So now, Governor Caleb Mutfwang and his government have suddenly discovered that soldiers are no longer effective, and that mobile police officers, yes, the same overstretched MOPO,L will magically solve what years of denial and silence have failed to address. How convenient.
Let’s be blunt: the security situation in Plateau State is not failing because soldiers are stationed in the wrong locations. It is failing because the state government, past and present, has consistently refused to tackle the root causes of the crisis, particularly the unending farmer-herder conflict as well as the ethno-religious conflict that continues to fester like an open wound.
The government always finds its voice when one side of the conflict suffers, calling press conferences, rushing to burnt villages, and shedding crocodile tears for the cameras. Yet when violence is meted out in retaliation, often after provocative attacks, land disputes, or extrajudicial killings, as well as the mass killings of livestock, the same government goes mute, acting as though nothing happened. What is this if not a dangerous double standard?
Let’s talk facts. Most of these attacks are a sad cycle that has been allowed to spiral because no one is ever held accountable. Communities are sacked, women raped, children slaughtered, yet nobody is arrested, tried, or punished. There is never compensation for victims, no justice, no closure. Just empty condemnations and useless rhetorics.
If you’re serious about peace, Governor Mutfwang, then start by ending the conspiracy of silence. Acknowledge all victims. And stop the killings orchestrated by the state armed militias and vigilante on the other side. Until the government begins to treat both sides of the conflict with equal sincerity, until justice is served without bias, then spare us the hypocrisy of blaming soldiers or hailing mobile policemen as saviours.
This crisis will not be solved with knee-jerk rotations or media pity parades. It will only end when you stop pretending to be shocked by the consequences of your own government’s negligence and failures. Engage in sincere dialogue, listen to all stakeholders, and most importantly, end the extrajudicial killings and selective outrage.
Until then, blaming the military is nothing but a cheap excuse.
Zagazola Makama is a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad Region
