A counter-insurgency expert and security analyst, Zagazola Makama, has accused Plateau State Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang, of hypocrisy and ‘selective empathy’ in his handling of the insecurity situation in the state that has seen hundreds of citizens killed, injured, displaced and communities sacked by gimme often suspected to be gangs of Fulani militias.
Makama who expressed his views in a post on his X account on Sunday, urged Gov. Mutfwang to stop playing to the gallery in seeking solutions to the wave of attacks in the state and face the root of the crisis.
The security expert who was reacting to Mutfwang’s demand for the military to be withdrawn while mobile policemen should be redeployed to the troubled spots across the state, said such measures would be counter productive as the police force has been overstretched and the officers are no longer as motivated as they should be.
“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 MOPOL will magically solve what years of denial and silence have failed to address. How convenient,” Makama wrote.
He went on to explain that the reason the military seem to be failing in their duties is not because the soldiers are stationed in the wrong locations, but because successive governments in the state have refused to tackle the root causes of the crisis, particularly the unending farmer-herder conflict as well as the ethno religious crisis that continues to fester like an open wound.
Makama noted that the state governments, past and present, always finds its voice only when one side of the conflict suffers by calling press conferences, rushing to burnt villages, and shedding crocodile tears for the cameras.
He lamented that 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.”
Makama predicted that until the government begins to treat both sides of the conflict with equal sincerity and justice is served without bias, then the public should be spared the hypocrisy of blaming soldiers or hailing mobile policemen as saviours.
Addressing Gov. Mutfwang, directly, Makama said:
“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.”
