Insecurity: Self-defense as last resort in face of government lethargy
Another killing in Benue on Sunday, the 12th of June, 2022, had generated reactions resounding the course for self-help by citizens to defend themselves, since it appears the Government may be failing in its duty to protect lives and properties. The knocks have, particularly, been on the Federal Government which has maintained the preserve of control over security in the Federation, as statutorily provided.
The attack by gunmen on a rural agrarian community in Benue State on Sunday morning, the 12th of June, 2022, left no less than 37 persons, mostly women and youth, dead. It was reported the unsuspecting victims were preparing for the early morning Mass on Sunday, when gunmen believed to be herdsmen, in large numbers riding on motorbikes, invaded the community in Okpokwu Local Government area, about 160 kilometres from Makurdi, the Benue State capital. The sour attack which left properties razed down and hundreds of persons displaced, had also resonated the frustration over security irresponsiveness to the scourge of insurgencies and the call to resort to self-help.
In reaction, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom describing the attack as “barbaric and horrendous,” warned that the people of the State may be left with no option than to resort to self-help, if the authorities refused to protect them. The Governor who maintained that the people of Benue State are not cowards and are law abiding, argued that even the laws of the land allow for self defence. In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, Governor Ortom condemning the dastardly act, had said: “When I started shouting about the menace of killer herdsmen in my state, many people thought l was playing to the gallery. Gradually, this has spread to all other parts of the country because the federal government has refused to act appropriately and decisively against them. This is the reason they have continued with impunity. It has clearly shown that the killing of these innocent farmers in Edumoga, Okpokwu LGA is yet another barbaric act by Fulani herdsmen. They must not go unpunished.” Reiterating his earlier call on people of the state to defend themselves against the invaders, he stated “even the laws of the land allow for self defence. We are capable of defending ourselves if the authorities concerned refused to do so. We are not cowards, but law abiding.”
Recall in March, following the spate of attacks on local communities across the State, Ortom, had told residents of the State to defend themselves, after the reports of several people killed by suspected herders who attacked farming communities in three local government areas in the State. In a statement on 30th, Wednesday, March, 2022, by his media aide, Ikyur, he had said, “There were coordinated attacks on Guma, Kwande, and Gwer West local government areas of the state on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022. A report from the team leader of security agencies in Kasekyo near Tse Torkula village in Guma local government said that suspected Fulani herders at about 0930 hours on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022 shot one Turner Ajar and an unidentified elderly man who were on a motorcycle going to the farm. The team of Agro Rangers who were on patrol in the area tried to rescue the situation but unfortunately many had already been killed. Their corpses were taken and deposited at a hospital in Gbajimba, Guma local government area of the state. In Kpankeeke, a suburb on the outskirts of Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West Local Government Area, gunmen, attacked the community killing several people. Gory images of persons killed by another set of herdsmen littered the streets. The Agro Rangers team were alerted and they moved to the location alongside the Army and Police. The patrol team found the body of one Ahemba Apeelu, an aged man at a sawmill from Saav/Ukusu council Ward who was slaughtered, and his throat slit. Others identified to have been killed by the invaders include Tersoo Yasough and that of a young lady known as Martha Ukange,” the statement mentioned in a lamenting tone.
It would be recalled that with the spate of attacks on the State, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had following the March 28, 2022, attack on the Abuja-Kaduna-bound train vowed to, with other State Governors in the Northwest, hire foreign mercenaries to fight against terrorists. According to him, four others of the seven Northwestern State Governors—Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto—may join him to hire foreign mercenaries if the Federal Government fails in its duty to end the ongoing spate of terror attacks in the region.
El-Rufai who then spoke to State House correspondents after he visited the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to update him on the happenings since the train attack, was quoted: “Why do we always wait for them to strike before we go after them? Why can’t we go to where they are and kill them? We know where they are. We have the maps as the military knows, the policemen know and everyone knows. The DSS is giving us a report every time: see where Dogo Gide is, see what he is planning. Why is it that up till now, the security operatives have not gone to kill them? Where are our soldiers? Why have they not done it? That is why I have come to see Mr President. And also I have said that if these actions are not taken, it becomes a must for us as governors to take measures to protect our citizens, even if it means we will import mercenaries from outside the country to do it. If our soldiers fail, I swear to God, we will do that.”
The gravity of the horrendous killings of incessant terror attacks have shown the frustration of political stakeholders, particularly at the state and local government levels. It would not be irrational to have a call or resort to self-help, as the case is driving towards, if the Federal Government which bears the preserve of control over the security forces finds it difficult to exterminate the scourge of terror, inflicting blows across the Federation. The docile posture to eliminate terror formations has degenerated to an albatross.
However, while it is within a limit that can be dealt with, it is demanding on the Federal Government to awake to its responsibility, as a failure of such, would rationally justify the call and resort to self-help, as more citizens would have it rather to seek ways to protect themselves for survival instinct. Although such self-help may be said to have the possibilities of generating clustered uncoordinated reflections, responsiveness on the part of the Federal Government is pertinent to avoid such resort.
