Friday 31 May 2013

Could Nassarawa Killings Be Linked To Politics?

Oluwole Josiah writes that political calculations ahead of 2015 could be responsible for the recent violence which claimed the lives of over 47 security personnel in Nasarawa State
It is a village of not more than 30 houses, situated on a plain, sandwiched between Nasarawa Egon and Lafia in Nasarawa State. It is about 10km from the expressway leading to Lafia, the state capital. The people are poor and neglected. The roads are barely motorable and threatened by gullies expected with the torrential rains. There is no sign of government presence in Lakyo. The people have no schools, hospitals, police posts, no pipe borne water; only their farms, their culture and their Chief Priest.
This is the state of affairs at Lakyo village, where over 47 policemen and 21 villagers lost their lives in a mysterious and explosive encounter.
The nation was awakened to another bloodbath on Wednesday, May 8, 2013. This time, it did not emanate from the activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the north east, but from unlikely quarters – in a remote, government-forsaken village in Nasarawa State. The aggressors here are a barrage of law enforcement agents numbering 63, drawn from the Police Mobile Force and the Department of State Security.
They were well armed and battle-ready. Their mission, which is now mired in controversy, was to seize a 76-year-old man, simply known as Baba Lakyo, said to be the “custodian” of the Egon cultural heritage in Lakyo. This “heritage” is what is now known as Ombatse, a male only association of Egon youths.
The Ombatse has been tagged a militia and a cult by the Nasarawa State Government. According to the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura, members of the group moved from place to place to attack helpless victims; Churches and Mosques are not spared.
He told journalists in Abuja, a day after one of the group’s deadliest attacks, that, “two weeks ago, we discovered a certain militia group holding arms and carrying out cult activities in the state. Since January, this thing has not abated and in the past two weeks, it took a totally different dimension.”
The group has also been accused of forced initiations and violent attacks on those who dare to resist. Baba Lakyo, whose real name is Alla Agu, is said to be leader and spiritual head of this mysterious group.
The mission to invade the sleepy community and arrest Baba Lakyo went terribly awry. The 63 armed men were disarmed and after the dust had settled, 47 officers lay dead. Their vehicles comprising mainly Toyota Hilux trucks, were set alight and overturned. The few who survived have been unable to tell exactly what happened. The police claimed armed members of the cult ambushed the security officials. The villagers on the other hand denied any such gun battle ever took place. Herein lies the mystery.
The battlefield left little traces of violence. There is no forest or bush for anyone to hide. There was also no shrine as we know it. The atmosphere suggests a tranquil environment before explosive munitions defiled the peace of the vicinity. The villagers appear receptive to visitors as a jubilant crowd welcomed the long convoy of cars as Senator Solomon Ewuga led journalists into the community. The people were poor, very poor. They always greeted with their two hands up as if saying “I surrender” as they waved.
At the entrance to the village, a resident dared to write on his walls, “God punish poverty,” reflecting the desperation with which men and women struggle to survive. They are largely farmers. The whole area is a vast farmland. Both men and women busied themselves with either making ridges or weeding their farms. It was also interesting to behold Fulani herdsmen leading their cattle through the grassland for grazing. An Egon tribesman mumbled some words which sounded like, “they said we are attacking Fulani cattlemen. Look at them, they are here with us, we live together in peace; those who are causing troubles are not even from this community; they are not even Nigerians.”
In spite of the innocence and rustic outlook, Nigerians are holding Lakyo responsible for the death of 47 Nigerians who were supposedly on national duty. A lot of people preferred the mystic version of the stories being told about how the security operatives died. This is coming from the reputation Baba Lakyo has attained as a strong cult figure, who is capable of waging a war against an army relying solely on his mythical powers. It is rumoured that the security operatives died as they fired shots at Ombatse shrine. The myth has it that, bullets shot at the shrine backfired and killed those who fired them. It is also rumoured that the fear of the powers of the Chief Priest is the reason why security operatives could not return to the village to retrieve the bodies of their slain colleagues, and had to require the help of the Nigerian Red Cross society.
Baba Lakyo however denied taking part in the killings. He spoke to journalists at his shrine (a small court surrounded by two blocks of mud houses) in the heart of the village. He said the police came to kill him and destroy the village of Lakyo, “but my god did not allow them, so they died on the way.” His lamentations were that of a man whose heart was broken and appeared to fear for his life.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said, “It is the governor that asked the people (Police officers) to come here and arrest me, cut my head and take my head to him. When they came, because they were drunk, my god did not allow them to come to me and they died on the way. The question I ask is, has the governor ever invited me and I refused to go? But he sent people to come and kill me and to destroy Lakyo as a whole. That is just what it is.” He also claimed that he was visiting a nearby village when the incident occurred. Baba Lakyo denied that he ever forced anybody to belong to the Ombatse group.
The people of Lakyo are carrying a heavy burden. They have to explain to Nigerians what happened.
Lakyo is predominantly inhabited by the Egon people. They are under the umbrella body of the Egon Cultural Development Association.
Its National President, Mr. Chris Mamman, said there was a calculated attempt by very powerful forces in Nasarawa State to demonise his people. He argued that the Egon people were peaceful and hospitable, but what happened was an unfortunate incident that could not be explained. According to Mamman, only a Judicial Commission of Enquiry can unravel the mystery behind the Lakyo massacre.
If the Egon people of Lakyo are denying complicity in the whole saga, who then is responsible? They are pointing the finger of blame at the Governor of the state, Tanko Al-Makura. His complicity is extrapolated from the manner he ordered the execution of the Lakyo operation. Although as Governor, he is the Chief Security Officer of the State, the various security formations which are federal in composition, are expected to take orders from their respective headquarters before engaging in operations of that magnitude. The heads of the different agencies involved have denied knowledge of the operation. Heads may roll and people may be sanctioned. But the dead will not be brought back.
What has politics got to do with it? As 2015 is barely two years away, a school of thought blames the struggle for political advantage for the death of the security men. Senator Solomon Ewuga, by this theory, has been closely linked to the conflict. Feelers from the Nasarawa State Government are that Ewuga’s ambition to become the next governor of the state was instigating the Egon youths against the government and that culminated in the hostilities of Lakyo.
But Ewuga denied any involvement in the saga. He explained that he single-handedly campaigned throughout the state to ensure that his people voted for the current leadership. But the governor’s return bid might be the bone of contention. He said, “The governor said he wanted to come back, I told him, but you agreed with the people of Nasarawa State, you repeated it even after you were sworn in that you wanted to do one term. You tell me how we are going to tell the people of Nasarawa State that you want to come back. He hasn’t come back to me. So what is more frank than that kind of discussion? To allude to whether or not I want to run, my attitude is, it is my constitutional right, but I have not even reached that level of discussion yet.”
Ombatse, as a cultural group, may have metamorphosed into a political strike force on the crucible of the struggle for 2015. The answers are not forthcoming; the people are waiting for the next line of action. There is a stalemate, as Nigerians still ponder over the mysterious deaths. While the mourners are getting condolences, the political gladiators are not done with fine-tuning their strategy to consolidate power.


Source: Punch Nigeria

No comments:

Post a Comment