How many of the kind of killings that occurred over the past weekend in Plateau have there now been in 2018?

From the beginning of the year, reports of fatalities and humans named only as numbers have come in from Taraba, Zamfara, severally from Benue and Southern Kaduna. It has largely followed the same pattern: herdsmen are unquestionably the guilty party, the Presidency releases a terse statement about bringing the perpetrators to book, one or two government officials fly to the state where the attacks happened and after pictures are taken and more promises of restitution are made, attention moves to other matters.

But talk and tokens of engagement will not stop these killings, neither will President Buhari’s defensiveness of the herdsmen, a mien that he has often reproduced while talking about the various killings including the recent one of Plateau.

President Buhari is well aware of the expectations that he makes firm decisions against the herdsmen. As he acknowledges, he and they do share a kind of resemblance that are traceable to the alleged Fulani ethnicity of the herdsmen. This appears to be a handicap for the president on how forceful he can be with his decisions and he has done not so much to show that he even wants to be forceful.

For what it is worth, the president’s visit to Plateau – after Vice President Osinbajo had already visited – has the smack of an early campaign tour about it. Landing by 4:14 and departing Jos by 5:55 on Tuesday, Buhari’s aides would have suggested to him to use this as an avenue to show his availability because if he doesn’t, other political parties will do. However, the president’s lack of a definite commitment to curtail the expanding confidence of the Miyetti Allah group who have claimed indirect responsibility for the killings leaves nothing substantial to be admired.

Nothing less than an orderly arrest and interrogation of the members of this group will suffice to prove that deliberate actions are being taken to end these herdsmen killings. As good as five hour meetings with security chiefs and the Inspector General of Police (Idris is still IGP?) are, there will be no feeling of safety among the public if those who look like the President can still make disgusting claims in public that the killing of over 86 humans was a “revenge mission” for the rustling of cows. That someone could make such a statement boldly, even going ahead to warn that there could be more “attacks and deaths if not handled properly” is a sign of emboldened brigandage.

Law and order works where there are debilitating costs for breaking the law. In the absence of timely, visible and significant deterrence, illegality becomes the norm and reluctance becomes assurance. If this is the same group of cattle breeders who were implicated in Benue and other parts of the middle belt, still speaking freely, it must be because they have a certain assurance of an Abrahamic covering of sorts. It is up to President Buhari to definitively put paid to such assumptions by initiating the purge. He can appeal for peace and for community leaders to pull their wards to order but only he can solve this effectively.

Alexander Onukwue