The Herdsmen Crisis: A Lesson for Akwa Ibom and Beyond

Let me be crystal clear from the very outset. I absolutely and in no uncertain terms condemn all herdsmen attacks on INNOCENT Nigerians.

But the operative word here is 'innocent'.

I have ABSOLUTELY no sympathy whatsoever for the people of Benue State, especially the Tivs, in their current well deserved travails in the hands of Fulani herdsmen.

And before anyone attempts to come here and cry more than the bereaved, be informed that the recent history of Tiv treachery and tribalism precludes them from any genuine sympathy.

My favourite Jamaican proverb says that 'what sweet nanny goat, it a-go run im belly'.

Roughly translated, it says that he who brings in ant infested wood must be prepared for the visit of lizards.

Are we this forgetful?

Lest we forget, before Muhammadu Buhari and his fellow APC bigots came to power in 2015, Fulani herdsmen atrocities were unknown in Nigeria.

Boko Haram, itself a brain child of the current APC Vice President, an ethnic acolyte of that selfsame Buhari, was the only tormentor.

Then the run up to the 2015 election in Nigeria threw up some remarkable surprises across the ethnic configuration of the country.

But of all the perfidious roles played by diverse ethnicities, clerics, activists and Christians in Nigeria against the Jonathan government, the most illogical and mischievous came from the Tivs of Benue.

As the elections approached, every single Tiv without exception suddenly enlisted in the unaccountable anti-Jonathan hysteria created by Tinubu Yorubas and northern Muslims.

Buhari and the APC became their new anthem. 

It became impossible to find a single Tiv from Benue who had anything positive to say about Goodluck Jonathan. 

No lie was considered too bad to be repeated by them against Jonathan.

Why was this so? Why were the Tivs of Benue State so viscerally and virulently opposed to Jonathan? 

The answer lay in Benue State's internal ethnic rivalries. The Tivs of Benue share a state with the Idomas in the southern part of the state. 

Since the creation of Benue out of the former Benue Plateau State, the Tivs, with their slight majority over the Idomas, have never allowed an Idoma to govern the state, to the chagrin of their southern neighbours.

In return, some federal appointments and even elective positions from the state have often been reserved for the Idomas.

One such elective position was that of former Senate President, David Mark, the foremost Idoma politician under Jonathan. 

As Senate President under the PDP between 2011 and 2015, Mark was bitterly hated by the Tivs.

Accused by the Tivs of throwing his political weight around and helping his Idoma kinsmen to challenge the Tiv dominance of the state, David Mark became the Tiv bogeyman in 2015.

And the only way to eliminate that challenge, in their thinking, was to join forces with the APC tribalist coalition of 2015 to ensure that David Mark did not return as Senate President.

And so as the 2015 election approached, the anti-David Mark/PDP/Jonathan decibels of the Tivs rose to a crescendo.

Thus, the Tivs opposed Jonathan and helped enthrone their erstwhile enemies not because of anything Jonathan did wrong but because of their ethnic desire to hurt the Idomas.

Now, this was a shocking departure from the culture of decades of Tiv opposition to feudal and retrograde parties like the APC.

The progressive struggle for the wider Middle Belt progress rather than parochial Tiv tribalist concerns had for decades been championed by their illustrious son, J. S. Tarka of the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) fame.

Yet until 1980, when Tarka, as a Senator on the platform of the NPN, died, and evidence of the new direction of the Tivs began to simmer, they were a Middle Belt force to reckon with.

But tribally motivated lies and mischief drove the Tivs into the huge error of 2015 for which they are paying now.

I wholeheartedly believe that the Tiv people of Benue State are currently paying a heavy price for the role they, the core North and Yorubas played in enthroning the evil marauders of the APC.

Heck, even the current APC Tiv Governor of the state, a supposed Catholic Reverend Father, Hyacinth Alia, has recently become the first and only governor to prevent Peter Obi from visiting and donating to the IDP camp in Benue State.

Look around you. Which APC enclaves are free from herdsmen atrocities? Since Edo State was rigged into the APC have Edo people known peace?

Even Yoruba land is also paying a heavy price for its 2015 tribalism, the only difference being that in their case, the tribalistic Yoruba media deliberately suppress any news of herdsmen atrocities in order not to make Tinubu look bad.

That brings me to the sad case of Akwa Ibom State.

Generally, the minorities of Nigeria have often been the least tribalistic ethnic groups over the decades, except Akwa Ibom.

Of all the South South states, the Akwa Ibom people, especially its youth, have always been the most tribalistic and the least informed.

And right now, Senator Akpabio and Governor Eno and their APC minions exemplify this more than any other group of persons. 

These two will definitely be the death of Akwa Ibom people unless there is a concerted effort to thwart their APC herdsmen connections.

Therefore, all you Akwa Ibom tribalists, mark my words today.

By dragging the erstwhile peaceful state into the deadly APC embrace of Fulani herdsmen, your 'Afin' Governor has opened the doors to Fulani herdsmen atrocities in Akwa Ibom State. 

And like Benue State, Akwa Ibom people will pay a heavy price.

But my prayer is simple. 

When the Fulani herdsmen finally arrive, may the Almighty God teach them.