Politics of unmasking ‘killer-herders’
Since the renewed attacks and killings of scores of people by suspected herders in some parts of the country, there have been dissenting voices on the actual perpetrators and their motives.
During recent public hearing on the matter, organised by some committees of the House of Representatives, there appeared to be consensus among the major stakeholders that, indeed, killer-herders are not among the “peace-loving Nigerian Fulanis” but foreigners, whom the stakeholders termed as “transborder terrorists.”
As part of efforts to find lasting solution to the incessant killings by suspected herders, especially in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, which caught the attention of most Nigerians, the House Committees on Police Affairs and National Intelligence and Safety, organised a public hearing and invited major stakeholders to appear and state their positions on the issue.
During the debate on the motion that led to the hearing, members of the House from different parts of the country, were of the view that the killings may have been perpetrated by foreigners, “going by the way they were done”. A member of the House, Rep Dickson Tarkighir (APC, Benue), claimed the perpetrators came from ‘Mali and Senegal’.
The public hearing served as an avenue for stakeholders to state their views. However, proceedings on the day of the public hearing were halted owing to the absence a of the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, and the then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase. Ortom, Dambazau and Arase were invited by the police affairs committee, chaired by Rep Halliru Dauda Jika (APC, Bauchi), to speak on the opening day.
Consequently, the committee gave Dambazau and Arase 24 hours within which to appear before it on the matter. But even before then, our correspondents observed that the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and the people of Agatu, were conspicuously absent at the hearing when the committee did a roll call of those present.
Presenting the position of the Mdzough U Tiv, the umbrella body for the Tiv people, its president, Mr Edward Ujege, said the association lost over 984 people between 2014 and 2016 as a result of attacks by suspected herders, with 29,974 displaced persons, while property worth over N40 billion was destroyed.
At the resumption of the hearing on the second day, members of the committee fired different questions at Arase, with most of the questions bordering on the actions taken by the police on the matter. Responding, Arase said 18 people have been arrested in connection with the killings, but that the police could not prosecute them due to lack of sufficient evidence.
“The death of any Nigerian diminishes humanity,” Arase said. “It’s true that when this issue escalated around March, the president directed that I should go and have an on-the-spot assessment of what happened. I met with the governors of Benue and Nasarawa.
“I held a town hall meeting with all the contending parties. Every time you hear everybody say their own side of the story, you have to be careful. I tried to see where we could have a meeting point. I had a small caucus meeting with the leaders to appeal to them.
“I was also able to come up with some long term strategies on how to find a solution. I told the governor that situations like these are seasonal, and that we have patterns that we could draw lessons from. I said we could create some buffer zones and get security agencies from both sides of the divide.”
Interestingly, all the stakeholders, including the lawmakers, argued that the killerherders are foreigners who should be seen as “terrorists and/or insurgents.”
Although our correspondents observed that MACBAN was conspicuously absent during the first and second days of the hearing, one after the other, the invited stakeholders made their presentations, buttressing their points on the matter.
Ortom, represented by his deputy, Engr Benson Abonu, said based on their inquiries and observations of happenings, the killer-herders are from Mali and not the Nigerian Fulani herdsmen who have been living peacefully with them over the years.
He said that what happened in Benue State was not “mere communal clashes,” pointing out that the alleged terrorists used the state as a route to get to their destinations.
He said: “We’re all witnesses to what happened in Mali sometimes ago, where some people tried to establish a caliphate. And from what we heard, when they were chased, they moved to Nigeria. They entered Benue from Taraba. We think this information is authentic because if you look at what happened in Agatu, it was well calculated.
“Unless we look at the rearing of cattle as a private professional business, without government’s involvement, we’ll continue to have this problem.”
In continuation of its presentation, on the second day, Mdzough U Tiv, through its president, Ujege, said whoever brought the idea that the killerherders were unidentified was only trying to deceive Nigerians. “We believe they want to create a political enclave,” he said.
He said that by their own estimation, the population of the cattle in Benue State has grown from 50,000 in 2011 to one million currently.”We shall be asking the Federal Government to pay us N100 billion as compensation and that the herders be evicted from our ancestral lands,” he said, adding that the killings could not have been done by those they have been peacefully living with.
Similarly, the Benue Dialogue for Peace and Development, represented by Pastor David Ogbone, said it observed that herders have continued to come to Benue State.
The two groups suggested that the Federal Government should investigate the atrocities and punish perpetrators. They also said that community policing in the affected areas should be enhanced and called for recruitment into the police force.
They canvassed for reconstruction of communities destroyed by the herder-killers, who they say, should be seen as insurgents.
But the lawmakers were more direct in their presentations. Rep Bashir Baballe (APC, Kano), who introduced himself as a Fulani man, said security agencies must do something about claims made by the MACBAN, during the interaction of Arase with stakeholders in Benue, that the Agatu killings were acts of reprisals.
“If it’s true, then, the security agencies must tell us what they did about this claim that the attacks were as a result of the killings of their (Fulani) cattle,” Baballe said. “This is really disturbing. People cannot take laws into their own hands just because somebody attacked their cattle. I’m a Fulani man myself and I’m also affected. I can’t rear cattle now because of rustling. I want justice to be done, no matter who is affected.”
Also, Rep Nnenna ElenduUkeje (PDP, Abia), in her contribution, said: “I think this is trans-border terrorism. I think they’re insurgents and terrorists. We should call them pastoralinsurgents or terrorists. We should charge them under the Terrorism Act.”
To buttress the claim that the killer-herders are not Nigerians, the chairman of the national intelligence committee, Rep Aminu Sani Jaji (APC, Zamfara), said during a recent visit to Benue for an interaction with stakeholders, “an aide to the governor told us that some of the attackers couldn’t even speak Fulfulde.”
Rep Onyenwife Gabriel (APGA, Anambra), said: “From the various presentations, it appears that the perpetrators are from across the borders of this country. It’s the constitutional responsibility of the immigration to safeguard our borders. What are they doing about this?
“When I was growing up in the village, we used to live with the Fulanis and we exchanged pleasantries. That’s where I learnt how to take nono (cow milk).”
Rep Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa), described as unfortunate the absence of MACBAN at the hearing. He called on security agencies to thoroughly investigate the matter.
Just as the stakeholders were unanimous in their position that the killer-herders are foreigners, they said if the government fails to do something to curb influx of illegal immigrants, something unimaginable could happen.