February 17, 2018: The chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breaders Association of Nigeria, Oyo State chapter and the Seriki Fulani of Oke-Ogun, Alhaji Yakubu Bello, shares his thoughts with NIGERIA TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER reporter, TUNDE OGUNESAN on the intractable crises between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.
Excerpts:
What do you make of the ongoing Fulani herdsmen/farmers crises across the country?
We have never have it so bad since I grew up under the tutelage of my father, Alhaji Ahmed, who hails from Katsina. Although there had always been misunderstandings between herdsmen and farmers, we have never had it so bad. The problem at the moment is hard to comprehend.
What can you attribute it to?
The greatest cause is high level of intolerance and misunderstanding. I mean, if by whatever means we have offended one another by the way we conduct our businesses, if we have differences and we are able to resolve them amicably, nobody should be privy to whatever might have happened between us. But when there are issues and we are not able to manage them well, the situation becomes a bigger problem that affects so many people.
In the past, farmers have accused herdsmen of destroying their farms while the herders have accused farmers of causing the death of their cows by poisoning their farmlands and water.
How do you see this?
I have never seen a situation where cattle would feed on a farm and the farmer won’t report to the police and get the matter taken up. There has also never been a situation where such a matter would be reported to me as the state chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association and the case would not be looked into to ensure that the farmer gets compensated for whatever damage had been done to his farm. I have never seen a situation where cattle destroyed farms in the state and the farmers didn’t report to police authorities.
We have a way of resolving these problems through the police, me and even the traditional rulers of the affected community. Killing of cattle by farmers will not, in any way, resolve the crisis between them and herdsmen.
Then what can be done to resolve the crisis permanently?
Government. I can boldly say that the continuation of this crisis is as a result of ineptitude on the part of government institutions.
How?
If a herdsman uses a farm to feed his animals, the government should arrest him and punish him according to the law so that he would know that what he has done is bad. In the same vein, if a farmer kills a cow, the government should also make him face the music. If people see the trend, they will be deterred. But the government has failed to use the instrument of law to really check the crisis. And that is why I said government is the one prolonging the crisis.
Are you referring to the police, state or federal government?
The police. And on the part of the state government, they should ensure that every stakeholder abides by the law of the land. The government should be able to weigh in and determine any case involving herdsmen and farmers. In most cases, only Allah and the person involved could determine if the encroachment of a farmland was a mistake or intentional at that point in time. But with strict adherence to the law of the land, this doubt could be reduced. But farmers applying chemicals on their farms to kill cattle indiscriminately is also a dangerous thing. It is a danger to eveybody’s health.
The chemicals applied on a farmland to force herdsmen away is very dangerous to human health. The same way they affect our cattle, they affect anybody that eats from the meat of the affected cattle. A Fulani man would never eat from any cow that was not slaughtered; it is their people that eventually go to the farm to carry these poisoned animals and feed on them.
Do you read any political meaning to the crisis, apart from the government not doing enough to contain the situation as you earlier mentioned?
Yes, it is highly political, considering what happened in Iseyin last Saturday.
What happened in Iseyin?
We learnt that a farmer was killed on his farm. His people then reported the case to the police and when the police got there, they saw the corpse and asked where Fulani settlement was around there. Nobody knew any within the vicinity. The police said they didn’t see any Fulani settlement nearby; there wasn’t any sign of cattle movement around the place. Then the police brought the corpse to the community to continue their investigations.
Now, tell me it is not political when Yoruba farmers now gathered themselves and went into inner Fulani settlements, killing anyone in sight.
Did the Fulani community report the incident to the police?
Yes, we did.
What action did the police take afterwards?
Well, a police team went there and saw everything that happened.
When you say the current crisis is politically motivated, are you saying it has something to do with PresidentMuhammadu Buhari being a Fulani?
Yes, President Buhari is a Fulani but let me tell you this: we Fulanis are not enjoying his government. Walahi!
In what way?
Thanks. It is during Buhari’s administration that people are killing our cattle at a high rate. Although the problem has existed for a very long time, during his administration, the crisis has worsened. Fulanis are not enjoying his government at all.
But it is widely believed that murderous Fulani herdsmen are now on the prowl because they enjoy cover from the president?
Where?
Never! (hisses). There is nothing like that. It is pure imagination; there is nothing like that. What I have told you is the truth. What the Fulani herdsmen are asking the government to do is to punish any Nigerian that is culpable. The crisis is affecting Fulanis. There is no shield from Buhari’s government.
What exactly do you expect from him?
He should have used his power to check this problem. It is getting out of hand.
As a Fulani man, have you ever made any move to meet with President Buhari on this matter?
Yes, we did but nothing tangible came out of it.
Does that mean you may not vote for President Buhari in 2019?
Let me tell you, we Fulanis don’t keep our money in banks. Our bank is our cows. Buhari has not done anything for Fulanis. Every Fulani herdsman today is crying.
If we vote for Buhari again in 2019, every Fulani man that has cattle in the country will lose their herds. With people poisoning our cows, we have lost uncountable cattle and they [the government] didn’t take any step tostop it. So, if our herds now perish, many Fulani men having no formal education, what do we do?
Does that mean no Sai Baba in 2019?
We don’t want Baba.
But why do you think the problem is escalating now?
We don’t know as well. We have never seen things degenerate to this level before.
What of the Benue issue, do you agree that it was Fulani herdsmen that attacked the people?
Let me tell you something: Igbos will go and rob and then attribute it to Fulanis. Markudi people will rob and people will attribute it to Fulanis. Yorubas will rob and people will connect it to Fulani. Everything that Fulanis did not do, they turned it on Fulanis. Every tribe does so many things but Fulanis take the blame. So many of these things are lies. For example, what happened in Iseyin last Saturday, can we say that Fulanis killed that person and farmers were killing Fulanis in revenge? You can only ascribe an offence to whoever has committed it.
With the way things are presently, is there any hope of a permanent solution?
I want to tell you that Fulanis have no problem with the farmers. Fulanis and farmers have been relating with one another from the times of our forefathers. The mistake of cattle straying into farms is not new and we settled this between ourselves.
Is it true that some Fulanis from Niger Republic are the ones attacking?
That allegation is strange. If some people are saying Fulanis are from Niger Republic, I cannot speak on that. I know what happens where I live. I don’t know anything about that. No Fulani comes from Niger Republic to Oyo State here. All of us here in Oyo State are Fulanis from within Nigeria.