Fulani: Banished by desert, rejected by their countrymen
Written by Ahmad Salkida in Maiduguri
Monday, 25 May 2009

The story of nomadic Fulani who recently left Zamfara for Damboa in Borno state in search of pasture for their cattle, only to be rejected by their new hosts.


Last week a large number of Fulani nomads drove into Damboa local government area in Borno state to settle. They were crammed into two separate trailers with some of their livestock. Many of the people who encountered these Fulani concluded that they are the victims of the much criticised decision by the Plateau State Government to expel the Fulani in the area, and send them back to the far north where they came from.

When this reporter undertook a trip to where the nomads settled, about 10 kilometres along the Chibok road in Damboa, they said they were never in the Plateau, but like their fellow kinsmen that were humiliated in the Plateau, their motives are the same. They came far away from Zamfara to the southern part of Borno, in search of water and grass for their livestock.

According to the nomads in Damboa, they also contemplated the idea of settling in the middle belt, but a surge in hostilities between them and the people in the area in recent years, made them to settle in the less fertile soil of southern Borno. The reasons the nomads gave for this migration, which this reporter corroborated in the Department of Geography at the University of Maiduguri, are captured thus:


The far north, which can be considered as northern Borno, Yobe, Jigawa and most parts of the north western Nigeria, where the Fulani tribe are predominant are now in its first decade without substantial moisture in its soil. Drought has perpetuated itself in most part of these areas. As the temperature level increases, the soil gets hotter and dries out, the relative humidity decreases which in turn, impede the formation of rain clouds. Major rivers like the Lake Chad that has supported livestock, and serves as a natural barrier to the encroaching desert in West Africa, shrinks to its barest minimum.

According to one account, rivers in these parts of the country have turned to sand, water ponds are no more than infected mud-holes, about 80 percent of the livestock, cattle, goats, sheep and camels have given up life and dropped to die on the parched, cracked earth. For the Fulani that consider the well being of their livestock’s as a religious duty ,or even more important than their lives, to migrate to where there is food is non negotiable ,and that was why they were in the Plateau, in Damboa and in many other places towards the south for greener pastures.


Interestingly, one week after their arrival in Damboa the Fulani are not sure if they are welcome or not, if they will stay, or if they will be forced out of Damboa. “When they came, they did not notify the authorities in Damboa, they did not notify anyone or get the consent of the village head, and district head of the area. In fact they never followed due process, and I am having a meeting with the head of the security agencies and traditional leaders, before I will take the next step, ”

“What I can say now is we are worried about their presence, why did they come… I have had enough problems with the Fulani and I am not ready to take more.” These are the words of Alhaji Lawan Kuru, the executive chairman of Damboa LGA, who is equally considering banishing the Fulani from his area. His only reason for doing this, is that he and a lot of the indigenes of the area, who are predominantly farmers, view the Fulani with suspicion.

For many Fulani nomads, their homes, right from time immemorial,have always been wherever they can find food for their livestock. The encroaching desertification and drought, made worse by population explosion and large scale crop farming, have made the Fulani to compete for the few available fertile lands with crop farmers in the townships. The farmers in Plateau or Damboa see the nomads as settlers coming to take away their lands, and the nomads flock there ,because of the severe conditions in the desert region.

Severity of conditions is also indicated by reports of shepherds who deprived themselves of water and milk,so that calves might have a chance to live. At one point even valuable camels are reported to have been punctured for their water supplies. Other nomads are said to have squeezed dung for moisture.


Daily Trust interacted with these shepherds and saw that nothing other than ‘the search for food’ attracts them closer to the cities, but anytime there is a conflict, like any other ethnic group they find themselves either with the victims or with the aggressors. Unfortunately, food for them is now moving closer and closer to the south. “We are running away from the shortage of food and the people are sending us back to die, I won’t go back I will stay back and fight” said a Fulani who just moved to Damboa with 19 members of his family.

Alhaji Jebbe, Sarkin Fulani of Kwaikwai community in Bungudu local government area in Zamfara State, who displayed his indigene letter to prove his citizenship of Nigeria, believes the authorities here will not only allow them to settle down, but construct a borehole for them, a request which the Chairman of Damboa frowned at. According to the Chairman his mandate is to provide basic amenities to the indigenes of Damboa, a claim refuted by Barrister Haruna Mshelia, the chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Borno State chapter.

“Settler or no settlers ,these people are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and they are free to move freely anywhere in Nigeria. The chairman is expected to provide water for people in Damboa not indigenes of Damboa” said Mshelia who criticised the LG Boss for saying the Fulani did not follow due process before coming and even settling in Damboa “Which law in Nigeria requires a citizen to go and inform a Lawan or district head, before he or she settles anywhere. There is no such law” said the NBA scribe.

The chairman of Damboa said his disposition to this ethnic group is borne out of his experience as a chairman. “I spend 3 out of my 5 working days settling disputes between Fulani and farmers,in court and out of court .Therefore allowing more Fulani here means I may not even have the time to stay in the office, because my people are predominantly farmers” said Lawan.


But “what is the cause of these problems, I was told that the Fulani are in a forest reserve in Damboa that is gradually abused by farmers and residents, and as the chairman, he has the authority to stop people from encroaching in this grazing reserve. I think government at all levels have failed the Fulani. Everyone likes meat but we don’t care how it is produced” said Mshelia.

Cattle paths and both sides of the roads have been utilised by crop farmers, and it is difficult to stop cattle from feeding when passing these farmlands. According to many Fulani , crop farmers are given land, but the same is not applicable to livestock farmers. Crop farmers are given loans, fertilizers and other subsidies by governments, but not livestock farmers in Nigeria. “Yet we are all Nigerians, no wonder they always claim to be more superior ,and I can assure you if these injustices are not addressed,there will be a resistance by the Fulani people very soon” said a lecturer who is also Fulani at the university of Maiduguri.

yes united north

Plateau State and Fulani migration

SIR: This is in response to Reuben Abati's "The Expulsion of the Fulani in Wase" (The Guardian, May 17). This is an enduring question to which you have made as usual, the best argument. That question is: How do you know a Fulani that migrated from other West African States like Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina-Faso, Niger, and Chad etc, from the Nigerian Fulani of Othman Dan Fodio's Jihad?

How does one know the Fulani that their ancestors were defeated by the British in present-day Nigeria? How would you separate a Fulani that has ancestors in Nigeria when we became independent? Chronicles of Fulani History display people that speak the same language, dress the same, and have the same faith and who stretch through Northern African states. To settle an Ibo man or a Yoruba man in Kaduna is not a problem because we know where these people originated from.

The adage of "Not in my Back Yard" cannot be ignored here due to the nature of your unknown neighbour to be. I believe the Fulani migration should be curtailed, they should settle and pay taxes and be responsible in developing the community were they live. A Habe nation of the Fulani ought to be discouraged.

It is time the problem of Fulani was solved with the help of a "Fulani Nation" yet to be identified. Before we can identify such body, no single Government should be blamed for any misstep or oversight in trying to avoid a repeat of violence. The latter assertion is as a result of the Plateau State Government's indication that the set of Fulani came in such droves that warranted a pro-active measure. To have done nothing after such hurricane migration of non-resident persons to a community that just started to sow the seed of peace after awful disturbances would have attracted more blames.

Gideon Ogbeide,
United States.

I bet that the chairman of Dambao LGA was among the people shouting down on the plateau govt a while ago for threatening to extradite the fulanis.
However, these guys should be properly settled if they are really nigerians. Then again, how do we identify a nigerian without a national ID database.