The Call to Arms
Recent demands for military-grade arms for self-defence speak to waning confidence in official security channels writes Bolaji Adebiyi
Theophilus Danjuma, a retired three-star general and former army chief of staff, ruffled official feathers again last Saturday when he called on the Jukun to take up arms to defend themselves against non-state actors that have been decimating them and devastating their land for a couple of years now. If they do not, he said, they would be sent to their creator one by one. His call was based on the perceived inefficiency of the security forces in stemming the onslaught of criminal elements who continue to maim and kill citizens at will.
Expectedly, official responses and those of some public intellectuals as well as analysts have been that of indignation at his outburst. They think such a call for self-defence was unbecoming of a senior officer who ought to be a statesman that should be preaching obedience to not just the law but also to constituted authority.
On the surface, the critique of Danjuma’s self-defence approach to the ceaseless decimation of his people is justifiable because it amounts to self-help or taking the law into your own hands, which is unacceptable in a country governed by law. However, a deeper consideration of his position will reveal a deep frustration at the helplessness of his people in the face of unrestrained attacks by criminal elements who are perceived to have the backing or complicity of the state.
It is important to understand the context of Danjuma’s outcry. A Jukun from Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State, he rose to become the chief of the army staff in 1976 and retired in 1979. Thereafter, he went into business, becoming 20 years later, the Minister of Defence in 1999. He left public service finally in 2003 and returned to his businesses. Obviously one of the highest-ranking public officers and the richest businessman from that enclave, it was not surprising that he became a towering figure every Jukun would look up to for succour in times of distress.
Buffeted by their belligerent neighbours, the Kuteb and the Chamba, as well as Tiv settlers, the Jukun have gone through several internecine wars that took many lives and displaced many people. During each of those conflicts, it was Danjuma they turned to help them navigate the peace process. Tired of the perennial conflicts, the combatants submitted to some accommodation arrangements that restored some delicate peace in the Wukari and Takum local councils.
But a new development that would disrupt the peace of the area soon reared its head. It was the conflict with the Fulani pastoralists over trespass on farmlands. It would develop into full-scale armed violence with the indigenous Chamba, Kuteb, and Jukun communities being worsted and sacked. As usual, they turned to Danjuma, who urged patience while he tried to get the authorities to act. Without a doubt, the failure of that effort was manifested by the intensity and regularity of the violence by the invaders, particularly in the last seven years.
Meanwhile, the people began to see a link between the rise in the intensity of the attacks and the ascension to office by President Muhammadu Buhari, suggesting that the invaders had been emboldened by not just his presence but also the seeming kid glove with which the belligerents had been treated. Apparently tired of holding the people down in the face of official negligence that aided the free reign of the attackers, Danjuma complained loudly in 2018 that since the military, who should defend the people were complicit, the need had arisen for self-defence.
The official response from the federal government was to scorn his complaint as irresponsible. With that kind of attitude, it is no wonder that four years after, the situation worsened with the effect that Danjuma had to renew his charge to his people: Go and defend yourself! Those criticising the former war general for advising self-defence fail to appreciate the severity of the situation in the affected places, where the security forces appear clearly incapable of protecting the people.
The critics conveniently forgot that similar calls had earlier been made by Bello Masari, the governor of Katsina State; and Bello Matawale, the governor of Zamfara State. Both are in the North-west region of the country where bandits had held large positions. Distressed by the relentless large-scale sacking of many communities across many local councils of their states, the governors called on their people to arm themselves as a countermeasure against the wanton raids by armed-to-the-teeth bandits.
The rising call for self-defence has taken different forms in other regions. In the North-central state of Benue, the governor, Samuel Ortom, inaugurated a local armed force and demanded that the federal government should license it to carry military-grade weapons that would match those of the non-state actors ravaging large communities in the state. A similar request was made by Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the governor of the South-west state of Ondo. Akeredolu, who also doubles as the chairman of both South-west and Southern Governors’ Forums, had been very vocal about the need to balance the non-state actors’ terror. So far, the federal government has declined.
What this means is that despite being overwhelmed by the enormity of the security situation, the federal government, which appears to be at its wit’s end is refusing to allow states’ local security response units to bear arms commensurate to those of the non-state actors even when it is apparent that the people have been left to their own devices.
It remains to be seen how long the people will hold on. What is clear though is that it makes no practical sense to continue to tell law-abiding people facing annihilation in the face of weak or no protection from law enforcement agencies to continue to stay within the law.
The federal government will have to rethink and restructure its response to the rising wave of attacks on law-abiding citizens by armed non-state actors or be prepared to contend with massive arms build-up by Nigerians, who are not willing to join The Diaspora but want to live and survive in their country.
Adebiyi, the managing editor of THISDAY Newspapers, writes from bolaji.adebiyi@thisdaylive.com
