OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI

Dear President,

Greetings sir, I hope this meets you in far better condition than majority of the populace from where I write. I am not a fan of open letters, they seem to be more about ostentation than communication, hence the purpose of letter writing is usually defeated in them. But it has become very necessary to waive tenets, so I dare to write you this morning. I crave your indulgence for one presidential minute sir, please do stoop. I promise not to bore with plenty grammar. 

The disagreement between herdsmen and farmers in the middle belt is common knowledge to every Nigerian. Overtime, it has evolved into a crisis and threatened peace along border areas. Today sir, the situation has become an abyss. We are witnesses and victims of one of the most dreadful genocides ever carried out. The Benue man who typically is a farmer has been forced by herdsmen to vacate his farmland for cattle to feed and his shelter turned to a rearing ground for livestock. Cash and food crops are being maimed alike, human bodies get slaughtered on a daily. Villagers lay defenceless in wait for their turn under the knife, babies sit in tears next to bodies of their parents wrapped in bullets. A tribe is being wiped out in the Benue valley sir. 

It is regrettable yet pertinent to note that the coverage & reportage of this evil on National TV as well as loud cries of despair and aggression emanating from this region of the country has yet attracted an official statement or address from the Commander in Chief of Arms Forces of the Federal Republic. In the course of this calamity, visits have been made to Benue State by the Inspector General of Police and wife of the vice president at different instances to ascertain the level of damage and identify with survivors. 

Sir, as the Chief Security Officer of the nation it is expected that among many counter-actions, you would condemn outrightly the indiscriminate killings in this region as you have done so well on violence perpetrated elsewhere.‎ The loudness of your silence on the massacre in the Benue valley is deafening sir, needless to say, but I do hope you forgive me and my fellow Benue indigenes for failing to hear the melodious campaign songs cum reassurance speeches come 2019. I mean no threat sir, but if the people's mandate means anything to you I hope this piece leaves you as insecured about it as the infants in Logo and Agatu Local Governments are about their lives. ‎

My minute has elapsed sir, I could go on but that would be at the risk of the temperate audience i've gotten from you. Much thanks, I appreciate your time and would be even more thankful if you grant a quick and apt response to the issue addressed herein. ‎Cheers!

Yours sincerely,
Rafael Fanan Magen ‎