As a young man living in Okene in the 1990s through to the early 2000s, when that part of Kogi State in north-central Nigeria was a hot bed of violent clashes of all sorts, I witnessed and lived through the ravages of communal crises. The first communal crisis I witnessed was a religiously inspired violent confrontation between an extremist Muslim group and members of the many masquerade groups in Okene, sometime in 1993. Led by one Mallam Baba, the radical Muslim group, which was mostly made up of students of Bayero University, Kano, wanted to transform Okene into an ‘Afghanistan’ were alcohol and wearing of trousers, skirts and blouse by women were prohibited. Initially, the group wasn’t taken seriously and was jocularly referred to as ‘Maitasina’ by the locals, ostensibly after the Mai Tatsine group of Mohammed Marwa that unleashed hell on Kano in the early 1980s, until Mallam Baba and his fellow Mujahideens decided to pronounce a ban on masquerade activities in Okene. And if there is one aspect of culture the Ebira-speaking people of Okene love passionately, it is their regal, majestic and imposing masquerade known in local parlance as ‘Eku.’
To make real their determination to rid Okene of all traces of ‘paganism,’ our Mujahideen brothers abandoned their classrooms in BUK and headed home in time for the “eche ane” festival when masquerades from every corner of Okene town would troop out and parade the streets in traditional splendour, to the entertainment of the people, in order to enforce a ban on this “grievous haram.” And with both groups heavily armed with guns, machetes, axes and other dangerous weapons with intent to ban and resist accordingly, a clash between members of the extremist Muslim and masquerade custodian communities was inevitable. The first blow was struck when one of Mallam Baba’s followers accosted a masquerade and beheaded him and other masquerade groups quickly mobilized their members to carry out reprisal attacks on the Mujahideens, who were fully ready to defend themselves.
As a matter of fact, following the gruesome killing of the masquerade, both groups converged around Total petrol station in Okene on an agreed day [Sunday] and time [4pm] to slug it out on the battle field, Roman style. It was a classic case of a clash between two warring communities that was restricted to combating members only. Interestingly, those of us that were neither of the Mujahideen nor masquerade groups watched this epic battle from the comfort of our balconies without anybody attacking us on the basis of our shared religious, ethnic or cultural ties with either of the sides.
Many of the other communal crises that rocked Okene town and environs, including conflicts between rival community gangs such as between Idoji and Idozumi communities, between political party thugs and clan wars over chieftaincy and land matters, followed this pattern as the violence was usually restricted to armed warring members of the various divides without it spilling over to the killing of unarmed, defenceless and innocent citizens whose only sin was sharing ethnic or religious ties with parties in the conflict.
This is why I have always held the opinion that what is happening in Benue and Plateau states is not a communal crisis involving a clash between farmer and herder communities but outright terrorism by heavily armed Fulani terrorists. The recent tragedy that befell Yelwata community, where over 200 people were said to have been slaughtered, does not qualify as a communal crisis or farmer/herder clash. It would have been, if Fulani militia men and their armed Tiv counterparts had agreed to meet at IBB Square in Markudi and shoot at themselves mercilessly, without resorting to killing unarmed, defenceless and innocent people that were sleeping in their huts and whose only crime is being ‘Tiv.’ The slaughter and burning of 200 Nigerians in Yelwata is terrorism on a genocidal proportion.
Unfortunately, the killings in Benue and Plateau have continued on this scale because the federal government considers it a communal crisis and an unbreakable cycle of reprisals. However, in a country that is governed by law, there should be no room for communal crisis, let alone genocidal terrorism, and any country that is unable to defend the lives and properties of its citizens is teetering on the brink of state failure. May the common sense that has taken flight from Nigeria’s intelligence community return to it before it is too late.