GENERAL DANJUMA: GAFFE OF AN ELDER STATESMAN
GENERAL DANJUMA: GAFFE OF AN ELDER STATESMAN
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
March 26, 2018
nurudeendauda24@gmail.con
nurudeendauda24@yahoo.com
Lieutenant General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd). A major actor in the July, 1966 counter coup; a Civil war fighter; a former General Officer Commanding, GOC, 3 Division ,Jos ; Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Defence, is seen as one of the country's elder statesmen. Who is an elder statesman?
An elder statesman is a respected leader, often one who no longer has an active job, who is thought of as having good advice to give to the society. More so, an elder statesman is an eminent senior member of a group or organization; especially, a retired one who unofficially advises the current leaders. An elder statesman in the true sense of the word is a peace maker and a moderator not an inciter.
If truth be told , the country is facing a serious internal security crisis which requires that all hands must be on deck towards finding a lasting solution to the problem rather than making inciteful comments in the public . In my view, the country needs to re-assess its internal security architecture. Our intelligence community needs to double its efforts.
In my view, the statement of General T. Y Danjuma rtd at the maiden convocation ceremony of Taraba State University, Wukari, asking the Middle Belt citizens to defend themselves against killers is a "Gaffe" unbecoming of an elder statesman.
If elders do not calm frayed nervous who will? If elders resorts to public incitements what will the youth do? If elders cannot control their "emotion" what about the youth? It is a known fact that, General Danjuma has an unfettered access to the powers that be. Why would he choose to public comments of that nature? This is unbecoming of an elder statesman!
General Danjuma said : "The arm forces are not neutral ...they collude with the armed bandits that kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movement. They cover them "(Daily Trust, Sunday 25, 2018).
Is the General suggesting that the present Nigerian Army is an Army of one ethnic group? As far as l know, the present Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Gabriel Abayomi Olonisakin is a"Yoruba" man from Ekiti state. Chief of Army Staff, CAS, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai is "Babur" from Borno state. Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar is a "Fulani" man from Bauchi state. Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, is a "Calabar" man from Cross Rivers state and the Minister of Defence Brigadier General Mansur Muhammad Dan Ali (rtd) is a "Hausa" man from Zamfara state.
In my understanding, farmers-herders conflict is neither ethnic nor religious. The conflict is purely on economic resources, in this case, land resources with which farmers "cultivate" on and herders "graze" on .I quite agree with Timawus Mathias when he said: "It is a resource conflict, certainly neither religious nor ethnic. Even if both farmer and herder were Fulani, same would have occurred. The land resources is the issue, not tribe, not religion..."- (Daily Trust : December 6,2017).
It is sad to note that, some sections of the media in the country often "over balloon" reports of killings affecting a particular religion or ethnic group and "down play" a similar reports of killings in some places affecting other religion or ethnic group. In my view, this is not a responsible media practice. It is a disservice to the nation and unethical to the profession of Journalism.
In Zamfara state where the Minister of Defence comes from there is incessant herdsmen /bandits clashes between the allege Fulani herdsmen and the Hausas. This does not in anyway justify the killings in the country. Never! We must find solutions to it.
Mahmud Jega said : "General Danjuma began from the premise that the army has been unable to stop killings in the Middle Belt. Insofar as the army has been unable to stop killings in the North East, in Zamfara State and in Birnin Gwari after many years, that fact alone cannot stand as evidence of complicity in the killings...he fact also that 130,000 NATO troops from 51 countries failed to protect Afghans from the Taliban did not mean they colluded with it" (Daily Trust, March 26,2018).
We must agree that there is nothing religious about killing innocent people . We must accept the fact that both farmers and herders are "victims" of this barbaric act of killing innocent people . We must understand that "violence" does not do anybody any good. We must get to the "root cause" of the conflict, if we must nip it in the bud.
We have had enough of farmers -herders clashes in Birnin- Gwari, Zamfara and Kastina states which are all Muslims and typical Hausa-Fulanis states. In my opinion, it is disheartening as well as hypocritical to link clashes between farmers and herders in, for instance, Southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Plateau, and Adamawa with ethnic or religious cleansing while that of clashes in Niger, Birnin Gwari, Zamfara, and Kastina states as mere arm banditry or cattle rustling.
Our elder statesmen and the media should and or must be responsible in reporting ethno-religious issues . Our elder statesmen should be in the vanguard of preaching tolerance, accommodation, peace and unity among us. The federal government must wake up on the issue of national security.
May God bless Nigeria!