Killing of Uromi 16: What’s going on here?

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

EVERY life matters. Every life should count. It is along these lines that I see the death of the Uromi 16, hunters who were killed in Uromi, Edo State, on their way to Kano to celebrate Sallah. My condolences go to their families.
May the sacrifices they have made be the turning point for lives, every life, to matter.
The concerns most politicians have shown over this matter border on a new height of hypocrisy. They have politicised the matter, ethnicised it, brought religion into it and ultimately shown themselves for what they are – opportunists.

Have they not proved themselves unworthy leaders again through their dangerous rhetoric? People are pleading for a peaceful, lawful resolution of the matter. But politicians are jumping all over the place as if they have made a single decision in years to improve the lives of the people.
Threat of reprisals are being made. It is good that many are suing for peace. I hope that we are reasonable in getting through this bump on our journey to building a better Nigeria.
One of the major shocks, for me, is the intensity of the demands for justice for the Uromi 16 and the intentionality of those calls.
What is going on here? I still have no explanation for the national issue the death of the Uromi 16 has become.
Some questions:
.Could it be because those killed were from Kano State?
.Is the number 16 special?
.Did the killing violate 16?
.Maybe the time of the year when the incident happened is a factor?
.If they were killed in a place other than Uromi, would the reactions have been different?
Let us pause to take some daily stories from different parts of Nigeria. The concentration should be in the North, the centre of the outcry over those killed in Uromi.
Some deaths, killings, in the recent past :
GUNMEN in Nigeria killed at least 10 farmers on Wednesday in an attack on a village in Niger State, residents said. – Reuters, 22 August 2024
“AROUND 150 suspected Boko Haram terrorists armed with rifles and RPGs (rocket-propelled guns) attacked Mafa,” said Abdulkarim Dungus, a Yobe State police spokesperson. Bulama Jalaluddeen, a local official, added: “It has been established that at least 81 people were killed in the attack”. – The Guardian of London, 23 September 2024.
FIFTY-FIVE people died in a day of renewed violence in Plateau State where clashes between Muslim herders and Christian farming communities erupted, according to community leaders and a Red Cross report on Thursday. – VOA, 25 January 2024
BY mid-February, health authorities in Plateau State reported 865 people killed, including 160 children. – UNICEF, Nigeria-Plateau-Crisis-Response-Report-March-2024. – Anadolu Turkish News Agency, 11 January 2025.
AT least 22 Nigerian soldiers have been killed and several others wounded by suspected terrorists in a remote town in Borno State, the military said. – Xinhua, Chinese News Agency, 27 January 2025
ABOUT 50 Christians were killed, dozens kidnapped and homes destroyed since late January in several attacks spanning Southern to Northern Nigeria, Christian persecution watchdog groups said. – Baptist Press, 14 February 2025
EUROPEAN Parliament resolution of 8 February 2024 on the recent attacks on the Christmas Eve of 2023 in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Magu (local government) areas of Plateau State, reported deaths of over 335 people.
SUSPECTED herders kill 19 in fresh Benue attack – The Punch, 18 February 2025
KILLING spree: Anger over herders’ deadly attacks in Ondo, Benue, Nasarawa, 30 killed – The Punch, 12 March 2025
IN 2016 alone, at least 800 people were killed in southern Kaduna, and 1,269 in Benue State, where herders invaded at least 14 of the 23 local government areas. – Relief Web International, 21 May 2021.
19 Killed in Another Bloody Attack by Gunmen in Benue – Thisday 19 February 2025
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria recorded 614,937 deaths in attacks between May 2023 and April 2024. The report showed banditry-ravaged North West had the highest figure with 206,030 killings.
By Friday night, 4 April, reports said at least 53 had been killed in Bokkos, Plateau State. Would there be vociferous reactions to the Plateau killings?
On 21 August 24, bandits killed the District Head of Gatawa, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa, 74, over unpaid ransom. The bandits held him from 27 July 2024. There were only tepid reactions, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s, the “savage attack” will not go without a “decisive response.”
The killing of Bawa who was kidnapped on his way from an official event in Sokoto, did not generate any further response.
In the same North West region, known bandit leaders are all over the communities, killing, maiming and burning whole villages, destroying farms. The Northern leaders are not in the battle mood that has trailed the Uromi killing.
A Tiv farmers’ group in January 2025 demanded the release of 394 corpses of kinsmen allegedly killed in Nasarawa State over a period of six months from June 2024.
The killings in the South East do not count for any action. The Governors address invasions and killings by herders with words. The herders have rings of immunity around them and act above the law.
Why are politicians rallying round the Uromi 16 as if the killing is more important than others whose lives now appear irrelevant? Are the Uromi 16 more “North” than other Northerners?
What is the reason for this unusual outpouring of emotions in Kano? Do Northerners need to be from Kano to be recognised as human beings? And the care and concerns are not available to other Northerners?
Is it also the rule to support Northerners killing Northerners? When people of Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, and Nasarawa complain about not being counted as part of One North, they are right.
The silences about what bandits are doing in all parts of the North make the charade in Kano more nauseating.
Also when the North is quiet about killings in other parts of the country, it emboldens the bandits and herders, they live above the law.
We cannot successfully run a country where the laws are differently applied for different people. Governors in the North negotiate with bandits. Security agents argue with terrorists who threaten Nigerians in the North, and execute their threats, knowing there would be no consequences.
The Uromi 16 is a great opportunity to look at ways of effectively using the law to end banditry and the lawlessness that herders are permitted to commit and go scot-free. Our laws should fight criminals without minding their religion or region. Our leaders should avoid the temptation of belittling the law for political or other gains.
We cannot build a country “where no man is oppress” when our leaders’ quest for injustice has led Nigeria to where lives are not important, all the time. Or where certain lives are counted but do not count.

Finally…
PRESIDENT Tinubu is needed back in Nigeria. If he wants to be Nigeria’s Ambassador to France, he should nominate himself. The Senate would spprove it, swiftly.

ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues