Elliott Ugochukwu-Uko
When the Attorney General of a floundering country of over 209 million disparate, almost incompatible and certainly restive and unhappy population, refuses or fails to advise the President appropriately: that the grazing routes of the 1960s, has been made obsolete by the land use act, and that all lands are constitutionally vested in the hands of state Governors; that spending resources to review grazing routes and reserves in 25 states, will only increase the already raised tension in the land; that open grazing style of cattle rearing, private business of the Fulani, has brought untold misery, death, and destruction to communities in the last six years; that the fear of land grabbing, real or imagined, has put the nation on edge, ruining trust, relationships and camaraderie within brethren in the land; that pushing any activity that suggests land grabbing of any sort, will only provoke suspicion and hostile response; that obstinately insisting on creating, carving out and forcefully annexing homesteads for the Fulani all over Nigeria through any guise, will be stiffly resisted by Nigerians; that the economic downturn, ethnic divisions, mutual suspicion and political tensions ravaging the land today makes it highly unlikely for any such agenda to succeed; then, that Attorney General is part of the problem of Nigeria today.
This Attorney General will be remembered in history as not only being guilty of inefficiency, he will also be charged with complicity in the impending and inevitable crisis about to erupt in the land, as citizens arise to protect and defend their ancestral lands any way they can.
This desperation to carve out land for Fulani herdsmen, is a clear case of “trouble dey sleep, inyanga go wake am”.
It is hard to rationalise why President Buhari and his Attorney General are doing all they can, to rock the already weak and fragile apple cart. Simply beats logic. And very difficult to understand.
Can’t they see they are about to set the country ablaze? Do they enjoy the blood letting? Do they get a kick from the endless bloodshed? Pouring petrol into fire. Hard to believe.
Check this out: Nigerians of a particular faith, from a particular region surprisingly identified openly with the Taliban in the social media, even as many Afghans hang on Airplane fuselage in their desperation to escape the same Taliban religiosity. Completely unmindful that other Nigerians are scared stiff that their endorsement of the Taliban, only underscores our obvious incompatibility, which we all love to pretend about or subdue from public consciousness.
President Buhari hosts Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, a day after the Sheikh announced they will never forget nor forgive attackers of a convoy of Muslims near Jos. All these transpired same day President Buhari held a security council meeting with security chiefs. Nobody from the South East was in that meeting.
It is important to note that the lightning speed and seriousness, investigations and arrests were carried out over the killing of Muslims in the Jos convoy, is shockingly different from what happens after the usual regular slaughter of innocent citizens in the South by Fulani herdsmen. The fulani herdsmen are never pursued and arrested. Never.
At a time the country reels under grave insecurity of all shades, abductions, kidnappings, savage banditry, the kind never experienced before.
Whole communities razed after being robbed, even as they watch in horror as their stored food and livestock are carted away by ruthless and bloodthirsty killers.
Petrified, traumatised and shocked citizens forced by reality to establish vigilantes and armed militias, to protect their land, boom: Government wants to create grazing routes and reserves for the same Fulani.
Simply beats logic. So difficult to understand.
Fear, apprehension, trepidation and panic envelops the land. The rulers seem committed to their agenda with a FRIGHTENING single mindedness that confirms that tomorrow is truly pregnant.
The great irony is that they pretend they do not know what is fuelling the agitation all over the land. Now, it seems even the scan machine cannot accurately predict the sex, size and condition of baby pregnant Nigeria will soon give birth to, if President Buhari and his Attorney General continue to push and push the limits of tolerance and endurance to breaking point. Nobody knows if the birth will herald twins, triplets or even a stillborn child. Nobody is sure anymore.
Pregnant Naija will soon roll into the maternity ward .
