Opinion: On El-Rufai and the herdsmen attacks in Kaduna

by Wale Atanda

The fact that hundreds of people in communities across Southern Kaduna have been brutally killed over the past couple of months is no longer news. It has been occurring on such a regular basis that some have come to accept it as normal, something not to bat an eyelid over. This is unfortunate. What is more unfortunate is the government not putting a stop to it.

The killings are committed by rampaging herdsmen who kill indiscriminately over grazing rights. The Fulani herdsmen are nomads who move across the country to graze their cows. They come into conflict with farmers when their cows over-graze and destroy farmland. Farmers sometimes retaliate and kill the cows. This sets the tone for bloodshed perpetuated by the herdsmen.

They are notorious for this barbarity not only in Kaduna but also in other parts of Nigeria, from Nasarawa to Enugu and from Zamfara to Ondo State where a former presidential candidate in the 1999 elections, Olu Falae was kidnapped by herdsmen. Communities like Agatu in Benue State and Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu State are now synonymous with the violence and savagery wrought by Fulani herdsmen. In Agatu, over 300 people were slaughtered and 7,000 displaced earlier in the year. Since then, there have been continued and sustained attacks on communities making up Agatu. Not a single person has been arrested in connection with the bloodshed. According to reports, more than 1,269 people have been killed in Benue State alone by the herdsmen. The people of Ukpabi Nimbo woke up on the morning of April 26th, 2016 to the sounds of gunshots and the screams of their neighbours as they were slaughtered in their sleep. At the end of the massacre, upwards of 40 bodies were counted and millions of naira worth in properties were destroyed.

The notoriety of the herdsmen did not start today. In 2013, they were reported to have killed 80 people but by 2014, the numbers had spiked to 1,299. The danger that the herdsmen present is one that is clear and present. In 2015, the Fulani herdsmen were named as the fourth most dangerous terrorist group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index. This moved Nigeria up the ranks to become the third most terrorised country in the world.

Attention should be drawn to Kaduna state where the governor, who is the Chief Security Officer, has been accused of doing little to stop the killings by various groups including the Christian Association of Nigeria. It is so bad that the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union has called for communities being attacked to arm themselves as a self-defence measure against the continued attacks. Just this month, a veteran journalist, Sam Omatseye called on the CAN to use their tithes to arm attacked communities as a protective measure. He cited the inability of the government to act as a reason. Calls like this should not even be made because the government should ordinarily be alive to its responsibilities.

The governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El rufai, is known for taking things dear to him to heart. In 2012 he said this: “We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes” apparently in response to the army’s war against Boko Haram. One would expect that he would treat the crisis in Kaduna State with the same sense of seriousness he took the killings of Fulani people that were involved with the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

The way the governor chose to address this issue was by paying the Fulani herdsmen to not kill people. This would have been laughable if it were not so sad and disappointing. It is unbelievable that the state government is basically paying killers to stop killing. What about arresting these people and prosecuting them for their crimes. It is even sadder that the people who bore and continue to bear the brunt of the atrocities of the herdsmen are not even compensated for their loss and physical and emotional trauma.

A solution to this continued bloodshed would be for the herdsmen to transition from grazing to ranching. If the herdsmen have a defined area within where they feed their cows, there would not be this kind of conflict between them and landowners/farmers. Instead of the government to focus on grazing routes which will inevitably still cause conflict, they should look into ranching as a viable resolution to the crisis.

 

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