Fulani Herdsmen-Farmers Clash: Between Resource Interests And Criminality
THE influx of the nomadic Fulani herdsmen into Ondo, from the northern part of the country, predates the creation of the state due to the luxuriant vegetation of the state, in addition to being a door to more lucrative cattle markets in the south.
Fulani cattle rearers are attracted to the maze of several rivers, lakes, and creeks like Awara, Oni and Ose in the north; Owena, Ogbese and Ala in the central; and Oluwa, Yeghwa and Alape in the southern districts of the state.
Like the historical event in South Africa, the Great Trek, which started in 1835 when the Boers and the Zulu, Bantu and Matabele natives often had confrontations over encroachments on their lands; and the same line of trades that bound them together as farmers and cattle grazers.
There is similar experience in the southwestern part of Nigeria, where the nomadic Fulanis, graze the rich vegetation to the chagrin of the people.
In the case of Ondo State, it has for some months been the den of notorious kidnappers often identified as the Fulani cattle herdsmen, who hold their victims hostage and demand ransom on their heads.
The instances of the kidnap of Afenifere leader, Chief Olu Falae on his farmland in Akure and an Apostolic Faith church pastor in the northern district of the state are just two important examples.
There have been strings of complaints against the unchecked invasion by the Fulanis; aside destroying the farms, while grazing, they are accused of driving the cattle to the main towns and streets, also causing painful traffic gridlock, unavoidable accidents and other nuisance.
ALLEN AYEYE, a resident of Okitipupa, repeatedly complained about excesses of the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle, who often become hostile to their hosts whenever they try to stop them from encroaching and littering the environment with cow dung, even in the metropolitan cities.
On February 5, a herd of cows strayed across the expressway, somewhere around Sebi Petrol station in Akure, where an unsuspecting luxury bus from to Lagos from Abuja unavoidably rammed into the herd, and killed 11 cows, while the herdsmen fled into the nearby bush.
Similar incident happened earlier, where about 10 NYSC members, who were returning home after the one-year compulsory service lost their lives in a ghastly auto-crash caused by unguided cattle grazing on Owo Expressway.
Barely two months ago in Akure, they destroyed about two kilometres of maize farm, which belongs to Chief Olu Falae, the former Secretary to the Federal Government and head of Ilu Abo community in Akure. The State Police Command intervened, and according to Falae, the Fulanis were made to pay compensation for encroachment on his farmland.
Like a vendetta, and as rampant in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and other northern states, Falae was kidnapped on his farmland by people he said were Fulanis, whom he said must have come to avenge their brothers.
In a similar situation, another septuagenarian in Akoko North East LGA, Pastor Japhet Obafemi was kidnapped along Auga-Akunnu Road at the border with Kogi State around 5.05pm, same Monday Falae was kidnapped on his 77th birthday, with a ransom N3 million paid to secure his release.
An eyewitness and driver of the Kia Optima that was hijacked by the kidnappers, Ope Obafemi, the son of the victim, told The Guardian that about 13 Fulani herdsmen armed with cutlasses, daggers, amulets and guns whisked his father into the bush.
Akure Youth Coalition (AYC), a national and socio-political movement of the Akure speaking people in four LGAs of the state protested the series of abductions, condemning the activities of Fulani herdsmen in the metropolitan city.
Mr. Adekanbi Oluwatuyi, the President of AYC protested that the cattle herdsmen “had continued to harass and intimidate our people on their farmland with their cattle forcibly entering into farmlands, while they descend on anyone who dares challenge or query their actions.
“We are not unmindful of the fact that any Nigerian is guaranteed the freedom to live in any part of the country as enshrined in Section 41 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended are however quick to state that this does not confer on them the right to intimidate and violate the rights of their host communities.”
AYC made seven point demands that, “having carefully reviewed the activities of Fulani herdsmen and more so, the recent kidnap of Chief Olu Falae, it is glaring to us that we are no longer at ease with them.
“That nomadic activity has been outlawed all over the world. As this practice is no longer fashionable in any sane society. The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency look into the existing laws on this matter without wasting time.
“We demand that those behind this act be arrested and prosecuted without any further delay. We will not accept anything short this,” the youths said, enjoining the state government to initiate a bill checking the activities of the herdsmen and resist further attacks on their land.
BUT the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi aptly doused the rising tension the umpteenth time by lauding the youths for their high sense of maturity and peace-loving demeanour during and after the Falae abduction, saying they averted what would have led to widespread ethnic crises.
He revealed that all the traditional Obas across the Akure kingdoms in the four LGAs of the state would soon meet to deliberate on a lasting solution to the unfolding menace.
Afenifere, a Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group decried the development and the excesses of the Fulani cattle herdsmen against their hosts across the southern part of Nigeria, describing the kidnap of its leader, Falae, as a shame on the entire nation and a premeditated insult on the Yoruba race.
The Yoruba leaders revealed that the 2014 National Conference, where Falae led the Yoruba delegation, resolved that nomadic cattle rearing should be stopped and instead have ranches for cattle business across the nation; and insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari must implement the CONFAB report.
The Former NADECO chieftain, Chief Alani Akinrinnade described the incident as unfortunate and noted that the activities of the Fulani herdsmen is becoming worrisome to the people of the southwest, attributing the porous security challenges facing the country to the alarming rates of kidnapping and other related crimes in the society.
Aside the efforts of conventional security operatives to quell the challenge in its entirety, the leaders of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), a militia group founded at the close of the twentieth century, Dr Frederick Fasehun and Otunba Gani Adams at different times had suggested a militia intervention to check the national malaise.
“OPC is not interested in crisis, but it was founded primarily for protection of its own and for building bridges in Nigeria. All lovers of Nigeria unity like OPC, communal peace and national progress must rise to this challenge,” Fasehun said.
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1 Comments
Most Yoruba leaders admit the nomads into the homogeneous Yoruba communities when the nomads entice them by giving them heads of cattle.The end result of this questionable gift-taking from nomads is cattle roam freely streets in south-west, destroying, with attendant agonies, gardens and farms.Moreover ,most nomads, stateless and in real sense of it are not Nigerians, live a vagabondish life so that they are prone to committing serious crime.The south west ought enact a law that permits only rearing cows in ranches not in streets.
We will review and take appropriate action.