Earlier in this column I had advocated a deeper inquisition into the modus vivendi of the deadly and dangerous Fulani herdsmen. I had postulated that these people, given their appetite for money raked in through kidnapping and brazen robbery, may not be herdsmen after all but a band of desperate clones from hell intent on inflicting pain on the people and living off them like leeches.

Now, there is a clearer picture of who they are. And this is coming from an astute authority on security matters. A former Director of the Department of State Services (DSS),  Mr . Mike Ejiofor,  who was kidnapped and released recently by Fulani gunmen ( as he called them) has given a heart-rending account of his ordeal in the custody of the gunmen. He called for a re-examination of the country’s security service and the declaration of a state of emergency in the security sector.

Ejiofor who was recounting his kidnap ordeal on Channels TV said that there should be training on security consciousness on the so-called herdsmen. According to him these people are actually Fulani gunmen and not herdsmen as they have nothing to do with cattle rearing. For better appreciation of the Fulani death merchants, I have reproduced substantially hereunder the account of the former DSS chief.

“I was returning from Delta State to Abuja, between Okene and Obajana junction,when we heard sporadic shootings and we were forced to stop. The gunmen soon emerged, four of them and pointed their guns at the four doors of my car, a Prado Jeep. I asked my driver to remain calm. They whisked us into the bush. This happened around 2pm. We ran into the bush  and kept running for about 30 minutes, then trekked for one hour in a vast forest and another one hour of trekking in the same forest.

“From what I have seen, there is no way police can confront these people because they are armed with highly sophisticated weapons including AK-47 and Pump Action machine guns.  The type of arms they carry, the police cannot confront them except you want to jeopardise the life of those policemen.  I have said this time without number that these are not Fulani herdsmen but Fulani gunmen. They searched my purse, took my laptop bag and checked out vital documents I had on me. They asked me questions and I explained to them who I am, that I am no longer in service.

“They said we and the police are the ones killing Boko Haram members. I argued that it is the other way round, that it is the Boko Haram members who kill police and DSS personnel. I was with them for four days surviving on cashew nuts. There were many cashew trees in that bush.

“By 6pm they brought us under a cashew tree which they told us is our new abode. We were sleeping there. They do not have any operational base in the forest and the forest is very vast. By 10 pm I was allowed to make contact so I called my immediate younger brother from whom they demanded the sum of N30m. My brother told them we don’t have such money and offered them N1m. That infuriated them and they said my brother should never mention such amount again.

“I feel very glad that I had this experience because  I had earlier made a proposal to my State Governor on security matters especially the containment of the Fulani gunmen who are all over Delta State as we speak. The training or lecture wouldn’t have been complete without my experience being that I’m now properly placed to know their operational structure, strategy, aims and objectives.

“For three days, there was no water, no food. They drink water from a pot, water that percolated from rainfall but I told them I will not drink such water. I was dehydrating and I merely survived on cashew nuts. I told my driver, I pity that man, to drink and not to worry about me.

“Along the line we were able to strike a balance. I gym and that helped me in the endurance trek in the forest. At 63, I wonder how I could have survived. They took everything I had including my rosary, wedding ring etcetera. I was reciting rosary on my fingers which was my consolation.

“These people have been operating in different parts of the country. If you recall, Falaye was kidnapped, the traditional ruler of my town was killed by these same Fulani gunmen.

“I have come to alert Nigerians that there’s crisis in our hand; things are not working well and we have crisis in the land and it must be addressed. We have a lot of security challenges; we have the issue of Boko Haram which has been technically defeated and they’re still attacking. We have the issue of the Avengers, IPOB.  And I must tell you that the greatest security challenge now in the country is the issue of the Fulani gunmen.

“My own case was peculiar because they looked at me as an enemy and that is why I get worried because the society does not accept the State Security Service or allied agencies as a friend. They look at them as inefficient. On the other hand, the enemies of the people (the criminals) perceive security agencies as their enemy, so they are caught in the middle.

“We need to look at the personnel of these gunmen because their marksmanship calls to question the real identity of these people; whether they’re all Nigerians or persons from other nationalities or ex-servicemen disengaged from their previous security jobs.

“This is the third time I will be encountering them on this road (Okene) but I have escaped on the other occasions. There’re joint patrols and stationary checkpoints on this road but these gunmen have studied the area. If the police should go after such people, they’ll just kill them because they do not account for their arms.

“Death penalty for kidnappers is only subject to the jurisdiction where the locals are involved in the crime. But with the Fulani gunmen, who have no known base it is difficult to get them. The level of arms and proficiency is something I think should not be discussed on the television; this is a well-structured body”

There are many inherent lessons in the testimony of Mr. Ejiofor. First, was his boldness to come on air and recount his ordeal. Many people of his stature and estate have suffered similar ordeals but would out of fear keep sealed lips and bear their emotional cross in traumatic solitude. As a former senior security chief, the relevant security authorities need to engage him further behind the scene as a reliable password to access the behavioural patterns of these men from the kingdom of hell. He says they are not herdsmen but gunmen. This statement justifies the theory in some quarters that their action has nothing to do with cattle rustling. But the big question is why the Buhari government, in spite of cries from several people and communities, has not visited the matter of Fulani gunmen with the same fury it has descended on Niger Delta militants or the IPOB. This is not a matter to be left in the hand of the police. It is beyond them. The military should step in and scour the flashpoints aerially and terrestrially. The Nigerian government should get over its selective amnesia. If the government can apply maximum force against militants, against IPOB why can’t it do same and even much more against a killer gang called Fulani gunmen? What is sauce for the goose truly ought to be sauce for the gander! I still have a faint hunch that these may not all be Fulani gunmen of Nigerian citizenship.  But this is a code for the Buhari government to crack except there is something they know that we the people do not know.

• Culled from Sunday Sun, February 19, 2017