…says cost of crisis runs into billions of dollars as food production, supply are disrupted

…wants Tinubu to change Minister of Defence, Minister of State Defence

Dr. Bitrus Pogu is the President of Middle Belt Forum (MBF). In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, he shared his views on the spate of banditry in the country with a warning that stakeholders must take proper steps to nip it in the bud, saying failure to do so could be catastrophic for the country.

Armed banditry has become a recurring incidence in the North Central part of the country. In recent times, we have even witnessed an upsurge, what do you attribute this to?

What is happening in the North Central as well as in all other parts of the country is very much consistent with the pattern of events that we saw in the 1880s when the areas witnessed Jihad that was carried out by some Fu- lani leaders to take over the land of the people using the cover of religion. Un- fortunately, some people are calling it, farmer/herder’s crisis which is untrue because the majority of the Fulani mi- litia who attack don’t even have cows. So when it started with Boko Haram in the North East it was well defined. They came out to say that they are a jihadist group and they are fighting against Christians. Unfortunately when (Abu- bakar) Shekau came out after the Christmas Eve bombing of a place in Jos, he released a video in Hausa where he said that they are fighting a religious war and they target non-Muslims. However he warned that any Muslim who assists the infidels or whether they are assisting the government or the troops as illegitimate, and anybody who is a Muslim who assists the infidels in the war can consider himself dead. As a result, eventually, they started killing Muslims from communities who they feel divulge information to soldiers. So after starting with Christians they graduated to also killing Muslims who they believe are conniving with the troops in terms of giving information etc. This thing spread to the North West, and the entire North continued to bear its brunt. Largest number of killings in hundreds had occurred on the Plateau, in Benue, in Taraba etc. So, it is about expansionist tendencies of the Fulani to take over territory and to change and affect demography because our brothers in the North as far as we are concerned feel uncomfortable the way things are because before now nobody challenges them. They are still holding the political ace and if they can subdue others into total submission to their political whims and caprices they will be satisfied. We believe that all these attacks have both religious and political undertones be- cause if they change demographic, take over territory they would eventually determine the political direction in those areas.

You made allusion to an ethnic group, the Fulanis, but some Fulani leaders have come out to openly oppose this (banditry). Does that now suggest that it is a kind of collective agenda of that ethnic group to wipe out other ethnic groups?

Yeah! The issue is we have history to guide us in what is happening; when you read the jihad of the 1800s you will know how it was conducted. It’s similar, they attack communities and destroy their crops, ensuring that they don’t come back to those places. That was what the jihadists did during the 1800s raids of (Sheik Usman) Dan Fodio; it’s a similar pattern. Now, it cannot be every Fulani that is involved, that cannot be so. We know that foreign Fulanis are also involved but there must be some people who are funding it (banditry) because these people don’t have the resources. Initially, if you remember when this thing started, the kidnappings were not there, maybe when the funding became a bit difficult that was when they started using the same victims to fund their expeditions. They arrest or kidnap victims, force the communities to pay ransom, then they use the ransom to sustain themselves and buy more and get more arms and they continue to attack the communities. So, it cannot be that every Fulani is involved but in each case people identify the attackers as Fulani. They speak the Fulfulde language, they look like the Fulani and some of them even speak some dialects of Fulani that are not indigenous to Nigeria and these have been reported several times. But the issue whether or not some leaders (of the Fulani) because of the pressure are denying that they are involved doesn’t save the Fulani from the truth that they are the main culprits in this expedition, and it is unfortunate that I’m calling it just expedition but it is genocide, killing people for no reason. Before now, they used to say that their cattle had been rustled, now we know it is a lie nobody rustles their cattle and if there’s any cattle rustling it’s still another group of Fulanis who do it. So, they have to own up to the truth, let them stop this genocide because every Nigerian now is pointing fingers at them whether some of their leaders deny it doesn’t change the narrative, and we pray that the government in place would know the truth and do the right thing.

In view of all that you have stated, what would be the expectation of your group from the elite Fulanis in terms of stemming this tide?

Let them tell their people and these people sponsoring (banditry) among them to withdraw from the bushes, withdraw from people’s communities and stop killing innocent Nigerians because a time will come when everybody will be fed up and Nigeria will be like Rwanda or Burundi and that will be a very sorry state when everybody will turn against the Fulani. Those of them who are in the security forces will also have a lot to do because we know several groups who have stated that some soldiers combating these insurgents usually get instruction to withdraw. The situation became so bad that the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff had to tell officers and troops that they don’t have to wait for instructions to defend anywhere being attacked. He told them to open fire and defend themselves if they are under attack. It is because there are conspirators at the highest positions in the military, aiding and abetting this banditry and that is why the thing has lingered for too long because these people are not strong enough to withstand our military and hold them to ransom to the extent that sometimes they overrun formations including a brigade.

What do you think the cost of this violence in the North Central has been to the region?

(Cuts in) It runs in billions of dollars. Unfortunately, it is not only the North Central that bears the brunt; it affects the whole country because the area is a farming community that feeds the nation. Look at so many farming products such as potatoes that generally come from the Plateau and so many other vegetables coming from the areas that are being decimated. They (the bandits) are disrupting the supply and production of foodstuff which is beneficial to the whole country. So, it has economically cost the people on the Plateau, Benue and parts of Nasarawa and Taraba so much and it has affected Nigeria in terms of food production. Nigeria can be a better place if there is peace because God has blessed us with rain and we have good soil all over the place. Food production would come to normalcy if these attacks stop and communities that have been dislocated, dislodged and settled in IDP camps are taken back to their ancestral homes.

Do you think the removal of General Christopher Musa will impact negatively on the fight against banditry?

Yes! I don’t believe that the new CDS or the Chief of Army Staff will do anything differently from what he has done or what he has said. I just believe they are going on what he has done so that we can have a better place. The current CDS was the chief of army staff so he would take a cue I believe from what the former CDS had done, and Nigerians need to know that the tenure of the service chiefs was to end this month or in December.

So, it is not out of place to change officers when the tenure is over and the Commander-in-Chief has the prerogative to change officers when he feels he needs to do so. What I believe is with the chief of army staff who was part of the team now the CDS, he should be able to move along with the trajectory established by the former CDS to improve on the security situation rather than to allow things to degenerate to levels that we don’t expect.

However, having changed the service chiefs there are people that the president needs to also change today. I mean, the minister of defence and the minister of state defence who are Fulanis. The president needs to do something about this sector of security, so that we can have a balanced security network for things to work.

What would be your expectation from the new chief of army staff coming from your region that is badly affected by armed banditry?

I believe he should be able to blend in and add value to what is already on ground. It is not just the North Central or the whole Middle Belt that is affected, remember the North West is seriously affected, the North East is still being affected and even some Southern parts of this country are being affected. We believe as somebody with a good track record of service, he should be able to bring his experience to bear to ensure that he mobilises the troops to do the job properly. Anybody who tells you that the insurgents are more powerful is just deceiving himself.

Our military is up to the task, they can flush these people out if they are given the correct encouragement and support and also the equipment they need. Drones should be all over the place with surveillance equipment. So, I believe the new chief of army staff will do the right thing knowing the problems on ground and correcting them so that Nigeria will be a peaceful place.

Recently the U.S. congress made recommendation suggesting genocide against Christians in the country; what’s your view on this?

Let me ask you one simple question? The people who are attacking, whether they are terrorists or Boko Haram, what is their religion? They are Muslims; now when a Muslim community or a Muslim group or a Muslim set of insurgents come and attack Christians then what will you call it? This has continued over and over irrespective of the fact that Muslims are so killed. The people who are attacking are Muslims whether they are Fulanis or not. So, if the attackers are Muslims and they’re killing Christians what do you call it? So, the issue is all those people trying to cover up are doing so because of the implication that things would metamorphose into identifying or getting security report on people who sponsor these things and they are going to be sanctioned not just by (United States of) America but every country that has dealings with America and they are going to certainly pay for it.

That’s why they are fighting to cover it up but we do know since the attackers are Muslims, we can confidently say what the report given is. We know Muslims are being killed but when you listen to what Shekau said in 2012 when he took over the leadership of Boko Haram, he said what we are doing is religious and not political and that any Muslim who assists a non-Muslim in the fight can consider himself an infidelity. So, as a result they also kill Muslims who don’t agree with their ideology or who they believe pass information to soldiers. So, the issue is, they didn’t hide what they were doing. They said they are fighting a jihad and when they kill Christians and destroy their churches who have not gone out to attack Muslims, they are doing the it.

There is no Christian militia that has gone out to attack Muslims but these Muslim terrorists are attacking Christians. So, what the American Congress said is true. We know Muslims are being killed but we cannot hide the truth. I do not suggest that the country should be sanctioned as being clamoured in some places but when the American system and the process goes to fruition it will not affect the country as such but those people who are sponsoring these things will be identified. They are the ones that are going to pay for it. The Nigerian nation would stand strong.