Tunji Ajibade
It’s disheartening that many Nigerians lose their lives in the herdsmen-farmers saga. But citizens should also be concerned when some who know the true context of it choose to propound a conspiracy theory and thereby make enemies for our government. Recently, The PUNCH reported the Federal Government’s response to an allegation made by a faith-based group in Nigeria. The group wrote to the British parliamentarians, alleging that the Federal Government was persecuting Christians. It added that the Federal Government propped up Boko Haram insurgents purposely to carry out attacks against Christians.
In a situation where a few bad eggs as cattle herders are counted among kidnappers in South-West Nigeria, I suppose Yoruba (especially the Christians) also have to write to the British MPs, accusing the Federal Government of sponsoring herders to kidnap their people. The people of Katsina State (where President Muhammadu Buhari hails from) may write to Saudi Arabia, claiming that incessant attacks from bandits that they experience are masterminded by Buhari’s government. That’s my executive summary of the petition written to the UK by people who should know better than to try to use religion to further divide a nation that’s facing too many challenges already.
I felt gratified lately when my uncle and father, Kabiyesi, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, during the public presentation of a book on the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo (former Premier of Western Region) spoke thus: “The Yoruba are proud of their harmonious relationship with indigenous Fulani which has spread over many centuries. Such a relationship has led to inter-ethnic marriages and business entrepreneurship” (The PUNCH, July 5, 2019). With this view, Alaafin Adeyemi put a stamp of royal authority on my assertion recently that the Yoruba, like the Fulani and Hausa people, over the centuries, share a cosmopolitan approach regarding dwelling with people of other ethnic nationalities peacefully. Some ethnic nationalities are increasingly against this disposition. Meanwhile, if we must build prosperous communities, every group needs to learn how best to cohabit and maintain peace at the local level. It’s hard work and no community should imagine it would avoid it and then blame the government.
Now, I pay attention to the words “indigenous Fulani” as used by Alaafin Adeyemi for two reasons. One, the problem of ‘armed conflict’ between herders and farmers in Nigeria is part of the larger issue of security challenges that Nigeria is currently experiencing. Any faith-based group that claims ignorance of this is being insincere and everyone knows insincerity isn’t synonymous with religion. Here, I use the words ‘armed conflict’ purposefully because it’s what has become of the situation regarding which the faith-based group wrote to the British MPs. The last time I used words almost similar to this regarding the herders-farmers saga, a reader wrote: “Thunder fire you! It’s the Fulani who have been killing our people…” But recent events in Kujuru LGA, Kaduna State, had shown to those who didn’t know it before that reprisal killings perpetrated by both sides had become the norm.
The second reason I pay attention to “indigenous Fulani” is the explanation I get from those who should know that initial acts which lead to feud between herders and farmers (who have for decades been good neighbours) hardly ever involve “indigenous Fulani”. Rather, it involves mostly herders from outside Nigeria. This distinction is needed in order for the reader to know the outset of the feud across the nation, not just northern Nigeria where the petitioners were from. There are Fulani herders who are indigenous to our country, those who have established relationships with farmers based on mutual benefits and friendship. But there are also herders who come into Nigeria with their herds. Note that these foreign herders don’t maintain the same level of local contacts with the people in the areas they pass through as the indigenous Fulani do. So, when issues arise, they can’t be traced.
Indigenous Fulani had lived in Yorubaland for centuries. Yoruba people who lived through the 1940s into the 1960s told me that when the Fulani who lived in settlements in Yoruba towns and villages had disputes with farmers regarding grazing on farmlands, both sides adopted peaceful resolution. However, when non-indigenous Fulani herders began to arrive in larger numbers, this was no longer possible. Indigenous Fulani have lived peacefully in other parts of the country too. But a stage came when foreign criminal elements did what they liked, moved on, and were never held accountable for their action. Who bears the brunt is obvious when local farmers react; most non-Fulani people can’t differentiate (although indigenous Fulani easily do) between indigenous Fulani herders and herders from outside Nigeria. To each reaction by either side in the ensuing hostility, there is another reaction. Now reprisal attacks are common. Several challenges face the nation, overwhelming government and its resources. In a situation where herders-farmers conflict continues, some have deliberately given it ethno-religious interpretation. It’s in this context a group wrote to the British MPs alleging that government was persecuting them. Any analysis that glosses over the proper context in which herders-farmers conflicts happen doesn’t address the root causes, so it won’t arrive at lasting solutions.
That our people have been through so much as a result of violent attacks is regrettable. But allegations of persecution of members of one religion cannot stand. Why? Indigenous Fulani (many of whom are Muslims) are also victims of foreign herders who often cause havoc on farms they own in places such as Gombe and Jigawa states. Many Fulani farm owners told me how these foreigners allowed cattle to eat their ready-to-be-harvested crops overnight and moved away without being caught. In places where people knew no difference between indigenous and foreign Fulani herders, challenging the perpetrators of these acts had led to deaths. Sometimes when there were reprisals, indigenous Fulani herders and their children who didn’t commit the offence were on the receiving end. Where acts of reprisal were actually carried out on foreign Fulani herders, those ones returned, carried out attacks and easily disappeared because no one knew them in the locality. In some places, even indigenous Fulani were not spared as everyone in sight bears the brunt. One person who worked with an NGO informed me how she met in a camp in Nasarawa State Fulani people who had also fled their settlements after attacks from foreign Fulani herders.
I call on Christian leadership in Nigeria to counsel those involved. They should be reminded that dividing our nation by planting hate in the minds of citizens and making enemies for our government among outsiders through such allegations isn’t in the religious Book they carry. If relating in love with fellow human beings at the local level as their Book teaches has (in their own estimation) become ineffective in changing the situation they complain about, a million petitions to some MPs will prove even less effective. I think allegation of persecution of members of one religion belittles a serious national dilemma. Those who make it insult all Nigerians of any religion who have been negatively impacted by our numerous national security challenges. The petition writers should drop this bitter, unforgiving, acrimonious, and non-reconciliatory disposition to every government not led by a Christian. It’s unbecoming of them as Christians. Instead, they should play roles expected of elders by promoting dialogue and reconciliation in a local feud that the locals themselves are better placed than government to resolve.
[Punch]
