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Thirty-two years after June 12, can it be said that Nigeria has imbibed the lessons provided by the unfortunate annulment of the most prized democratic poll that culminated in the formal sacking of military juntas?

Banneronlinenews does not believe that the virtue of June 12 has been fully underscored and imbibed. This is because politicians who mounted the saddle following the exit of the Khaki boys have shown disdain for the principles and practice of democracy and have failed to provide governance. They have so far not displayed that moral quality of being chaste in their conduct. What is on display is arrogance, corruption, avarice, the steady progress in primitive acquisition of wealth, greed, selfishness and self-centredness. The people through whom they received the mandate to be in power and govern are far removed from their calculations. The policies and programmes initiated by them have always had the political elites and their cohorts in government as direct beneficiaries.

While it is said that the primary functions of government is to maintain order, protect citizens and promote their welfare, the experience of Nigerians in the hands of officials of government is a huge departure from these as they are subjected to untold hardship. It is in Nigeria that the Federal and State Governments fail to protect citizens, who are daily assaulted by the scourge of insecurity even in their ancestral lands. It is in Nigeria that top echelons of government open the nation’s borders to allow tribes men from the Sahel (the Fulani) into the country and give them brazen powers to unleash terror on indigenes, killing, kidnapping, and rape of women among other atrocities. So much so that complaints made to security agencies about such incidents are discountenanced and treated as none issues. But when the Nigerian resists and succeeds in overpowering the attacker the Nigerian is treated as one that has no right to defend himself against their invaders. Matthew Hassan Kukah, a Catholic Church Bishop, put the matter clearly recently, when he said: “ It is in this country that the same standards are not held against all. Some can get away with anything but others cannot get away with something…. If I have my way I will cease to be a Nigerian because there is no sense of nationhood. Those who have leverage over others use it to oppress them. Otherwise, how can you explain the audacious impunity of a certain  section of the country? They can intimidate everybody, even a sitting president and get away with it. …. How do I love a country where a murderous terrorist group like the herdsmen, acclaimed internationally as deadly, is being openly defended by a government that wants my loyalty… There are many villagers in my parish who cannot go to farm again…. Because their farms have been forcefully annexed by their Fulani murderers; …. That a wife can be taken away right before her husband or father and be repeatedly raped then released at the convenience of the barbaric Fulani tribesmen and no one dares talk.” For us at banneronlinenews Bishop Kukah just spoke the whole truth about the trauma that the Nigerian is facing today.

Yet, the politicians are there as presidents, Governors, Senators, House of Representatives  and House of Assembly members, all of whom are mute, not taking to task those who should do something about the ugly situation. Take a look at the gory situation faced by indigenes of Benue State and other communities across the country where herdsmen and armed militia criminal gangs believed to be of the Fulani tribal stock have made life unbearable for citizens with brazen killings of innocent and unarmed Nigerians. The June 13, 2025 incident in Benue State where communities lost about 200 persons to the unrestrained murderous activities of evading Fulani militia gangs is worrisome. More concerning is the kid gloves handling of the situation by the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government. Observations so far made are that the attacks and killings are carried out in a way that is genocidal; village communities are attacked, the people wiped out and the militia gangs seize, occupy and take over the communities.

For us at banneronlinenews, we are staggered by the tepid response of the Federal Government to the situations of insecurity across Nigerian communities, where an ethnic group is always being identified as perpetrators of these acts of genocide of sacking indigenes and taking over of their ancestral lands., It is mind boggling that till date the Federal Government and its security agencies have done nothing to remove the impostor murderous gangs from the seized communities and restore the displaced back to their ancestral lands. More terrible is the fact that the recent attack on the Benue State communities did not spare displaced persons in the Internally Displaced Persons camps. And President Tinubu who swore on oath to protect the life and property of citizens gives the impression of being a helpless Commander-in-chief of the Armed forces.

Let no one pretend that the activities of the Fulani groups are not known. The All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government of Muhammadu Buhari permitted the onslaughts against the indigenes of Nigeria when if failed to rein in and call the Maiyetti Allah leaders to order when they made inflammatory comments to the effect that they were going to bring in Fulani from the Sahel to take over Nigeria. According to them Nigeria has been given to them to occupy. Rather than do something against it, President Buhari, apparently expressing his the support of his administration, indeed, opened the Nigerian borders to them and they have since not stopped flocking into the country, moving into every available bush and forest in the country, killing, kidnapping, destroying farmlands and crops, which the herdsmen feed to their cattle, raping women, and taking over peoples communities. Nothing was done to stop these infiltration and the obvious plan and purpose of the Fulani which the leaders of Maiyetti Allah, the militia group, consistently voiced out that they were going to do. Of course, the unpleasant situation gave rise to coming of the Sunday Ighohos, the Nnamdi Kanus, IPOB, ESN, and the likes, who saw through the mischief and took the initiative of self defence and self determination to defend their people when those who were elected and swore to protect their lives and property looked the other way, pretending that nothing happened. It must be underscored here that while these things happened, the known perpetrators walked free and even intensified their nefarious activities while helpless Nigerian victims suffered.

Attention must also be called to the fact that all through the Buhari administration when these evil lasted, not a word of protest or criticism in support of defenceless Nigerians came from the APC political leaders. Even President Tinubu, then the leader of APC was mute. Not one time did he step in to call President Buhari’s attention to these atrocities, if only to side with victims. He never did. He lost the kind of courage he exhibited against the administration of then President Goodluck Jonathan, whose administration he pillaged with criticisms and protests. Tinubu as APC leader lost his voice then for selfish reasons. He did not want to curry Buhari’s disfavor for his Emilokan aspiration. He wanted Buhari’s support for his ambition to be president. Now that his selfish desire has been achieved and is now president, why is he putting up the show of being helpless to fulfill his oath of office to protect and ensure the safety of lives and properties? That even the echelons of security agencies, the military Generals and the Inspector General of Police and DSS appear helpless and incapable of changing the sour narratives speak volumes. To play politics while innocent defenceless persons are being routinely massacred at will while the President, Governors, parliamentarians, security agencies do nothing is a great act of unrighteousness before God.

Banneronlinenews urges Nigeria’s political class today, especially those in government, the executive, legislature and the judiciary to think again and call themselves to order.  What is going on in Nigeria today does not speak well of their persons, integrity, honesty, truthfulness and honour. Nigerians deserve a break. President Bola Tinubu and his APC Federal Government must prove by action and deed that his Renewed Hope mantra is not a mere slogan and political deception. The onus is on him as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to chase out the terrorists that are holding Nigerians hostage, put and end to killings and kidnapping by the foreign invaders and restore seized communities back to indigenous Nigerians. It is the least that Nigerians expect from him.