A nation drenched in cold blood

The real tragedy of the mindless killings in Nigeria now is that most people appear to have become numbed by them. States like Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba and Zamfara have contributed disproportionately to the huge morbid statistics, sadly. Not to mention other parts of the country, like Kogi East, that have suffered heavy casualties from terror attacks and banditry without commensurate media exposures. Sometimes coverage is not provided because such incidences are considered too common in news reporting. On many occasions, editors aren’t sure of the right quantities of violence-related items to publish or air in order not to breach professional ethics. Lost in the milieu is the consciousness of what the actual worth of a single human life is, not to talk of the hundreds and thousands which are gunned down at will. But some incidents, like last week’s murderous invasion of Yelewata in Benue State, do step up and defy any attempts to side-line them.

The sheer cruelty and magnitude of that operation in which 200 people, including babies, adolescents, young adults, pregnant women and other vulnerable persons, were cornered and exterminated at night, ensured that it attracted rare interventions from critical individuals like President Bola Tinubu and Pope Leo XIV. It was part of the pope’s prayers during his mass last Sunday. And Tinubu visited the state on Wednesday. Now, the world awaits the tangible outcomes of the presidential move, especially as earlier visits by topmost security officers there haven’t yielded visible results.

Already, fears that Tinubu’s dash to Benue may have been over-hyped are validated between the lines of the state government’s invitation letter to welcome him which was addressed to “esteemed leaders and registered support groups” and signed by the state governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Special Groups Mobilisation, Hon. Francis Ngutswen. “I am pleased to notify you at the instance of our dear Governor, His Excellency, Fr Dr Hyacinth Iormem Alia, the leader of All Progressives Congress in Benue State, to mobilise massively to give a rousing welcome to our president,” he declared as if his state was in its best of times. “The Support Groups Constituency is required to form a colourful shoulder-to-shoulder spread/procession from airport to Wurukum Roundabout and down to Government House, Makurdi, where the president will address a town hall meeting. Accreditation will be done strictly by the numbers and colours…. Kindly accept the governor’s gratitude for your commitment and be assured of my highest regards and esteem.” Nothing in the tone and diction here indicates that only five days before, families, dreams, potentials and also hopes for the living were wiped out within the territory by elements who shouldn’t be classified as human. Official insensitivity was, thereby, piled upon the people’s misery, grief and despondency.

Governor Alia couldn’t even wait for another opportunity to demonstrate his allegiance to the president in pursuit of his second term ticket, like his other desperate colleagues. And no one should blame Tinubu for the shameful packaging of a condolence visitation in the form of a grand hosting. That communication even undermined Alia’s own previous statement that, “we are bleeding. We are in sorrow.” Let him pray that his obsequious posturing is not in vain. Benue people may not forget on the day of reckoning.

How would they? Janet Erdoo Terhemba who lost many members of her family in the attack explained the disaster thus: “I wasn’t around when it happened. At first, I was told my uncle was missing. Later, they said they found my father and stepmother. But my uncle and the others, including a toddler, were burnt beyond recognition. They were butchered before they were set ablaze. My uncle was butchered, his wife too. In total, I lost eight people in one night. They include my two stepmothers, my uncle, aunt, another uncle, my little sister, and two cousins. They were all killed.” And those bloodless, soulless assailants simply vanished as often.

Will this helplessness continue forever? Senator David Mark, an indigene, appealed for order but warned that, “this is the unfortunate reality the Benue people are confronted with. The government must rise to its responsibility or risk leaving the people with no option but to defend themselves. This is a trying time for our people. We must stand together, mobilise, and speak with one voice against the invaders. We must not succumb to fear.” True, phobia shouldn’t be an option. If nothing changes significantly, today’s victims may just find solutions to the only things that separate them from their predators: sophisticated weapons.

For, endurance does have its limits, as suggested by the flurry of emotion-laden rhetorical questions that the frontline social critic and former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, churned out at the painful mass murders: “How much longer will we, as citizens, tolerate a system led by this wicked band of mis-leaders, those who lack the empathy and effectiveness needed to end the horror of normalised genocide in our land? How much longer will we allow presidents – past and present – to coddle the killers of our people, as President Tinubu did in his feeble and infuriating response to the tragedy in Benue? When will we, the citizens, finally rise – collectively and unwaveringly – to demand that the president, senate president, speaker, governors, and all those in power put an end to these massacres?

“When will we stand as one and fight against a political class that has always valued barrels of oil over human lives? When will we demand a Nigeria with leadership that serves its people? When will we say ‘enough’ and truly mean it? When? It must be now! The only condolences that hold meaning for our murdered compatriots in Benue are those backed by actions by standing together against the indifferent, heartless governments that allow this bloodshed to persist.” Her critics have dismissed this reaction as partisan and exaggerated but can they seriously deny its moral justification?

No doubt, the time for fresher approaches is now. According to the leader of North Central Peace Advocates, Frank Utor, “the killers are not herdsmen. They do not rear cattle. They do not engage in any known pastoral activities. On the contrary, they rustle cattle from legitimate herders to raise money for their nefarious activities. They then weaponise the confusion to destabilise society…. Intelligence and on-ground evidence indicate that the killers are well-trained members and affiliates of international terror groups whose only mission is warfare against the indigenous communities of Benue, Plateau and other parts of north central Nigeria.

“The killers don’t come on donkeys, or camels or horses; they ride on motorcycles, well-armed to attack communities and retreat to their camps. By describing these terror groups as herdsmen, government after government have misdiagnosed and downplayed this major national security threat to the peace and stability of Nigeria. This mischaracterisation is one of the greatest obstacles to ending the Benue and north central crisis. It deprives the security agencies of the legal and operational clarity needed to confront the threat decisively.” Well put.

The much-travelled roads of over-publicised meetings between the president and military/police chiefs, and the ones amongst field commanders are now clearly insufficient to arrest the sorts of bloodletting comparable in Nigeria only to those experienced during the civil war. Let’s galvanise our intelligence capabilities, deepen community/vigilante policing and reengineer other public safety machineries. The president and his team ought to know that the persistent failure to arrest, prosecute and punish perpetrators will keep mocking the nation’s capacity for accountability and deterrence. Let’s halt these incessant carnages now. It’s ominous to keep watching innocent blood flow unchecked.

Ekpe, PhD, is a member of THISDAY editorial board.