CRY THE DEBACLED SANKERA

Sankera, the headquarters of Ukum Local Government Area is an ancient city and as well refers to the people who today fall in Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Logo Local Government Areas. Politically, that area also constitutes a seat in the House of Representatives. The area is known for assorted food production ranging from tubers (yam and cassava) cereals (millet and guinea corn) is well as groundnuts among other agricultural produce. It has renowned agro based markets with Zaki Biam ranked as the biggest produce market in Tivland, Benue State and North Central. Invariably, Nigerians are attracted to the area for cultivation, offer of labour and purchase or sale of goods.

Though the people experienced skirmishes, especially along borders with other states like Taraba, internal conflicts were minimal. The situation has changed for the worse with bloodletting across the land. With the return to democracy in 1999, the region started on a robust note with the emergence of Professor Daniel Saror, a Sankera son as the Senator for Benue North East while Barrister Gabriel Suswan got into the House of Representatives for Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Logo Local Government Federal Constituency. The fortunes of Sankera were brightened when their son, Rt. Hon. Suswan climbed higher in the echelon of authority by becoming the Fourth Executive Governor of Benue State in 2007.

However, the catastrophe to befall Sankera started coming to the apogee after the general election in 2015 in which Governor Suswan lost his bid for the Benue North East Senatorial seat. As if things were waiting to explode with his exit, Sankera got engulfed into a wave of crisis and within a twinkle of an eye, Chief Atoza Hindan was cold bloodedly consigned to mother earth by gunmen. Thereafter, there grew a wave of anarchy, wanton killings and kidnappings. Then, ‘Ghana’, the dreaded Terwase Agwaza who was associated with the state of anarchy and declared wanted got slaughtered by the Nigerian Army Officers while on a verge of seeking second amnesty. The impasse persisted, climaxing into the enigmatic murder of a political enigma, Chief Terkula Suswan Ph.D, the elder brother of Senator Gabirel Suswam.

If, one thought the elimination of ‘Ghana’ would bring respite to Sankera, it was a fallacy. Killing, kidnapping and arson persisted side by side with broad daylight armed robbery. Things got so worse that people fled their homes or places of work which attracted the wrath of government. Scores of Civil Defence, Police, and Army personnel mounted check points to no avail. Consequently, curfew had to be imposed; restriction of motorcycles brought into effect and a Toyota utility car popularly called Duck-Nyash was banned. This rather compounded the woes of not just a common man but all and sundry.

The mighty have fallen! Insecurity, social dislocation, economic downturn and political standstill have taken over the land. Incidentally, all the three notable persons who suffered gruesome deaths have links to Senator Suswam. Chief Atoza was acclaimed as the father of the governor; Mr. Agwaza (Ghana) was dubbed an ally in curbing the herders menace; and Chief Suswam is the immediate elder brother could this then be a personal vendetta? Is it an affront against an iconoclast? Or, does this demonstrate a protest against neglect or injustice? These are puzzling questions among many more that surround ‘Cry the Debacled Sankera’.

Analysts from diverse perspectives have postulated that the political class is responsible for the Sankera misfortune. However, the remote causes are still embedded in underdevelopment and underdevelopment; economic backwardness and stagnation; oppression and suppression; discrimination; and injustice; neglect and abandonment; victimization and impoverishment; and, corruption and mismanagement.

Fundamentally, immediate issues have become causation of dissent that has engulfed the Sankera land. Some are wont to argue that those engaged in kidnapping, assassinations, armed-robbery and other heinous crimes are products of political neglect. The said are thought of as thugs who are nurtured for elections and protection outside the state security. After the execution of their bidding, they are neither disarmed nor given commensurate compensation. Such become more embittered with what their sponsors and their children or family members are benefitting.

Many cannot even access their mentors hence they turn their anger to the poor man whose mandate they helped to subvert. The dire hard who dare could go after their sponsors directly, relatives or close associates as we are experiencing now. In another parlance some political demi-gods who feel betrayed turn to their betrayers for their bound of flesh.

Closely, related to the above is the growing culture of avarice and get-rich quick syndrome among our people. There might have been some personalities who sponsor criminalities to derive juicy and quick benefits as accruals from kidnap or assassination ransom, a mafia style. Equally, there are growing youths insatiate and avarice such that they can derive wealth at all cost, whether through human sacrifice, kidnapping, assassination, armed robbery and so forth. Such tastes could as well seek to eliminate threats of rivalry, oppositions or distractions.

One should not be oblivious of the fact that the displacement of erstwhile faithful of a predecessor tends to breed anarchy.  Certainly, one expects an incoming government to have its own team and programmes. However, an orchestrated campaign to dislodge, downgrade and persecute those working under a predecessor is inimical not just for social justice but political stability. For instance, in a situation where the present administration went after the former Governor Suswam and his loyalists became suspects and dangerous. Then, when a reconciliation took place, it was at political level and a lot of people, especially the civil servants, minor appointees and lowly rated were ignored in the peace deal. If one is not properly tutored, religiously focused and patriotically oriented, he could swing the sensibility either way for a survival.

That apart, unemployment is doing immeasurable, if not incurable damage to our society. Benue state ranks among the most highly educated in the country. An area like Sankera has a surge with the College of Education Katsina-Ala producing scores of the National Certificate of Education holders that cannot be absorbed in the labour market. As government embargo on employment is replaced by selective placement, graduates at various levels litter the streets, villages and towns. This is breeding wave of dissident, despondent and desperate unemployed work force that becomes handy foot soldiers for recruit or resort to criminality.

Even related to the above is the admission and sponsorship menace. Quite a number of our young people seeking higher education have come to be locked up for one reason or the other. Notably, there are some who are eminently qualified with either certificates at post primary or advanced levels for university admission. Regrettably, many are unsuccessful, not because of academic requirements but the encumbrances or politics: big names, god fathersim and favouritism in placement into the university and choice courses.

Fundamentally, conflicting issues are emanating from the inaction of government or her misplaced policies. There is no denying the fact that Sankera lacks Federal Government’s presence despite her potentialities as major food producer. The Sankera people need an agro allied industry to process food among other raw materials into even export earner. This would avert the monolithic wastage of produce which is imminent in the wake of poor pricing, storage problem, conflicts and economic meltdown.

Indeed, the entire Zone ‘A’ Senatorial District is starved of both state and federal presence. The College of Education Katsina-Ala stands as the only state tertiary institution in Katsina-Ala, Kwande, Ukum, Logo, Vandeikya, Ushongo and Konshisha Local Government Areas. Similarly, the Federal Government College Vandeikya also stands for the whole zone as compared to the infrastructure enormity in zones ‘B’ and ‘C’. Zone ‘A’ alone swallows Zone ‘C’ in both population and electoral votes but the latter has several federal institutions.

Recently, there are fears of locating a Federal College of Education in Zone ‘C’ and a Federal Polytechnic in Zone ‘B’. How could such imbalances help address security challenges ravaging Sankera in particular and Zone ‘A’ in general?

Besides, there are external factors to the Sankera crisis with the infiltration and proliferation of arms into Tiv land. The dislodgement of Boko Haram members, the Arab Spring and arms dealing are responsible for easy acquisition of sophisticated weapons. The Nigerian-Cameroon border seems probable terrain for inflow of weapons into Tiv area. Once possessed, with proper or improper training, it becomes a dread to the society as we are experiencing now. Some people who have indulged in gun-running business are fast feeding on it and are mindless of its consequences on the citizens as well as the entire society.

Whatever the causes, the effects of the Sankera fiasco are debilitating. To start with, human life has lost its value, talkless of properties. Imagine the callousness that surrounds the fall of the mighty. The shelling of the innocents and wailings of infants; widows, widowers and orphans are scattered everywhere. These people have become victims for no fault of theirs, but just because they belong to, reside in or pass by Sankera.

Sankera area is notable in Tiv history as the angle from which the British penetrated into Tiv land. Katsina-Ala was colonial headquarters of South-Eastern Tivland. The area gained fame for soil fertility and still remains prosperous in agricultural output. Indeed the area was peaceful and hospitable that necessitated high influx of people there to farm or trade. Not in the remotest past the area witnessed socialized events like the annual picnic at the River Katsina-Ala that hosted people from all works of life and recently, the Akata Fishing Festival. Then, the College of Education became epic centre, not just for teacher education but general literacy. All these have gone into the abyss and face the likehood of consigning into the dustbin of history.

Notably Sankera is the gateway to the North East from within and South East, and vice versa. Caravans used the route in the colonial days to trade in the Tiv are and move further south into the Cross-River area. This route that has remained significant for the movement of cattle and other produce from the North East into Benue State as well as South South and South East. The same route replicates the outlet from the Southern axis to the North Eastern one which is being blocked by insecurity in Sankera. This is demeaning, destroying and denigrating the potency of Sankera as a nexus of national cohesiveness.

The Tiv were perceived as callous, cannibalistic and warlike people who were against other tribes and with themselves but later seen as friendly, productive but fearless. Hard as the colonialist found it to do away with such prejudice, it was the guiding conception throughout their dealing with the Tiv people. Such impious mentality prevailed and is still inherent among Tiv neighbours. As there appears to be persistent animosity and barbarity within us, it confirms such thinking about Tiv people. In the wake of what is happening, what, where and when is the justification to exonerate us from what the colonialist, hostile neighbours and foes asserted about us?

Still puzzling is the exposition of the Tiv as assailable, vulnerable and permeable such that those who were either skeptical or respectful of Tiv have now shoved off such fears. People who ran to Tiv for refuge have become instruments to make Tiv refugees. Worst of all, those who have been dislodged as Tiv elsewhere do not even have a place at home as one Tiv Christain song says, “Or ngu yevese begha, nan ya gaduga a anyam. Nan nyoron ken yough sha u yeren yo,iyo nyuman nan”. Literally as one runs from the lion, he meets the tiger. As he runs into the house for shield, he is bitten, by the snake, leaving him with no refuge. Such is the predicament of Sankera and Tiv people.

Economically, Sankera has come to experience severe economic collapse in the wake of recession, fuel hike and Covid19. People cannot go to the farm and return with eyes closed. Crops, either on the ground or harvest barns face the oddity of destruction from invaders. Businesses are conducted under fear of loot, sporadic gunshots and man slaughter. Residential abodes for accommodating owners or tenants suffer destruction in perpetuity leading to massive exodus of occupants. Markets are conducted only in the “Trust of God” with intimidation by the fear of unknown attackers. Both internal and long-distance trade have been cast in the shadow of jeopardy.

As farmers cannot transport their produce, markets are collapsing with attendant effects on farmers, middlemen and long distance traders, thereby crippling government revenue source as well. People who use to go to Sankera as migrant labourers cannot do so for fear of their lives which in turn compounds unemployment in entire Tiv land and heightens criminality due to joblessness.

A perusal into political developments depicts a gloomy picture for Sankera, Tiv and Benue State as unruly, unguarded and untrustworthy lot. Sankera was strategic for enormous political benefits on the restoration of democracy in Nigeria since1999. Having  Daniel Saror in the Senate along with Barr. Gabriel Suswam in the House of Representatives was an ample opportunity for the people to concentrate and consolidate on gains of joint tickets in the National Assembly. Then Sankera produced a two-term governor from 2007 to 2015 with Rt. Hon. Suswam on the saddle. Though Sankera was to be in a limbo from 2015-2019, the linchpin of her politics, Rt. Hon. Suswam resonated with election into the Senate in 2019. What would have prevented, though it is still probable, for a Sankera presidential contest or victory in 2023? Yet, the Sankera shambles stands tall as the pillar of distraction on such aspiration, at least, as of the moment. Indeed, there grows the fear of entrusting any trust in Sankera and a Tiv man albeit our patriotism.

A look into the development of Sankera sees it at a standstill. No one venture to send his or her work force to the area just as those who offer offer labour are shying away for security reasons. For instance, the College of Education Katsina-Ala is becoming a shadow of itself with lecturers, administrative staff and students alike being on high alert for fearful of their lives. Local Government funds are entirely going into the prevision of security after payment of salaries if at all the latter is taken cognizance of. It is even pathetic that what is taken from desperate farmers at markets or on roads as produce is expended into security. The state government cannot embark on any project as well as the Federal Government.

At the level of inter-group relations, the reputation of Sankera and entire Tiv people continues to wean. We are adjudged callous, aggressive and usurping out there. We are mindlessly maiming our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, uncles and aunties, friends and foes. We are busy destroying our human resource, economic wherewithal and social integration. Who will be delighted to ally with us for any genuine course or outing? As the challenge of Hausa-Falani invasion, herders marauding and border conflicts linger, Tiv people face isolation. The concept of “Ayafutu” has collapsed, brotherhood crumbled and bloody cry ignored. We are seen from outside with disdain, mischief or mockery. We have become a cheapened commodity to be bought with a pittance because we have sold the precious blood of our siblings and parents to foreigners.

‘Cry the Debacled Sankera’ is obscure, if we think only about Sankera in both effect and comprehension. But we should be obsessive of its broad based roots and ramifications. Let us perceive Sankera as a microcosm of entire Tiv Nation and Benue State. When the Sharia Law was initially implemented in Zamfara, president Olusegun Obassanjo thought of it as an exercise in futility that would fizzle out with time. Then the Boko Haram saga came that was downplayed as mere ranting by aggrieved few. If one thought the Sankera episode would come this far, he was branded as an alarmist. Kwande Local Government Area, the southern border of Katsina is on the verge of entanglement in the logjam of the Sankera mayhem with the Ugbema-Jato Aka Road nearly becoming impassible. There are growing cases of extra-judicial killings in Konshisha, Vandeikya, Gboko and Buruku Local Government Areas symptomatic of security decay across Tiv land.

Tivland is not just on the verge of explosive criminality but domestic violent extremism, brotherly destructiveness and excessive family anarchy. We have not heard of anyone coming from outside, thus making the whole situation domestic, brotherly and family. The deaths we are recording have remained within domestic, brotherly and family member. The master-minders are domestic, brotherly and family members. Invariably, the panacea should be domestic, brotherly and family affairs. Happenings in Sankera are pandemic, contagious and explosive if not checkmated. We should not be apathetic but sympathetic and empathetic about what has befallen Sankera and Tiv Nation. This requires synergy anchored on concerted, courageous and conscientious strategies to end the Sankera predicament. “Cry the Debacled Sankera”.