CAN MALLAM NASIR EL RUFAI SAVE SOUTHERN KADUNA FROM POGROM?

ZION B-BC   NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System from a godly Perspective).  

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. [VOL. 5. NO 175. 18th December, 2016.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You   Free! (John.8:32).

CAN MALLAM NASIR EL RUFAI SAVE SOUTHERN KADUNA FROM POGROM?

Before the Nigerian Regional Political Structure was fragmented into twelve States through a military fiat on 27th May,1967, by Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon, Kaduna City was the regional capital and seat of power of the then Northern Region where all political, economic, and social policies were co-ordinated and executed through articulate blue prints. With such an imposing and intimidating status, Kaduna wielded so much power through the enigmatic personality of late, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, of blessed memory, who in1952 became leader of Northern People’s Congress (NPC), which metamorphosed from a cultural organisation called Jamiyya Jama'ar Arewa (meaning, Congress of Northern Nigeria), with the motto, "One North, One People", and in 1954, the Premier of the Northern Region. Without diminishing nor relegating to the background, the power and influence of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa (the NPC member), who was elected as the first Prime Minister of Nigeria at independence, the Sardauna stood out and towered like a colossus, high and above other politicians of his time, aroused political consciousness among the Northerners and was very diligent to close literacy gap between the South and the North through consistent government advocacy and implementation of compulsory primary educational policy throughout the entire region until his death during the first military coup in1966!
It is instructive to note that through the political administrative sagacity of the late Sadauna, whose party subsequently assumed a national outlook with a new name, “Nigerian People’s Congress”, the party had a firm grip on both the Federal Government/Northern State from 1960- 1966, a period in which it deliberately laid a solid foundation for Northern politicians of consecutive administrations to build on! Mallam Nasir El Rufai (author of, a book titled, ("The Accidental Public Servant"), was elected and sworn in as Governor of Kaduna State, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and inherited a dichotomized KADUNA STATE - "Northern and Southern Kaduna", as opposed to the late Sadauna's advocacy for Northern unity of "One North, One People"! Before his election, El Rufai was the Federal Capital Territory's (FCT), Minister between (2003-2007), and cut a niche for being the good, the bad and the ugly; depending on which side his tenure was perceived by residents - especially by satellite and rural dwellers whose homes were delomolished in respect of Land Act contraventions!

Before his assumption of office on 29th May, 2015, defenceless citizens of SOUTHERN KADUNA had suffered persistent, consistent, organized and strategized violent attacks by mercenary Fulani Herdsmen, who according to meticulous and painstaking investigations, claimed that the entire areas of Sanga Local Government consisting of the underlisted communities which are indigenous farmlands,(but which they, herdsmen insisted) were GRAZING ROUTES allocated to them by previous administrations: Fadan Ninzom, Gwantu, Ayu, Mayir, Aboro, Wasa Station, Jagindi, Godogodo, Gidan Waya, Atan, Kagoro, Koi, Kagarko, Kachia, Kafanchan etc. Since 1999, not less than 500 peasant farmers and members of Southern Kaduna families have been massacred by the ravaging heinous murderers according to witnesses who survived the mayhem! Women and children who were the most vulnerable had the highest casualty figures, while surviving adult males have been deprived of their farmlands/livelihoods because, according to them, the herdsmen could strike at random, day or night and that they were caught unawares on several occasions! In the last 19 months under the watch of Mallam El Rufai, the communities had recorded not less than five devastating attacks by the herdsmen who usually masked their faces with turban/mufflers to avoid identification, had taken place in Sanga and Jemm'a Local Governments because it is strongly believed that they enjoyed the support of resident military and police operatives whom the current administration had posted to provide "adequate security" to these endangered and helpless Nigerian citizens!

The following narratives are highlights of one of the many incidents of vicious, gruesome and devastating attacks on the vulnerable inhabitants of Southern Kaduna:
On one very hot afternoon in July 2014 a Toyota Hilux pick-up van which conveyed seven armed military personnel led by a Lieutenant was driven into Pasakori Community under Jema'a LG. and parked on the road side beside a group of vigilante who worked as scouts to alert villagers of any infiltration or invasion into their lands by Fulani Herdsmen, who frequently attacked their people without any form of provocation! The Lieutenant and one other soldier got down, walked up to the men and advised  them to go and hide away, far from their homes all hunting weapons like dane/double-barrel guns, arrows, spears etc, because there would be a sudden house-to-house search for arms mop during which their superiors would order seizure of all kinds of weapons. According to this narrator, a vigilante who escaped death by the whiskers and hid in a thicket, "none of us suspected that it was a ploy by the soldiers to disarm us for Fulani invaders to have a field day shortly afterwards in connivance with the army who should under normal circumstances defend us from such disaster! We thanked them and quickly rushed to our homes after their departure, took away all such arms as we were advised and hid them far away in the bush only to discover too late within hours to our dismay and peril when gunfire boomed from all directions and fire gutted several homes as men, women, children ran frienzily in all directions and scampered for safety! The disguised herdsmen used our people for sport as they gunned them down mercilessly for being vulnerable! They also broke into some homes that were not set on fire, and summarily executed frightened occupants who hid in them. I also saw that some of those soldiers shot and killed three villagers who were escaping"!

EL RUFAI ADMITS INVADERS WERE FULANI HERDSMEN!  
Governor of  El Rufai, in an interview quoted from Vanguard: said "We paid Fulani Herdsmen to stop the killing in Southern Kaduna - and have constituted a Committee to investigate the killings in Southern Kaduna." The Committee headed by General Martin Luther Agwai (rtd), - identified that the 2011 post-election violence triggered off the violence. According to the report, the committee stated that Fulani Herdsmen who were moving out of Southern Kaduna ran into the rioters who allegedly descended upon them, killed many of them and destroyed their cattle while those who escaped at a later date re-organized for a reprisal!  On receipt of the report, Governor El Rufai sent a message to the aggrieved attackers who were identified as Fulani Herdsmen from neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameroun Niger, Mali and Senegal to inform them that there was a new governor in Kaduna State who was a Fulani like them and that he paid them monetary compensations. The Vanguard’s report further claimed that Governor El Rufai believed that recent attacks in Southern Kaduna between September and November 2016 - purportedly alluded to Fulani Herdsmen were by bandits though on 14th November, 2016, over 40 people were killed by assailants believed to be nomad Fulani Herdsmen in Chawai Chiefdom under Kauru LG, Southern Kaduna!

SOUTHERN KADUNA RESIDENTS BELIEVE THAT MIYETTI ALLAH CATTLLE BREEDERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [MACBAN], ARE THE FULANI MERCENERY CONTRACTORS!
Nomad Fulani mercenaries have been linked to Miyetti Allah which actually contracted them to avenge any infringement by farmers against "rights and privileges" of its loyal members who paid their regular dues with cow donations. It was reported that during a monthly security review community meeting in one of the very few peaceful areas in Southern Kaduna, in August, 2016, a resident Fulani man boasted that if he had reported the said Community to MACBAN, they would have razed the area to the ground! In October 2016, MACBAN alleged that Ekiti State Government killed some cows belonging to its members and warned against severe repercussions that would reverberate beyond Ekiti if immediate compensations were not made! It was later discovered that the cows were actually arrested for violation of State Laws on cattle rearing and kept in safe custody and blood letting was avoided!

IS THIS THE SADAUNA'S DREAM OF "ONE NORTH ONE PEOPLE?"
Apart from being the seat of political power of the then Northern Region, Kaduna was also the commercial and industrial destination, alive and famous for high quality textile material production, flour mills, motor assembly plant, etc. Worthy of note also was that the military strength (Nigerian Defence Academy, Nigerian Air Force Flying School) of the nation was concentrated in Kaduna, Jaji, and Zaria, all within very short distance of each other - and it was no wonder that the first military coup was planned and executed in Kaduna by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, whose escapade with his collaborators actually snuffed the life of several politicians - including the Sadauna himself! In respect of social activities Kaduna ranked first among other major cities of the North with modern clubs and international hotels which attracted a lot of foreign industrial clientele. Today Kaduna State is a far cry from being peaceful as it is now clustered with social disorders, civil disobedience by SHI'ITE MUSLIMS in Zaria! Religious bigotry/discrimination in spite of the SECULAR STATUS of the Nigerian nation and persistent foreign Fulani mercenaries’ invasion! There was the Sharia Imposition Law conflicts from Kaduna to Kafanchan in the year 2000; and in Sanga LG, 2001; also in 2011, Post Election Riots across Kaduna metropolis; 2014, Youth Clashes in Kagarko community; July and December 2014, Fulani Herdsmen invasion in SangaLG; and also in January and June 2015.The months of September and November 2016, were not spared from the continuous bombardments of the rampaging herdsmen - especially in Pasakori and Godogodo Communities!

THE WAY FORWARD TO RESOLVE HERDSMEN/FARMERS CLASHES!
Governor Nasir El Rufai plea/monetary settlements with the foreign Fulani Herdsmen no doubt, was a right step in the right direction but he needed to speedily co-ordinate with MACBAN, who have not denied their contractual links with the same group who would always go for the highest bidder, and iron out the conflict areas and claims by both parties - the pastoralists and the indigenous farmers. The outcome of this co-ordination should be merged with the Federal Government's findings through a Technical Committee launched on 8th November, 2016, by the Minister of Interior to resolve the same conflict, while quick measures should also be initiated by all State Governments (like Ekiti), to enact laws that would create grazing lands and periods in order for peace to reign across the nation. In the meantime genuine security efforts should be made by both the Kaduna State and Federal Governments to bring lasting peace to these helpless and downtrodden peasants who are being gradually decimated by vicious force into oblivion. We must always remember the cliché which says, "A house which is divided against itself will surely fall." SOUTHERN KADUNA DESERVES OUR SUPPORT - WE MUST REMAIN OUR BROTHERS KEEPERS.

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to:  facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch.

Please look forward to divine revelations in  The Sure Word Gospel Tracts, Our divinely inspired books on the Amazon KINDLE Store Namely: The Unbroken Chain of Grace, Nigeria’s Pot Pourri (Volumes 1-5), Godly Politicking For World Peace,  and The Wedding Mascot Died. 

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390.  08080243066   g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.