Lamentations of Caleb Mutfwang -By Pius Mordi

As the governor of Plateau State, the once picturesque and peaceful state, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang last month offered the most credible description of the status of insecurity in Nigeria.

Characterisation and the nomenclature given to the siege on communities in various parts of the country have been the cloak providing cover and drive for perpetrators of the crime. From the time attacks on communities became a regular feature of the security challenges in the north, Muhammadu Buhari’s Aso Rock characterised it as banditry, herders-farmers clash or clashes as a result of cattle rustling.

And when states in the south started contending with daring incursions by Fulani militants, several strategies were employed to give legitimacy to the invasion of ancestral lands. Even though the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) were the only group designated as terrorists, it is still the right decision because criminal elements were driving what was initially thought to be a separatist movement.
Buhari’s solution to the killings was to initiate various strategies to appropriate Indigenous lands to cattle herders for their exclusive use across the country. There was cattle colony, Ruga, the still born forced expropriation of coastal lands and others bordering waterways for exclusive use of cattle herders and creation of cattle routes nationwide. For him, ranching and purchase of land for commercial ranching by Fulani cattle herders was not an option.

Addressing the press in his Jos office a couple of weeks ago, Mutfwang felt he and his people had had enough. In his words, Plateau State has been “under siege for nearly three decades”, affirming that the killings that have been ravaging his state goes beyond farmer-herder clashes. “Our state has been under siege for almost three decades. This is not a mere farmer-herder clash, but orchestrated banditry with undertones of land grabbing. Several of our communities have been displaced. When we mischaracterize the situation, we proffer the wrong solutions. But if we see it as a threat to national sovereignty, the dynamics will change,” he declared.

“How can bandits occupy the Wase grazing reserve, and someone calls that a clash? How can they be in forests in Kanam, and someone says it is a clash? When it happened in December 2023 in Bokkos, when gunmen attacked defenceless communities with sophisticated weapons on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, what clash was that?

“Isn’t it time we all unite to reject this falsehood? I look forward to the day when, regardless of religion or ethnicity, any of us is attacked and we all speak with one voice, saying: what is happening on the Plateau is nothing short of genocide perpetrated by terrorists.”

The governor’s stance gives vent to the perception that the use of various names to characterise the ceaseless killings is the product of a grand scheme on possible forced land expropriation.

“They are terrorists, period. We strongly believe that their aim is to grab land. A terrorist is a terrorist, irrespective of his ethnicity or his religion. Criminality is criminality, period”, Mutfwang said.

It is the sort of bold acclamation yet to be seen among governors whose states are being overrun by terrorists. Unlike Mutfwang’s bold stance, his Benue State counterpart, Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has been engaging in embarrassing claims of helplessness while the killings and land expropriation deepened. Why are some governors and other elected public office holders shying away from taking up the responsibility of protecting their people? A common denominator of the reasons adduced by opponents of state Police is their fear that state governors may abuse its use to hound political opponents.

It is a lazy and diabolical position as exemplified by the governor of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi. Disputing an earlier call by Theophilus Danjuma, a retired general and one-time chief of army staff, that Nigerians should no longer wait to be killed by so-called bandits but arm and protect themselves, the Jigawa governor said such will lead to “anarchy”.

Similarly, Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Plateau) in the House of Representatives was more direct in his view. “My position, even on the House floor, is that governors will misuse state police, particularly against political opponents, not to maintain peace and order,” he said. It is a view that betrays what matters to the proponents of the argument against state Police.

Political battles are of greater concern to Gagdi and people like him.Who is afraid of state Police and why must every state sign up for it? If states setting up their Police will lead to anarchy as the Jigawa governor claimed, he needs to redefine that word. When communities are routinely attacked and sacked from their ancestral lands and the perpetrators are never brought to book, confidence in the policing structure is broken. If as chief security officer of a state the governor cannot request the deployment of police operatives to restore order or protect a community under attack, such society has lost its essence.

For Mutfwang and other governors in the south, the fact that President Bola Tinubu is positively disposed to state Police must not be missed. They should galvanise others with similar mindset and push through the requisite amendment that will remove all obstacles to states wishing to enhance the security of their people by setting up their own Police. If making state Police optional for states is the way out, then so be it.
Nigeria is bleeding and well on track to classification as a failed state. It is bad enough that there are no jobs for the younger generation.

But if lives are being lost routinely in hundreds and the perpetrators are later invited for photoshoot under the guise of peace making, the rest of the world, especially the entrepreneurial community will no longer take the country serious. Tinubu must ensure that all constitutional encumbrances are removed before 2027.