MR. President, Good morning. I say good morning to inspire positive energy, despite the morning not being so good. The country is on the brink of disaster. We are on the road to Mogadishu. The Ice of March is here, so say the augurs. The security situation in the country is unsettling for all who can discern the dynamics. Unless something drastic is done, to use the colloquial expression, we are all done for. Everywhere in the country has become a killing field, and the failure of our security forces to protect us is inducing self-help. Generals, helpless, are being kidnapped and released upon payment of ransom. Plateau and Benue present the latest spectacle of mindless killings, genocidal in content and extent.
Over 100 unarmed people have been cowardly killed in the Bokkos and Bassa areas of Plateau State. It raises the question of whether the country is under a Jihad. The patterns of killings in the Middle Belt and elsewhere point to the fact that a jihad is being prosecuted, and the actors are grabbing lands. This time, I will concentrate on the events in the Plateau to avoid the ambiguity of “covering the field”.
Under the Buhari administration, the land grab or internal colonisation policy came under frivolous government programmes, approximated as RUGA and constitutionalisation of inland waterways under federal control, and was bravely resisted by the indigenous peoples of Nigeria who saw through it as a consummation of the internal colonisation policy. Newspapers editorialised against,
and this medium did in several editorials. When the marauders struck in Plateau and following national outrage, Mr Femi Adesina, the then presidential spokesman, asked the victims mockingly to forfeit their land or succumb to dishonourable graves in their land. As he put it: “Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are dead, how does the attachment matter? The National Economic Council that recommended ranching didn’t just legislate it; there were recommendations. So if your state does not have land for ranching, it is understandable. Not every state will have land for ranches. But, where you have land and you can do something, please do for peace. What will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?”.
The presidential spokesman dumped political correctness and delivered the message. Many hovering truths converged in ways that made sense. The mauruders not only kill but occupy and rename the streets in the land they empty of humans through massacres. In an interview with The Vanguard newspaper, December 21, 2021, the son of the first Gbong Gwom of Jos and spokesperson for Southern Middle Belt Alliance, SAMBA, Prince Rwang Pam Jr., affirmed the tale of occupation of about 102 communities in Plateau state by so-called Fulani herdsmen who are occupiers from outside the Nigerian territory. In his words, “They are not alleged herdsmen, they are Fulani herdsmen. Survivors know their identity and when they come to attack, they shout ‘God is great’ in Arabic. They kill women and children while mothers watch their daughters being raped. It is just pathetic. The killings have continued because government allowed them. The annexed communities have increased to 102 because government allowed it to happen”(https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/12/how-herdsmen-seized-renamed-102-plateau-communities-rwang-pam/).
While it is common knowledge that the killings in Plateau, once a tourist destination, took on new intensity since the advent of the Fourth Republic, the impunity of the killers, non-Nigerian Fulani, increased under the Buhari administration with the obvious collaboration of the government. One well-known evidence is the intentional statement of the former President Buhari, who gave a blank cheque to all Fulanis in Africa and elsewhere to see Nigeria as home and could come without the bureaucratic nicety of an entry visa. Then the mass movement to occupy Nigeria ensued. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Dangote trucks were used to dump so-called almajiris in the southern part of the country. The Igbo and the Yoruba people reacted. With hindsight benefit, were it not for the Amotekun outfit, the South West would have been completely overrun.
Mr President, the “project occupation” is not over. They are now making inroads as “licensed hunters”. There are reports that the security forces are under ‘order’ to protect the killers. They don’t respond to distress calls by the victims, even when they can do so despite obvious logistical problems. There are also allegations of some of the killers being enabled at the 3rd Amoured Division to carry out the killings and occupation (https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/fulani-jihadists-kill-scores-near-nigerian-army-base). Despite conflicting reports of good conduct, there is also the allegation that General Anthony Atolagbe, who took over from Major-General Roggers Nicholas as Field Commander Joint Task Force (CJTF) Operation SAFE HAVEN (Jos) was removed for collusion with the killer herdsmen. According to Plateau Peace and Good Governance Watch, a civil society group, who reacted to his redeployment, “There was further strong basis to prove that under Atolagbe’s watch, details of military operations were passed on to killers hired by disgruntled politicians while soldiers were also directed to stand down from chasing and apprehending the murderers. This explains the brutal
efficiency with which the killers decimated entire communities while the former Commander was dining with his patrons” ( https://dailytrust.com/pleateau-group-welcomes-removal-of-atolagbe-as-commander-operation-safe-haven-262795/). If you are looking for evidence of internal colonisation, you don’t need to search for long.
Mr President, your reaction to the killings that took place while you were away in France falls short of expectations. Your statement has two major threads: One is to see the crisis as an ethnic conflict or communal crisis. Two is to put the responsibility for its resolution on the laps of the governor, who has no command over security forces. Excerpts of the statement by Mr Bayo Onanauga underline the point being made. The statement notes in part, “The ongoing violence between communities in Plateau State, rooted in misunderstandings between different ethnic and religious groups, must cease…Beyond dealing with the criminal elements of these incessant killings, the political leadership in Plateau State, led by Governor Caleb Mutfwang, must address the root cause of this age-long problem. These problems have been with us for more than two decades…The federal government remains committed to supporting Governor Mutfwang and the Plateau State government in promoting dialogue, fostering social cohesion, and ensuring accountability—crucial steps towards permanently resolving the conflict in Plateau.”
Mr President, the killings in Plateau State go beyond the farmer-herder trope. If you
are looking for evidence of internal colonisation, you don’t need to search for long. Those who think they can take over a multinational country like ours are only paving the road to Mogadishu.
Akhaine is a Professor of Political Science This opinion was first published as the 59th series of his weekly column, Presidential monologue, The Guardian newspaper, April 21, 2025.
