RE: NASARAWA BASSA MILITIA INVADE TOTO LGA, DISPLACE COMMUNITIES

My attention has been drawn to a press statement made by the Egbura National Development Association (ENDA) and published by the Sun News dated 20th May 2018 on its online version captioned as above.
I wish to begin this piece of writing with the words of Shehu Usman Danfodiyo which goes “Conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it”.

In today’s world, TRUTH has become a mirage, and everybody goes about telling lies as long as it brings him/her benefits even to the detriment of his/her fellow kinsmen, knowing full well that lies do not bare ripe fruits.

The aspiration of every student in any course of study is to become a professor due to the dignity and prestige which comes with this ranking in education.

Hence, a prof. should be no less than a role model to all and sundry in the society he lives and even beyond.

What caught my attention in the press statement issued by the Egbura National Development Association (ENDA) is not it’s Bourne malice against the Bassa extraction in some of it’s prayers made to the government, but that the two professors in persons of Ibrahim Aguye and Yusuf Aboki who represent the association as its National President and Secretary respectively threw their weights behind this mendacity and callousness or else, how would you explain the phrase “The ENDA leaders petitioned the Governor to reverse the ‘provocative’ decision of Bassas to indiscriminately settle in Ugya irrespective of where they were before 1997 crises”? as if the Bassa man does not have the right choose where to settle and live.

In a world and era of globalization, in which people and communities are constantly coming together rather than disintegrating, it is extremely mischieveours for a prof. to make such prayers. This is hatred and hypocrisy of the highest order.

In an Egbura Led Administration in Toto LGA, which cannot provide and maintain common motorized boreholes for Bassa residents in Ugya, talk more of basic primary health care facilities or dispensaries, I doubt will go into Bassa interior villages to provide basic education.

We are not against Egburas settling anywhere they choose to be it Toto, Shafa, Umaisha or any other place. But they shouldn’t dictate to us or pressure government to tell us where or how to live! It is enough of this so called superiority complex.

It is also sad and hypocritical for professor Aguye and his lieutenant professor Aboki to have accused the so called Bassa militia of burning down their communities. If I may ask the two dons, where were they when Egburas were killing Bassas and burning their dwelling abodes?

THE CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
For the purpose of history and good record keeping, let me kindly refresh our memories by stating the events as follows; chronicled by Bassa Cultural and Development Union (BCDU) in a press statement dated 14th May 2018.
Paragraph (4 and 5) Egbura militia attack Bassa and burn their villages.
Paragraph (9) Egbura militia mount road blocks and kill Bassa on sighting them.
Paragraph (10); On 2nd May 2018 all houses belonging to Bassa were burnt down.
Paragraph (13): GENESIS OF THE CRISIS: On 22nd April 2018, Egbura attacked Kpanche village in Bassa LGA of Kogi state, killing at least six (6) Bassa people
Paragraph (14); On the same 22nd April 2018, Egbura militia abducted and killed two (2) Bassa youths in persons of Ephraim Moses Gunu and Manasseh Moses Gunu all of same parents.
Paragraph (15); The case of the abducted youths was reported to the authorities concern viz:
Prince Nuhu Dauda – Chairman IMC Toto LGA
HRH Usman Abdullahi Ohimege Opanda, Umaisha
D.P.O. Police Divisional HQ. Toto
Paragraph (16); On 23rd April, 2018 Egbura militia attacked Sebu and Kpana two different Bassa villages.
Paragraph (17); On 24th April 2018, news filtered into Ugya about the carnage in Sebu and Kpana, while the Bassa were on flight, Josiah Musa was killed by Egbura militia who had already blocked the major roads.

In a nutshell, the alleged burning of Egbura communities by Bassa militia is nothing but a reprisal attack meant to checkmate the excesses committed by the Egbura militia as they launched their tribal crusade to sever and dissociate the Bassa from their ancestral homes.
Having made the above assertion, I would also like to stress without complicity that the Bassa are peace loving people and will go to any length to achieve it. We thereby call on the Egburas to do same.

If the Bassa are not peace loving, since our return to Toto LGA in June 2003 from forceful exile in March 1998, Egbura militia have killed about five (5) of our kinsmen and we have not retaliated in the least.

Secondly, in an election contested in Ugya on 22nd March 2014 between Hon Ibrahim Mohammed Aguma of the Bassa and Hon. Mohammed Baba Yahaya (Ada Keke) from the Egbura, and which was won by the former in a landslide victory, was hitherto manipulated to give the latter victory yet the Bassa remained calm in the face of such unwarranted provocation. The record is there and speaks for itself. Imagine what would have happened if a Bassa was the culprit?

A NOTE OF WARNING
It is said that to forewarn is to forearm.
I am not trying to spew war rhetorics, but it is high time the Egburas understand that if you don’t live in peace, you will definitely leave in pieces and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. You cannot exile the entire Bassa Communities in Toto LGA and then expect to live unperturbed.

So it goes without saying that the Bassas cannot live peacefully if they were to exempt or expel the Egburas from the entire Toto LGA, and the same goes for the Egburas
He, who lives by the gun, will die by it and he, who treats others unjustly, will be treated unjustly by others.

THE WAY FORWARD
As civilized human beings, we should embrace the path of peace by dialoguing together and negotiating our differences. We can do so if we take off the sentimental garb of my tribe is superior to yours thing and put on the robe of humanity which makes us all equal before God and the law.

The Prophet Muhammad (S) said “The white Skinned is not Superior to the black Skinned; nor is the Arab Superior to the non Arab”.

CONCLUSION
On a final note, we should select, elect or/and appoint unbiased, credible personalities and men of integrity into positions of authority to lead us and our beloved land.

It is no gain saying that the crises that has bedeviled our land is as a result of incompetency in leadership and negligence on the part of relevant authorities to take proper action as at when due.

We should desist from the “Sai ka yi” mentality to every politician who seeks our vote. Priority of choosing leaders should be based on humbleness, humility and the dedication of a candidate to address the issues facing the citizenry and general public.

Until and unless we do this, the much talk about peace which we seek, will remain an illusion which God forbid we will never achieve.

Thank you,

Jibreel Uthman Gimba

C/o Works Department
Toto LGC Secretariat
P.M.B 001,
Nasarawa state

Phone No. 07038502147