With the increasing number of attacks against churches, it is time for general overseers to start exchanging their private jets for drones, which should be deployed to every place of worship on Sundays

Ayo Akinfe

[1] As we prepare for a new government, no matter dominates political discourse in Nigeria today as the growing spate of insecurity across the country. Could it just be that the Fulani have the least hope in Nigeria as they have suffered from the most irresponsible form of leadership with the most hopeless governors, making crime their only way of surviving?

[2] When one looks at the activities of the herdsmen in the Middle Belt, the kidnapping which has now spread to the southwest, the banditry in Zamfara, Niger and Katsina states and the way armed robbers are operating with impunity along our motorways, one cannot but notice that the criminals perpetuating all of this are Fulani. They are all well armed with AK47s and appear to be quite well organised. They set up camps in the forest, get supplies from somewhere and also manage to communicate effectively, suggesting they have phone masts or satellites

[3] Now, I have done some research on countries that have faced similar threats in the past where one ethnic group has terrorised the rest of the country and looked at how they went about resolving the issue. In Sudan for instance, it was the Bagara (from the same stock as our Shuwa Arabs) that turned the nation into a den of crime. They formed a militia group called the Janjaweed and launched a reign of terror, doing the government’s dirty work. They executed political opponents in cold blood as the government of President Omar Al-Bashir could not use regular government troops to carry out such nasty tasks

[4] During World War Two, there was a Croatian militia called the Utashe, that went about murdering innocent Serbs. Allied with the Nazis, the Utashe actually ran concentration camps in the old Yugoslavia. Likewise, in Rwanda, it was a Hutu militia, the Interahamwe, that went about doing the government’s dirty work. They killed about 1m Tutsis, Twa and moderate Hutus

[5] In East Timor, the Indonesian government used a ruthless militia group called Aitarak to suppress the pro-independence movement in the early 90s but I have checked them out and they were not ethnic. Similarly, the murder squads Pinochet used in Chile were multi-ethnic. In several other countries like Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, the criminal militia gangs appear not to be of any particular ethnic origin

[6] Now, Nigeria has a problem that so far we have been unable to find an answer to. I have been looking for solutions and so far, only Rwanda, Croatia and Sudan appear to offer answers. In Rwanda, the Interharamwe fled across the border to DR Congo when the Hutu government fell, in Sudan, President Al-Bashir was forced to disarm the Janjaweed after he was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and in Croatia, a young Croatian internationalist and socialist called Marshal Josip Tito formed a group of Partisans that took on the Utashe

[7] Essentially, we need to adopt one of these solutions to combat what now appears to be a Fulani crisis. If you ask me, it is pointless asking President Muhammadu Buhari to clampdown on these Fulani militias. His body language is clear for all to see. Being an ethnic Fulani and cattle herdsman himself, President Buhari simply cannot bring himself to take them on. If we want to be fair, this is not unusual, as in Britain in the 1970s, Prime Minister James Callaghan could not bring himself to take on the trade unions being a labour activist himself. This led to massive strikes, the Winter of Discontent and on the back of this, Margaret Thatcher swept to power on 1979, brushing Mr Callaghan’s government aside

[8] It is pointless and futile throwing stones at President Buhari on this matter. He clearly believes his hands are tied so we need to look for alternative solutions. Maybe the Christian Association of Nigeria needs to step in here. I would suggest that instead of their general overseers buying private jets, they should purchase drones to spot these armed gangs. If we know where all their camps are, I can see people taking mass action to eliminate them

[9] I also believe that we need to create Fulani anti-herdsmen brigades among the majority of moderate Fulanis to take these criminals on as Marshal Tito did in Croatia. This is already happening in Borno State with the Civilian Joint Task Force. Ordinary moderate Kanuris are taking on Boko Haram and smashing their cells. I fail to see why this model cannot be replicated elsewhere

[10] At its next meeting the Christian Association of Nigeria should pass a resolution making it compulsory for every church to have a surveillance drone. General overseers should be taxed to pay for them if any church cannot afford one