The Menace Called Fulani Herdsmen
How long shall we suffer in the hands of these people called Fulani herdsmen? For too long, they have behaved as if they own Nigeria, apparently because nobody, not even the military has been able to rein them in. In all the cases of their mindless attacks on innocent Nigerians, none of them has been arrested, arraigned or jailed for wanton killing. The security men would rather look the other way while the Fulani herdsmen wreak havoc in various communities across the land. Everyday, we are assailed with ill reports of how Fulani herdsmen are launching ferocious attacks, sometimes unprovoked, on the indigenes of communities where they graze their cattle. And this is across board. No part of Nigeria (except Boko Haram-ravaged parts) is spared. They operate with vexatious brazenness. The story was told, last week, of a case somewhere in Oyo, Oyo State where a landlord not wanting herdsmen to destroy the crops in his farm, sprayed the crops with some substances which are poisonous to cows.
One of his tenants took his cows to the landlord’s farm to graze. Some of the cows ate the crops with the sprayed substances and died. In anger, the herdsman rushed back home and slaughtered his landlord. So cows are equal to the lives of human beings! We saw that as the argument in the pogrom launched at Agatu community (in Benue State) last year where villages were attacked because a farmer shot dead a single cow for destroying his crops.
Is this criminal lawlessness all because their kinsman is the sitting president?
Why is it seeming as if until President Muhammadu Buhari came to power that we never had herdsmen? Suddenly, they have become a huge bone on our collective throats. Suddenly, herdsmen have become sub-terrorists fitted with all kinds of weapons including AK 47, GPMG, etc. Haba! Until now, the herdsmen we knew merely carried short sticks with which they hit and directed the movement of the cows. At other times, they had bows and arrows and catapults with which they warded off wild animals wanting to prey on their cattle. Not anymore. The Fulani herdsmen of today are sometimes more armed than soldiers in “Operation Lafiya Dole”
I do not understand the pampering these barefaced criminals are getting. Why are the police, Department of State Service (DSS), soldiers, NSDC, etc. not clamping down on the killer herdsmen? But the DSS is adept and prompt in inviting Apostle Suleman (for questioning) for allegedly threatening to deal with any Fulani herdsman who comes around his church. Is it because the DSS boss, Mallam Lawal Musa Daura is a Fulani man?
Why is the state allowing them to commit murder and even pogrom and get away with it? Worse still, the government is pushing a grazing Bill in the National Assembly to pan out grazing reserves in various states for these herdsmen. Hmmm, treating leprosy with Panadol! Whose land will be forcefully taken and given to herdsmen and at what price?
Are the Fulani herdsmen above the law, or are the security apparatchiks in Nigeria collectively bewitched by the Fulani herdsmen, such that they (security operatives) look eternally confounded about their (herdsmen) atrocities?
But whether they are Fulanis or not, the narrative is straight and simple. Some people in pursuit of their own private endeavours, shepherd their flock to other people’s land to graze. The cows do not know the difference between grass and crops. As long as they are all green, they are good for a sweet crush. Their owners who should know the difference between grasses and crops pretend not to know and indeed lead the cows to crush down on all grasses and plants and crops. These same plants and crops are the only source of livelihood of the local farmers. When the cows destroy them, the farmers will suffer pangs of hunger and starvation for a full farming season. But when they complain and grumble, they are attacked, their women raped, kidnapped, etc. by the Fulani men. How does this feed the ethos of justice?
These same Fulani herdsmen are from faraway lands, sometimes even outside Nigeria. So how can the pursuit of their own business interest be used to despoil the future and livelihood of others, while the state watches on! Pray, even these herdsmen, who sit atop a billion naira business, do not pay tax to government. But the poor woman who roasts plantain by the road side is harassed by local government tax collectors on payment of all kinds of rates and taxes.
It took months after the attack on Agatu last year, for Mr President to condemn the killings, and that was after many people had complained about the worrisome silence.
Gov Samuel Ortom of Benue State recently gave an order that all armed herdsmen should leave the state, within 72 hours, since they have become a menace and a threat to the people of the state who largely are agrarian farmers.
I was surprised that the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr Bashir Makama, next day, countered the governor, arguing that nobody has the right to order anybody out of the state, adding that Benue State is for every Nigerian. Mr Makama, of what value and essence is a governor if he cannot guarantee the safety of the people he is elected to govern? Ortom did not say all herdsmen should leave Benue State. He said “armed herdsmen”. Pray, why should a cattle rearer be carrying AK 47 about? How did he get it in the first place? Is it sold in Dugbe market?
Does Makama expect Ortom or any selfrespecting governor, to sit ensconced in Government House while some killer herdsmen visit his people with blood and terror?
If the police who should be the ones who would enforce the governor’s order are already faulting the order, it means that the order has failed ab initio.
But what does Makama mean? Benue is for all Nigerians, including unrestrainable killer herdsmen? How many of the herdsmen has Makama arrested for illegally possessing firearms? Or does he not know the herdsmen have AK 47 and other weapons?
In the case of the killings in Southern Kaduna, the state had again seemed helpless while the herdsmen rape the women, kill and burn the people and their properties. This same violence and molestation takes place in Delta, Enugu, Ebonyi, Ondo, Ekiti States, etc.
Without statistical backup, I dare say that Benue State has suffered most in the hands of these herdsmen. It even dates back to the days of former governor of the state, Gabriel Suswan.
And just early this week, some gunmen rode into Zaki Biam Yam market (in Benue State) and began shooting sporadically. They came with kegs of petrol. As they were killing, they were burning down the shops and buildings. They had a free and unchallenged reign. By the time the bullets stopped booming, over 17 people had been killed and many more injured. The assailants were nowhere to be found. That is the same state Makama said was for everyone. Yes, for everyone, but not those who are baying for blood. But even before investigation commenced, Makama had declared that it is not an attack from herdsmen. How did he so speedily conclude? It is remarkable that Mr President promptly spoke out in condemning this round of attack. Good! But we are tired of speeches and condolence messages to victims. Lost lives are not retrievable. If this country will continue to remain one, then those who perpetrate crime