MENACE OF FULANI HERDSMEN, WAY OUT OF THE WOODS

Nelson Ekujimi

Nigeria, April 27, 2016 – Government must as a matter of necessity and urgency put in place machinery for education and sensitization of herdsmen on the modern day realities of animal husbandry as against the old practice of moving herds on foot from farmland to farmland

April 27, 2016 – The primary purpose of government in any society is predicated on the protection of lives and property of the citizenry and where this is absent, the government is deemed to have failed because no meaningful development can take place in an environment of insecurity.

This position about the primacy of security as being fundamental to the optimal functioning of man for the good of society is better appreciated and emphasized in the American socio psychologist, Abraham Maslow’s famous theory of five hierarchy of needs in which the needs of man is highlighted in a pyramidal form, such that if the lower needs are not met or satisfied, man cannot move up to the satisfaction of the next level of need, starting from the satisfaction of the below physiological need, followed by the safety or security need, then love, esteem and self-actualization needs.

It is with the hindsight of the concern for societal safety of lives and property, that one is greatly disturbed by the menace of insecurity in our land which daily manifests as a hydra headed monster in different shapes, sizes and colour such as in alleged Fulani Herdsmen invasion and killings on farmlands and villages, terrorism by boko haram, kidnappings for ransom, rape, oil and gas pipeline vandalism, armed robbery, cattle rustlings, etc.

However, the issue of invasion by Fulani Herdsmen and killings of farmers and villagers across the country from Plateau to Benue to Nasarawa, to Enugu states, etc seems to have of late, overshadowed other crimes and has assumed a frightening dimension because of the collateral damage to lives and property as well as the threat to national security.

In as much as we must as a people condemn criminality of any sort at anywhere and at any time because of its negative effect on the society, it is also important to admonish our people to be careful not to rush to judgement or be incited on the identity of the attackers or perpetrators of a crime based on the reportage of the press or eye witness in view of our historical political history of ethnic and religious hostility which is a reality of the times and a debilitating hindrance to national unity and cohesion.

The constitutional responsibility for investigating, identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators of a crime in a sane society is the duty of the police whose job can be enhanced by eye witness or victims account. The law, in order to avert a situation where the state will become a breeding ground for anarchy by persons or groups, who may want to settle personal scores, by resorting to self-help vest these powers exclusively in the police which is a trained, professional and impartial institution.

One must also remind our people to realize that the herdsmen and farmers clash did not just start yesterday or began since the coming on board of the President Buhari’s administration on May 29th, 2015, but that the clashes have been regular phenomenon since time immemorial, but has only attracted regular media attention because of the intensity and widespread political undertone, which cannot be overlooked.

In fact, some conspiracy theorists have come up with the explanation that the notoriety of the menace of the alleged Fulani herdsmen attack in recent times could be the handiwork of fifth columnists and agents of the old order of lawlessness and impunity who are using it as a tool of revenge to blackmail, incite the people and cause ethnic disharmony in the land in order to endanger national peace and security.
But be that as it may, it is hoped that the security agencies will immediately swing into action to investigate, arrest and prosecute this criminals and their sponsors who have and are committing crime against humanity and undermining national security.

However, before we go further, it is important to ask that, how did we get here? By this, one meant that, how did the spirit of oneness and brotherliness which hitherto existed between the herdsmen and farmers in the not too distant past degenerate to such an alarming level of war in which they have resorted to unleashing violence?
If my memory serves me right, one recollects that as a young boy, we were regaled with tales of how herdsmen and farmers mutually coexisted in such a peaceful manner that the farmers invited the herdsmen to graze on their farmlands and fertilize the land with their wastes ahead of the planting season.

So, like we asked, what happened or strained this mutual relationship to a frightening dimension that has resulted in both parties not Seeing Eye to eye again? The answer is not farfetched and it could be traced to a breakdown in our social relations and values which today is the root cause of most of our societal ills.

The state is also culpable for the crisis that we are confronted with today because as time went by, the issue of cattle rustling or theft became a big issue that the herdsmen had to contend with because of the failure of the state to guarantee their safety in carrying out their pastoral existence. We are very much aware that a lot of times, we read or listen to reports of herdsmen who were attacked and at times killed by cattle rustlers who stole their herds.
Infact, it was a big security concern and the poor or non response of the state to addressing this issue of criminality against the herdsmen is naturally responsible for them taking the law into their hands to protect themselves and their herds since the state can no longer guarantee their security.

This can be explained as the genesis of how the herdsmen resorted to self help and became carriers of automatic rifles and dangerous weapons as well as rampagers on private farmlands following the failure of the state to protect them. Unfortunately, this nonchalant attitude or conspiratorial silence of the state emboldened them to be lawless because they came to view the owners of the farms on which they graze their herds as collaborators or informants to cattle rustlers and thus must also bear the brunt of their bottled up anger which is rather unfortunate and condemnable.

The complicity of the state in allowing the herdsmen and farmer’s clashes to degenerate to this level of crime against humanity can also be explained by asking how or what is the source of the herdsmen acquisition of automatic rifles while the security agencies looked the other way? Or can the security agencies explain to us whether they are the ones who granted these herdsmen, the permit or license to carry automatic weapons since we know that such weapons are not permissible by law to be in possession of individuals? We must also ask that, what has been the response of our security agencies to unraveling how herdsmen in possession of automatic rifles like AK 47, acquired the expertise to use such firearms?

Unfortunately, some persons and groups who are staunch supporters of the immediate past administration at the centre which was voted out of office at the 2015 polls by the Nigerian people, have lashed onto the latest crisis as payback time and are the ones wolfishly crying loudest by their resort to politicizing, blackmail and whipping up of sentiments against the present administration on a crisis that has been allowed to fester for so long by the irresponsibility of past governments and are trying to manipulate the citizenry to make it seem as though the President Buhari administration is maintaining a conspiratorial silence just because the President committed the unpardonable and inexcusable crime of being a Fulani man even in the face of the obvious fact of statements condemning the atrocities and directives from the federal government to the security agencies to move into the crisis areas to arrest the situation.

Thus the time has come to admonish the security agencies to realize that they have a constitutional and sacred responsibility for the protection of lives and property, thus it behoves on them to rise up to the occasion to investigate, identify, arrest and prosecute these criminals and their sponsors who have violated the constitution, are stoking up ethnic tension, undermining national security and embarrassing the nation.

The security agencies must expand and reinvigorate their intelligence network to keep watch over the activities of herdsmen which is suspected to have been infiltrated by boko haram elements to unleash violence on innocent farmers, villagers and thus undermining national security. All leads must be thoroughly investigated to curb the excesses of these Fulani herdsmen.

We must also as part of our patriotic duty to complement government efforts in ensuring safety of lives and property as well as harmonious and peaceful coexistence between the various ethnic nationalities inhabiting the Nigerian geographical space, call on the Federal Government to immediately begin exploring measures of curbing the incessant herdsmen and farmers clashes by encouraging and mobilizing the states since they are the ones constitutionally entrusted with land ownership to look at the prospect of building of ranches with modern facilities as a means of revenue for grazing herds since animal husbandry is big business and in that way, jobs and wealth will be created, healthy and nutritious cattles will be raised.

The government must as a matter of necessity and urgency put in place machinery for the education and sensitization of herdsmen on the modern day realities of animal husbandry as against the old practice of moving herds on foot from farmland to farmland which is a source of threat to their lives, occupation and national security.

The government must as well tighten security at the borders in order to check the influx of migrating herdsmen from our neighbouring countries who have been alleged to be the chief instigator of the perennial herdsmen and farmers clashes.

Nelson Ekujumi is a public affairs analyst