Inter-ethnic face-off: Time for all gate-keepers to sit on the same page

Controversies on national issues have continued to ensue from recent matters facing off in the Nigerian Federation. In every sane entity, it is rational that when matters of national concern arise, government authorities should arise to deploy state architecture towards addressing such matters with the most responsive approach. The subjects of national concern which have come to define the constituting character of the State-of-Nation recently, are mostly engrossed in controversies that wear nebulous looks. The reactions of government authorities as the established institution to pragmatically address situations of disorder, have more or less been non-irreconcilable with the perspective of the best expected approach.

Recent face-offs across the Federation which are assuming dimensions of ethno-tribal contests have grown to become a phenomenon which has continued to heat up the polity. One recent development which has generated heated contest is the recent Shasha crisis in Ibadan, Oyo State, which resulted in the killings of a number of persons, and loss of properties with numbers of persons rendered homeless. The unfortunate development taking an inter-ethnic face-off dimension reportedly took off, following an argument that ensued between a pregnant Yoruba woman and a Hausa businessman, which led to the death of a Yoruba man. The reactions that have so far trailed the ugly event have assumed a dimension of national impacts.

Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, had on Saturday took a lambasting slam on South West Governors, accusing them of being the masterminds of the killings in the Shasha Market crisis. The Senate President had further alleged that the Governors are also responsible for the violence and attacks against the Northerners in the South West region. The Senate President who in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, attributed the recent violence to the latest call for the eviction of Fulani herdsmen out of Southwestern states, alleged that utterances by some South West Governors were responsible for the killings in Sasha Market in Ibadan, Oyo State and other violence against Northerners in the Region. The Senate President had said: “Leadership failures in the region cause what happened in Oyo State and other things that kept happening in the southwestern states. Some utterances by some governors also went a long way in inciting the citizens to take up arms against other ethnic groups settling in their states. The governors’ utterances emboldened the criminals to unleash violence against the northerners.”

In a counteracting response to the Senate President’s position, former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, berated Lawan, arguing that blaming South-West Governors and leaders for the “failures of the Federal Government to provide law and order and protect the people from terrorists and savages”  will not help in the matter, noting that “it will only make things worse.” Fani-Kayode who noted that people were killed on both sides and if not for timely intervention of Oyo Governor, Seyi Makinde, things would have gone worse, stressed that the level of hate and resentment against Fulani herdsmen in the South West is frightful and unprecedented today and the Governors are having a hard time trying to calm people down.

In the reactionary the statement Fani-Kayode had said: “This is NOT true. And frankly, I am beginning to suspect that there is a well-orchestrated script unfolding here. I was in Ibadan when the Shasha killings started and I went on a tour of the affected area. Let me assure you that many people were killed on both sides of the ethnic divide and had it not been for the efforts of the Governor of Oyo state and the tacit support and encouragement he got from the other South West Governors in terms of appealing to the people of Ibadan to show restraint, what happened in Oyo would have been a hundred times worse and far many more northerners would have been killed. The level of hate and resentment against Fulani herdsmen in the South West is frightful and unprecedented today and the Governors are having a hard time trying to calm people down and rein them in even though they may not want to admit it publicly. The decisive actions of the SW Governors over the last few months actually saved lives and their words and utterances actually reflected the will of the people. If, for example, Governor Akeredolu had not banned herdsmen from the forests of Ondo, after some time the local population would have gone there themselves to throw them out violently. The truth is that all the SW states are sitting on a keg of gunpowder over this herdsmen issue and the local population are mobilising against them in a very frightening way. Northern leaders should thank the SW Governors for keeping a lid on the whole thing and restraining our people rather than blame them for trying to keep the peace in the face of the most extreme provocation from the terrorists. Quite apart from that I need to ask this question. Why does the Senate President not complain about the violence that northerners are inflicting on Middle Belters and Southerners in the North itself? Again why does the Senate President not complain about the barbaric attacks and killing of our people in the SW and other parts of the South and Middle Belt by killer Fulani herdsmen who are carrying arms, raping our women, occupying our land and terrorising our people? How come he does not complain about that? Is Northern blood more precious than Southern blood? It appears that he is only concerned about retaliatory attacks by the local Yoruba population who have been brutalised and traumatised by the terrorists. He has not complained about what those terrorists are doing to our people and he has exhibited no empathy with the victims simply because they are Southerners. Is this right or fair? It is wrong for anyone to target other ethnic groups in their region and I totally condemn that but the north needs to understand that the people of the SW particularly believe that they have been encircled and that they are under siege. The only way the resentment against northerners will vanish in that zone is when the killer herdsmen and terrorists stop the killings.

“Outside of that all the self-serving and sanctimonious admonitions and lectures in the world from Northern leaders, who are clearly partial in this matter, to our leaders in the SW will change nothing. If we want peace let us be honest and let us join hands, stand shoulder to shoulder and fight against the killers together. Blaming SW Governors and leaders for the failures of the Federal Government to provide law and order and protect our people from terrorists and savages will not help in this matter. As a matter of fact, it will only make things worse.”

The approach to confronting and addressing critical socio-political matters of national concern is a very sensitive subject that demands the most strategic measures possible. It is critical to mention that any insensitive move, actions or inactions towards this end, hold bearing effects to over-blow a manageable matter to the height of utter degeneration and unprecedented woe. The manifestation of the brewing winds of ethnic intolerance has continued to show signs of possible escalation into undesirable dimensions of inter-ethnic war. The exhibition of various threats which have been left non-proactively managed by the Government, is beginning to take degenerating turns that pose red signals of grave dangers before the Federation.

The significance of assuming and reconciling with pragmatic approaches of profound conflict management strategies is much demanding than ever before. It is essential that government institutions assume mutually coordinated posture to address the baskets of ethno-religious and tribal-induced conflicts raising signs of inter-ethnic war in the Federation. The necessity for an overarching approach that embraces the reconciling perspective of deploying the applicable state apparatuses, must be put into reason by all government bodies as the established institution to take the lead in the move towards achieving the goal of the safety and tranquility of the society. It is, therefore, paramount for the institutions of the Government to be on the same page on how to address the pressuring threats of ethnic conflicts brewing presently across the Federation. The confrontational position of allegations and counter-allegations may only further bear degenerating effects on the prevailing situations of signals of inter-ethnic face off. The situation therefore instructively demands constructive approach that requires the mutual reconciliation of differences through the most profound applicable conflict resolution strategies, which itself demands all authorities of government bodies, traditional and religious institutions, among other societal gate-keeping fabrics to be on the same page. The need to attend to the pressing situations of winds of threats of ethnic war is alarming. Proactive measures must strongly be deployed to prevent the brewing wings of disturbances from degenerating into an unimaginable anarchical state of disorder.