By Emma Okah
Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State is a respected member of my party, the People Democratic Party (PDP). His recent comment that herdsmen are free to bear AK-47 assault rifles in order to protect their cows against cattle rustlers is wrong and insensitive.
He is, by extension, saying that Nigerians are free to bear such dangerous rifles to protect themselves and their assets from ravaging kidnappers, armed robbers and other heinous criminals. This is not the law in Nigeria. Many have walked his path but narrowing protection against criminals down to herdsmen alone is unpatriotic.
Our laws on bearing arms by private citizens do not support his position and he ought to know the illegality in justifying a glaring infraction. Sadly, when such comments emanate from those we look up to, hope of a bright future dims to the pit.
The issue of herdsmen and the atrocities associated with the bad eggs among them is blighting the cherished national unity we all crave and dream of. Across the nation, these bad ones are assuming a frightful notoriety in their relationship with other Nigerians.
There are wide allegations of trespass to land, destruction of crops and more recently, kidnapping, rape, murder, etc. The failure of the security apparatus to protect Nigerians has further worsened the matter. The problem has only raged, leaving a delicate web of a united country.
At this time in Nigeria, leaders are expected to point the way to peace, harmony, progress and inclusiveness as the fundamentum in advancing a united Nigeria which we all desire.
There are problems in the land. People are hungry. Hunger has no better name simply because its victim is Yoruba, Fulani, Ijaw or Igbo. The only name it bears is hunger and the consequence is anger, bitterness and bile wherever it is found. We don’t need to compound our woes.
Comments like this from Gov Bala Mohammed are inflammatory, divisive and threaten national unity and cohesion. In all fours, they are unhelpful. Is he happy that Nigerians are unsafe and getting more divided everyday on account of some people feeling they are endangered in our country?
Fulani people are not criminals. Igbos or Yorubas or Hausas or Ogonis and others are good people but there are criminals who are Fulanis, Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, Ijaws, etc. Whenever any one from the stock sticks out his neck to unbalance the national scale by committing crimes against others, such ignoble conduct must be condemned. We can’t colour it to suit narrow desires. If we do, a day may come when the vehicle can no longer travel because there are no tyres to move the vehicle. Much as it is wrong to paint a people with the same brush of infamy, the security of every Nigerian is at an all time low today. Something has to be done about it and that is why the arrival of new service chiefs was welcome by all.
I urge the respected Governor Bala Mohammed to retrace his steps and travel the path of national unity. This is what is expected of all of us, especially for him as a Governor, former Senator and former Minister.
• Okah is a Lawyer and former Commissioner in Rivers State.