Berom, Fulani will sort themselves out – Plateau Deputy Speaker
The Plateau State House of Assembly ad-hoc committee investigating the lingering crisis between Berom and Fulani in Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas is headed by the Deputy Speaker, Hon Yusuf Adamu Gagdi who assures in this interview that the
As chairman of the ad-hoc committee on security set up by the House of Assembly, what are the major highlights of your findings on the crisis in Riyom and Barkin Ladi?
We have not yet submitted the report on Riyoma and Barkin Ladi. The House of Assembly put in place a committee to investigate the matter and we engaged individual parties involved in the crisis. We are looking at the disagreements between the Berom and Fulani in Riyom and Barkin Ladi and other affected local government areas. We discovered that it is a problem bothering on grazing areas and reserves. In one way or the other, as a result of increase in population of both the Berom and Fulani, because of population and migration, grazing areas became limited. As Berom also increased in number, farmlands became limited and even the cattle routes were turned to farmlands and that creates misunderstanding. So what we did on grazing areas is that we made the people to be the solution to the problem. We wrote to the affected local government areas to ensure that they form a peace committee at the local government level so that at the district level, it is headed by the district head and the paramount Ardo within the district to co-chair. We gave them the rules of engagement. In Foron District for instance, the Gwom Rwey of Foron is a chairman and the Ardo of Foron is the co-chairman with their own youth representation. They know in Foron where we used to have a cattle route that is no longer a cattle route; they know where we used to have a grazing area that is no longer a grazing area. So let them go and sort it out themselves and bring report back to the House of Assembly before we submit our report so that the solution to the issue of grazing areas and nongrazing areas will emanate from the people. The House of Assembly does not impose any decision on the people.
On the issue of cattle rustling which is also one of the major issues that compounded the situation, yes we agree, Berom have cattle but the Fulani man has more cattle than the Berom man just like the Berom man has more houses than the Fulani man. In terms of the destruction of the houses the Berom are more affected, in terms of the rustling of cattle, the Fulani man is more affected but we now discover that there is an existing syndicate between the Fulani and Berom youths where the two cooperate together to perpetuate criminality. We noticed that and we are working hard to identify that syndicate. We also noticed the proliferation of locally made weapons and as a result of that, we are thinking of making a legislation that will regulate the activities of the blacksmiths. Again we discovered a proliferation of automatic weapons among the Beroms and Fulani. We are looking at the option where the government can have a kind of amnesty programme to lure people into returning their weapons.
A position paper submitted by some traditional leaders in the state indicates that they will
not tolerate grazing areas. What about it?
That is not possible. You cannot say you will not tolerate grazing areas. It means you will not tolerate peace. Nobody is going to tamper with the grazing areas. We have the map that outlines the grazing areas, so it is not the prerogative of a traditional ruler to say, ‘No, I am not tolerating this’. There is a law establishing grazing areas and non-grazing areas.
But wouldn’t you say there is a likely conflict of interest since the youths involved in the crisis usually look up to these traditional leaders?
One of the issues we discovered in the area of commitment of the traditional institutions of both the Berom and Fulani is that they don’t have control over their subjects because you will be discussing with some people on a roundtable and yet attacks are going on. It is either you are talking to the wrong person or with someone who has no control of the community down there but when we started engaging the youths, the attacks subsided. The traditional leaders have their contributions that have helped the committee but the solution to finding a lasting peace in Riyom and Barkin Ladi is engaging the youth leaders.
Is religion instigating the crisis?
It is not a religious crisis but religion is playing a role because Berom people are predominantly Christians and Fulani people are predominantly Muslims so it has some elements of religion. But again, we know how sensitive religious issues are in Plateau State. If it had been an absolute religious crisis, Plateau State would have been burning by now.
Do you believe that an end to the crisis is near?
Definitely. The difference between our committee and the one put in place by the governor is that we may decide to legislate on the recommendations. The Executive committee is equally important but when they make recommendations; it is left for the governor to enforce. However when you look at the issues of proliferation of local arms for instance, there are more local arms but they are more dangerous than the danger of the automatic weapons. You can come up with a recommendation that is legislative in nature by recommending that the House needs a bill to be sponsored and passed into law that will regulate the activities of blacksmiths, the governor has no option, the people have no option because it is a law. For instance again, when you say a bureau for peace and conflict commission should be put in place, it requires legislation. So by the time you put this in place, it reduces the pressure of putting peace committees in place. This is why I agree that the hope for peace to return to Plateau State as a result of the commitment of the state House of Assembly is paramount.
On a political note, previous House of Assembly sessions in Plateau State were seen as rubber stamps of the governor. What is the 8th Assembly doing to exert its independence?
The fact that a House of Assembly was inaugurated and within 60 days engages a governor just like we did during the suspension of Shendam local government chairman as well as the effort to truncate the democratically elected structures in the local government areas should tell anyone following our activities that we are doing something different. Unlike before, I am not saying legislatures have not been living up to expectations in the past but for a new comer legislature to look at the governor’s face and look at the communication of the governor, dispute it on the perspective of the rule of law within 30 days of its inauguration, it should be a House that Plateau people should look up to. We are definitely going to provide a people-oriented legislation that will better the lot of the people. So, we are not compromising, we are not a rubber stamp and we can never be. This is an Assembly that rose up to the president of Nigeria when he intervened by setting up a committee to intervene in the chlorine leakage. We rose to tell him that it was not his jurisdiction, that Plateau State governor should prove his competency by putting up an executive committee at the state level to investigate the matter. So if we can speak against the president of Nigeria, how can we be a rubber stamp to the governor?
On the issue of cattle rustling which is also one of the major issues that compounded the situation, yes we agree, Berom have cattle but the Fulani man has more cattle than the Berom man just like the Berom man has more houses than the Fulani
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