BENUE KILLINGS: We demand probe of herders massacre – Nigeria’s Shari’ah Council

*Wants end to fuel scarcity, backs Senate on currency swap deadline

By KEMI KASUMU

The murder of herders in their multiple numbers by military airstrikes on Nasarawa/Benue boundary community of Rukubi in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, North Central Nigeria on Wednesday January 24, 2023 has continued to generate reactions.

This was even with authorities remaining speechless yet about the matter, as efforts by some faceless military sources to tag the wrongly terminated souls as those of bandits continued to fail.

Reacting this time around was the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN), which called for a thorough investigation into what it described as the massacre of Fulani herdsmen along the Nasarawa/Benue border by agents hiding under the use of state apparatus unjustifiably.

Expressing disappointment that the indefensible killing by military airstrikes – yet to be spoken about by the military – as huge as that of the over 48 Fulani innocent herders has continued to be treated at low pace by the Nigerian media, which otherwise would have initiated hypes and lots of escalations even in cases involving slandering the Fulani people, those who reacted earlier to the sad event wanted to know who gave instructions for the military operation that killed those herders.

Among the voices that have been raised over the wrongly terminated souls were those of the Governor of Nasawara State, Engr Abdullahi Sule, Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Bambado II, Mallam Salihu Muhammad, and the Sarkinn Fulani of Nasarawa State, Ardo Lawal Dono, who spoke from Kaduna with all accusing fingers pointed at the Governor of Benue State, Mr. Samuel Ortom.

The herders were said to have been killed while going to the Ortom’s Benue State Livestock Guards office on the neighbouring state government invitation to come and collect their over 1,000 seized cows after paying N29,500,000 for their release. The cows were seized due to enforcement of the state government’s anti-open grazing law said has no provision in it that caters for how Fulani can do their business of cows herding in the state.

In a fresh reaction, the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria speaking in Kaduna, North West Nigeria, held an all-important press conference addressed by its Secretary General Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed on Sunday, during which it demanded for investigation into the “unacceptable” killings that Salihu Muhammad, speaking earlier from Kaduna, had described as not the first or second time to happen by Governor Ortom, a governor His Royal Highness Bambado II called the self-style enemy of Fulani race.

In the SCSN’s press conference address, Baba-Ahmed said: “The recent brutal murder of Fulani herdsmen along the Nasarawa/Benue border. We condemn in the strongest terms, this cruel massacre of about 30 persons and dozens of their cattle, for obviously no other reason than that it had happened one too many times before, with no action, apology or compensation.

“Clearly, Muslim and Fulanı lives have become fair game, to kill and maim with impunity, with nobody held responsible, sanctions as a deterrent or compensation. It is immaterial whether it was the NAF or a drone.

“We call on the government and the security agencies to transparently investigate and make their findings public. In the meantime, Diyyah (compensation tor death) and the annihilated cattle must be made promptly and publicly by the government/security agencies.”

On the ongoing currency swap the SCSN said “Nigerians are dumbfounded and thoroughly disgusted at the recent senseless, irresponsible and insensitive policy to change the paper currencies without sufficient public enlightenment, logistical backing through deposit taking institutions and an insensitive adamance not to reconsider, review or extend the deadline.

“This is an obvious evidence of the criminal ineptitude of the CBN Governor, and arrogant impunity, with total disregard of his mandate and Nigerians. The immediate consequence of this ineptitude and official impunity, is to further pauperise the over 100 million poor and push multitudes into crime, thereby aggravating the prevailing state of insecurity.

“All pleas to extend the deadline to accommodate those in the rural areas with no access to banking facilities have fallen on deaf ears. Even the few elites in the cites are yet to even sight the new notes. Can you imagine that even beggars have stopped accepting the old ones!”

The council also demanded an immediate end to the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country, saying Nigerians have never had it so bad, even during the civil war.

“Since December last year, Nigerians have been experiencing the excruciating pain of endless fuel scarcity, long hours or even days in endless queues, to buy a resource in abundance in Nigeria which the government claims trillions of naira are spent yearly to import, and yet, it is not available to ordinary Nigerians, at a reasonable price and without any hustle.

“The immediate fall out of this regrettable situation is the aggravation of inflation, a skyrocketing of the prices of all goods and services and the untold suffering of millions of Nigerians.

“The NNPC claims it has 1.6billion liters of refined products, but we have heard such claims before in December and in any case, we are yet to witness any change, except the progressive deterioration of the situation, with a litre of petroleum being sold for as high as N800 in some parts of the country.

“It will be recalled that the President had repeated a campaign promise in 2015, to not only reduce the pump price of petrol, rehabilitate the 4 existing refineries, and do away with fuel subsidy which he termed as “fraud”, and also establish new refineries.

“The most disturbing aspect of this is that nobody will be held to account as no one was ever held as such in the past. It is going to be business as usual, which is now definitely unacceptable to Nigerians. We urge our fellow Nigerians to be extra patient, exercise restraint and use their voter’s cards as the weapons with which to bring about positive change,” Baba-Ahmed said.