Fifteen Minutes with Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
Peace is when nobody is shooting. A ‘just peace’ is when your side gets what it wants — Bill Mauldin.
I am writing this column two days before
you read it. The past few days have been full of stories, many of them
contradicting each other, on developments in and around the camps to
which Fulani villagers have been relocated so that the military can
conduct operations against terrorists.
Some reports say the military
authorities have allowed some of the villagers to relocate back to all
but one of the villages. There is virtually no media coverage on the
fate of Berom villagers, and the impression one gets is that only Fulani
villagers have been involved in these traumatic movements in and out of
the villages they inherited from ancestors. It is also unclear what
measures are being put in place to police the relationships between the
Fulani, the Berom and the STF. The latter has been accused by both sides
on numerous occasions of aiding the other party in killings or aiding
escape. The question begging for answer is what will happen to
Fulani-Berom relations when the military withdraw after their
operations. Will attacks on Berom villages cease? Will the Berom sheath
their sword against Fulani villagers who they accuse of importing
"mercenaries" to attack them at night? Will Governor Jang tone down his
own rhetoric and posture which fuels the crisis in Plateau state?
Before the reports that some Fulani are
being allowed to return to some of their villages started coming in,
indications emerged that many of them were insisting on abandoning the
camps in which they had lived for about a week, for their villages. They
had been complaining of being virtually abandoned in camps that lacked
basic essentials such as good water, food and medical facilities. With
the commencement of the Ramadan fast, the pressure to stock-up was
mounting, and many had quietly voted with their feet and returned home.
On the whole, the life of these villagers in the past few days has been,
to say the least, unenviable. Tossed between uncertainly and
insecurity, they had become a symbol of a deep crisis over the manner
the Nigerian State treats its citizens. It is very unlikely that these
Fulani villagers will find peace in the near future, whether they are in
camps or in their villages. In that respect, they are not unlike almost
every citizen in Plateau state, no thanks to a state government policy
which has very rigid and hierarchical order of rights and privileges of
communities and citizens based on tribes and religions.
If these Fulani villagers had abandoned
the camps they only moved into reluctantly and with profound suspicions,
they would have confronted the security agencies with difficult
choices. They had been moved out ostensibly on the grounds that the
military operation planned to eliminate terrorists near or around their
villages will require about 48 hours to complete, but they may have to
stay away for at least two weeks to guarantee that they stayed
completely out of harm's way. If the military insists that it is still
involved in flushing out terrorists in their villages, any presence will
endanger the Fulani villagers. It is very likely that the military will
warn them to stay away, in camps or anywhere else that is not their
villages. Any casualties registered among the villagers will be blamed
on their stubbornness, and some people may even accuse them of
sabotaging the efforts of the military to expose the terrorists hiding
in or near the villagers. If the villagers relocate in large numbers and
frustrate operations, the military may place their villages under
prolonged siege and operations which will place them at great risk.
Although periods have been mentioned by
the military for the operation and possible return dates, the Fulani
villagers who have been relocated have no say on when it will be
concluded, or when they can return to their villages. It is now entirely
up to the military authorities to say when it is safe. So if the
villagers heed the warning of the military to stay put in their camps,
they may be in for a long haul. A long stay in squalid and unsafe
environment will be even more difficult to bear during the month of
Ramadan. If any thing happens to their villages to make it difficult for
all of them to return, they will become permanent refugees. The longer
they stay away, the more difficult it will be for them to return. Other
communities on the list of "settlers" will read their fate in the
travails these villagers.
Still it made sense to advise the Fulani
from the villages of Mahanga, Kakuruk, Kuzen, Maseh and Shong to stay
in the camps while the military operation goes on. Common sense will
dictate that the seeming certainty by the military that there is
terrorist presence near their villages, and the steely determination
that they must be flushed out should be taken seriously. If indeed,
non-local terrorists exist which have been responsible for the mass
murders in Berom villages these past few weeks and months, then it is
eminently in the interest of these Fulani villagers to facilitate or
cooperate in their removal. They are in as much danger of violent
criminals who attack Berom villagers as the Beroms themselves. There is
also the imperative of the Fulani showing transparent respect of
security, law and order, and complying with instructions which enhance
their security and those of their neighbours. Finally, non-resistance
may persuade the authorities to adopt a more conciliatory stance towards
the longer-term welfare of the Fulani villagers, who are, in any case,
almost entirely powerless in these circumstances.
But those who encouraged the Fulani to
accept all the conditions laid down by the military and suffer the
inconveniences will be well advised to recognize some of their important
concerns. The Fulani villagers are already substantially guilty by
association in the eyes of the security agents and Plateau State
Government. The suspected terrorists who kill Berom are related to the
Fulani in official and popular perception, because they do not kill
Fulani. The heavy hand of the state will most likely be felt by these
Fulani villagers, and the slightest expression of grievance will be
interpreted as obstruction or complicity.
Second, the Fulani villagers have no
faith in the capacity of Plateau state government to be even-handed or
compassionate where it becomes involved in their welfare or plans over
their location or relocation. They are already condemned as settlers,
even though many of the villages have had Fulani in them for over a
century. The military in the locality were reminded of the very deep
distrust of the villagers when they initially refused to accept the
relief items which got to them on the second day of their relocation.
The Plateau state government will be entirely happier if these Fulani
villagers do not relocate back to their villages at all. The government
will see this as a solution to a seemingly endemic conflict in which
villagers are shot, hacked or burnt mostly while asleep, and their
murderers melt into the night. Berom villagers do not trust the Fulani
villagers. The reverse is also the case. At least the Berom have a
governor who is unabashedly Berom and Christian. The Fulani have only a
poor reputation as settlers who attack indigenes at will, or import
"mercenaries" to do it for them. Now they join the Hausa indigenes of
the state from Jos, many of whose fellow indigenes would also love to
relocate permanently. In Plateau state, you have no citizens, only
settlers and indigenes.
The Fulani villagers who are now caught
between the hostility of the state and other communities; and the
instinct to stay put because they have no safe alternative, must be
protected by other Nigerians. They must be protected because they alone
are powerless to resist the onslaught of a Nigerian state which sees
this operation as an important exercise that will show its seriousness
and capacity to tackle terrorism. They must be protected because they
represent every citizen or community whose basic rights may be abridged
by illegal and arbitrarily actions of those in power, who think our
tongue or faith can be evaluated and ranked by them. They must be
protected because they represent the tipping point in an emerging
disaster being triggered by the Plateau state government, which will
attack the very soul of a plural nation such as ours. The Fulani
villagers should not be used to appease the incompetence and arrogance
which have brought danger to every citizen of Plateau state. Those
villagers are us. They must be protected where they are, and be allowed
to relocate as early the imperatives of national security demand.
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