Opinion

Fani-Kayode: Muhammadu Buhari, His Two-Headed Dragon And His ‘War’ Against Terror (2)

Femi Fani-Kayode

This is the same Boko Haram that they told us had been “technically defeated” two years ago and whose leader, Abubakar Shekau, they claimed to have killed a number of times over the last three years but who keeps popping up all over the place like a bad coin.

This is the same Boko Haram that they took 1 billion USD from government coffers a few weeks ago and claimed that they wanted to use it to fight.

The truth is that they have told us yet another lie and anyone that believes the fanciful tale that the money was used to fight Boko Haram or any other terrorist organisation will believe anything.

Now that the Dapchi girls have been kidnapped, the Government will allocate to itself yet another 1 billion USD and tell the Nigerian people the same old story.

Buhari has failed in his so-called war against terror and against Boko Haram and he appears to have lost control of his own security forces.

The whole thing is a mess and a sham and, to some, it is also a money-making venture.

The final clanger and piece of compelling evidence of the sheer insincerity of purpose, irresponsible disposition and utter depravity of the Buhari administration was made manifest when the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, proudly announced to the world that no less than 100 fighter jets had been deployed to look for the 110 Dapchi girls!

Such was the absurdity and magnitude of this particularly shameful mendacity and so embarrasing was it for the Buhari regime that the very next day the Nigerian Airforce was ordered to set the record straight, compelled to admit that the Minister of Information was lying and constrained to clear the air by telling the world that 100 jets had NOT been deployed to look for the abducted girls.

Meanwhile at the last Council of States meeting, which took place in mid-February, President Buhari walked past the embattled Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state, refused to shake his hand, looked him in the eye and asked “how are your cattle rearers?” with a big smirk on his face.

This is all he had to say to a man whose people, for the last three years, have been subjected to mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide by (according to the International Terror Index) the world’s “fourth most deady terrorist organisation”, Nigeria’s second most deadly terrorist organisation and those same Fulani herdsmen and cattle-rearers whose welfare he was asking after.

Buhari did not offer his condolences for the latest round of killings in Benue state which had taken place a few days earlier, he did not ask about the families of those that had been slaughtered and he did not ask about the morale of the people in the state.

Instead he asked about those who have been slaughtering, butchering, tormenting and torturing them for the last three years and those that have been raping their women.

This was callous, cold-blooded and sadistic. I watched the whole thing on video and, as I did, chills went down my spine.

I was utterly perplexed and disgusted by his nonchalance and dismissive attitude and by his manner and disposition.

If anyone doubts what I have said I challenge them to search for the video on Youtube and see it for themselves.

Sadly no less than three days after this strange encounter and the President’s chilling question and inappropiate behaviour, Ortom revealed the fact that in his state 60 more innocent souls had been butchered by those same cattle-rearers since the mass burial of the 73 that had been slaughtered in January.

He also revealed the fact that the Fulani terorists and herdsmen had flooded his state with over one million cows!

Sadly the governor was to receive even more shockers after that. On the night of sunday March 4th the Fulani terrorists atttacked and slaughtered scores of people in Guma, Benue state, burnt down at least 20 houses and displaced no less than 200 people.

Again there was no intervention made by the Armed Forces to protect or defend members of the indigenous population and neither were any of the marauding and killer herdsmen and terrorists apprehended, arrested, brought to justice or shot by our security agencies.

The truth is that whether it is Boko Haram or the Fulani terrorists Buhari is not in the least bit interested in fighting or stopping them.

As a matter of fact he thrives on their blood-lust and he appears to enjoy the horror and terror that their bloodfest inflicts and unleashes.

Consequently both heads of the two-headed dragon that he bestrides and rides have been busy feeding on the flesh and drinking the blood of the Nigerian people.

Then came a shocker.

On the evening of tuesday 27th February, as I was about to board a plane at Abuja airport for my flight to Lagos, I received a phone call from a beautiful and courageous daughter of Numan in Adamawa state.

She told me that Fulani terrorists and herdsmen had just killed our very own friend and brother, Prince Sam Zadok. I could not believe my ears and I fell into a state of utter shock and disbelief.

Sam was a pride to the PDP, a rising star in Nigerian politics and an honest, noble man with impeccable credentials and unimpeachable integrity.

He had such a bright future ahead of him and so much to offer Nigeria. He was a Prince of the Royal House of Numan, a former Commissioner of Youth and Sports, a former Special Advisor to a Governor and the spokesman of the PDP in Adamawa state.

They not only killed him but they also killed 19 others that were with him whilst they were on their way to commiserate with the families of other Bachama sons and daughters that had been slaughtered by the same Fulani terrorists in Gwampa village just two nights earlier.

About 50 Fulani herdsmen ambushed Sam and his co-travellers and they did not just kill them but they also desecrated and maimed their bodies, removed their eyes, cut off their vital organs, cut out their tongues and literally cut them to pieces.

It was so bad that their remains had to be buried immediately and in the dark of the night without the youths of Numan seeing them otherwise there would have been an immediate response, a vicious, bloody and unprecedented backlash and a series of devastating reprisal killings.

Those that murdered Sam Zadok and the Numan 19 are not human beings: they are animals. And as far as I am concerned Zadok and those that fell with him are martyrs because they were killed whilst they were attempting to defend and protect their Bachama kinsmen.

I was restless throughout the flight to Lagos and utterly heartbroken that such a brilliant and courageous young man could be cut short in this way whilst in the prime of his life.

I was so devastated by what happened to him that I proceeded to Prophet TB Joshua’s SCOAN Church in Ikotun for an unscheduled visit immediately after landing in Lagos in order to consult with the man of God and to secure prayers for Sam’s precious soul.

TB Joshua has himself been a victim of terror and he knows how it feels. On 12th September 2014 his Church was blown up by rogue Islamist and jihadist elements in Nigeria’s intelligence and security agencies with the loss of over 200 lives and the whole thing was covered up by the government and made to look as if the building had collapsed because it had a faulty foundation.

Despite that terrible experience, and as a consequence of his faith in God, hard work, commitment, dedication and prayer, Joshua was able to rise up to the occassion, get up on his feet and soldier on.

This, coupled with his raffish charm, disarming simplicity and remarkable humility, has impressed and inspired me immensly and made me proud to call him my brother and friend.

Since that horrific 2014 incident he has not only pulled up his socks and gone from strength to strength but he has also offered tremendous solace and comfort to the poor, the deprived, the wounded and the broken-hearted and to the relatives, loved ones and friends of victims of similar incidents and other tragic events.

I can testify to the fact that he is a kind and gentle man that is filled with nothing but love and compassion.

Given all this it was only natural for me to go and see him from the airport in an attempt to seek his counsel and wisdom and tap from his strength.

Sadly I did not meet him in the Church that night because he had apparantly travelled out of the country and therefore I proceeded to Ikoyi to spend what can only be described as a sad, painful and sorrowful night.

Whilst the entire nation mourned Sam and the other heroes of Bachama that were killed that night, the people of Numan themselves were filled with anger and rage.

As far as they were concerned this was yet another unwarranted and unprovoked attack on their people by the Fulani terrorists who appeared hell-bent on igniting a full scale tribal war!

Reflective of their rising anger were the words of the Acting Chief of Lawaru Numan, who, in response to another brutal attack that took place towards the end of last year, said,

“Buhari sent the Fulani to kill us. After that the Nigerian Air Force deployed their jets to drop rockets on our houses. We wanted to defend ourselves, the Fulanis attacked us. They killed my father, he was cut into pieces.”

This sort of thing is not only a regular occurence in Nigeria today but it is also an unfolding nightmare and a tragedy of monumental proportions. Yet it does not stop there.

Just as my trauma resulting from the cold-blooded murder of my friend Sam was subsiding, no less than 48 hours later the news broke about a yet another devastating attack by Boko Haram on a predominantly Christian IDP camp in Ranna, Borno state.

The reports confirmed that hundreds of poor refugees and other innocent men, women and children were slaughtered, including some United Nations workers, Medecine San Frontiers staff and other foreign and domestic doctors, aid workers and personnel.

Worst still the military base in Ranna where many of them ran to for protection was also attacked, overun and overwhelmed.

The soldiers were overpowered and swept aside, scores of people were killed and guns, weapons and all manner of munitions were stolen from the armoury and carried away by the Boko Haram insurgents.

It is important to point out that this was the same IDP camp in Ranna that the Nigerian Airforce dropped bombs on in January 2017 which resulted in the cold-blooded murder of no less than 200 poor and innocent refugees, most of whom were women and children.

The only explanation that the airforce and government gave at the time was that the bombing and consequent loss of life was “a mistake” and none of the pilots involved were brought to justice or faced any sanctions.

That is the type of insensitive, callous, barbaric, unacceptable, inept and unaccountable leadership that Muhammadu Buhari has provided for our people and for the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Meanwhile the two-headed dragon of Boko Haram and the Fulani terrorists that he rides and derives his strength and power from has continued to relentlessly feast on the flesh and blood of the innocents in our land.

Permit me to conclude with the following: two days after Boko Haram attacked Ranna in Borno state, Fulani terrorists and herdsmen once again unleashed massive slaughter, carnage and terror on the indigenous Christian population in Mambilla, Taraba state.

Many of the local indigenous farmers and their families were butchered and chopped up into small pieces after they were dispossesed of their farms, homes and land.

Two days after that, on Sunday 4th March, the Fulani terrorists attacked a number of farms in Abraka, Delta state and not only massacred scores of innocent people, including women and children, in cold blood but also raped the women and cut off the fingers and toes of those those that they did not kill for “daring to resist” them.

Rarely have such horrific events been witnessed in our shores.

Under Buhari’s watch our nation has become a theater of war and a veritable human abbatoir where mass murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, terror, fear, ritual killings, barbarity and all manner of evil reign.

He needs to be stripped of his power and removed from office whilst the two-headed Whitewalker dragon that he rides and with which he torments and bestrides our nation like a collosus must be mastered, tamed, brought to heel, slaughtered, beheaded, carved into pieces, burnt to ashes and buried in the deepest recesses and bottomless pit of the filthiest pubic latrine.

May God deliver Nigeria!