Genocide in Mambilla

One of the worst outrages in Nigeria’s recent history has just occurred in the scenic Mambilla plateau of Taraba State’s Sardauna Local Government. Its remote location and treacherous terrain not only facilitated the unbelievable level of killings that went on unchallenged for four days from June 17 but it also made it difficult to have accurate statistics of the number of persons as well as cows that were hacked to death by Mambilla ethnic militiamen. According to the Fulani community which was the target of the attacks variously described by observers as genocide and ethnic cleansing, more than 200 people were killed, 180 Fulani villages were looted and burnt while 4,000 heads of cattle were also killed or maimed by the attackers. Fulani elders Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu, Malam Suleiman Musa, Alhaji Hassan Ardo and Alhaji Dauda Jae who together issued the statement in Jalingo said those “butchered” included women and children while hundreds of cattle were also carted away. Very disturbingly, they said local and state authorities did nothing to stop the killings even though they continued non-stop for four days, until federal authorities managed to deploy soldiers and heavily armed policemen to the area. Shockingly, Taraba State’s Police Commissioner said only seven people died in Mambilla while Taraba State government, which was accused of complicity or at least of being non-challant to the killings, sheepishly said the casualty figures were exaggerated. The Fulani community leaders’ claims would have been disregarded by external observers if not because they found powerful support from an independent source. Speaking first at the Government House, Jalingo when he visited Governor Darius Ishaku and later at the palace of the Chief of Mambilla Dr Shehu Audu Baju II, Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3 Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army, Jos Brig Gen. Benjamin Ahanotu said he had never seen carnage like the one he saw on the Mambilla plateau. Ahanotu, who toured scenes of the killings on motorbike said, “Even Boko Haram did not slaughter women and children but here I saw young children and pregnant women slaughtered.” He also blamed Mambilla Plateau traditional rulers and community leaders for the carnage. He said not only did they fail to take proactive measures to prevent the killings, but that “throughout the crisis, Mambilla village heads and community leaders did not come to the aid of the wounded as they just watched them die helplessly right in front of their houses. As elders they did not also make any effort to convey the injured to hospitals making the victims to lose confidence in the system and to seek medical attention in neighbouring Cameroon Republic.” When Brig. Gen. Benjamin Ahanotu later called on the chairman of Sardauna Local Government Area Mr John Yep in Gembu, he urged politicians in Taraba State “to imbibe neutrality, fairness and justice” in handling crisis situations. He said so because “from the briefs I got from the Brigade Commander of the 23 Brigade Yola Brig. Gen. Bello Mohammed, accusing fingers were pointing at prominent politicians from the area in handling the situation.” He said the carnage would not have escalated to the level it had if the politicians had acted justly in dealing with the situation. The GOC was probably very close to the heart of the matter because this chairman Mr Yep was identified by the victims as central to the crisis that led to the killings. In fact, according to one account published by Taraba State governor’s spokesmen, the Mambilla militiamen went to war because a “Fulani gunman” allegedly fired at Mr. Yep’s car in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. Other claims were that the Mambilla militiamen started the carnage because the police arrested their leader, one CID Umar, and whisked him away to Jalingo. If either of those claims is true, it is still difficult to see how that could lead to such large scale carnage and also, as observed by the military, the refusal of local and perhaps state authorities as well to intervene and stop the carnage or offer relief and shelter to the victims after the military intervened. Everything therefore smacks of premeditation, open complicity and criminal negligence. The Taraba State government’s ill-advised bill to stop open air cattle grazing in the state could also be a factor that heightened inter-communal tensions and might have directly led to this carnage. Even though other states such as Ekiti and Benue made the same moves, Taraba is different because it has a very large native Fulani population. It is true that the same pressure over land and water that obtain in all parts of the country have also worsened conflicts between farmers and pastoralists in Taraba State. However, the manner in which Governor Ishaku’s government is pushing the bill through the State Assembly smacks of politics and openly taking sides in inter communal disputes. This must have emboldened the Mambilla militiamen to take the law into their own hands and believe that they can wipe out a whole community from the face of the earth even before Governor Ishaku’s bill becomes law. They must be shown the futility of their action and they must be made to pay dearly for the crimes they committed. No appeal to base ethnic and religious sentiments should save anyone who carried out this level of unbelievable atrocity. The militiamen’s political supporters are also borrowing a leaf from the Ile-Ife killers by alleging that soldiers and policemen are arresting only their men. Whoever did the killings, whoever aided and abetted the killings and whoever criminally refused to offer succour to the victims of genocide must be apprehended and brought to court to answer for his or her crimes without regard to his tribe or religion, assuming he has any. We say so because no adherent of any religion should go about hacking women, children and the elderly to death due to any political, land or communal reason or even due to the alleged attempt to assassinate someone. We join all well meaning citizens in calling for a judicial probe into this carnage. Since the Taraba State government is suspected by the victims to be a party to these crimes, we urge the federal authorities not to leave matters in its hands but to initiate this probe itself. For example, the commission of inquiry should establish whether it is true that a prominent politician made a radio broadcast on the state broadcasting station that may have incited the militia to go on a killing spree. No one who committed such carnage in this country should go scot free no matter the political blackmail tactics that their supporters would employ in order to cover up the grave crime.