30 feared killed in Zamfara attack

•  Arewa chief links insecurity  to local collaborators

GUNMEN suspected to be Fulani herdsmen stormed a meeting in Zamfara State killing 30 people, police said Sunday.

  Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the unabated violence in the northern part of the country, Arewa chieftain and former spokesman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Anthony Sani, has blamed the situation on the activities of dreaded al-Qaeda militant group and their local collaborators in the country, adding that the recent community clashes in parts of the North were part of their scheme to destabilise the nation.

  “Thirty people were killed and several others injured,” Zamfara State police spokesman, Lawal Abdullahi, told Agence France Presse (AFP).

  “The incident happened in Galadima yesterday during a meeting of community leaders and representatives of vigilance groups who were discussing ways to thwart armed robbers and cattle rustlers”, he said.

  He said security forces had been deployed to the area.

  Survivors said more than 60 people might have died in the attack.

  “We counted 61 bodies from the scene of the attack last night, while many people were wounded,” a survivor who gave his name as Babangida from neighbouring Kaduna State told AFP.

  He said he was lucky to escape and implored the security forces to stem incessant attacks by Fulani rustlers on villages in the area.

The conflict between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers over land rights, particularly in north central Nigeria, has persisted for more than a decade despite a series of peace efforts across several states.

Last month, some 100 people were killed in Kaduna State when assailants armed with guns and machetes attacked local farming villages.

  Fulani leaders had for years complained about the loss of grazing land crucial to their livelihood, and resentment between the herdsmen and their agrarian neighbours had risen over the past decade.

  Under the country’s law, indigenous people have enhanced rights in their home areas, including preferential access to public education and jobs.

  The Fulani claim they have been systematically disenfranchised. The disputes vary from state to state and often have a religious element, especially in areas where farmers are predominantly Christians. 

  Sani, who is also a northern delegate to the National Conference spoke at the weekend in an interview while reacting to the clashes among Fulani herdsmen and some native communities in parts of the northern states, coupled with the Boko Haram insurgency that has continued to ravage the states in the North-East.

  He pointed out that “the violent clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and some native communities in some northern states is a source of concern to all, especially when regard to the fact that they are also attacking people in the North-West that is predominantly Hausa-Fulani”, just as he queried, “could the herdsmen attack their kith and kin in Katsina and Zamfara states?”

  “I have my doubt because the phenomenon calls into question and reconsideration of our continuous association of the attacks with ethnicity and religion. And that is why we believe our intelligence community and security apparatus need to brace up and improve their operations for performance.”

  “They cannot afford an impression that they can be overwhelmed. Challenges are meant to be overcomed by consciously-directed efforts of those with the mandate to do so. As it is now, I do not think anybody can tell you he is all-knowing, all-wise and holds all the truth about this menace because there are many facets to it, namely foreign elements, unemployment, poverty and ignorance as well as failure of leadership at all levels of governance”.

  Lamenting over the clashes in the North which have claimed so many lives and property in recent times, Sani said: “It is quite possible for these attacks to be inspired by the insurgents since they have different strategies depending on the circumstances”.

  While linking international dimension to the crisis in the northern part of Nigeria, he argued that “consider that al-Qaeda has one of the most decentralised system of management in the world”, stressing, “and when you relate this to what Osama Bin Laden told the world that even if he was killed, he would leave behind many Osama Bin Laden, then you cannot reasonably rule out foreign connections to these attacks, however called”.

  Sani argued further: “When people keep hampering on this matter of the government not being fully equipped with trained personnel to confront the insurgence, I feel they are over-flogging the issue, precisely because the government and the security agencies have since admitted to the nation that the insurgence is a new phenomenon which took them by surprise and unprepared”.

 “But they have assured the nation that they have no option but to get prepared and face it. However, getting prepared is not a one-day job. More so, for an insurgence that uses suicide bombing as one of its strategies. Mind you, suicide-bombing is inspired by the highest of commitments”.

  However, the ACF chieftain explained that “while it is understandable for Nigerians to become frustrated and cry out that the government was not doing enough in the face of endless killings of innocent Nigerians, it is equally understandable to be a bit patient with the government and join the government against the menace, since matter of insurgence cannot be left with government alone”.

  He insisted: “I believe given purposeful leadership at all levels of governance and the best in most Nigerians, we shall overcome the problems.”