A Molar for a Molar: No Monopoly in Kaduna

28-12-2016

There is no monopoly of violence in Nigeria. I have made some statements about the Southern Kaduna situation and I still stand by my opinion.

I was on the Facebook page of Governor Nasir El-Rufai and read a statement by the police which he posted there. The police cautioned the media to ensure they verify information before publishing or broadcasting. It had to do really with the figure of deceased people circulated in the media, although the Police in that statement didn't provide any figures, there was no endorsement of the number many have chosen to run with (over 800 dead) which I think is outrageous.

I decided to read through the comment section and couldn't help but wonder at the intensity of cyber threats and abuse. One fellow practically threatened the governor and warned him that he wouldn't be lucky to escape next time he visited Southern kaduna. There were accusations of past atrocities and justification of reprisals, more bloodshed was also promised from both camps.

One thing is clear if we assume that these virtual gladiators are representatives of the warring parties; the animosity is deep seated and dates back to many years ago. The gyri of these agitators have images of past conflicts printed upon them, I'm almost certain they sleep and have nightmares of armed conflicts of the past and future. I will repeat it here again, there is no guiltless party in this matter.

I don't think it's sufficient to simply gravitate towards any side because of political or religious reasons. We may just be helping to fan the embers when we do that. I see many have joined the arsonist Femi Fani-Kayode to call on Southern Kaduna people to arm themselves and fight to the death because they think it is the 'Christian' thing to do. Some just do so because they imagine that Southern Kaduna is the underdog in this conflict. I think it is dangerous to simply label only the Fulani implicated in this impasse as the aggressors when we may not have all the facts at hand. It wasn't Fulani herdsmen who burnt the house of the Jema'a local government chairman as well as shops and churches on the 21st of December.

It is difficult to ignore the chance of conspiracy when one observes the periodic upsurge in 'Fulani herdsmen' related violence. It appears that the social media in particular gets flooded with news of attacks in a particular region and this is followed by images of burnt property and/or dead people only for such to die down after a while and then another state begins to trend a few months later.

This conversation I read today still baffles me in a sense. I'm really curious about what fuels this, is it religious, political, ethnic or economic in origin? Is it a combination of some of all these factors?

I guess I don't know since I'm not from Kaduna.

 

These are screenshots of conversation on Governor El-Rufai's Facebook page.