Questions demanding answers, By Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf

First, it is said that those killed were hunters who were residing in Port Harcourt and traveling to the North. If so, why were they traveling with their weapons, as reported? And, were their guns registered with the police as required under the law? Also, what hunting takes place in a largely riverine Rivers State?.. If they were travelling from Port Harcourt, what business do they have in the Esan rainforest that is heavily infested with Fulani bandits/terrorists, from where Dangote truck picked them?

On 27 March, sixteen persons were killed in Uromi on suspicion of being Fulani bandits/terrorists. They were said to be hunters travelling from Port Harcourt to some northern states.

President Bola Tinubu, who expressed, “shock at the dastardly act”, directed security agencies, “to conduct swift and thorough investigations and punish suspected culprits.” Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo described it as, “barbaric and vicious” and ordered a full scale investigation into the matter. He vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Speaker Abbas Tajudeen called it, “barbaric, cowardly, unacceptable” and “one of the most cowardly acts seen in decades.” Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin who condemned it as “barbaric, inhumane, and devilish”, urged security agencies to “quickly swing into action to arrest the evildoers and ensure that they are punished in line with gravity of their criminal acts.”

The Northern States Governor Forum portrayed it as “appalling and gross violation of human rights”, adding that the “act undermines the rule of law and the very fabric of our society.”

The indignation and widespread condemnation is understandable. However, questions arise which demand answers.

First, it is said that those killed were hunters who were residing in Port Harcourt and traveling to the North. If so, why were they traveling with their weapons, as reported? And, were their guns registered with the police as required under the law? Also, what hunting takes place in a largely riverine Rivers State?

If they were travelling from Port Harcourt, what business do they have in the Esan rainforest that is heavily infested with Fulani bandits/terrorists, from where Dangote truck picked them? What would make a traveler to Uromi area give intelligence information that bandits/terrorists were being loaded in a truck?

Under this situation, how would Uromi youths differentiate between hunters and bandits/terrorists, more so when they were found in a notorious place infested with bandits/terrorists? What about the huge sums of money allegedly found on them during the search? Why was the money not displayed? Was any prey/game found in the truck? If yes, why were they not displayed?

Is Governor Okpebholo unaware that the desperate actions by some Uromi youths are desperate measures – even if unjustified – to tackle the highly desperate security crisis in Uromi? Is he unaware that over two hundred people have been killed by Fulani bandits/terrorists in the last few months, not to talk of the injured, maimed, and permanently disabled?

Undoubtedly, Nigerians have the right to move freely within the country. But does this freedom give people the right to go hunting in regions where they are unknown? Will Kano State rulers tolerate strange Uromi people from the remote rainforest to freely hunt in their savannah environment?

When, reportedly, the truck was stopped and being searched, why were the traveling hunters hidden under tarpaulin? Why did one of them reportedly draw out a knife and stab a vigilante? Was he afraid? If yes, why? Could it be that the blood that oozed from the vigilante was what provoked the youths to descend on them?

Why did the vigilante not handover the traveling hunters to the police for investigation? Could it be due to their past experiences, whereby whenever bandits/terrorists were arrested and handed over to police, they were allegedly released?

Or could it be due to the constant boast of bandits/terrorists that they would be released when handed over to police; that they own Nigeria, and are, therefore, untouchable? Why did it even take the police almost two hours to arrive at the scene?

The Uromi people are one of the most, if not the most, peace-loving people in Edo State. Christianity, Islam, and traditional religion are practiced there. They have intermarried with the Hausawa (Hausa people). Besides, they have over one-hundred years of mutually beneficial commercial relationship with traders from the North! So why would they kill the sixteen people? Could it be due to the years of violence perpetrated by Fulani bandits/terrorists?

The bandits/terrorists are notorious for kidnapping, collecting ransom, destroying farms, harvesting crops to feed their animals or to sell, slaughtering farmers on their farms, killing kidnapped peoples after huge ransom payment, sometimes setting corpses ablaze, organ harvesting, and, most painful and disgraceful, raping girls, women and even men in their farms.

Is Governor Okpebholo unaware that the desperate actions by some Uromi youths are desperate measures – even if unjustified – to tackle the highly desperate security crisis in Uromi? Is he unaware that over two hundred people have been killed by Fulani bandits/terrorists in the last few months, not to talk of the injured, maimed, and permanently disabled?

What did Governor Okpebholo do when women openly sang, cried, and demonstrated against the increasing insecurity in Edo State? Why did he not for once leave Benin to pacify the women, sympathise, solidarise and empathise with them, and give them assurance that concrete actions will be taken against Fulani bandits/terrorists in the state?

Does he think that buying seventy-five security vehicles for patrols is enough to tackle insecurity? Does he not know that kidnapping, banditry and terrorism take place in farms? Is ordering the houses of informants/collaborators to be destroyed, enough measure to tackle insecurity?

Was his attention not drawn to the recent speech of the Director-General, State Security Service, Mr Adeola Ajayi, that governments should, “allow some level of armament for the communities (to) defend themselves”, because it is “impossible to deploy security forces everywhere”? That, besides, our “culture is communal”, implying that banditry/terrorism should be collectively and communally fought!

Does Okpebholo not know that by scrapping the Uromi Vigilante squad, he has rendered the Uromi people defenceless and handed them over to be terrorised and killed? If he is providing alternative security measures, why did he not do so before 27 March? Why now?

Is he not aware that during the Buhari administration, when banditry/terrorism flowered, blossomed, and developed to what it is today, General Theophilus Danjuma called on Nigerians to take up arms and defend themselves against Fulani banditry/terrorism?

Was his attention not drawn to the recent speech of the Director-General, State Security Service, Mr Adeola Ajayi, that governments should, “allow some level of armament for the communities (to) defend themselves”, because it is “impossible to deploy security forces everywhere”? That, besides, our “culture is communal”, implying that banditry/terrorism should be collectively and communally fought!

Uromi violence is definitely “outright hostile”, “dastardly vicious”, “cowardly barbaric”, “extremely horrific”, “highly inhuman”, “terribly gruesome” and “very disturbing”. Yet, the Uromi vigilante squad arose out of a desperate desire by Uromi people to desperately tackle serious insecurity, resist moves by Fulani bandits/terrorists to waste their lives, and take over their lands.

Therefore, the bandits/terrorists should, first and foremost, be held responsible for the violence. Without the acts of banditry/terrorism, there will be no act of resistance.

Past and present Edo State governors should equally be held responsible for the Uromi violence. If they had done what the Yoruba governors did with Amotekun in their states, or the current Zamfara governor is doing with Yan Sakai in his state, the violence that happened would most probably never have happened.

The Federal Government (FG) is largely to be blamed. Admittedly, it has made significant improvement in security matters in Hausa land since 29 May, 2023. Terrorist camps have been successfully disbanded, and many terrorist leaders eliminated. But these successes have led to the mass exodus of the terrorists to the Middle Belt and Southern states.

Actions should be taken against the Uromi violence. But so must action must be taken against the Fulani bandits/terrorists roaming Edo State. The state government should be called out for being highly unserious in combating insecurity. So also should the Federal Government, which has been dilly-dallying on the “security and welfare” of Nigerians.

To concentrate on the Uromi violence and turn a blind eye on others, will be one-sided, double-standard, and unacceptable. In this situation, the victims of banditry/terrorism have the inalienable and moral right to legally and politically resist state hypocrisy, within and outside Nigeria.

Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: aaramatuyusuf@yahoo.com