pannigeriannews 
Rage by the womenfolk does not seem to bother the engineers of our current security worries. They have found super means through which they douse whatever power that famed ‘anger of the mothers’ used to instil. These engineers have used their antidote to seal all the holes through which the effects of the women’s rage could get to them, and they have left those who could not be taken into the safety gourd to face and bear those consequences of offending the women or enraging our mothers. This process looks like it is in a wash, rinse, wear and repeat mode because the pieces of news about insecurity coming from Plateau State appear like they are always that same in nature.
In August 2023, angry women of some communities in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State angrily marched to the palace of their paramount traditional ruler. They had faced persistent attacks by gunmen reported to be herder militias, and that they had lost no fewer than 600 people, including women and children. However, the incident that triggered their angry protest was the killing of four in an early morning attack by the same suspects. Their anger did not stem from the killings alone, which was even enough to be so enraged, it was also reinforced by the presence of soldiers who, they said, could not help them in their distress. Their logic was, if the soldiers deployed in their communities could not curtail the attacks, why then were they brought there? They also wondered what consequence an earlier visit by the Chief of Army Staff, General Taoreed Lagbaja had on their life.
The Mangu women – during the era of Taoreed Lagbaja as the Chief of Army Staff, had asked the soldiers deployed to their communities to leave their area because they stood by while they were slaughtered by marauding bandits. General Lagbaja went there and assured that the attacks would cease. But it didn’t, and the women took to the streets to demand that soldiers leave since they were in these comminutes only as partial observers. It was not a beautiful sight, nor was it pleasing to the ears.
Days ago, women took to the streets again in Plateau State. The protests followed the same pattern… like the wash, rinse, wear and repeat model. This time round, it was not women from Mangu Local Government Area. These women came from Kassa community in BarkinLadi Local Government Area of the same Plateau State. There was also another protest in Gashish also in BarkinLadi Local Government Area. The Gashish women even took their protest to an extent otherwise thought unimaginable. These women destroyed a military checkpoint in the area and told the soldiers there that they were not welcome there any more. A military checkpoint manned by Nigerian soldiers…!
Their message was simple: One of the protesting women, Mercy Dachung put it succinctly: “We are tired of burying our children and husbands. The soldiers are here, yet we are still dying. If they cannot protect us, they should leave.”Another of the protesters, Nancy Gyang, also summarised their action thus: “We removed the checkpoint because it has not stopped the killings.” The import of the action of the women is anchored on the concept of help. If you cannot help me, don’t aggravate my condition. If the gods cannot provide them with the requisite protection, then the gods should better leave them as they were.
The security situation elicits thoughts of “who dey come dey fear, who dey go dey fear too”, a common pidgin slang in the country. There are no rules or bounds to what could happen in any of the communities in the beleaguered Plateau State as things stand. The recent protests in Kassa and Gashish by women against the soldiers at military posts is not a protest against the Nigerian Armed Forces, it is a statement meant to provoke judgement and the thoughts of humanity in those who command the Nigerian Armed Forces. That act by those protesters is also an unmistakable message to the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is a not just a cry to those soldiers who were on the fringes of Kassa and Gashish and environs, it is a clear message to those ensconced in the cozy offices of the military high command.
The soldiers at the checkpoints were not the target of the protesters. The owners of the message in the protest are those who made General Theophilus Danjuma say that the Nigerian Armed Forces are not neutral in the fight against the festering insecurity. When General T. Y. Danjuma, a big personality in the Nigerian military circles, made the shocking allegation, it got some Nigerians curious. He did not just say it, he also advised that victims of violent attacks to find means to protect themselves. Goodluck Jonathan, out of frustration during his administration lamented that Boko Haram members had infiltrated his cabinet. He was ridiculed. In fact, those in government today laughed and made mockery of his genuine concern about a growing menace. With the height insecurity has attained, how are we sure that insurgents will not develop the courage to try to overrun the country one day? President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in Plateau State – the same Plateau State to condole with the people over brutal killing and promised that it will never happen again. But in an audacious display of brazenness which could also pass fora brutal in-your-face moment, attackers visited the state the day after the president made that promise. That is a supreme level of confidence on the part of the attackers.
The sight of Nigerian soldiers watching in disciplined restraint as angry women did their thing was reassuring. Even if those soldiers had felt taunted while the protest and destruction of their post lasted, and their position ridden roughshod by leaf-wielding women, they should endure the humiliation for the sake of the country. The sight of Nigerian soldiers maintaining their composure in the most civil manner, trying their best by keeping the angry women at bay in the most polite way as they could, is distressing. Their reaction, however, must be commended. Besides, the soldiers themselves know the people’s frustration; otherwise, they would have been able to answer some of the questions of the angry women.
Of late, reports have shown that the Nigerian Armed Forces have started to make gains in many of the theatres hitherto considered terrorists’ strongholds. That is heart-warming. But can we do something in places where protests have brought the morale of our valiant soldiers in the affected areas into focus? In the duty of securing the country, soldiers come under different kinds of attacks, but no one planned for a situation in which women would angrily invade a military checkpoint and sack the place. What orders were given to the soldiers in those checkpoints? If our soldiers cannot go after killers who invade communities they are stationed in and kill people, what orders are the soldiers then obeying? It is sad that we have to watch our soldiers face such level of ridicule. Why would members of the Nigerian Armed Forces be put in such a shameful position? What are the authorities expecting to happen to the morale of the affected soldiers and their commanders? What exactly are the aims of Nigeria in the current security circumstances in these communities?
One will keep wondering what, in the name of all that is good, we are doing to our soldiers in these circumstances. We have been pondering on the intractable insecurity in Nigeria’s middle belt region, and we have left the answers to the Divine to help us. Then, we now have to add the anger of the womenfolk in these environments to the gamut of security situation there. To save our trained, gallant and valiant troops any need for placating and controlling angry, leaf-wielding, grieving women, we should tell Sheikh Ahmad Gumi to remind our government that they know the terrorists, as he once said. Since – going by the undenied claim of Gumi, the government allegedly knows the identities and locations of the terrorists, we should then know where to direct our prayers.
© Sam Nwaoko
SOS
About The Author
