Of recent, activities of Fulani herdsmen have led to crises and threats to the corporate existence of the nation. In this report, Olayinka Oyegbile, Damisi Ojo, Uja Emmanuel and Yusufu Aminu Idegu, examine the controversy and how to tackle it.
In the 70s in the north, it was generally the opinion of most people that a Fulani would give his life for his cattle. This myth or legend that a Fulani would mourn to no end if one of his cattle dies but would only shrug his shoulder and say “Ikon Allah ne” (roughly translated as “It is Allah’s wish”), if he loses a child, was rife and was never disproved. The moral of this is that he (Fulani herdsman) would fight valiantly to defend his cattle and if it means losing his life in the course of defending his herd of cattle, so be it.
It was this picture of love for his cattle that is etched in the mind of many and those who have read the late Cyprian Ekwensi’s novel The Burning Grass, would testify to this.
The herdsman of old only carries his stick, gourd of water, bow and arrow (mainly used to ward off wild animals) and not to kill a fellow human being. However, times have changed and it is no longer a surprise to see cattle herders carrying automatic rifles to defend themselves and their cattle from rustlers and bandits. It is in this process that bandits and crooks, just like in the everyday Nigerian life have infiltrated their ranks and now harbour kidnappers, rapists, raiders, armed robbers and thieves who have combined to give them a bad name.
The real problem is how to separate the chaff from the substance.
For instance, in Ondo State, in the last seven years, there have been series of ugly reports of Fulani herdsmen’s incessant attacks on residents, particularly farmers.
They have been accused of rape, robbery, destruction of farm lands, and attacks and destruction of farm owners’ property.
Before the abduction of Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), on his Ilado farm in Ondo State, Fulani herdsmen had allegedly hacked to death a 30-year-old man, Babangida Oni, in Ise-Akoko, a community in Akoko North-East Local Government Area of the state.
Oni was reportedly matcheted to death by the assailants who invaded his residence in the evening.
It was gathered that there was serious altercation before the attack.
According to a source in the State Police Command, “at about 10am, Mr. Yunusa Oni, who resides at Akunnu-Akoko came to the station and reported that on that fateful day at about 7am, his nephew, one Idris Oni, called to inform him that three men came to their house in Ise-Akoko where they macheted the victim who was his brother to death.”
Also, in early 2012, two Fulani herdsmen were paraded by the State Police Command for robbing motorists plying the routes of Arigidi/Oke-Agbe Akoko road.
The Command revealed how the cattle rearers would only do their grazing job during the day time and when it was night, they would bring out guns to rob people and the neigbouring communities along that road.
They were paraded with locally made pistols and other ammunitions.
Also, in 2012, a Fulani herdsman allegedly chopped off the right hand of one, Deji Adeleye in Akure.
Adeleye, a roadside vulcanizer in Ayedun Quarters, and some car wash owners had warned the herdsmen to stop grazing their cows in their business premises and littering the place with dung, but the herdsmen remained adamant.
On the fateful day, sources said Adeleye angrily chased the cows out of the premises.
An eye witness, Mr. Ajayi Olorunlogbon, said the herdsman came back when many people had left the premises and cut off Adeleye’s hand with a sword. According to him, “The herdsman moved stealthily towards me and drew out his sword with the intention to behead me. I raised up my hand to protect my head, but had my hand chopped off.”
In Benue State, the story is almost the same as Fulani herdsmen have since March 2013 over ran Tiv settlements with herds of cattle and killed more than 300 persons. They have in the process destroyed crops, farmlands, food stuff and set houses ablaze. Thus the state which was known as the ‘Food Basket of the Nation’ as a result of the brutal attacks it has suffered has lost its baskets of food.
Across Benue State today, residents who are predominantly farmers are now squatters in make shift shelters which now serve as their houses.
Primary school structures as well as worship centres have been set ablaze leading to schooling and worship being held in the open.
The suspected Fulani herdsmen overran communities in Logo, Guma, Makurdi, Gwer West, Agatu, Katsina Ala and Kwande local government areas and occupied their lands, while the original inhabitants became Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).
The loss is no respecter of persons, Governor Samuel Ortom, when he was Minister of State for Trade and Investment lost his country home to the marauders, it was set ablaze. Rice planted on his farm were also destroyed.
However, the kidnap of Chief Falae brought as a new dimension into this growing threat. Although the kidnap of the former presidential candidate and minister was not the first high profile kidnapp in recent times, in April 2013, the mother of the then minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Prof. Kamene Okonjo, 83, was kidnapped.
When Falae was kidnapped on his farm on that Monday afternoon, the first call out was that it was carried out by Fulani herdsmen whom he had been having issues with on his farm. The herdsmen had been accused of grazing their herds on his farms and destroying his farmland.
It was not the first time this was happening, either to Falae or in the country. Across the nation the issue of herdsmen driving their cattle across peoples’ economic farmlands has been touchy and has led to much loss of lives and property.
Drums of war
However, the dimension that the kidnap of Falae, perhaps due to his status and ethnic background coupled with that of his kidnappers have led to many controversies and issues. Some of the chief’s ethnic leaders have called for the outright evacuation or ban of all herdsmen from the South West if the issue is to be resolved.
Some Yoruba leaders who met in Ibadan, unarguably the ethnic group’s political capital, issued a long statement which read like a riot act. The statement which was laced with some bits of historical background said, “… We have been victims of crude aggressions, violent violations from our hostile neighbours from pre-colonial days till modern time. From the 18th century Fulani Jihadists onslaught against Yoruba space, through the travails of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, through the June 12 saga to the latest war declared on our people by the Fulani herdsmen, we have always risen about the hurt on us to strive to make our neighbours see the need to deal with ourselves peaceably in justice and fairness not because we are cowards…”
It did not end there but continued, “Our people are no longer prepared to tolerate further encroachment on their farmlands and brutal attacks on them. To this end, all nomadic herdsmen are to wind up their criminal nomadic activities in Yorubaland… Failing to do so may attract several consequences … If we do not see any step in this direction within a reasonable time, the Yoruba may reconsider their place in a union that cannot protect them and would not allow them to protect themselves and use all legitimate and peaceful means to attain self determination.”
This was clearly a call to arms and a challenge to the federation, a subtle declaration of a state of war and expression of loss of confidence in the country’s unity. The question is: has the situation got this worse? Is it that bad to warrant such a call? Many are of the few that this call is a little too hasty as the leaders have allowed themselves to be led into quick judgment.
In the same vein, the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Chief Gani Adams, in his own reaction warned that, “Nobody should take Yoruba nation for granted just because we are accommodating and we do not discriminate against anybody who wants to reside in our domain. Fulani herdsmen came to our place, we gave them land to enhance their lawful business but, for them now to turn to kidnappers is worrisome and it is an insult to the race.”
The threats by the Yoruba leaders did not go down well with a group of northerners under the aegis of the North East Solidarity Forum. In its swift reaction, the group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to caution the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) on its recent threat for self-determination and secession.
In a statement, the North East Solidarity Forum accused the Yoruba Elders of incitement and trying to foment trouble, violence and bloodshed.
The Co-ordinator General of the Forum, Usman Abdulkadir, in an equally combative statement as that of the Yoruba elders said, “We have gathered to critically examine the recent unguarded and unwarranted vituperations that emanated from the Summit of Yoruba Elders in Ibadan, Oyo State and wish to state unequivocally that the threat to secession in the South West must not be taken lightly nor ignored by the Federal Government.
“It must be properly investigated by the security agencies and all actors in the summit must be brought to book. We believe the threat of secession by the Yoruba Elders has a hidden agenda which must be unravelled urgently by the security agencies because of the weighty nature of their statement. A call for the breaking of Nigeria by a section of any individual or groups is a treasonable felony and there is no exception to what happened in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.”
They wondered if the Yoruba elders would have threatened to secede if the kidnappers of Chief Falae were to have been Igbo or from other ethnic group in the country. It added that while it condemns all acts of criminality, such should not be used to call for the division of the country. It called on the president and all law enforcement agencies to bring those who call for or encourage secession to book, saying, “Nobody is above the law and no tribe or ethnicity can threaten our corporate existence without being called to account for their misdemeanours.”
The reactions to the threat from Yoruba leaders have continued as two prominent northerners have weighed in. The former governor of Kano State Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso who is now a senator and a human rights activist who is also a senator Shehu Sani, have both shared their views.
Senator Kwankwaso who was speaking in Ibadan, the city where the Yoruba elders first gave their ‘quit’ notice to the Fulani herdsmen, dismissed the order as borne out of ignorance. According to him, rather than issue a blank quit notice what the Fulani need is education to let them know that the manner in which they herd their cattle nowadays is no longer in tune with the current realities.
According to him, “The issue of conflict between the farmers and Fulani herdsmen is not common to the Southwest alone. It is not even common to Nigeria. It is all over the sub-region.
“On the issue that we are talking about, education is very important. If all Fulani are given opportunity to go to school, I don’t think they will risk their lives and their animals going into the bush, where there are reptiles. I think the key thing is education. The Fulani should be educated.
“I am a Fulani. My parents settled down many years ago. My father went to school and I have been to school. My children have gone to school. Now, I don’t think I will get cattle and go into a forest; that is education for you.
“The key thing is, whether in the North or Africa, Fulani are all over. They call themselves Fulani in this part of the world. But in other places, they call them different names. So, education is key. They should be educated. They should be settled. Of course, by that, they will develop the modern way of keeping livestock.”
The former governor in analysing the issues involved called for understanding and asked those politicking the issue to desist. He observed, “We just have to have a lot of understanding of the situation. Some of the issues being raised by the people, especially politicians, do not help anybody. If you sack the Fulani from here or you fight them, maybe it is because you are here. If you are a Yoruba man based in Kano, I don’t think you can contemplate sacking the Fulani.”
This is the issue at the heart of the matter: if you ask the Fulani to leave the southwest what happens to the other ethnic groups that are residing in those other parts of the north?
In the same vein, Mr. Wale Adeoye, a journalist and human rights activist who has done a lot of study on the Fulani said the issue is not as simple as many think. According to him, there are several variants of Fulani just as there are several variants of Yoruba. He said there are sedentary Fulani who have lived in the southwest for ages and have almost become part of the region, they don’t speak Fulfude which is the language of the Fulani. Where do you ask this to go? To a place they have left many centuries ago? The Fulani who live in the southwest have been acculturated although they still have that distinct features of their origin but they only speak a smattering of Hausa and Yoruba. He does not see the issue as easy as many think, thus agreeing that what is need is perhaps education as suggested by Senator Kwankwaso.
Adeoye is of the opinion that those perpetrating the violence and kidnap across the country may not be indigenous Fulani but those who have crossed the borders, because to an average Fulani borders means nothing as long as he can find the grass to graze his cattle. He also added that the insurgency and displacements in the northeast have contributed to the movement of the Fulani to the southwest which is relatively safe and green for their cattle.
Senator Sani on his part has said trying to ‘demonise’ an ethnic group because of a deviant few was not good and would not augur well for the country. He also kicked against the idea of expelling them from the southwest. Speaking in a newspaper interview he said, “It is not possible to do that because that would amount to a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. Our constitution guarantees us the rights to freedom of movement. Any Nigerian can move to wherever he wants to move to. You cannot in any way restrict an ethnic group from going to another place. Fulani have the right to move to any state within the federation and no group can restrict them from moving anywhere. The bond of solidarity that exists even between the Fulani and the Yoruba dates back to centuries and this cannot be broken because of the activities of very few who have taken to criminality.”
He added that the problem with Fulani herders did not start in Yoruba because they have same with the Hausa in the north, adding, “The Afenifere is an organisation that is made up of intellectuals and people who know the history of this country very well. So, it is very wrong for anybody to ban anyone from moving to any part of the country, it would lead to chaos… I am certainly going to work towards a bill that would address this very problem that the Fulani are being blamed for.”
The way out
What then is the way out of this intractable problem? A community leader whose entire compound was sacked and his two children killed in Tse Dzungwe, Mbarkorya, Tombo ward of Logo Local Government area of Benue State, Chief Agera Nyamor, said the only solution to farmers – Fulani clash is for herdsmen embrace to “cattle ranching.”
“There is a growing population and the Fulani should be encouraged to set up cattle ranches instead of moving from one place to another as they cannot control their cattle away from destroying crops.”
Another Fulani leader in Logo local government, Alhaji Aliyu said his people are ready to embrace modern way of grazing but there should be enlightenment first.
In Benue, Governor Ortom has promised to send a bill for the setting up of cattle ranches in the state as a way of reducing the conflict between farmers and the herdsmen.
Senator Sani is also in support of having a national policy that would take care of the need of the herdsmen. He said he is in support of having a national grazing policy, “First, there is need to have a National Grazing Land Policy, whereby grazing lands will be preserved and protected for Fulani. When they are moving from Sokoto to Oyo, they should be moving through a certain route and end up at a certain destination and not just move everywhere. There should be a road map and a chart for the movement of Fulani.”
The challenge however here is whether the herdsmen would agree to this which they may see as a sort of restriction of their movement.
The nation may perhaps learn from the model which is ongoing in Plateau State, where a European Union (EU) sponsored organisation known as Search for Common Ground (SFCG), has been undertaking a peace building project the state within the last two years. Under the scheme, the NGO established a peace and reconciliation process particularly between Berom, who are predominantly farmers and Fulani, who are herders.
The two ethnic groups have been working together with security agencies to hand over criminals and cattle rustlers, This has engendered peace in the state. The method has worked so much that Berom farmers and Fulani herdsmen have been reconciled.
According to Mr. Chris Kwaja, “The current security challenges posed by cattle rustlers was predicted over 20 years ago. A sturdy was carried out on the Sahel Savannah of West Africa in 1983 and it was discovered then that there would be huge conflict in the savannah region due to effect of Climate Change. The report specifically mentioned that the conflict will be between cattle breeders and farmers. The report also proffer solution to the predicted conflict in the region. But Nigerian government never took the report serious, thinking such prediction will not come to pass, but today we are facing the reality. The conflict between grazers and farmers is been fuelled by transformation in the security through which prohibited arm becomes proliferated. How come the warring factions are fully armed to the extent that government security agencies are afraid of them?”
Kwaja’s view on the proliferation of arms tallies with that of Adeoye who believed that the crisis in the Maghreb region and the easy access to fire arms has made the country vulnerable, especially with the movement of Fulani herdsmen from Chad, niger and other African countries coming in. He added that since the country’s borders are largely porous and badly manned the strange herders have free access to the country.
True, the atrocities committed by some of the so called Fulani herdsmen have been heinous and grievous, however, there is need for caution and the need not to tar all with the brush of prejudice. President Buhari as a Fulani, many believe is in a position to solve this intractable problem by using his position.
But how to go about solving this problem is a nut the president must find how to crack without been seeing as partisan to his people or for his people to feel he has no feelings for their plight. They would feel circumscribed if they are directed to confine their activities to operating from ranches rather than allowing them and their cattle to have a free range to graze wherever they find green pastures.
There is perhaps no part of the country that has not had a bitter encounter with the herdsmen. For instance, early this year, about 10 youths in Ogume, Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State were killed, while killings and razing of whole villages have occurred in some states in the North Central axis. States such as Benue, Plateau, and Nasarawa are worst hit, all because of animal grazing.
It is noteworthy that the Presidency has directed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to raise committees which are to fine tune and draw up plans for the building of grazing reserves. However, the herdsmen have from time to time kicked against this idea, and that is where the problem lies. How do you solve such a knotty problem and be seeing to be fair to all sides? What solution would go well with the herdsmen, and to those who are the victims for the destruction of their farmlands?
But whether the herdsmen agree or not, one thing is clear: old wounds cast long shadows and their memories don’t go away easily. The Yoruba elders in referring to suspected past injustices meted out the race by past governments purportedly presided over by northerners – June 12, the death of Chief Moshood Abiola in detention etc – tried to justify their stand. Also in the Southeast, the agitation for the dead Biafra has raised its ugly head again following the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu the director of the London-based pirate Radio Biafra. This is coming after Ralph Nwazurike’s Movement for the Survival of Biafra (MOSSOB) has burnt itself out.
The task ahead is not for the faint hearted and it is not for pockets of arrests to be made alone and while elders should also be careful in what they say so as not to put more tension into the situation. President Buhari is at his best to help douse this tension, and it is not be calling for a national conference: the solution to most of these national problems are out there, all we need is the will power to confront the issues.
It is no longer something of debate that free grazing of cattle all over the place is no longer economically viable. Allowing cattle a free rein is causing lots of havocs to agricultural produce because they destroy farms and lead to communal clashes with high toll of lives and property. The way to go is to agree that building of guided ranches and farm settlements for cattle is the most viable alternative and peaceful.
This would ensure no party is aggrieved or put under unnecessary pressure that could set the hand of change backward.
