Saw this article on naij.com. Please I will like all of us to read this article with open heart. Let's all work collectively to make this country great by jointly condemning what is wrong and collectively appreciating what is right. Nigeria belongs to us all. God bless Nigeria.



When did cattle rearing become a national business?

Is cattle rearing by Fulani herdsmen a Federal Government project? Why this question, someone may ask? Let us look at this scenario.

If I need to set up a factory to make soaps or motor spare parts, or a farm for yam or rice, or a poultry farm, or a fish pond, or a school, or a newspaper house, I look for land/property to buy or lease or rent. Even if I want to sell clothes or meat or books or beans, I look for a shop to rent for my business.

If I make a loss or profit, it is my business. The government does not care about it. Even though the government does not provide any free land for me, it – local government, state government and federal government – still comes to collect different taxes from me.

Last week, the Vanguard’s editorial of April 12 stated that President Muhammadu Buhari recently mandated the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to establish 50,000 hectares of land across the nation within six months for the grazing of the Fulani herdsmen’s cattle as a way of ending the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers.

So, the questions are: Are these cattle national project (like a road or a power station that serves the whole nation) that the Federal Government will take land from different parts of the nation for their grazing? When the cattle are sold, do the farmers pay the money into the federation account for all the states to share? If I need a cow, is it handed over to me free of charge as a Nigerian citizen?

Yes, in his asset declaration, President Buhari said he owns 270 cows. Are we joint-owners of those cows too? If these cows are privately owned, on what basis should Buhari mandate Ogbeh to establish 50,000 hectares of land across the nation for their grazing? Is this fair? Is it just?

The Vanguard editorial entitled, “FG’s grazing reserve: invitation to chaos,” quoted Ogbeh as saying: “We are faced with cattle grazing challenge now and the conflicts. A lot of people are getting killed. It is my business to solve that problem. The President has told me so. I have done my survey and I have taken my decision that we have to grass up 50,000 hectares of land in the next six months across the northern belt before we move south. I’m bringing improved grass seeds. I will multiply it and I’m going to solve the problem of grazing. Whether critics like it or not, it’s my business.”

The Grazing Reserve bill

While that was on, the issue of the Grazing Reserves Bill at the National Assembly reared its head. The bill, which has passed the Second Reading, seeks to establish grazing reserves across the states for Fulani herdsmen as a way of curbing the conflicts between them and the locals. On the surface, it looks like a well-intentioned bill, but looked at critically, it portends danger. The way many people in the South view it is that it is a subtle way of creating an official territory of the Fulani within each state of the federation. The relationship between the Fulani and the local communities where they operate has been turbulent. From Taraba to Plateau, to Benue, to Ondo, to Edo, to Delta, and to Enugu, it has been a tale of bloodshed. Recently in Agatu, a farming community in Benue State, for instance, the figure was put at over 300 people killed, houses burnt and villages sacked. Days after the Agatu attack, it was reported in the newspapers that armed Fulani men occupied Agatu with hundreds of their cows. The government did not send soldiers or police or the Department of State Services to the place. It was so bad that the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, could not visit the scene until after five weeks. When the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, addressed the two sides, he did so in the Benue State capital, Makurdi, rather than in Agatu. At that meeting, a leader of the Fulani herdsmen, Ardo Boderi, claimed that what sparked off the crisis was the killing of their 10,000 cows in Agatu. That was a justification for the massacre by equating human lives with cattle and admitting taking the law into their hands. At the end of that meeting, there was no report that the man or any of the Fulani was arrested, even if merely for questioning.


A similar scenario has played out in all the states where the Fulani attacked the locals. There is no report that any suspect has been arrested for the killings, even though the Global Terrorism Index has named Fulani herdsmen as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world. They killed 1,229 people in 2014. The Fulani herdsmen are even captured in photos bearing guns within Nigeria.

Rather than take some measures to curb their attacks, the government looks the other way and decides that the best way to deal with them is to pacify them by giving them other people’s land. Some have even argued that the killing of locals by the Fulani herdsmen could have been a strategy to instill fear in the people and make them succumb to part with their land “for the sake of peace”.

Evidence of federal government support to Fulani herdsmen

Beyond not taking any action to curb the killings by Fulani herdsmen, two recent actions underscore government’s tacit support for the activities of the Fulani herdsmen. In February, a community in Awgu, Enugu State, alleged that two of their women were abducted by Fulani herdsmen. They protested by burning the huts erected by the herdsmen within their community. The army swooped on their community promptly and took away 76 men and detained them in Abia State without allowing people access to them. When people agitated about this, they were charged to court two weeks after detention and granted bail.

The second action of government was in Abia. It was reported that five Fulani herdsmen were kidnapped, a dastardly and condemnable action. But shockingly, when a grave was found in a forest in Abia, shortly after, where about 55 corpses were discovered, the DSS immediately announced that five of the corpses were the kidnapped Fulani herdsmen, adding that they were killed by members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra. This statement of the DSS was interpreted as a calculated attempt to cause an inter-ethnic crisis between the Igbo and the Hausa/Fulani and also brand IPOB a terrorist organisation. The DSS did not care about the identity of the other corpses in the grave. It did not tell anybody that it.

There are even fears that the 55 corpses could be those of civilians extrajudicially killed by security agencies, given the recently released report by the United States accusing Nigeria’s security agencies of human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings.

These two actions by these government agencies show that government values the life of a Fulani more than that of hundreds of other Nigerians. And that President Buhari is a Fulani makes it sadder, because ordinarily he should have ensured that he is not seen or suspected of favouring his ethnic group in matters involving human life.

We are not all cattle rearers

The message the government has sent out to the communities is that it will not protect them against any attack from Fulani herdsmen, but if they defend themselves against the Fulani, Government will come for them.

Therefore, trying to carve out any part of any state as grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen will be seen as a covert territorial expansion of the Fulani into all parts of Nigeria. It should be resisted by the National Assembly.

Those who engage in cattle rearing should invest in the creation of ranches, within their environment, where cattle will be well taken care of without any contact with people in the streets. The cows will become healthier, bigger and more nutritional. They will also yield more milk that is more nutritional. And there will be no conflict between cow owners and communities.

This opinion first appeared in The Punch

This article expresses the authors’ opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.


https://www.naij.com/804525-fulani-herdsmen-become-landlords-every-nigerian-state.html

Well hmmm

The small Peniis misogynist Buhari has finished this nation! He must be stopped!! Nigeria can't survive 6 more months under this administration!!!

So, Fulani settlement will be in every state. Very soon they will claim the country. Barbaric bill

@lalasticlala, let's educate our people

This even surpasses royal status

They went to call their brother to fight

SleekMallam:
The small Peniis misogynist Buhari has finished this nation! He must be stopped!! Nigeria can't survive 6 more months under this administration!!!

You said your opinion are the one vote him in ?

Buhari will make his great grand father, Uthman Dan Fodio's nightmare vision of the fulani being kicked out of Nigeria come to pass.

don't insult my crush
I think those herdsmen needs to b tot some lesson

C'mon guys, Buhari is counting on their votes for re-election just like he'd already done. After then, he can choose to do away with them. The illiterate president surely knows igbo vote is a no no for him.

Where are those Fulani butt lickers? Joborskill and Passingshot come read and get yourselves enlightened.

They are dull


They need help

[b]I laugh at the ignorance displayed by many emotionally clouded Nigerians who are against the grazing bill proposed for the Fulani cattle rearers in all states of the Federation. Let's remember that like every other Nigerians, the Fulani's have the right to live and do their business in any part of the country. It is their constitutional right as Nigerians to own grazing fields in any choice location of the country so far it is paid for or provided by the government. We ought to applaud the move made by the federal govt because it will help in ending the unnecessary violence between the Farmers and the Herdsmen. By provision of grazing fields, the fulani's will be restricted to graze on an apportioned land provided by the federal govt. It will be a crime for them to graze their cattles on people's farms once the bill is passed into law. We should not castigate every fulani herdmen as killers because of the few bad ones among them. The incidence in Agatu and other parts of the country were perpetuated by cattle rustlers and not Fulani herdsmen. Cattle rustlers are armed terrorist who steal cattles from herdsmen and graze them around the country as a cover up for their terrorist acts. The ordinary Fulani herdsmen are peaceful people and will never harm innocent Nigerians. The fulani's do not move around with weapons but sticks to guide their cattle. I observed most critics of this Bill are from the eastern part of the country. The igbos need to realize that the federal govt owns all the land and territories in Nigeria and it can decide on how it chooses to use every inch of its territory. The fulani's have every right to graze in the SE and there is nothing any one can do about it. It is their right as a Nigerian just like the igbos are the most travelled tribe doing business in every part of the country. We cannot decide to restrict all igbo traders to the east because of the attitude of few bad eggs amongst them likewise the Fulani's. Most Nigerians criticized the federal govt when they decide to create ranches and import grasses from Brazil to graze these cattles so the herder wont roam about. Now the FG is shifting plans to create a grazing site for the herders in every state which is not a bad move by all standards. We are one Nigeria and we must learn to tolerate ourselves and live in peace. We must shun the politics of hatred and tribalism. Lord Luggard saw the potentials in our diversity before merging us up to form this great country. We must not allow ethnicity to cloud our sense of judgement when the federal govt proposes law that will favour every Nigerian. We must support the grazing bill so the Fulani's can do their business in peace. BTW i am a Yoruba man from the SW. proudly Nigerian [/b]

cc: fulanimafia

@joborskil, why will federal government provide land for them? Try to read between lines.

So, are you telling me fulani now works for the federal government? These people are businessmen and for your information, I can authoritatively tell you that, many companies have folded up due to government policies: why is the fulani's exceptional?

Why must the federal government provide grazing site for them? Can't they be cautioned and giving a strong warning? Anyone that wants to graze his cattles should afford to buy grazing plots by himself.

Maybe, the federal government should provide grazing site for those who have goats, sheep and even rabbit rearers? This is too ridiculous

So, the fulani will now have settlements in every state? Just try to reason on your own