Last Monday, heavily armed herdsmen attacked the Ukpabi-Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, killing at least 48 people. Widely condemned, the attacks have led to increased pressure on the government to do something about the Fulani herdsmen, who have frequently clashed with local farming communities across Nigeria.
In several states, local people have decided to form vigilante groups to protect themselves against the marauding Fulanis, while some communities have asked them to leave their land. Hitting back at what it sees as the demonisation of Fulanis, Macban has said its members have been forced to graze across the country where they have been attacked and only retaliate in self defence.
Yesterday, Senator Dagiri Alkali, led a delegation of Macban leaders to defence headquarters in Abuja, where he met with military commanders to state the case for the herders. He said the Fulani herders moved into new territories across the country because they had been forced out of their territories in northern Nigeria.
According to Senator Alkali, the Boko Haram insurgents attacked the Fulani in the northeast and other parts of the country and stole millions of cows from the breeders. He added that the Fulani were also victims of the activities of cattle rustlers in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue and parts of Kogi states with millions of cows taken away from them.
Senator Alkali said: “When the reserves and forest were gazetted and reserved for cattle breeders, this incident was not there but the increase in population has now wiped out the entire grazing reserves in this country, with about 400 and something of them all wiped out. When you have a population of about 20m cows, where do you keep them, especially when everyone of us likes to eat meat.
“This is a venture that over 20m people are engaged in and nobody cares to know what the causes of this problem are. Presently, you know the case of Boko Haram as they attacked and decapitated the population of Fulani in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and some parts of Taraba."
He wondered why people had not taken a look at the factors that had driven the Fulani to different parts of the country. He asked where Nigerians expected the herdsmen to keep the over 20m cows in the country.
“The cattle rustlers have displaced the Fulani in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue and in some parts of Kogi. Millions of cattle have been taken from these herdsmen, so when somebody says a Fulani man killed somebody, I wonder why? It’s only a poor man that fights.
"However, you, as the military people, you know self-defence is an art. In the military, if you are attacked you have to defend yourself as when you have been squeezed, you have to find a way to survive,” Senator Alkali added.
He said when the Fulani were killed in the bush, nobody carried it in the media, although he admitted that it was not right for anybody to kill innocent persons. Defence spokesman Major General Fatai Ali, who represented the chief of defence staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, said the military had set up a committee to interact with the stakeholders on the issue.
He warned those involved in violence to stop forthwith as the federal government would subject them to the full weight of the law. According to General Ali, the military will carry out a directive given to it by President Muhammadu Buhari to handle the situation and ensure that no more lives are lost.
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