhari would see the atrocities of the marauding Fulani herdsmen as a national emergency, which poses a threat to national unity; that time is now.

With the massacres and incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country, Nigeria appears headed for another crisis, this time on too many fronts and with such devastating effect as could engulf the whole nation, and threaten its very survival as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.

This is indeed a dangerous development and it is unnerving that the President; himself a Fulani, has not responded with any sense of urgency to the danger already in our midst.

This is no time for political correctness; the Institute for Economics and Peace, Global Terrorism Index (GTI) has named the Fulani herdsmen as the fifth deadliest terror group in the world. Rightly or wrongly, there is already a growing perception of a hidden agenda that borders on territorial conquest and Islamization of Nigeria.

That not a single herdsman has either been arrested or prosecuted despite the havoc they have wrecked in many communities across the country, smack of official complicity. The other dimension of perceived government complicity beyond its deafening silence in the face of killings is the belated attempt by its functionaries to downplay the patterned mayhem inflicted by the Fulani herdsmen on Nigerians. When the Agatu killings in Benue occurred, the government said next to nothing and upon public outrage, belatedly ordered a probe, whose findings are still awaited. To add insult to injury, Interior Minister, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau blamed social media for aggravating the herdsmen/farmers’ conflicts while the Director of the DSS, claimed the Fulani herdsmen were the victims, ignoring the cumulative atrocious acts they had perpetrated.

A perception that Fulanis have some exclusive right to graze anywhere in Nigeria is worrisome. It is unimaginable how cows are valued more than human beings that are being massacred all over the country. The classical Fulani invaders came with the Koran and Islamized a large part of northern and western Nigeria. Today, Fulani herdsmen are farming with AK47 assault guns, killing and maiming innocent people while their cattle destroy farm crops. What are cattle herders supposed to be doing with AK47s? Such impunity as the Fulani herdsmen are perpetrating in Nigeria today by wielding automatic weapons and the magnitude of their violent activities without intervention from any arm of the security forces, once again, smack of official complicity. By bearing arms and killing people, the herdsmen are demonstrating that they have a hidden agenda. The fact that the Fulani invaders seem to be enjoying some measure of immunity from the government is vexatious and provocative.