A resonating pogrom
More than 100 innocent people were killed while many more were injured in another round of communal violence between the Bachama ethnic group and Fulani herders in Numan and Demsa areas of Southern Adamawa State amid continued threats from Boko Haram insurgents who have also unleashed an orgy of destruction of human lives in the state.
The communities are still counting losses of both human lives and property as the wounded languish in hospital beds, some with permanent deformity while hundreds of others have suddenly become refugees, living on hand outs and charity.
How it began
The recent crisis erupted in the past two weeks when armed men suspected to be Bachama invaded a Fulani community one afternoon when their men were away and murdered atleast 48 children, six women and a man, according to figures from community leaders. Thirty four other wounded persons were taken to the Specialist Hospital in Yola, our correspondent gathered.
The horrifying incident created an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear of possible reprisal with the Hausa, Fulani, Bachama and other ethnic groups fleeing their homes in Numan and surrounding areas to Yola, Mayo-Belwa, Lamurde and other towns for safety.
Deafening machine guns, attackers in large numbers
A survivor told Daily Trust that the gunmen stormed Dong early in the morning, firing guns indiscriminately and setting houses ablaze before moving to the next village, adding that some residents were shot dead while many ran to the bush for safety.
Another resident who identified himself as Dickson said the deafening sound of machine guns led to pandemonium in the village when the attackers approached in large numbers, chanting war songs and firing at the village.
“They attacked the village with weapons, shooting and torching houses. We could not see them because they fired from a distance as they moved, so everyone fled in different directions, many people died there. There is need for security in our land. Many of us do not know how we escaped”, he said.
Miyetti Allah, emir, CAN, othersreact, warn
The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, who represented the Sultan of Sokoto at the recent launch of Pulaaku FM, a radio station founded by the Lamido Adamawa, Dr Barkindo Mustapha, warned that the crime would not go unpunished, urging security agencies to arrest the perpetrators.
The leader of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in the Northeast, Mafindi Danburam,pointed accusing fingers at the Bachamas for attempting to kick Fulanis out of the domain while the chairman of Adamwa State Muslim Council, Abubakar Sahabo, accused a traditional ruler in Numan of plotting the removal of Fulanis from his domain, wondering why there had been no arrest in connection with the mass murder. The Adamawa branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) condemned the attack on defenceless women and children, calling for the arrest of the perpetrators and blaming government for not addressing previous incidents.
“The village head of Kikan threatened that if the Fulanis failed to vacate, they would send their boys to forcefully eject them from the area. From all indications, this threat has been carried out,” Sahabo said.
Vice President Osinbajo visits, seeks permanent solution
On Tuesday, gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen swept through six Bachama villages, killing and burning houses. They left behind a massive destruction of lives and property. This prompted a visit by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo a day later to commiserate with the victims and the government of Adamawa State.
Osinbajo said the federal government must seek a permanent solution to clashes between herders and farming communities, adding that he understood the hostilities resulted from a long running misunderstanding which had not been tackled.
“My visit to Adamawa State is to begin a process that would solve this problem once and for all. We must seek definite and permanent solutions to this crises, nobody can benefit from loss of lives,especially of children and women. I have studied this problem, especially in Adamawa State, this is a long running problem.
“This is a human problem, it is not caused by spirits, so it must have a human solution, that is why we are called upon as leaders to make sure the solution works not for now but forever”, Osinbajo pointed out.
Calls for security deployment
The traditional ruler of Bachama Chiefdom, Honest Irmiya Stephen, who regretted the lingering crises in his domain, called for the deployment of additional security personnel to the area to protect lives and property. He appealed for the re-establishment of the Area Command of the Nigeria Police which was removed from the town in 2009.
Speaking during Osinbajo’s visit to Dong village, the Paramount Ruler of Demsa, Hama Bata, Gladson Alhamdu Teneke, said 48 persons were buried, scores were missing or injured while displaced persons were in need of food, shelter and other basic supplies.
Complicity, complacency
An umbrella body of the Bwatiye ethnic group, Pene Da Bwatiye, blamed some Fulani traditional rulers, security agencies and some government officials for complicity or failure to stop the attack on their villages, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the matter with the aim of punishing the attackers and their sponsors.
The spokesman of the group, Griffith Kpakai, who addressed a press conference in Yola on Thursday, accused some traditional rulers of complicity in the attacks, alleging that some of the gunmen who carried out the Monday attack were foreign mercenaries armed with sophisticated weapons.
“The federal government should suspend (some rulers)for their perfidious role in these wanton and dastardly acts. They were the handlers of these foreign attack dogs,”he said.
Stressing the need the need for the state government to set up a judicial panel of inquiry, the group demanded the removal of the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ahmad Sajoh, for allegedly downplaying the extent of destruction in the attacks as well as removal of the Police Commissioner, Moses Jitobo and the Commander of the 23 Armoured Brigade Yola, Brigadier General Muhammed Bello, for failing to stop the attacks.
Misguided bombing
He also alleged that the military aircraft deployed to repel the attackers dropped bombs on villagers who they were supposed to protect.
“The recent attacks included dastardly acts of brutal and wanton killing by Fulani herdsmen and their hired mercenaries in Lawaru and Dong in Demsa Local Government Area, Kikon, Shafaro, Kodomti Nega and Bare in Numan and Gyawana in Lamurde Local Government Area, etc. More astonishing is the fact that a military aircraft carried out an air raid on innocent villagers in their homes and environment”, Kpakai said.
Media war defying dialogue
Rather than engage in dialogue to avert further bloodshed, the two warring communities have been locked in a media war as both MACBAN and Pene Da Bwatye traded blames and accused each other of ill motives.
Pene Da Bwatiye had in a press statement by its National Vice Chairman 1, H.O Tadaunos, accused the Adamawa State Muslim Council, MACBAN and Senator Danjuma Goje of attempting to create an impression that the Bachamas had a militia, saying it was Fulani herdsmen that had a militia.
“They all alluded to the fallacy that the Bachama extraction of the Bwatiye people had a ‘militia’ and that our people embarked on ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’. These are weighty words/phrases mischievously used to incite well-meaning Nigerians and tarnish the good name of our peace loving people”, the statement by Pene Bwatiye said.
However, a statement signed by the National Vice Chairman of MACBAN in the Northeast, Umaru Mafindi Danburam, said the Bwatiye group should have joined other groups including the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in condemning the bloodshed rather than recalling attacks perceived to have been carried out by herdsmen in the past in an attempt to justify the killing of defenceless Fulani women and children.
“It’s no secret that before the killings the district head of Numan, Mr Phineas Garba, along with some village heads, had earlier summoned Fulani Ardos (leaders) and ordered them with their communities to vacate the area where they had been living for over a century or face serious consequences,” Damburam said.
