By Emmanuel Onwubiko
After watching on global television networks, the iconic funeral rites organised for the late Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, at the Vatican, attended by well over 50 respected and functioning World leaders with the willful absence of the Nigerian President, a particular thought flashed through my subconscious and it came in form of a question.
The question goes thus: Does Nigeria have a valid government? This question is unconnected with the ill-advised absence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the largest gathering of World leaders in Rome for the Obsequies for Pope Francis, the man of peace and defender of the poor, but it has to do more with his (Tinubu’s) willful failure to provide legitimate leadership in Nigeria when it matters most. Tinubu left for France and spent well over two weeks exactly when terrorists invaded Plateau and Benue states and killed over 400 natives of those two states in the North who are 100 percent Christians and indigenous natives. And then we also witness another absence of the Nigerian leader on the World’s stage.
The absence of President Tinubu in Rome reminds us about his failures from dealing a decisive blows on the terrorists who are running amok all over Nigeria just as the Country has eventually become a plaything and a training grounds for all kinds of armed non-state actors wielding deadliest weapons of mass destruction and taking over territories in places like Borno, Plateau and Benue states. These unacceptable violence are exactly why government is constituted to prevent. If a sovereignty is not insulated from indiscriminate violence and coordinated acts of terrorism like we do see in Nigeria, then the legitimacy of the government of Nigeria is questionable.
In Borno state, the major fighting force that has allegedly pushed back governmental authority and have occupied two local government councils, if we go by the claim made by Senator Ali Ndume, are the boko haram terrorists. But the occupying forces in Benue and Plateau states are Fulani herders and their hired goons said to have foreign origins. The fact that armed herders are now dominating areas in these two states tells us one basic fact: that government is absent in those areas. Tinubu’s National Security Adviser Malam Nuhu Ribadu admitted that much that the terrorists are dominating what he called ‘Ungoverned spaces’.
So I quickly asked on the Internet what then marks a government aside from other authorities. Why should a government be aware of ungoverned spaces and yet fails to provide leadership and domination of those areas?
The following answer popped up on Google from AI. I very often don’t regard writeups from artificial intelligence as germane. But looking at the quality of the response provided automatically to my interrogatory by AI, shows a good level of credibility and reliability. For this specific purpose, I will voluntarily adopt the AI version graphically presented below.
Answer:
The key feature that distinguishes government from other forms of authority is that government holds the exclusive legitimate right to use force or coercive power within a defined territory.
• Governments can create and enforce laws.
• They have the authority to collect taxes, regulate behavior, and impose penalties.
• Governments have the legal monopoly over institutions like the police, military, and judiciary.
• Other authorities (such as businesses, religious organizations, or NGOs) can influence or guide behavior, but they do not have the legal power to enforce compliance through coercion unless backed by governmental authority.
This concept is well described by political theorists like Max Weber, who famously defined the state (government) as the entity that claims the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.
Summary of the AI-position canvassed:
The government is set apart from other authorities by its exclusive and legitimate power to enforce laws, use coercive force, and regulate society through officially recognized means.
There is no doubt that these issues canvassed by the AI are apposite.
Then comes the next most logical question. If then the government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria is absent or unable to dominate with overwhelming force, the geographical spaces of Benue, Plateau and Borno state, as it were, is it correct to say that those armed non-state actors occupying and dominating with massive forces those geographical spaces, have constituted themselves into a government within a government?
Before we can answer this aforementioned question, let us reel out the facts from those two states of Benue and Plateau that we are focusing on in this piece. These facts are official and authoritive.
The latest information from Benue state says as follows: “At least 50 communities spread across 25 council wards in five local government areas in Benue State have been lost to herdsmen.
According to data released by the State Emergency and Management Agency (SEMA), the worst hit is in Gwer West Local Government Area where all the 15 council wards had at one time or other been affected.
The council wards in Gwer West LGA are Sengev, Gbaange/Tongov, Saav, Mbapupuu/Tswarev, Mbabuande Kyaav, Mbapa and Tsambe/Mbesev, Sengev/Yengev, Merkyegh, Nyamshi, Tijime Tyough Ater and Njaha.
SEMA released the data a few days before the renewed attacks in Ukum, Logo, Otukpo and Gwer East LGAs.
In Plateau state, the governor himself made a statement that the killings going on in his state is coordinated genocide. Nothing can be truer than this claim. It is genocide because of the presence of two elements: deliberate elimination/killings of the natives and then supplanting their communities with foreign elements outside of these native lands now under occupation. We can call it “POINT AND KILL AND THEN DOMINATE”. This is the doctrine of the occupiers of these native communities in Plateau and Benue states.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State had said that the sustained attacks in communities in the state should not be described as conflicts between herders and farmers but should be defined in their proper perspective, which, according to him, is a genocide against the Plateau natives.
Governor Mutfwang, however, affirms the State’s commitment to fighting insecurity, saying the Plateau spirit of peace, unity, and hospitality remains unbroken.
While speaking during the Experience Plateau: Art Meets Fashion event held in Abuja, he said that he had considered postponing the event in light of the recent tragedies in the State but resolved instead to use the platform to share the real situation with the international community, stating that the recent brutal attacks on rural communities in the Bokkos Local Government Area of the State were not mere clashes between farmers and herders but a calculated act of genocide perpetrated by murderers and enemies of the State.
His words, “In the last week, Bokkos Local Government Area has come under renewed attack by murderers who are desperate to break our spirit. Many advised that we suspend this function, but we realized that these attackers intend to keep us in perpetual mourning, to force us indoors, and to shackle our collective spirit.
“But I said no, life must go on. Plateau must move forward by the grace of God. The genocide on the Plateau will come to an end. What is happening is not a farmer-herder conflict. Let me be clear: it is genocide, and I urge the international community to take note. We know there are powerful forces behind these atrocities. By the grace of God, we will expose them and bring them to justice. Plateau remains a land of peace and hospitality. Our communities will continue to welcome visitors.
“No one will rewrite that narrative. Some of our people were slaughtered while observing a wake; others were murdered in their sleep. May their blood cry out for justice, and may God grant them eternal rest.”
In a Vanguard report of April 26th 2025, the respected newspaper revealed that contrary to the claims by the NSA Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on the severity of the terrorists attacks in Plateau state, about 60 communities have already been captured by armed herders and renamed.
This report of Vanguard as quoted above is the clearest evidence that armed herders have indeed constituted themselves into a government under a government.
We need to say clearly that state governors have no control and commanding powers over any of the armed security forces and indeed the sole COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF NIGERIA for another two years is president Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The President needs to look himself on the face in the mirror and ask: have i failed Nigerians? He has the knife and the yam.
So to him we will domesticate the blame for the government’s inability to conquer terrorists and dominate the entire territory of Nigeria. The primary duty of the armed forces is to safeguard Nigeria’s territory and keep our nation Nigeria safe from all threats to our national security.
But why is president Tinubu relying on Information from his non-performing service chiefs on the true positions of things in Plateau and Benue states? If the service chiefs as it were have spectacularly failed to protect these Nigerian natives in Benue and Plateau states, how then are they witnesses of truth? The president should wake up and lead from the front and demonstrate legitimate leadership so as to overwhelm these armed non-state actors who have now become another government within a government.
The situation in Benue and Plateau states are not so easy but surely very complex. The terrorists of a different shape have invaded Niger State too and are said to be in control of some jurisdictions.
As opposed to the other equally ugly fact that the bandits/terrorists unleashing violence in Benue and Plateau states are mostly Fulani herders, ironically, Mahmuda, the new group of armed non-state actors that have captured a large chunk of Niger State, are allegedly killing Fulanis. The Niger State governor even declared a dusk to dawn curfew in Niger state fearing the sporadic killings by the new terrorists in town would escalate.
Our oga President Tinubu, please wake up from slumber and defend Nigerian territory.
This is your most fundamental duty to Nigeria under the binding law of Nigeria.
You were not conscripted to be president of Nigeria.
You came out of your own volition and even told us that this is your time to lead: emilokan.
Why not lead from the front, Mr. President?
Mr. President, please stop relying on surrogates some of whom have tribal agenda that are not so different from that of Fulani herders now ransacking communities in Benue and Plateau states for your intelligence on what is going on. Even the man on the streets can tell you that the armed groups killing natives in Benue and Plateau states and seizing their lands are agents of a well planned and executed genocide. How come the President is not aware of this elementary fact?
*EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is the founder of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and was NATIONAL COMMISSIONER OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA *
