Nigerians who are victims of the various attacks by Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, bandits and other violent groups across the country have described the 22 years of democratic rule in Nigeria as years of bloodshed, tears and agony.

The victims, who relayed their experiences and losses when Saturday Tribune asked them to look at how democratic/ civilian rule has impacted their lives since 1999, regretted that all the hope and expectations when Nigerians chased away the military in 1999 have been dashed. A cleric, the Reverend Jacob Teryila Bende, who is of the NKST Church at Akera community in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, said the years had been full of tears, bloodshed and regrets.

He said: “I’m a cleric and I have to tell you the truth: In these 22 years of democracy, there has been a lot of bloodletting in our country. In fact, the leaders who are ruling us are behaving like they are under demonic manipulation because they have led the country into crisis.

“For instance, since the democratic era, nothing is moving to suggest the reasons for the fight to have democracy in the first instance. Our youths cannot get jobs to do while elderly men and women are suffering. There are no roads and neither do we have any social amenities.

“But what we are experiencing is killing and maiming of people and destruction of lives and property. And when you want to talk as a priest, they will hate you.” He however insisted that “as the clergy, what we have devoted our time to do is to continue to pray to God to give us leaders who fear Him and are ready to serve the people wholeheartedly.”

Tiv leader speaks Also speaking, the President General of Mdzough U Tiv Worldwide, Iorbee Ihagh, a retired Comptroller of Prisons, said he didn’t know how to respond to the question of how he and Nigeria had fared since the country returned to democratic rule.

Ihagh said: “How do you want me to respond to this after I have lost three houses in my village, Moonward in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State? “The 22 years of democracy is full of bloodshed and aside from that, all the principles of democracy have been lost. The presidential system of government which we borrowed from the United States of America, we are far away from it.”

Ihagh added: “For instance, the president, Muhammad Buhari, has never addressed the National Assembly on national issues, particularly the security problem we are facing in the country now. “In better climes, the National Assembly would have initiated an impeachment process against him. So, I have not seen any democracy in Nigeria.

“In Benue State, the governor has been raising the issue of insecurity and how it started from Benue and spread to other parts of the country, and the thing is escalating by the day with no solution on sight.

“If you visit my local government, Kwande, Moon council ward, the Fulani have chased people away from there and taken over the place. All schools, hospitals houses and other social amenities in the council ward have been destroyed.

“I can no longer visit my village because it has been taken over by the Fulani. The irony of it is that these Fulani openly carry AK-47 and the military there will not do anything, but when a Tiv man is seen with a knife, the soldiers would descend on him.”

Zamfara: ‘Bandit s have taken over our farmlands’ Also, the chairman of Dansadau Farmers Association in Zamfara State, Alhaji Yau Muhammad Dansadau, lamented that Nigerians have remained in the doldrums 22 after the country’s return to democracy.

He said in an interview with Saturday Tribune that the citizens had continued to go through a difficult period due to bad economy, just as he warned that if drastic steps were not taken by the authorities, especially in his state, to end banditry, there might be famine in the country as bandits have taken over farmlands there.

Dansadau claimed that before the exacerbation of banditry in Zamfara State, he used to cultivate no fewer than 10,000 bags of grains annually, but his personal economy had continued to suffer as a result of worsening insecurity. He urged the government to be alive to its responsibility of keeping the people safe and not allow the country to slip into starvation and increased mortality.

He lamented that the killings and wanton destructions being carried out by bandits in the state and other parts of the country were gradually turning farming into a dangerous venture. Dansadau said if the sustained attacks on farmers by bandits were not checkmated by the state and federal governments, farmers would have no option but to abandon farms to safeguard themselves from being killed or maimed.

He said: “Before the advent of banditry in the state, I used to harvest at least 10,000 bags of grains annually.

Unfortunately, in the last two to three years, my production has reduced drastically to as low as 1,300 bags, which was what I cultivated last year. “Even the 1,300 bags which I produced last year was doneby proxy because I never personally visited my farms in order to avoid being killed or kidnapped by bandits.

“Due to the nefarious activities of the bandits, in one of my farms, about 33 hectares of land, which is about four kilometres from Dansadau and where I normally cultivated at least 1,200 bags of grains, I got only about 160 bags. The bandits made their cows eat and destroy most of my yields. “I am even about the only one who was able to produce over 1,000 bags of grains.

Some of my contemporaries got less than 600 bags while the majority could not even farm due to insecurity.” Dansadau stated that presently, preparation for the year’s farming season is supposed to be at its peak, but there is still no indication that farming is going to take place in the state due to the rampant cases of bandits’ attacks.

“At this period, when preparation for the farming season is supposed to be at its peak, see as I am sitting in Gusau instead of being at my farm in Dansadau.

“Look at the way I am living like a refugee. If not because of the security challenges, I would be in my farm at this period doing land clearing and other things to get set for the rains to begin and kick-start farming and not sitting here in Gusau doing nothing,” he said.

The farmer explained that villages, where big farmlands are located, are no more accessible because of the bandits operating in the areas, hence the need for proactive security measures to be taken to protect the lives and property of farmers and indeed all Nigerians.

“If the killing of farmers by bandits is not stopped, the country is heading towards famine-like Somalia, as there would be nobody to produce food for people’s consumption,” he warned. Dansadau charged the state and federal governments to redouble their efforts at ending all forms of insecurity to enable farmers to return to farms and produce food.

“To avoid famine in the country, the governments at the state and federal levels must do all they can to crush all forms of criminality in the country as without security, there is no way farmers, whether large-scale or peasant, can go to farm to produce food,” he emphasised.

He criticised the government, particularly in Zamfara State, for failing to provide adequate security for the people, describing the idea of dialoguing with bandits as a sign of failure.

“The state governor himself once said that if the security agencies were capable of ending banditry in the state, his administration would not have initiated the dialogue with- bandits option.

“I suggest that people should be allowed to defend themselves against the bandits to reduce the burden on the security agencies who have shown that they alone cannot provide adequate security for all the people in the country.

“I believe that with adequate security in the country, we Nigerian farmers can meet our food requirements and even export surplus to other countries,” he said.

Zamfara State is reported to possess 60 per cent of the untapped solid mineral deposits in the country. The state is said to have large deposits of solid minerals like gold, copper, iron ore, tantalite and manganese.

The major challenge facing the state, it is said, is the issue of insecurity. People were forced to abandon their villages and communities for safety. Many businesses have collapsed. Farming, which is the main source of livelihood for the people has reduced drastically as a result of people fleeing their communities for fear of attack by bandits. (Saturday Tribune)

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