Revisiting the DSS Allegation and Renewed Fulani Herdsmen Attack

Enugu State Governor visit attack site

The compromising position that the Directorate of State Services (DSS) put Nigeria’s peace and unity on Saturday, April 9, 2016 is heinous, appalling and very insurrectionary. Frankly speaking I thought that by now heads must have rolled and the chips fallen where they may. It came to me as a rude shock hearing such insinuation, that the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) is responsible for murdering five men who, according to the Service, belonged to the Huasa-Fulani ethnic stock. The bodies were allegedly discovered in shallow graves in the Umuanyi forest, Isuikwuato LGA, Abia State. In the statement made public by the DSS, they said the five “Hausa-Fulani” men were among 50 other unidentified persons who were found buried in the forest. The DSS however, conveniently failed to provide a single shred of evidence in the statement that isolate the five men as members of a specific ethnic group. Also, it failed to disclose the identities of 45 other victims.

Its not only hazardous for any individual let alone the Directorate of State Services to jump to conclusion without empirical evidence that the process of identification was professionally and scientifically carried out by forensic pathologists of repute. The hazard of such abrupt profiling and “selective” dissemination of the ethnic identities of five out of fifty victims is clearly not hidden. Its one that could spark off a dangerous ethnic conflicts that may be difficult to control. If such discovery were true, it also gives the impression that the other victims do not matter.

Also, the DSS failed to provide adequate evidence that put IPOB members in the scene of the crime. Before going public with unverified information that could polarize the society, there must be cast-iron evidence linking any group with such a heinous crime in order to convince the public of their culpability. The culprits must afterwards be subsequently prosecuted. One won’t entirely be wrong to cautiously state that the reckless act of the DSS prompted the attack on a number of communities as well as Churches in Enugu State by Fulani herdsmen. The act of these armed militia popularly referred to as “Fulani herdsmen” must no longer be downplayed. The government must immediately swing into action to save what now seem an imminent spate of anarchy. The government must tell Nigerians who these people really are, what their mission is and what they plan to do in order to stop them from killing, maiming and displacing innocent Nigerians from their communities. These attacks by these terrorists masquerading themselves as herdsmen has been going on for years and calls for these agents of darkness to be stopped has repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. A continued neglect by the government may result to an unimaginable outcomes with series of complex variables. We don’t want any of this -not now, not ever.

Too many innocent lives has been lost in the hands of these terrorists called Fulani herdsmen, and Nigerians from all affected communities want justice. I therefore remind President Muhammadu Buhari that the worst thing to do in moments like this, is nothing. The oath he took to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians is binding – cows can’t be more valuable than human and so the President must act now. Silence or body language can’t solve this issue.

God help us!