The lackadaisical instinct of the
overwhelming majority of the cattle owners in Nigeria over the indiscriminate
destruction of lives, cash crops, and farmlands in the Middle-Belt, Southwest and
Southeastern regions of Nigeria by Fulani Herdsmen assumed a
dismal absurdity of late. And the stakeholders and those with vested interests
in the industry are not complaining. They have every reason not to. It is about
strength - they have it, they love it and they cherish it.
The first rule of
thumb in a combat is to situate yourself at a competitive edge and operate
from a position of strength. And that's what Fulani Herdsmen and their
principal owners enjoy the most. Strength. Going by their modus operandi, the
law of Trespass and Trespass to land are alien to them. Cultivated or not, the land belongs to no one, but the fittest. Therefore, the
herders have unqualified right to graze where and how they please. And the
stakeholders are happy. Yes, happy at the peril of defenceless land and farm owners. However, with Cattle rustling, it is a different standard. The trespassers, the culprits deserve the ultimate punishment.
Cattle rustling is not new. It is as old as
the profession of Agriculture and animal husbandry. Historically, it was a
disturbing phenomenon in North America and Australia in the olden days. Today,
it is making a dramatic comeback in some parts of the Northern region of
Nigeria, with brazen bravado. Surprisingly and contrary to known antecedents,
the stakeholders are on the alert, worried. And the Governors in the affected states are
experiencing sleepless nights. They are worried. Everybody is worried. And the NTA is in town, worried, and covering the story with unparalleled vigour.
A few days ago, some of the Governors held a
meeting in Kaduna to find solutions to the dreadful criminality ravaging
the cattle population in the region. According to Vanguard of October 26, 2015,
Alhaji Aminu Masari, the Governor of Katsina State, who chaired the meeting,
said: “As you know, we have a joint
agreement to fight cattle rustling and some acts of criminality in our states.
So far, the result has been very encouraging and we want to renew the
cooperation because this phase will end on the October 26, 2015."
I bear no grudge against the Governors
involved in the talk. And I have no reason to. Nevertheless, I find the wilful blindness on the part of the stakeholders that encapsulates the highly documented atrocities of Fulani Herdsmen in the rural communities of the Southeast and Southwest very provocative. More disturbing is the fact that none of these Governors who,
without any doubt, have a good understanding of the principal employers of
the erant herders, thought it worthwhile to organize and develop sustainable
mechanisms aimed at diluting, and possibly, permanently eliminating the known
hazards posed by Fulani Herdsmen outside of their immediate enclaves.
What is good for the goose is
good for the gander. It is about investment interest and how to protect it.
Much as the affected Governors and the stakeholders in the cattle business
depend on the proceeds of their cattle for sustainability, so do owners of
farmlands in Nigeria who have been contending helplessly with the atrocities of Cattle herders depend on their cash crops as sources of income and sustainability.
So, telling the Yoruba elders to shut
up for grieving out loud as Mr. Kwankwaso was reported saying at Ibadan is not just crude, but patently asinine. And excusing
the documented mayhem of the herders and blaming them on illiteracy as Mr. Kwankwaso
argued is to say the least, ludicrous, and too rickety a defense. If cattle
rustling is a crime that must be eliminated by whatever means necessary; invariably, the culture of forceful entry into the
farmland of another and turning the cash crops therein into pasture by cattle herders must also be labelled a crime against humanity that must come to an end.
Exacerbating a sordid state of
lawlessness by words or actions is not a show of strength. Mr. Kwankwaso is a
wrong messenger for the Cattle merchants of Nigeria. If his visit to the
Great Oyo Empire is meant to intimidate and instill fear on the people, he is
living in the past. His sense of braggadocio is on a slippery slope. The logic that influenced that supreme poise or the premise on which it is built has not been tested. No part of Nigeria is a conquered territory. We fought the civil war because we want to keep Nigeria one. It was a unification struggle, not one of conquest. Oba Ovonramwen of Benin gave the British invaders a bloody nose - a one of a kind resistance in the history of slave trade.
I am not holding brief
for anyone, not for any tribe, and not for any region. I am an Esan man. And I am a concerned
Nigerian. Thanks to the Internet and the Social Media, what becomes of Nigeria of today, tomorrow and years ahead is no longer an exclusive decision of those at the Federal Capital Territory as it was of Lagos/Kaduna in the forties, fifties and sixties. If it is not reasonable, equitable and mutually beneficial, trust that it will not sell. It will fail. That is the new attitude. Therefore, Abuja must take note. And Kwankwaso must take note.
A Disturbing Reality:
Just few days ago the man most
bloggers love to hate, the self-acclaimed Mr. Irrepressible, Chief Femi Fani
Kayode, stated "... if the
government refuses to protect us from them, we shall take strong measures to
protect and defend ourselves and our people. There is no crime in self-defense"
-Vanguard, October 27, 2015.
You don’t have to like Chief Fani
Kayode or be one of his fans to share his concerns. Cattle Herders, or precisely, Fulani Herdsmen, have been around us
over the years, protected and undisturbed as they traverse far and beyond the Plateau and the far South for pasture. But the wanton nature and the level
of lawlessness that their grazing activities assumed in the past few months
left no one in doubt as to the nature of the conquering spirit that inheres in them by the new dispensation. And I am compelled to call into question the scope of
the immunity that they so brazenly celebrate and abuse.
For the first time, I am feeling
despondent about my country and the future ahead. I would like to give the
President the benefit of the doubt that he is in control. But suffice it to say
at this juncture that he is completely detached from some disturbing realities
on the ground.
Fulani Herdsmen are on the loose - killing, maiming, raping,
kidnapping and ravaging farmlands and destroying cash crops down the
Middle-Belt and the larger Southern region of Nigeria, with intent to kill and inflict serious bodily harms on anyone daring to stop them. And the President has not seen the need to rise up to the occasion
and plead for calm.
Indeed, the President is making waves, garnering goodwill at the international scene, while things are no longer at ease at the home front, contrary to much anticipated expectations. I wholeheartedly espouse the philosophy of delegated authority. The President cannot be at all places at the same time. Be that as it may, there are some sensitive domestic issues, with global implications that the President must approach with concerted effort. If you build it well, buyers will come. The number one drawing factor for foreign investments is peace at home. Nigerians are yearning for a leader, a father figure.
Few days ago, some women from
four local government councils in Enugu State, protested to their State
Governor to protect them from Fulani Herdsmen. These women deserve praises for not resorting to self-help or self defense.
How long that show of restraint will last is a guess work. And that is the
immunity that the Herders presently enjoy - the restraint and tolerance on the
part of their victims.
Few weeks earlier an elder
statesman, the very personable Olu Falae, was abducted at his farm, only to be released
about four days later after his family members parted with a huge sum of money.
On his release he was warned not to talk, or else he should expect another
visit. He did talk. And, as promised, they came back few days later, wreaking undaunted, more
havoc on his farm and crops.
It is not enough for the President to make a demand on the IGP to find and rescue Chief Olu Falae, according to a press release; he must be seen to be in charge - talking to the Nigerian people - while the field workers are on the ground taking care of business.
Given the protest from
well-placed individuals and organizations in the affected communities, one
would have thought that the Presidency, using non-regular channel, would
mandate a respected traditional ruler or an elder statesman as emissary to the
State Governors and Traditional Chiefs in the affected localities and plead for
calm. That’s what leadership is about.
What we saw was an exuberant and incoherent Mr.
Kwankwaso, inventing some pedantic explanations for the mental state of the
herdsmen, blaming lack of education as the reason for their malicious adventure.
I think Governor Kwankwaso should go and reread the defense of madness or
malice. You cannot excuse an act, when the perpetrator knows or has every
reason to know that what he is doing is wrong or contrary to law. It is about common sense. Take
the law out of it. The standard is do to others as you would expect others to
do unto to you. You cannot
be so illiterate to the extent that you lack the mental state or ordinary faculty
to distinguish farmlands from uncultivated grassland.
Let's get one fact straight; there is peace in the land today,
because the victims are not ready to take the law into their own hands, referred to as self-help. And a
time will come when self-help or retaliatory measures will become virtuous - acceptable and applauded. And that is
not a development that the President wants to experiment with. This is the time for
government to intervene. That is the thesis of this essay - looking inward, what ails us, why do they cry, and the way forward. And that is the reason I am writing this essay.
Indeed, The Communique Was Not Stupid:
At this juncture, I would like to
reproduce some excerpts from the communique issued by by the elders of the Yorubaland at a summit titled, "National Insecurity and the Menace of
Fulani Herdsmen in Yorubaland", held at Ibadan on October 08, 2015.
"They have violated and killed our women like Mrs. Ayesi Balogun,
who was raped and killed by Fulani herdsmen on February 7, in Asa in Yewa North
Local Government of Ogun State. A newly-wed lady was reported to have been
raped by the same Fulani herdsmen in the same community.” “Regrettably, the
Nigerian law enforcement system has woefully showed it cannot protect our
people given the plethora of reports that different communities have made to
them with little or no action at all.” “Therefore, given the gravity of the
situation and the apparent unwillingness
of the Nigerian state to put an end to this siege and also because we
cannot afford to leave our people at the mercy of violent herdsmen who not only
destroy their economic activities but also rape our women and kill innocent
people.” "Summit demands immediate end to the lawless nomadic cattle
grazing in Yorubaland and ask all those who want to engage in cattle business
in any part of our land to do animal husbandry by establishing ranches.” - Some excerpts from the Communique on at the
auspices of Yoruba Elders on October 08, 2015. Emphasis mine.
I do not subscribe to the call for disintegration of Nigeria. Nevertheless, as an individual or group, you have
every right to defend yourself, your family and your property by appropriate measures consistent with applicable laws in the face of clear and present danger or when you feel violated by
an intruder whose definition of preemptive rights is akin to a page from a mob
scene and where the enforcer of peace is overpowered by the ghost of the intruder. Yes,
let there be peace, but there can never be peace where the aggressor
misunderstood his victim's peaceful disposition for weakness.
The most disturbing outcome about the coverage of the Elders' meeting was that the most import clause in the communique - the call for the
establishment of ranches by Herdsmen, was never covered by the press. According to a paragraph in the communique as seen earlier: "Summit demands immediate end
to the lawless nomadic cattle grazing in Yorubaland and ask all those who want
to engage in cattle business in any part of our land to do animal husbandry by
establishing ranches." Emphasis mine. I think the Yoruba Elders deserve praises here. Take it or leave, this is what the grazing industry in Nigeria will come.
In similar vein, the Enugu State House of Assembly, according the Saturday Vanguard of October 03, 2015, "began a public hearing on a bill to make provisions for the control of nomadic cattle rearing in the state." Accordingly, "the bill provides for the establishment of grazing areas in each of the three Senatorial zones of Enugu State and the nomadic cattle rearers shall ensure that the cattle are confined within the grazing areas as provided." Excellent.
These are measures that, if adopted and complied with, will go a long way in checkmating the lawlessness of the Fulani Herdsmen. From what we have seen above, the Elders of the Yorubaland and the Enugu State House of Assembly did not demand total cessation of grazing activities in
their respective regions, but that those willing to remain should embrace the
culture of ranches, which is the vogue in most developed countries of the world. Eventually, we will have to come to that realization in Nigeria to ensure
sustainable peace. The earlier the government of President Buhari and all the
vested interests and stakeholders in the cattle business come to that
conclusion that indeed, acquiring grazing land is a better alternative the safer for everyone.
Farming is no excuse for
illiteracy, just as illiteracy is not a justification for lawlessness:
According to the Today Newspaper
(Online edition) of October 26, 2015, on the solution to the incessant crises
between local farmers and Fulani herdsmen, Kwankwaso, called for their
education. In his words: “I am Fulani.
My parents settled 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.” Today October 26, 2015.
Farming is no excuse for
illiteracy, just as illiteracy is not a justification for lawlessness. I do not
know the world that Mr. Kwankwaso is coming from. As a kid and as a teenager, I
went to farm just like the other children in my community. And most often,
especially on weekends, we spend the night in the farm and come back home the following
day. It was a culture - a way of life. And we were rich and comfortable. And I was brought up living an
above middle class lifestyle.
You cannot deny these kids basic
education, confined them to rudimentary heritage and turn around to blame
their intolerance and barbaric proclivities on lack of education. The intolerance of others
and the barbaric exploits they are accustomed to are ways of expressing strength
based on the indoctrination they acquired from the like of Kwankwaso and their faceless employers.
August 2010, I drove from New
York City to Denver, Colorado (about three days ride), and the moment I drove by Kansas City, what I
saw next on both sides of the I-70 West Freeway for the next twelve hours of
driving was nothing but farm, farm, and farm, with cattle and cows feeding
unhinged, unmolested on the lustrous field. Why can’t we replicate something of
that nature in Nigeria? And that was part of the communique issued by the
Yoruba Elders, which was under-reported.
And while at the University of
Denver, I came across students introducing themselves in the classrooms as
farmers or living in the farm. These are lawyers, Masters level students like me,
pursuing specializations in Natural Resources and Environmental Law and Policy, telling me with pride and joy that they live in the farm with their
parents and siblings. No matter the level of the education they have acquired,
whether in and around the mountain region of Colorado or Wyoming, they always
come back home to their farmlands. It is a
way of life – a profession, an inheritance that must be preserved. In other
words, farming does not stop you from acquiring education. It is about the government's attitude.
Every politics, as the saying
goes, is local. As an Esan man, I was brought up a farmer.
My Dad was a farmer - a very prosperous one - before he died. My Dad, like his
colleagues in the community had two farms. One was closer to the house – about
45 minutes walking distance. The other was a bit further off – about two hours
walking distance from home. The one closer to the house was called "Obhiwe" (the small
farm), and that was the one we go to every day after classes at School. The
upper farm (Iwe-noqhua or Ugbodu) was the real farm - the one we go to on weekends. On the side, my
Dad had a huge cocoa plantation and colanut plantation. And we were brought up well grounded in all the activities in the farm and at the plantations - harvesting cocoa and fermenting the seeds, or
working in the farm clearing the weeds and tending to yam and cassava.
In addition, every child in the community
must be at school. It wasn't compulsory, but it was a culture - more than
compulsory. There were elementary schools all over the community. When I was in the Grammar School, I was a boarding student, but on
most weekends, I would travel home to assist my Mom in the farm. Then she was a window. It is the same culture all over the present Edo State. I spent about
three years at a rented apartment in Downtown, Benin City, and for
the three year that I was there, there was never a Saturday that the Landlord
and his children, both boys and girls, did not go to farm at Ekosodin village. Today, all of the
children are University graduate and happily married.
So, what are we talking about,
that you are illiterate because you are a cattle farmer, and therefore your
sins are forgiven you? And because you cannot separate what is right from what
is wrong; therefore, Chief Olu Falae and defenseless farmers in the Middle-Belt and South-East should willingly
sacrifice their cash crops for you to be able to nourish your animals? No
sir. Mr. Kwankwaso, your excuses do not hold water. Succinctly put, you are fanning the embers of war.
If I may recall, you openly lampooned President
Jonathan after the recent Presidential election, telling the world that you and your people know how to mobilize the almajiri and the uneducated talakawa to vote out the President who gave them
good education. It is only in Nigeria that someone of your status in the society
can utter such a sacrilege and still be standing, politically.
Governor Kwankwaso and the Cattle merchants are as guilty
as the hoodlums who kidnapped Chief Olu Falae in his farm. They are as culpable as
the herdsmen who raped and murdered defenseless women and girls toiling in
their farms. And they are as guilty as the herdsmen who knowingly trespassed onto
the farmlands of others and violently appropriated the crops the rightful owners
spent time and money to cultivate.
Today, Nigeria is at peace,
because the brutalities and the indiscriminate destruction of farmlands are
coming from the privileged, protected Fulani Herdsmen. You, Mr. Kwankwaso, cannot tolerate such carnage and ceaseless attacks on your farmlands were the reverse to be the case. Yes, I said it. None of the faceless cattle merchants can tolerate what is happening in the Southeast, Southwest and what has been happening in the Middle-Belt for decades were they to be at the receiving end.
We know "whats-up." One Fulani Herdsman is injured or attack in the Southeast or Southwest, thousands of immigrant merchants are sure of losing their lives and belongings in the Northern region. And that is the unverbalized bargaining chip - touch my herders or my cattle ravaging your farmlands, your brothers in our towns and cities are history. It is vile. It is diabolical. And it is retarded a mind game.
Moving Forward:
It is no longer a secret - never
was - that the President once traveled to Ibadan, Oyo State to intercede on
behalf of Fulani Herdsmen in that part
of the country who were facing some challenges. Then, he was only a respected retired
Military Officer. Today, he is a different person. He is the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria - our President. To him, no tribe or region is more important than
the other, and every industry or trade deserves as much protection as the
other. It is time we provide designated grazing land for nomadic Fulani
Herdsmen as the culture is in advanced climes, similar to what the Elders of the
Yorubaland outlined in the communique.
I am not the enemy. Those we should call to order are the stupendously rich
Kwankwaso and the vindictive Cattle merchants who send unlettered and barely
literate herders with pricey herds on a voyage to the unknown - armed
with dangerous weapons, traversing friendly territories with aggression,
shooting at sight defenders of protected rights, ravaging private farmlands
with impunity, and unleashing brutal sex and extorted kisses on unwilling
defenseless participants.
I want to point out that this paper purposely left out details of specific instances of gruesome attacks unleashed on defenseless farmers in the Southeast in the past one year. At the end, I want this paper to be remembered as the final thought, the deciding thought on what has been a very polarizing issue in one of the most dominant markets in our local economy.
We have to talk about it. Not because I hate the Fulani or the Cattle merchants.
But because they are the invaders, the aggressors - pushing Nigeria to the
brink of economic crisis and ethnic conflagration. A crisis that will surpass in scope and style the boko haram insurgency and the activities of the Niger-Delta militants
combined. Time is of the essence. The President has the goodwill to negotiate
permanent peace. The best way to start is the establishment of grazing ranches.
Chief Olu Falae has a dam at his farm. And that is the attraction, according to
the elder statesman. If we have two or three dams in each of the
state in the federation, specifically set aside for grazing areas, it will go a
long to ensuring peaceful co-existence between the host communities and the
Cattle Herders.
As a final thought, the Middle-Belt cannot be vanquished of the
aborigines - the land is their ancestral land. In addition, the now docile Igbo women will dance naked, if the need be, to protect their
farmlands and ensure the virginity of the meek in their midst. AK47 is not the answer. The law of vicarious liability is live and well in Nigeria. You cannot separate the principal merchants from the acts or omission of their agents, the herders. I am
not an ethnic chauvinist, but I will not be blinded by political correctness to
deviate from the truth or close my eyes to disturbing reality. Politically, I am progressive. And I believe in one great Nigeria of equal rights and justice where my Edo
State has the right and power to define the use of her land and resources, and a Nigeria where no Kwankwaso will invade my privacy or impugn the integrity of my elders.
Yes, I
believe in one true strong Nigeria where my right to serve my nation is not defined or
circumscribed by my place of birth or the opinion I share on my Blog. Talk, I will talk, about what ails us a nation-state, proffering practical and common sense solutions as appropriate, rather than embarking on separation or disintegration campaign. I don't want my son and his generation to start all over again, discussing 1914 and the ills of amalgamation, true federalism and the barbaric exploits of some Fulani Herdsmen occupying his Father's land.
Let's change the narrative starting from this very moment. And that depends largely on the nature of CHANGE that President Buhari is willing to pursue. Yes, I believe in one Nigeria. Let's give grazing ranches a chance. The first step is to set up a Federal Task Force for Land/Sight Acquisition. Next, the Task Force, will among other things, collaborate with State Governors, Stakeholders in the industry, Financial Institutions, and Community Leaders with a view to securing suitable grazing land for cattle merchants and their herders. I beg to move.
Alex Aidaghese
