OVER 2300 PEOPLE KILLED IN SOUTHERN KADUNA!
– Mark Jacob

Barrister Mark Jacob is a lawyer who has championed advocacy for equal rights, justice and the value of human life. He is noted for his consistent fight against the unprovoked killings in the Middle belt region of Nigeria and the rest of the north. From Bajju ethnic group in the much reported Southern Kaduna, Jacob has spoken severally in local and international fora about the persecution and pains of Christians in the northern Nigeria. A former attorney general of Kaduna state and former National legal adviser to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he was in Lagos recently where he spoke on the persecution of Christians in the North and the killing of over 2300 people. He spoke with Bola Adewara.

Jos and the generality of the Middle Belt, including Southern Kaduna were a peaceful area in the 60s and 70s.  At what point would you say the Zango Kataf problem and religious crisis in the middle belt begin? What were the remote and direct causes?
 The Middle belt has always been a peaceful, hospitable environment; however that was largely because the people there have learnt how to endure oppression, manipulation, depression and untold humiliation. Histories shows that even during the colonial era, the British, via indirect rule of system forcefully subjugated them under the Hausa and Fulani emirs. Surprisingly, after independence, the oppressive system against the Middle belt people continue to the extent the Hausa/Fulani emirs continued to exercise domination and rulership over the communities and people.

It is correct to say that full-blown crises were avoided all over the Middle Belt because the people paid the price for peace. The incidences of Kasuwan Magani 1981, Kafanchan 1987 and Zangon Kataf 1992are traceable to the over bearing persistence of the agents of Hausa/Fulani domination to sustain their continuous dominance of these communities and the refusal of the people to continually endure the humiliation and oppression. Now, the immediate cause in Zangon Kataf for instance was the resistance of the settler Hausa community in Zangon Kataf from within the Hausa Quarters to an open more spacious location. In Kafanchan, the immediate cause of the crises was the rude unprecedented invasion of Christian Crusade by Muslim youths.

Why has the killings remained unabated? Are the various government without the political will to resolve the issues? Why has the crisis and killings remained for this long?
The killings have remained unabated because the Federal Government that has absolute control and command of the security agencies has turned a blind eye and deliberately refuse to put an end to it. Over 2300 people have been killed in Southern Kaduna! The Nigerian Armed Forces are highly rated all over the world as far as international operations are concerned. Therefore, it is unimaginable that the killings would continue even after the deployment of the Nigeria Armed Forces.

Also, the President and Commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria is an acclaimed patron of Miyetti Allah Association, the group that has publicly acknowledge responsibility for the killings. Therefore, Miyetti Allah has remained untouchable, even after acknowledging responsibilities of most of the attacks in the Middle belt, thereby strengthening and encouraging the perpetrators of the killings.

The report we get always in the South is that of helpless Zango Kataf people,  helpless Christians who cannot fight back or defend themselves. Why are the people here defenceless?
The people in Zangon Kataf are not helpless or defenseless rather they are victims of the Nigerian system, a system that punishes law abiding citizens. Anyone that has tried to even speak up against the injustice and oppression of the people has been persecuted. Recall the case of Zamani Lekwot and other Kataf persons, DR John Danfulani, Luka Binniyat, Gloria Balason and Audu Maikori all of them arrested, detained and harassed because they criticise the government on the handling of the crises.

What have been the efforts of the successive governments to resolve the crisis? What has the APC Buhari regime in particular done in this regard?
It is important to correct the use of the word crises in reference to what has been happening in the Middle belt for some years now. In over 80% of incidents, whole towns and villages are surrounded by well armed militia and while houses are being burnt, fleeing human beings are being shot or slaughtered.  This scenario is reported all through the states of Kaduna, plateau, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba, etc. I don’t see that as a crises rather it is a carefully planned program of annihilation, ethnic/religious cleansing. In all these attacks, only Christian settlements are targeted.

In the years before 2015, whenever these attacks occurred, there was some level of efforts to address them with attendant arrests and direct confrontation between the attackers and the armed forces. At that time, government will visit affected communities and arrange support for victims.  However since 2015, the Federal government has been in the forefront speaking in defense of the attackers, justifying the attacks and blaming victims by saying they are blocking cattle routes, stealing cows from the herdsmen. In the case of Benue State, the Minister of Defense said that the Benue State Government caused the killings by enacting the anti grazing law. This approach by the Federal government perhaps explains why no attackers have been arrested or prosecuted. Instead, hundreds of youths mostly from affected communities have been arrested and prosecuted. In fact, in Adamawa State, five Bachama youths who shook off an attack on their village and in the process killed one Fulani man have been arrested, speedily tried, convicted and sentenced to death. This has been the approach of the Federal government to the horrors in the Middle belt. If anything at all, the killers have been emboldened and strengthened to select targets, strike deadly as long as they wish and walk away.

Suddenly, it’s the terror of the Fulani herdsmen. Where are they coming from? What is their aim?
 The Fulani are all over the place, settling mostly undocumented in the large swats of forests in the country. They are very mobile, armed in the name of protecting their livestock against rustlers and every wild. The Fulani are devided into two: the elite educated Fulani, who are well placed in the Commerce and Military sectors of Nigerian society, they are very protective and supportive of each other and at any given opportunity, they open doors of empowerment for each other. The second group is the ones described earlier. The Fulani that have invoked the killings in the Middle belt are largely drown from the group that is mobile, wild and mostly uninterested on any rules/law that seeks to limit or control them. The Governor of Kaduna State publicly declared that he had identified the killers and traced some of them to other Countries. In his words, he has even paid them compensation to stop them from attacking. The attempt has been made to pass the buck, blame some foreign Fulani and shield the local ones from blame. This is actually standing truth on its head. Our people who survived these attacks have identified many local Fulani among the attackers. Thus it is better to conclude that the attackers are both Nigerians and non Nigerians.

People have attacked the Buhari regime as aiding and abetting the killings. Can you sustain this position?
Buhari has been quick and swift against IPOB and IMNL (ELZAKZAKI). The regime in contrast refused and resisted all efforts to declare the Fulani killer herdsmen a terrorist group despite the fact that the group was listed as the 4th deadliest terrorist group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index from 2015 till date. This selective, protective and unjustified treatment of the Fulani even with identified leadership in Miyetti Allah is certainly the greatest support and endorsement the killers have enjoyed.

Has the APC government in Kaduna state and the Middle belt area been inspirational enough in managing the debacle?
The APC Governments in all the states except Benue and Taraba have towed the line of the Federal Government and selected political correctness instead of discharging their constitutional responsibilities. In Kaduna, the Governor has consistently accused the Christian Clergies in Southern Kaduna as the sponsors of the killings. This has not just been false but unfair on this set of people. While no attackers are being prosecuted, we have several cases in court where critics of the government on this matter are the defendants.

What kind of support and understanding has this debacle generated from the Christian South? Have they shown enough fellowship?
The Southern Church has been divided. We have those who have a grip of the truth and are supportive while there are those who are ignorant of the sad realities. A third group is made up of those who know but are either afraid of standing with us or, for political and pecuniary interests, prefer to keep quiet.