 FEATURE ARTICLE |
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Zaiyol Karl (EMAIL) Minneapolis, USA Monday, October 22, 2001 
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Who deployed these soldiers and for what purpose? |
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Just as the military can be deployed to any violent scene for peace-keeping purposes, they can equally be deployed to take side in the fight or to suppress one group to the advantage of the other. Given that, their role at a violent scene involving tribes and communities could easily be misunderstood, governments have always announced, and clearly explained the mission of the military in a particular conflict before effecting any military deployment to a given location. This is not new to Nigeria, even in the days of Gen. Abacha and Gen. Babangida, it was always announced. In this administration, previous military peace missions in Odi, Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Bauchi and Lagos were similarly announced far in advance before such deployments were effected. Why then was the military deployment in Benue State a secret project? Why was the Governor of Benue State, Mr. George Akume, the Chief Law enforcement Officer of the State, whom by constitutional provisions must be notified of any military deployment to his state, not even notified of this deployment? Beside the issues of secrecy and blatant violation of constitutional provisions guiding military deployment in the country, there are ethical and criminal issues that raise incessant questions requiring cogent response from the Federal Government and its Defense Ministry in this matter. While government is ostensibly more interested in petty propaganda as a means to bulldoze its way out of the scandal of an apparent conspiracy to eliminate Tiv people in Nigeria, the ordinary man on the street is more interested in getting answers to these nagging questions: According to the Vanguard of October 16, 2001, "the Army had just sought and received approval from the Presidency, on October 15, 2001", to handle the raging violence; if this is true, then who deployed those soldiers that were killed on October 10, 2001? Assuming the presidential approval to deploy the Army was granted prior to October 10, 2001, one would still ask, why it was secret and to a state which merely serves as a destination point for refugees fleeing the fight rather than to Taraba State where the fight is going on? Do you deploy soldiers to the scene of the conflict or do you deploy them to refugee destinations? Similarly, the question of composition of the said deployed soldiers also begs for an answer. If it is on record that Tiv people singularly constitute 60% of the Nigerian Army as posited unchallenged at Oputa Panel a few weeks ago, then why was no single Tiv man amongst the soldiers deployed for the peace-keeping mission in Benue state? Could an all Fulani/Jukun squad, as posited by Vanguard of October 15, 2001, as the military contingent for the peace-keeping mission in a war between Fulani/Jukuns versus Tiv people be considered a peace-keeping force or a Fulani/Jukun reinforcement? This is the criminal aspect of it, which in any civilized society, General Danjuma, being Jukun by default, would have been forced to resign his appointment as Defense Minister. And he would have also been prosecuted for using or attempting to use National Army in his capacity as a Defense Minister, to tilt a tribal war in favor of his tribe under the guise of a peace mission, which apparently, was neither authorized nor announced to the public. In previous cases where soldiers were deployed for peace-keeping purposes in Kaduna, Odi, Lagos, Jos, Bauchi, and Kano, they were taken directly from barracks in those states, why was it different in this case? Could it be that, the Army in Makurdi barracks are not specialized in peace-keeping missions or what is specifically spectacular about the Army in Adamawa, that, they had to be chosen for this peace mission over their counterparts in Makurdi? Would it not have been much easier and economically cheaper to deploy the Army resident in Makurdi for a peace mission in Benue State? While fundamental questions of legality pertaining to this deployment are yet to be answered by the Federal Government, its agents are busy threatening Benue State Government and Local Communities with ultimatums to produce the Militia or face the music. Disingenuously, they are claiming that, the role of the military is to "protect democracy and the rule of law" (The Guardian October 17, 2001). But threats of violence through ultimatums are basically at variance with the rule of law and democratic traditions; they are terrorist tactics. There is no single provision in the Nigerian constitution that makes it incumbent upon state governments and local communities to produce alleged criminals neither to the Federal Government nor to the Defense Ministry for prosecution. Such investigative powers are vested in the Judiciary, so, its usurpation by the Defense Ministry for political expediency will only ensure the return of dictatorship and an express way to total anarchy. But before the Defense Ministry seeks to prosecute anybody in this case, it has the responsibility to explain to the public why those soldiers were where they captured and killed. If their deployment was a tough secret which could not be explained to the Nigerian public, and they attacked the militia who were defending their people due to government's ineptitude to provide protection to life and property, then, of-course, for defensive reasons, the militia had a right to kill them. This is war! Given that, armed robbers are routinely caught in Nigerian military uniforms, there was no way the militia could have identified those people as Nigerian soldiers. Even if they had positively identified them, they could not possibly have determined their motives due to the fact that, their mission to the scene of violence was not announced by the government. Now, whom do you blame for the deaths of the young men in the jungles of Nigeria? Obviously, not the militia, but the Nigerian government for colluding with General Danjuma to privatize Nigerian Army in a bid to advance expansionist tendencies of Fulani/Jukuns. Now, is it only the Tiv militia, that, the Federal Government is poised to prosecute, or is it similarly poised to prosecute all the militias involved in this tribal war, including the privatized Nigerian Army personnel supplied by the Government and General Danjuma to reinforce Fulani/Jukuns? We are yet to see any ultimatum ordering Government of Taraba State to produce the militia in that state who have participated in this war and killed thousands of Tiv people in the process. And, we are yet to see any ultimatums ordering General Danjuma and the Defense Ministry to produce the privatized Nigerian Army they deployed to reinforce Fulani/Jukuns in this war. But we believe, when prosecution time comes, Gen. Danjuma will explain the presence of Nigerian Army at the location where they were captured, who deployed them, and why it was not announced. And those soldiers with Danjuma will equally be prosecuted for killing thousands of Tiv people in the course of this war. If Nigeria is a democratic society, then all are equal under the law, and General Danjuma should be no exception, neither is life of a soldier more valuable than life of a civilian. The lives of thousands of Tiv people killed in this war are as important as those of the soldiers; more to the point, majority of those Tiv people were asleep in their homes when they were killed, as opposed to those soldiers who were killed while on attack. It will be recalled that, the Kuteb protested and went to Court when Mr. Danjuma was appointed Defense Minister. Their protest was based on the fact that, Mr. Danjuma had not only supported tribal violence in the past, he supplied arms and munitions to Jukuns in their war against the Kuteb. As a warlord, they predicted he would hijack the office of the Defense Minister to foster expansionist tendencies of the Jukuns and his personal agenda to elevate Jukuns over and above their numerical worth in the Nigerian political lexicon. Thus, with this secret deployment of Nigerian Army to fight a Jukun war, their prediction has come to pass. Shikena.  |
n the aftermath of the killings of some active participants in the
on-going Fulani induced tribal war between Tiv and Jukun, the Defense
Ministry, the Federal Government of Nigeria, and their agents were quick
with fabrications, that, those soldiers were deployed on a peace keeping
mission in Benue state. The Director of Defense Information in Abuja Col.
Ganiyu Adewole is reported to have said, "it is unwarranted for Nigerians
to kill Soldiers posted for peace-keeping and internal security duties."
According to him, "the Defense Headquarters has noted with dismay and
utter reservation the current wave of violence against members of the
Armed Forces who are deployed on official assignments in various parts of
the Country, - - - - - that, it has always accepted the responsibility
as directed by the Federal Government in recognition of the Armed Forces
noble role in the Defense of democracy and rule of law."- - - - - - that,
"Government has viewed this incident as an affront, and a breach of
security that cannot be treated lightly." (Vanguard, October 16, 2001).
While statements of grandeur have become rampant in a mischievous
campaign to grandstand, fool the public, and to blame Tiv people for
defending themselves, government and her agents are yet to explain to
Nigerians, when and who deployed the Nigerian Military for the aborted
peace mission in Benue state.