Of ranches, cattle colonies and misplaced priorities (1)

Aliyu Musa

Some months ago I randomly came across a story on social media a former teacher of mine, now a retired professor, posted lamenting the invasion of his farmland, where the entire crops that were almost ready for harvest were destroyed. I felt very sorry and wrote a comment consoling him. At the end of the comment I suggested a possible solution that, somehow, angered some commentators on the thread. And I got very hostile responses.

On the front burners of Nigeria’s mainstream traditional and social media, these days, are daily reports of ruthless nocturnal attacks in different communities. In nearly all cases the alleged perpetrators are herdsmen. But because the word ‘herdsman’ is subjectively used interchangeably with or alongside Fulani it is almost always concluded that every herdsman is Fulani and, by implication, the perpetrators are Fulani.

So, it is understandable that those that angrily reacted found my suggestion about revisiting the grazing reserves matter irritating. They were out and out in support of a ban on open grazing, regardless of the consequences. Fulani herdsmen are generally not liked in many communities in the north-central and southern parts of Nigeria. They are accused of mass murders, kidnappings, armed robberies and many similar or worse vices. And, in the often sentimentalised courts of their accusers every Fulani is guilty, as charged.

And, on this basis, it is ‘sacrilegious’, even in the interest of peace, to advocate for any policy that would appear to offer them any form of favour (carrot), as my suggestion seemed to have done.

But this is so because many of us have failed to listen to or understand the other sides of the story: the stories of many who are needlessly demonised and condemned to permanent disrepute because of the actions of a few; the stories of the hundreds of thousands of victims of a system that unfairly expropriates from the poor and weak and pass on land to the powerful; the stories of victims of victims who turn to villains because no one cares about their plight, etc.

There are many narratives of the herdsmen and their menace. A popular narrative is the one explaining the roles climate change and conflict in the Chad Basin and north-eastern Nigeria have played in compelling the herdsmen to migrate southwards. A part of the narrative is that, due to the extreme pressure on the few available grazing land, they often come into conflict with farmers on whose farmlands they are accused of encroaching.

There are also tales of many of the herders losing their cattle to natural conditions and those caused by the deliberate activities of man. Of such activities are the incessant attacks on herders and rustling of their cattle. Many, who once owned large herds of cattle now own no cattle at all and can hardly survive. Non-nomad Fulani also have their stories. Many of them are victims of attacks, sometimes by their non-Fulani neighbours, who blame them for the crimes of the killer herders and much else.

Another narrative claims the killer herders are usually contracted by the familiar non-killer herders to invade communities and spill as much blood as possible. Proponents of this narrative refer to the revenge killings in parts of Plateau and Benue States. This, to this school of thought, is what makes the non-killer herders complicit and, therefore, deserving of whatever befalls them.

While it is true that most herders are likely to be Fulani the reality is not all herders are Fulani. Herding has become such a lucrative and competitive venture that many non-Fulani financiers have stepped in and taken over. These non-Fulani financiers are the big players who own very large herds and contract those Fulani herders who no longer own herds to herd their cattle. So, the regular Fulani we see herding cattle may only be earning some crumbs in exchange for his hard labour.

As legitimate as this source of livelihood may be there are many who may find it unjustifiable and undignifying and, therefore, unappealing. To this category of ‘dispossessed’ Fulani, a shorter, quick-fix route becomes an irresistible alternative. Thus, with their advanced terrain knowledge, they turn to armed robbery, kidnapping and cattle rustling.They become relentless and turn against even their tribesmen, whose cattle they rustle.

And as some recent evidence show, many of those illegally barricading our highways to abduct or rob innocent travellers of their possessions are some of these disgruntled former herdsmen. Even though they constitute a minority but because they wield sophisticated weapons, they, sometimes, outgun armed policemen and soldiers. Nonetheless, most of them are mere contractors whose powerful overlords, in addition to being shielded from the law, take home the bulk of the loots.

But these narratives are either deliberately ignored or hardly understood or mischievously distorted. So, no one talks about these disgruntled, perverse herders or their travails or sponsors. They are simply called Fulani herdsmen and, through these demonising labelling of an entire ethnic group, the real problems are evaded and imaginary ones are invented and overdramatised.

Therefore, without understanding these narratives, especially how the dispossession of a certain group partly fuelled this massive problem, it is unlikely that we are able to proffer enduring solutions. This, in effect, means a thorough reassessment of the Benue State government’s outlawing of open grazing and the FG’s cattle colonies plan is essential.

(To be continued)

This article is also published in the Blueprint newspaper of Saturday, November 13, 2018.