ONE INJUSTICE BEGETS ANOTHER

By

OSA

 "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me".

The above poetic lines on how one injustice begets another injustice  masterfully conveyed by prominent Protestant pastor Martin Neimoller (1892-1984) during the Nazi reign of terror are evocative of the toleration of injustices in Nigeria. The toleration of injustices in Nigeria is producing more gruesome and barbaric injustices in Nigeria. Instead of tackling the injustices headlong we hypocritically resort to sweeping them under the carpet in the pretence that time will heal the wounds of the injustices. But unfortunately the efflution of time has not managed to heal the wounds of the injustices in Nigeria. As Martin Luther King Jr. rightly stated "one injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". When, for example, genocidal attacks and killings were committed against the Igbos on the threshold of the Nigerian Civil War little did we know that  48 years after the Civil War the entire spectrum of Nigerian society will be the target of the most vicious genocidal attacks and killings. Yesterday they came for the Igbos and massacred the Igbos. Today they are coming for the rest of us in order to massacre the rest of us. Who knows who they will go after tomorrow. We are helpless. We cry out but nobody hearkens to our assistance.  

Within the last three years, the Fulani herdsmen have successfully carried out countless genocidal attacks and killings in different Nigerian communities. Just last week, the bodies of about 80 citizens of Benue State murdered by the Fulani herdsmen between January 1 to 2 2018 were given mass burial amid tears of sorrow. Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom has declared that the Fulani herdsmen have murdered no fewer than 1,878 citizens of Benue State within the last three years. He blamed the murder on the security lapses in the Buhari government. Apart from the genocidal killings by the Fulani herdsmen, gross human rights abuses, State-sanctioned killings, extra-judicial killings, sectarian killings and religious killings have been recorded in the last three years. Equally, there have been brutal killings of defencelless civilians by the military in the last three years. For example, following the attack by the army on the Shia Muslim community ostensibly to rescue the Chief of Army Staff from alleged assassination, about 1,000 defencelless and unarmed civilians were murdered in Zaria between 12th to 15th December 2015 or thereabout. On February 9, 2016 the Nigerian soldiers shot and killed countless defencelless civilians who were peacefully holding prayers inside the football field of Ngwa High School, Aba in Abia State. The photographs of the murdered victims circulated on whatsApp at that time. The painful aspect is that while investigations on the Aba massacre were still going on, the Onitsha massacre occurred on May 30 2016. Over 30 civilians were murdered and many injured by the military after the several clashes involving the military, police and members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and members of the Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) during the Biafra day celebration at Nkpor-Agu, Niger Bridge, Onitsha and Asaba.

 In March 2016 the Fulani herdsmen murdered two Catholic reverend sisters and burnt about 17 houses in Abbi, Uzo Uwani Local Government Area, Enugu State. On April 25 2016 more than 50 innocent citizens of Ukpabi-Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Council of Enugu State were murdered by the Fulani herdsmen. The herders also burnt many houses and sacked many communities in Uzo-Ukpabi Council and its environs. Shortly after the Ukpabi-Nimbo massacre, the Fulani herdsmen murdered a Delta State monarch and some Delta State citizens. In the same April 2016 the Vicar-General of  the Otukpo Catholic Diocese Rev Fr. John Adeyi was kidnapped by some gunmen  suspected to be Fulani herdsmen ‎along Odoba Otukpa-Okwungaga road, Otukpo, Benue State. Sadly, two months later his decomposed body was found somewhere even after his kidnappers had collected N1.5 Million ransom. On June 2 2016,  a 70-year old citizen of Imo State called lady Mrs. Bridget Agbahime was murdered in Kano for alleged blasphemy of the Koran. Recently, a Kano Magistrate discharged all the five suspects who allegedly killed Mrs Agbahime. Case closed.   Barely 10 days after Mrs Agbahime was murdered, a 41-year old Christian man called Francis Emmanuel was almost stabbed to death in Kaduna for allegedly eating meat during the Ramadan. On the 9th of July 2016 a mother of seven, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, who was also the wife of a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) pastor was murdered in cold blood in Abuja by Muslim fanatics while she was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In August 2016, suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked and killed a seminarian of the Catholic Church and others at Enugu-Atakwu community, in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State. The kidnappers reportedly mowed down everybody in sight during their shooting spree.

Between 2016 and 2017 hundreds upon hundreds of citizens of Southern Kaduna were murdered in several renewed genocidal attacks carried out by the Fulani herdsmen. For example, in one attack which occurred in December 2016, a total of 808 people were killed in 53 villages across the four local government areas in the state. Between September 8 and October 17, 2017 the Fulani herdsmen murdered about 75 persons and injured 23 others after they attacked two communities in Irigwe Kingdom, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State. The herders also displaced about 13,726 persons from the communities and burnt about 489 houses during their attacks. On December 8 2017 some Fulani herdsmen invaded Omala and Yagba West local government councils respectively in Kogi State and murdered about 10 persons there after setting their farmlands ablaze. In Omoku, Rivers State, about 17 Christian church worshipers were killed during the last New Year Eve by the same Fulani herdsmen. Some husbands were dragged out of their houses and murdered in front of their wailing wives by the same Fulani herdsmen. On January 12 2018 Fulani herdsmen attached Dangaji and Ungwan Gajere villages both in Birni Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State and killed 10 indigenes of the area

The chronicle of the killings is endless. If you like, there are three dimensions to the afore-mentioned murders. The first dimension is the constancy of the murders. The second is that to date none of the murderers have been brought to justice. The Kano Magistrate Court has discharged all the five suspects who allegedly murdered Mrs Agbahime.  The third dimension is that the State security appears helpless in the face of the vicious genocidal attacks and killings.  How long shall we sit back and watch our parents, children, relatives, brothers and sisters and townsfolks being slaughtered.