In the 1980s, there was this British Independent Television (ITV) comedy series “Mind Your Language”. In it, Jerry Brown (played by Evans) was employed to teach English to a group of immigrants from different countries and backgrounds. But his lessons didn’t always go as planned. His meaning was often lost on the students and their answers to the teacher’s questions were wrong most of the time. Of course, the idea was to entertain the viewer. And entertained, he was truly.
It is in the context of this linguistic confusion, in an attempt to establish order, that I have a problem with Plateau governor Caleb Mutfwang, a lawyer. I’m miffed by his choice of the word genocide in describing last Christmas Eve’s killings by gunmen in his state. “The unprovoked and simultaneous attacks in different villages were clearly premeditated and coordinated,” he said in a New Year’s Day TV broadcast. “These attacks on our people are a clear case of criminality, insurgency and terrorism (which) must be seen and handled in that manner if we must succeed in halting this wanton destruction of lives and property. For the avoidance of doubt, it is a misrepresentation of facts to describe these needless and unprovoked attacks on our people as a farmer-herder clash as has been the traditional narrative. Let’s call a spade a spade, this is simple genocide.”
Genocide. Who is targeting whom for annihilation? Firstly, let’s be sure what genocide is or isn’t. It is defined as “the intentional destruction of a people, in whole or in part.” (Wikipedia). The United Nations Genocide Convention, in 1948, defined genocide as any of five “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. The “five acts” were identified as: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and transferring children out of the group. According to Wikipedia, “Victims are targeted because of their real or imagined membership of a group, not randomly.” Going by this definition, genocide necessarily has an intent and state actor involvement, there is a specific targeted population and actions are not random.
An easy example is the Rwandan genocide of 1994. A politically marginalized Hutu majority moved against the privileged Tutsi minority and their Hutu sympathizers. The killings began on April 7 and ended July 15. In those 100 days, over 800,000 Tutsi died in the mass murders (genocide). There was no state actor involvement but there were actors who wanted to get rid of an entire population. The intent was clear and the killings not random but systematic.
Let’s go back to the Plateau governor who alleged genocide against “our people”. A couple of questions to ask. Who are “our people”? If not all of the people who inhabit Plateau, who else? If they all are “our people”, they cannot contemplate genocide against each other! And if they will not and cannot, who then will do so? Outsiders? No likely. Gov. Mutfwang’s initial reaction to the killings suggested a resource control conflict. Land was the root cause. And he reasoned that land ownership could be negotiated without resort to violence. But why has he now elevated a straightforward land fight to genocide? He hasn’t said it, and we can only speculate. A resource scramble no longer resonates with policymakers, neither does ethnical or religious fight. Genocide sounds more terrifying and draw m
global attention. This has been the governor’s worry, which is that the federal government’s concern over Plateau is receding. To put it back on the front burner, upgrade its intensity and scope. But will it be right?
We share Mutfwang’s concerns for his troubled state. To lose over 100 people in attacks by marauding gunmen is no joke. And so wasn’t the Army’s killing of over 160 worshippers in December in Kaduna State. It wasn’t called genocide but the pain was no less felt. The point is, your case can be made without exaggeration or clothing it in a way to make it bigger than it is or just to grab the headlines. If only we can mind our language, perhaps we’ll communicate better and get a better result!
