There is a deleterious cancer eating deep into our national fabric and this is the herdsmen era. With the increasing campaign and advocacy from community based organizations, civil societies and the media against this menace, political leaders are yet to rise up to their onus of finding a cure to this disease that is gradually becoming endemic. One begins to wonder why up till now, ground breaking arrests and prosecutions have not been made in this regard.
If the silence of leaders from the northern part of the country is anything to go by, one may also be poised to believe that ethnic bigotry and politics are the major impediments to curtailing this disease. To the awe of many Nigerians, the Northern governors and traditional rulers of Northern extraction, having painstakingly brainstormed at the summit held recently in Kaduna collectively affirmed that the herdsmen mowing innocent lives across the country are from Senegal and Mali.
Contrary to their position however, President Muhammadu Buhari had asserted in May 2016 that these herdsmen are from Libya. It is indeed becoming more interesting but worrisome how the blame game is being played. Who knows the country that will be in the court next? Maybe Somalia or Burkina Faso. These herdsmen indeed possess grade-A diplomatic passports. Enough of where these herders are from. They need to be tamed. Although the origin of the Fulani people is highly disputed according to literature, some things are fundamental; they are a unique people, mostly migrants due to their nomadic nature and are spread virtually across the African continent. A fulani man in Nigeria, shares a link with another one in Chad, Niger etcetera. They have great political and economic strength. They are their brothers’ keepers irrespective of their locations. The spread of Islam across the continent is largely accredited to the fulanis, a feat they achieved through Jihads and holy wars. They have conquered many territories in sub-saharan Africa as evident in the struggles of Usman Dan Fodiyo.
Recently in Agatu, a community that was mercilessly ravaged in 2016 by herdsmen, a grand conspiracy thrived where portions of lands were ceded to the herdsmen for grazing activities. When the people of Agatu are yet to recover from the shock of the massacre, when their community is yet to be rebuilt and compensations awarded for lives and properties that were lost, their invaders were rather pacified for the loss of cattle. To add salt to the injury, the deputy governor of Benue State made another shocking revelation, while speaking to the newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, that arrangements were underway, to provide more security for the herdsmen and their cattle during grazing on Agatu lands. How irrational indeed has our leaders begun to think?
It is only in this part of the world that cows accrue more values than humans. No wonder the federal ministry of Agriculture is embarking on the importation of grasses worth billions of naira for their consumption even when internally displaced persons are perpetually being neglected and bombed in error. Our military men are been sent abroad to learn the art of cattle rearing while our borders remain porous for these blood sucking demons to migrate into and across the country.
In a swift comparison, crop farming to Nigerians in the middle-belt and other parts of the country is like cattle rearing to a herdsman elsewhere. So why would a herdsman graze on a farmland knowing too well that the farmer’s crops will be destroyed? The cow is their source of livelihood so is the crops to the farmer. The Nigerian government is encouraging Nigerians to go into agriculture. A lofty idea indeed but the big questions are; how can agriculture be properly sustained when some persons are busy cultivating crops and the others are deliberately destroying the produce? Even in an attempt to settle scores and cows are killed by farmers, is it enough reason for herdsmen to kill humans in retribution? Or is the only form of agriculture been encouraged, cattle rearing? If the herdsmen are not Nigerians but foreigners as claimed by some political and opinion leaders, then is it not enough for the Nigerian government to protect the lives and properties of her citizenry from these intruders? If they are foreigners, why then is the government seeking to enact the grazing bill to give them lands across the country to exploit? If they are foreigners, why then do the government frown at citizens who speak ill of them?
It is a known fact that most political and traditional leaders from the North and even other parts of the country own large farms. They engage in cattle rearing and this is often done by the herdsmen who have now been tagged ‘foreigners’ while their children are busy acquiring quality education in other developed countries. I think it is high time we called a spade a spade. Enough of these lies, deceit and blame game. The herdsmen uprising will plunge the nation into crisis if not properly addressed. This carnage must stop. It is only in Nigeria that foreigners are allowed to move freely with weapons to protect cows while hapless citizens are left to their own fate for security. The simple truth is there are elements in Nigeria especially the so-called opinion leaders whose incorrigible mindset of tribal bigotry would derail any inter-tribal harmony and pacification efforts in a bid to stop the herdsmen unimaginative era. For most of our post independence history, Nigerians have lived relatively peaceful with each other including cattle breeders without recourse to tribal or ethnic origins. What then has gone wrong? Today the simmering flame of ethnic, religious and political bigotry has reached epic proportions and unless our national leaders take bold actions to confront it now; Nigeria might one day be engulfed in another civil war.
The government should set up an independent commission to address the issue of recurring farmers/herdsmen clash. Agriculturalists who engage in cattle rearing should establish private ranches solely for the purpose of cattle grazing to avoid encroaching on farmlands. They should emulate countries like Brazil who despite their involvement in cattle rearing registers little or no farmers/herders clash. National Identity cards should be made available for Nigerians and herders who are foreigners should be sent parking from our territories. The herdsmen era must be treated as a matter of great national urgency before we reach a point of no return. Time calls for action and action here and now.
Comrade Omaga E. Daniel is the Executive Director, Beyond Boundaries Legacy Leadership Initiative.
