By Moses Ochonu
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) I’m from Benue State. Reports that 7 Fulani travelers were killed by a youth mob in Gboko are deeply disturbing. I’m as outraged as the next person about the herdsmen massacres in the state, first in Agatu and then in Logo and Guma, but mob action against innocent compatriots is not the way to respond and will only escalate the conflict.
If you feel that Buhari’s administration has failed to protect you, which it has, or believe as I do that it is biased in its handling of the conflict (the Defense Minister’s scandalous statement, which is indistinguishable from the justifications and confessions routinely issued by Miyetti Allah; the refusal to deploy troops or go after the killers, etc), you have several options:
1)Organize yourselves and defend your villages against the marauders. Self defense is a universal human right and is accommodated in our constitution. Do not allow yourself to be sitting ducks to be picked off by armed mass murderers.
2)Get your PVCs. Organize politically to vote out this administration and persuade other Nigerians to join you in doing so as you cannot do it alone.
3)Better yet, join the effort to effect a constitutional amendment allowing for state police, so that your state governor would not be left helplessly weeping and running to disinterested federal officials when villages in his state are sacked by armed herdsmen militias.
Killing innocent Fulani travelers is NOT an option. It is barbaric and reduces you to the level of the mass murderers. And it will NOT solve the problem.
Source: Facebook