By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, I’m sure most of you are already overwhelmed by the endless deluge of bad news from Abuja. What makes it sadder is that for the first in a long while, President Muhammadu Buhari actually had what seemed a good international outing in Paris, France, where he was warmly received by President Emmanuel Macron, CEOs of major corporations and some Nigerians in diaspora. How I wished his overzealous acolytes had allowed the old man to savor the modicum of success he recorded on a trip that was nearly marred at the beginning by some controversy over whether the events would hold or not.

While the President and his team from the Foreign Affairs as well as the Trade Ministries were busy working frenetically and feverishly on making the best of this trip, unlike when he was nearly picketed in London sometime ago, some members of his kitchen cabinet were busy messing up back home. This time, the latest scandal was an acerbic interview granted by no less a personage than the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), a very handsome man who at age 54 has achieved so much for himself and his family. He’s one of the most powerful men in Nigeria today and he has had his fingers in many pies. His word is supposed to be the law that everyone must respect and obey, and he is expected to promote justice and equity for every Nigerian and not for a particular tribe or faith. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case as Malami chose to touch the tiger by the tail when he spewed some profanities on national television without considering the repercussions. Since then, he’s known no peace.

Had he known, Malami would have navigated himself away from saying some of the things he said on Channels Television that evening. He was even lucky that the anchor of the program, Mr Seun Okinbaloye, a perfect gentleman, was charitable enough to have granted him some soft landing by not probing him deeper and opening him up for public scrutiny and odium. Otherwise, he could have roasted him with some hotter follow up questions. The obviously irritated, and easily irritable man, made no visible effort to control his anger about the raging debate concerning the senseless and mind-boggling spate of killings all over Nigeria which has necessitated the usually squeamish Southern Governors to voice out their frustrations and the unanimous decision to ban open grazing in the Southern parts of Nigeria. Instead of Malami to sympathize with the victims of wanton killings, rape and stealing, he was busy comparing cattle rearing to a totally unrelated venture.

The Governors did not ban the Fulanis from doing their legitimate businesses. They were only restricted from wreaking further havoc on haplessly helpless Nigerians under the guise of traveling long distances with their cattle. Many of them have been confirmed to be some itinerant and incredibly violent Fulani nomads from other West African countries. They appear to have been emboldened by the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Rather than place the blame for the security conundrum where it rightly belongs, some Northern elites prefer to blame others for their spectacular failure despite spending some outlandish budgets on fighting insurgency.

One of the key reasons Nigerians supported Buhari in 2015 was the fact that they expected him to be hands on and much more better and stronger than his predecessors. Even though he was not expected to know much about other items, like the economy, requiring serious attention, the general consensus was that Buhari was the best to save Nigerians from banditry, not to compound it. Sadly, six years after getting power, Buhari seems definitely more confused than President Goodluck Jonathan that was called unprintable names. But patience is very good and ultimately rewarding. The ways of God are definitely not the ways of ordinary mortals. The Buhari that was apotheosized to the level of an omnipotent ruler has become a hawk that cannot even snatch ordinary chickens!
So you can now imagine how Minister Malami rubbed pepper on our festering wounds by spitting his vituperation without any justification for doing so.

The Minister displayed no empathy but complete arrogance. Unfortunately, like all men of power, he forgot that there’s always a terminal date for all forms of tyranny when slaves will be forced to kick against the predators. Most leader hardly prepare for that auspicious moment. Tyrants always take delight in the weakness of their victims and they just assume they can never seek their freedom from servitude. This was Malami’s error of judgment and he’s paying dearly for it right now and the hullabaloo is not likely to go away soon.

Let’s thank Buhari for some favors he’s done for us. The most important one is that his government has pummeled us so much and trampled on us in the mud that he has now opened our eyes to the fact that “a man who’s down should fear no fall.” Nigerians are now used to anything they throw at us. Such is life. But many are now determined to reject the perennial insults. More and more people are now speaking up and I’m so proud of them. Some of our political leaders now understand the fact that new power blocks are emerging from the grassroots and throwing up the Nnamdi Kanus, Gani Adams and Sunday Igbohos at grassroots levels. These men wield incredible influence on their people.

Only if the Malamis of this world knew how angered and bitter most Nigerians are, he would never have dared pounce on them the way he did in that interview. Now, I can confirm that most Nigerians have lost hope in anything tangible coming out of Buhari’s government and they have decided to live and survive like orphans in the next two years. Malami thus misfired outlandishly when he compared the herdsmen to spare-parts dealers. He merely fell short of mentioning the Igbo traders who litter different parts of Nigeria. One could easily feel his, undisguised, deep seated anger against the Igbo, whose only “crime” was fighting to have their Biafra nation. They lost the battle eventually, lost millions of lives on both sides, lost their properties but never lost their pride and capacity for hard work. There is nowhere you go today in this wide world that you won’t find Igbo people doing great work and performing wonders. But the North in particular never got over the killings, or more appropriately, the genocide that took place across the divides. 40 years after the civil war ended, we are virtually back to square one because we’ve refused to learn any lesson about true reconciliation.

Malami, wittingly or inadvertently, reopened the old sores. This he did at a time most Nigerians in the South are sick and tired of the unbridled arrogance they’ve had to endure for decades from their Northern counterparts. If truth must be told, this master/servant relationship between the North and South has reached its final crescendo. It no longer matters to the people if the military continue to pursue defenseless citizens into their homes in the South East while studiously ignoring the main hooligans who have reduced a once great country to the level of Libya and Somalia with warlords in every part.

I’m sure the Malamis are misreading the situation in the South because of some Governors who have been joining the ruling party APC. Sadly, our politicians never learn from even our contemporary history. How can any reasonable soul jump into a party that has clearly divided Nigeria across ethnic and religious lines, pauperized the people more than ever, over-borrowed to fund government profligacy, and speedily leading us to avoidable war! Of what use is a Governor who jumped ship without majority of his people following him? Of what use is a party that is known and certified to use and dump its benefactors? By this time next year, Buhari himself would have become a lame duck and would have carried a burden heavier than elephant and all those jumping now would soon realize that they’ve jumped from frying pan into fire! There is no miracle left for Buhari’s government to perform in less than two years that he couldn’t do in six years. If all the PDP Governors like, let them jump into APC. We shall wait patiently to sing their requiem, sooner rather than later. It won’t take too long. I remember in the twilight days of Dr Olusegun Mimiko in Ondo State when he jumped out of the Labour Party that gave him his gubernatorial tickets twice into PDP. I wrote an article that got him and his Commissioner for Information angry.

But he later told me that the pressure on him was much them but that I was indeed right and his wife had also cautioned him against the decision but it was too late then. Those who think they can be protected by Buhari and APC would soon realize that they are actually not the President’s priority. Anyone who has studied Buhari well would know he does not worry himself too much about others. APC has since locked out the Tinubus who gave their all to make him President. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole must still be wondering what hit him. Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has only escaped, so far, by the whiskers! But see how courageous people like former Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose, are managing their lives and able to speak up their minds instead of being manacled inside a tyrannical party. Is it not better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell?

A good leader must know his onions. If Malami had hoped to bully the Southern Governors into submission, he missed his target. Instead, he got what he did not bargain for when Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), Mr Femi Falana (SAN), Dr Mike Ozekhome, Chief Kayode Ajulo and others released a plethora of legal education and reorientation for his tutorials.

What the Malamis have succeeded in doing is to unite those who would never have worked together in the past. Unless the peoples of the South East, South South, South West and Middle belt have been spiritually sentenced to everlasting slavery, this is the best opportunity for them to work together. What can kill the union is the selfishness and egocentricity of some ambitious politicians who may refuse to join the search for consensus candidates. If they can overcome this by agreeing to step down for a very good and generally acceptable candidate, no matter where he or she comes from, the battle is over!

Why the IG of Police Must Rescue Lagos

Lagos State, the heartbeat of Nigeria, is under siege and it is terrible! The bandits have finally penetrated and ready inflict pain on the people who are already bearing so much under Buhari’s government. Most of the bandits themselves are complaining of lack of jobs.

I believe the solution lies in an urgent intervention from the top. Thousands of security personnel should be injected immediately into the system before insecurity destroys Lagos.

It is not easy to maintain a mega city like Lagos. The security architecture should immediately include heavy presence of intelligence officers.
Lagos is too precious and strategic and should not be allowed to perish like many other Nigerian cities suffering from all manner of debilitating challenges…

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, sees himself as a tough guy who does not concede an inch in a battle. Though petite, his ego is as big as an elephant, which he feeds with the sanctimonious adulations of his lickspittles.

Foul-mouthed, el-Rufai has little or no respect for others. He picks fights to prove his machismo. He loves dominating his environment.

And give it to him, he has won most, if not all, his battles since he emerged on the political stage; first as the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), and later as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Even as the governor of Kaduna State since May 29, 2015, el-Rufai has remained pugnacious. If he is not pulling down the houses of his political opponents, he is talking down on Southern Kaduna leaders and insulting religious authorities. He is manipulative and authoritarian and does not take prisoners. Conceited and immodest, he relishes conflicts and abhors harmony.

Why is el-Rufai, a brilliant man by all standards, the way he is? His former boss, Obasanjo, gave an insight in his 2015 memoir My Watch.

“Nasir el-Rufai’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological. Why does he do that? He is brilliant and smart. I grant him that too. Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent and brilliance. At the same time, I recognised his weakness,” Obasanjo wrote.

“The worst is his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai. He barefacedly lied which he did to me severally about his colleagues and so-called friends … My vivid recollection of el-Rufai is his penchant for lying, for unfair embellishment of stories and his inability to sustain loyalty for long.”

Obasanjo insisted that describing el-Rufai as a “malicious liar” will not only be a gross understatement but, in fact, demean fibbers. “He is more than that,” the former president wrote before landing the sucker punch. “He is a pathological purveyor of half-truths with little and no regard for integrity.”

That is a harsh characterisation of any individual no matter how villainous, not to talk of a public officer of el-Rufai’s status.

But he has not done anything to disprove Obasanjo in the two decades he has been in public office. Never mind that they have since made up, with Obasanjo paying el-Rufai a surprise visit in Kaduna on December 11, 2019, where he praised him as one of the best persons to work with and also a near-genius.

Many people will disagree with Obasanjo’s new characterisation of el-Rufai as a delight to work with but only a few will dispute that he is a genius, albeit an evil one – apologies to General Ibrahim Babangida.

Now, el-Rufai is in the news again, and as usual, for a very wrong reason. This time, he is fighting the entire Kaduna State workforce with the purported retrenchment of thousands of workers.

Organised labour kicked against the move particularly at a time like this when poverty walks on all fours. But the Emperor would not listen. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) declared industrial dispute, and on Monday, state workers, with the backing of the central labour union, began a five-day warning strike.

The first day was a runaway success. The state was paralysed as aggrieved civil servants, aviation and rail workers joined the industrial action.

All over the world, warning strike is a euphemism for an appeal by labour unions for dialogue. It is a way of saying, we are here, come, let us talk. But to Emperor el-Rufai, who sees himself as the state writ-large, that is an intolerable affront, a challenge to his assumed sovereign authority.

The enraged Emperor of Kaduna State went berserk, literally. As the workers turned out on Tuesday in their numbers not only to continue with the strike but to march to the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, the seat of Kaduna State government, on Polytechnic Road, Badiko to peacefully express their grievances, all hell was let loose.

A more diplomatic leader would have personally received the peaceful protesters and explain to them the constraints of the government. Who knows? They might have seen reason with him or even where there are differences, meet him halfway.

But to the el-Rufais of this country, compromise is a sign of weakness and dialogue is seen as an act of betrayal.

So, he did what he knows how to do best – deployed thugs to confront the peaceful protesters. Of course, that sounds familiar. It was the same tactics the government deployed last year in dealing with youths protesting police brutality. Thugs armed to the teeth were deployed by the agents of the deep state to kill and maim peaceful protesters which they in turn used as a pretext to violently crack down on the youths.

But the tactic failed spectacularly in Kaduna on Tuesday as the brave workers led by NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, outnumbered the thugs and chased them away.

Trying to save the Emperor from his self-inflicted predicament, governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) advised el-Rufai to tread softly by exploring the option of dialogue in dealing with the striking workers rather than issuing threats.

The Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) urged him to negotiate with the NLC in the interest of the people who would be the most affected by the crippling impact of the strike on the state’s economy.

El-Rufai spurned the advice and bared his fangs. Resorting to his notorious playbook, he declared Wabba wanted for ‘economic sabotage,’ and branded the entire Labour leaders bandits, who are not different from those terrorising Kaduna State.

He fumed that they will be prosecuted on charges of “wanton destruction of public properties and disruption of peace,” and ordered his Ministry of Justice to initiate the prosecution of all nurses involved in the strike and immediate sack of those below Grade Level 14. Lecturers of Kaduna State University (KASU) were not spared. They were also sacked for joining the five-day warning strike.

On Tuesday, el-Rufai tweeted: “Ayuba Wabba & others of @NLCHeadquarters declared wanted for economic sabotage and attacks on public infrastructure under Miscellaneous Offences Act. Anyone that knows where he is hiding should send a message to @MOJKaduna KDSG. There will be a handsome reward!

“They have attacked facilities. They have engaged in economic sabotage. That’s an offence under the miscellaneous act and we want him (NLC President). We will bring him to justice. We are looking for him. He should report to the nearest police station or report to us. He will be prosecuted for economic sabotage.”

Such a childish stunt. He was just making a mockery of himself because at the time he was tweeting, Wabba was at the rally at NEPA roundabout, which the state-sponsored thugs interrupted and el-Rufai knew his whereabouts. He was only dancing naked in the court of public opinion.

Asked if the two parties – labour and government – had found a middle ground in the industrial dispute, el-Rufai said: “There are no grounds for compromise. They have used their last ultimate weapon. It will not change anything. It will not change our position and that’s it.”

But what crime have the workers committed? Peaceful protest is constitutional. It is their human right. It is not a crime. What is illegal is the crackdown. Allowing thugs to disrupt peaceful protest by workers is not only unlawful and unconstitutional, it is repugnant and barbarian.

Declaring NLC leaders ‘wanted’ for peacefully exercising their right runs contrary to the Constitution and is antithetical to all international treaties and obligations that Nigeria freely signed. But this is Nigeria where governors see themselves as bigger than the states they govern and are not accountable to anyone.

Nigerian governors behave like emperors. They are dictatorial, tyrannical, overbearing and arrogant. El-Rufai exemplifies all that is wrong with the Fourth Republic democracy.

And to imagine that el-Rufai – like the other emperor in Kogi State, Yahaya Bello – is eyeing the presidency post-Buhari! Our leadership nightmare is still at the infancy stage.

By Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, OFR, FCIArb, LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D

INTRODUCTION

The Northern elites, including the Hon Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, miss the point sorely when they compare Igbo peaceful spare-parts dealers who go about their normal spare parts business legitimately, (building or renting their shops), with savage, maniacal AK-47-wielding herdsmen. Igbo traders do not kill or attack Northerners with their stock of motor-tyres, rims, spanners or chasis. They do not pour petrol from fuel tanks that they sell, on Fulani herdsmen. They do not use car bumpers or wind shields to smash the heads of herdsmen.

How does open and street grazing of cows by fully armed foot-patrolling youth which is now clearly anachronistic, diluvian, primitive and antiquated, be likened to legitimate spare parts business being carried out in shops or designated areas, with the Igbo traders paying tenement rate, taxes, water electricity and light bills? Have you ever heard of any herder paying tax? How do you equate spare parts dealers with mindless violence unleashed on poor helpless and hapless farmers in their own farms, and destruction of their crops with reckless abandon by these rampaging nomadic pastoralists who are on a mission of conquest and expansionism?

How do you compare apples with oranges, by equating Igbo spare parts dealers (who maintain log books, cash books, and accounting systems in their secluded and approved environments of peace and tranquility), with rampaging fully armed murderous bandits (passing for headers), who unleash terror and mayhem on innocent citizens? These open grazers kidnap travelers on the way, invade homes, rape mothers and their daughters and slash people’s throats, unprovoked, unmolested and undisturbed? Do Igbo traders overrun Northerners or Fulanis in their homes? Is it not the spaces legally allotted to them by the Federal Government, Local Governments, cities or MDAs, that they legitimately and quietly operate from?

How do armed herders who freely trespass on people lands, destroy their crops and other means of livelihood, and slaughter them, compare with peaceful traders plying their legitimate business? Do spare parts dealers pose security threat to their host, or anyone else? The Igbos do not foist any pre-determined supremacist hegemony and irredentism agenda or other races as the herders (many of them from neighbouring countries) are currently doing.

Freedom of movement is only for human beings. It is not for cattle, sheep and goats. Will the Northerners tolerate the open sale of alcoholic beverages in their States, even though it is the constitutional right of other ethnic groups to move about and sell beverages of their choice.

Are these Northern elites seriously arguing that Southern State Governors cannot ban open grazing in their states, to protect their innocent citizens from deadly killer herdsmen?

The freedom of movement guaranteed in section 41 of the Constitution (though for human beings, not animals), is not even absolute at all. Section 45 is pretty straightforward as regards derogation from section 41. It provides:

“(1) Nothing in sections 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 of this Constitution shall invaluidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society:

(a) in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; or
(b) for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.”

Thus, the right to movement in section 42 of the Constitution can be overridden by section 45 of the Constitution which allows any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health. Considering the incessant cases of Boko Haram killings, maiming, stealing, kidnappings, rape, armed banditry and robbery foisted on the Southern part of the country, Southern leaders have rightly taken it upon themselves to put in place laws and measures that will protect their citizens. To this end, it is safe to assert that individual rights to movement have not in anyway been violated by the various states’ anti-grazing laws because the laws were enacted in the interest of public safety, public order, public defence and public morality. The laws of and declaration by the Southern Governors are also to protect the peace, privacy and homes of Southerners as highlighted in section 37 of the 1999 Constitution. They are also for the “purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons”.

In the case of KALU v. FRN & ORS (2012) LPELR-9287(CA), the Court of Appeal made it clear that the rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement are not absolute and can be derogated from:

“The rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement, guaranteed respectively by Sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution, are not absolute…Section 41(2)(a) of the Constitution says that the right to freedom of movement may be deprived under a law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society that imposes restrictions on the movement of any person who has committed or is reasonably suspected to have committed a criminal offence in order to prevent him from leaving Nigeria”. An application for enforcement of a party’s fundamental right presupposes the right has been, is being or is likely to be violated otherwise than in accordance with the procedure permitted by law. That argument will be defeated when it is apparent that the right has been deprived of in accordance with the procedure permitted by law”, Per EJEMBI EKO, JCA (as he then was) (Pp 44 – 45, Paras G – E).

The above position of the law is further strengthened by the combined effect of the provisions of sections 4(7), 5(2), 11(2), 14(2) and 176(2) of the 1999 Constitution. Section 4(7) states that the House of Assembly of a State shall have powers to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the State. Section 5(2) provides that the executive powers of a State shall be vested in the Governor of that State. Section 11(2) gives the Governor of a State powers over the maintenance of supplies and services. Section 14(2)(b) enjoins the Governor to ensure that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Section 176(2) makes the Governor of a State its Chief Executive. So, where have the Governors of Southern States gone wrong? I cannot see it. Or, can you?

In ASARI DOKUBO V. FRN (2007) NGSC 106 (decided June 8, 2007), the apex court of Nigeria held that national security overrides personal individual rights, where it is discovered that the individual’s right poses threats to national security. Substitute for this, States’ and groups’ rights and security supersede the individual rights of few rampaging, fully armed, AK-47-clutching and wandering Fulani herdsmen who are not merely grazing their cattle, but actually on a predetermined mission of conquest, expansionism and neo-colonialism of other ethnic nationalities. Such must be fully resisted within all legal boundaries as the Southern Governors are now doing.

WHAT THE STATE GOVERNORS MUST NOW DO

The 17 Southern Governors should immediately sue the Federal Government, invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under section 232 of the 1999 Constitution. They should ask for a determination of their right to preserve their States from insecurity. Indeed, as held by the Supreme Court in AG OGUN STATE V. AG FEDERATION (1982) LPELR-11(SC), the making of law for the maintenance of law and order and securing of public safety and public order is the responsibility of both the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly. Consequently, the Southern Governors are clothed with legality and constitutionality to ban open grazing. The Governors should therefore not be burdened by the opinions of other Northern States Governors, and elites, as to do so will be limiting the Executive powers of the Governors as regards the states which they govern.

By banning open grazing, the governors are merely putting a stop to one of the greatest known sources of wars and terrorist convergence in their respective states. In my humble opinion, the Governors’ call is part of their responsibilities to the people of their states as the main mandate of each and every Governor is to protect the lives and property of the people of the states they govern. The openness of the Governors to the idea of yet another National dialogue to curb the insecurity (which I however consider unnecessary in view of the unused over 600 recommendations of the 2014 National Conference) can be seen as a honest bi-partisan call to see to the end of insecurity menace in Nigeria.

PRO-ACTIVE STEPS ALREADY TAKEN BY SOME STATE GOVERNORS

Some State Governors and Houses of Assembly in Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Oyo and Osun States have since taken steps by getting anti-grazing laws passed by their Houses of Assembly. For instance, there existed and extant, section 42(e) & (g) of the Ondo State Forestry Law which prohibit cattle tresspassing and cattle pasteurisation without the authority in writing of a prescribed Government Official.Indeed, Governor Samuel Orton of Benue State has already taken proactive steps to stop being the wailing Chief mourner of his people being murdered daily in cold blood by Fulani herdsmen (many a time with the active connivance of federal troops). He got the House of Assembly to enact the anti-RUGA (Rural Grazing Area) and Cattle Colony Law, called the “Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law”, No 21 of 2017. He went further by challenging the Federal Government RUGA policy at the Federal High Court, Makurdi, in the case of AG OF BENUE STATE V. AG OF THE FEDERATION. On 4th February, 2020, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the FHC, Makurdi, held that any move by the FG to acquire land for RUGA or cattle colony in Benue State without the State Government was null and void. The Judge granted an order nullifying every action of the FG to establish RUGA or cattle colony. Many constitutional provisions such as sections 5(6), 9(2), 20, 44(1), 58 and 315(5) and 6(b) were considered. Also considered were sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 26, 28 and 49 of the Land Use Act vis-à-vis sections 4, 5, 6, 7 and 19(c) of the Benue State Anti-Grazing Law.

It must be pointed out that the Governor of a State is the Chief Executive and Chief Security Officer of that State (sections 176(1) and 214-216 of the 1999 Constitution). By virtue of Section 1 of the Land Use Act, 1978, all land comprised in the territory of each State in the Federation have been vested in the Governor of that State and such land shall be held in trust and administered for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians. Thus, a Governor of a State commands great power in the usage of the land in his State. See the Supreme Court case of NIGERIA ENGINEERING WORKS LTD V. DENAP LTD & ANOR (2001) LPELR-2002(SC).

SHOULD SOUTHERN GOVERNORS HAVE FIRST CONSULTED THE NOTHERN ESTABLISHMENT?

The answer to this is a capital NO!

It must be emphasized that the decision of the Southern Governors does not in actuality impede the rights of cow rearers to own cattle. It merely limits their ability to openly graze on lands that are not theirs in the first place and inflict misery on the indigenous owners. The ban will also ignite more anti-grazing laws in other states in Nigeria.

Those Northern elites arguing that consultation ought to have been first made by Southern Governors before making such resolutions have not advanced any plausible argument anchored on the Constitution. In fact, they ought to applaud the Southern Nigerian Governors for willfully choosing to dialogue with their Northern counterparts and avoiding an impending doom.

The few wailing Northern elites have not explained to Nigerians why they never consulted their Southern counterparts before passing and enforcing Sharia Law in their States; or passing the various Hisbah laws. Did some of these Governors not cut off citizens’ hands for various offences, to the angst and condemnation of international communities? Did they not order for some others to be stoned? Recall the unfortunate cases of Buba Jangebe (2000), Auwalu Abubakar (23), Lawalli Musa (22), Abubakar Aliyu (15), Attahiru Umaru, Sani Rodi, Sarimu Baranda, Safiya Hussein, Amina Lawal and many others for merely either stealing a cow, bull, N32,000 or committing adultery. Did the Northern Governors consult their Southern counterparts? They did not explain why Southern Governors who are the Chief Security Officers of their States should first obtain their permission (like a pupil from a Headmaster) before dealing with security matters in their various States. It only shows their mindset of a relationship of masters and servants; conquerors and vassals; slave owners and slaves. They failed to tell Nigerians that all the Northern Governors had actually pro-actively taken a unanimous position to ban open grazing, at its virtual meeting held on February 9, 2021, presided over by their Chairman, Simon Lalong Governor of Plateau State. They had unanimously agreed that the “current system of herding conducted mainly through open grazing is no longer sustainable in view of growing urbanization and population of the country”. While urging all the Governors to meet over this matter, they agreed on other methods such as ranching. These critics of the Southern Governors hid the fact that in response to the Northern Governors’ call, the entire Nigerian Governors’ Forum of the 36 State Governors held a virtual meeting on February 11 (two days later) and unanimously agreed to end nomadic and pastoral cattle wandering, “to address the rising insecurity in the country and the activities of herdsmen…and the need for the country to transition into modern systems of animal husbandry that will replace open, night and underage grazing in the country”. They also encouraged ranching as alternative. The Northern elites carefully screened away the fact that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano State Governor’s had openly supported adopting anti-grazing measures.

Ganduje had argued in February, 2021, during his meeting with President Buhari and other APC Governors that such a ban would not only solve incessant clashes between farmers and herders, but also prevent cattle rustling. Inspite of attempts by some Northern groups to cow in, Ganduje stuck to his guns.

These Northern elites hid the fact that, as far back as 26th April, 2018, (over 3 years ago), the National Executive Council (NEC) had approved the recommendation of its sub-committee that open grazing of cattle be banned across the country.

The three-man sub-committee on herdsmen/farmers clashes constituted by the Buhari Government in February, 2018, was headed by the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi.

It was specifically mandated to unravel the causes of herdsmen/farmers clashes (wrong usage: herdsmen’s unproved attacks on farmers is better). It was to dialogue with relevant stakeholders to end the killings of innocent citizens.

Other members of the sub-committee included Governors Simon Lalong (Plateau), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Darius Ishaku (Taraba), and Bindo Jubrilla (Adamawa). The panel was mandated to visit Benue, Taraba, Zamfara and Adamawa states.

Umahi had told Nigerians after the NEC meeting at the Presidential Villa presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, that the panel submitted its report to the Council which okayed the recommendation to ban open grazing, opting instead for the establishment of ranches in states affected by the herdsmen onslaught.

Governor Umahi, who said his team visited five states Benue, Taraba, Plateau Adamawa and Zamfara, said there were three main categories of herdsmen in Nigeria. These, according to him, are foreign herdsmen, nomadic herdsmen and migrant herdsmen, whose continued activities have resulted in clashes with farmers.

He said the NEC also agreed that the states affected by herdsmen killings should donate land for the establishment of ranches that will include nomadic schools and health facilities for their family members. Said Umahi:

“Niger and Kaduna have given lands, and Plateau is also giving land. We also agreed that through the agriculture ministry, we have to introduce new species of cows…… and to stop the further influx of foreign herdsmen into the country”.

So, where did the Southern Governors go wrong in reaffirming Federal Government and Northern Governors position? I cannot see it. Or can you?

Recall also that on September 10, 2019, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, had also inaugurated the National Livestock Transformation Plan at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve, in Mayo-Belwa LGA of Adamawa State. Inaugurating the said project, Osinbajo said the plan was designed to run from 2019-2028, as part of Federal Government’s initiative in collaboration with States under the auspices of the National Economic Council. He said the plan, targeted at supporting the development of Nigeria’s livestock sector, was to be implemented in seven pilot states of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara.

According to the Vice President, the plan will be implemented as a collaboration project between the Federal and State governments, farmers, pastoralists and private investors. He said:

“In this plan, the State Government or private investors provide the land, the federal government does not and will not take any land from a State or local government…Any participating state will provide the land and its own contribution to the project. The federal government merely supports…It is a plan that hopes to birth tailor-made ranches where cattle are bred, and meat and dairy products are produced using modern livestock breeding and dairy methods…This solves the problem of cattle grazing into and destroying farmlands. It ensures a practical response to the pressures on water and pasture by forces of climate change”.

He noted that the plan was designed to provide modern meat and dairy industry and, in some cases, integrated crop farming. According to Osinbajo, the unique feature of the plan is that any participating state will determine its own model. Osinbanjo continued:

“I wish to emphasise that this is not RUGA. Because the idea of RUGA settlements launched by the Ministry of Agriculture created a problem when it was perceived as a plan to seize lands to create settlements for herders…RUGA was not the plan designed and approved by the governors and the President rightly suspended the implementation”.

Thus, even the Federal Government at the centre had already opposed anti-grazing and embraced ranching. So, where did the Southern Governors go wrong? I cannot see it. Or, can you?

SALEH’S ILLOGICAL AND PROVOCATIVE INANITY

Did you read the provocative inanity uttered by one Alhassan Saleh, National Secretary of Miyetti Allah? I read it, and became more convinced that our dire national situation may be hopeless afterall. Hear him deliver his gibberish sermon:

“If the south feels because they have oil, they can show this open hatred to the Fulani, I bet you, they are late.
You cannot expel an ethnic group that has a population of 17 million people from an entity. So, if the agitators want to divide the country today, or this minute, we will help. We are ready to go. We are more prepared than any other tribe.

Nowhere is this type of ban done. You can only control it. But the Fulani, by nature, move about with their animals. They are not only in Nigeria, they are all over Africa…

They (Southerners) want to force us to react but we don’t react that way. Compared to what we went through in Guinea and Sudan and we survived, this is even a child’s play.
We understand that 2023 is also part of the game plan. They want to get power on a platter of gold. Nobody will give them power like that. They must seek our support. People who want power don’t behave in this matter…

Today, we are ready, let them divide the country. Let them not wait till tomorrow. We are better prepared than any other ethnic nationality. So, we are ready, let them divide the country. Let us die, we that don’t have the oil.”

QUESTIONS BEGGING FOR ANSWERS FROM SALEH

Let me interrogate Saleh’s thesis with some questions. Is Saleh really telling us that cattle breeders (just like Igbo Alaba shop owners, or Yoruba cocoa farmers, or Ijaw fishermen (examples not used in any derogatory sense but to make the point), have so cheapened the proud Fulani race of Shehu Usman Dan Fodio (born Usman bi Fudi; 1754 – 1817), that they have actually become the Fulani’s mouthpiece, their spokespersons? I cannot understand this. Or can you? So, to ensure peace, Fulani herders who “are not only in Nigeria, but all over Africa (moving) about with their animals”, should be allowed to commit genocide against other Nigerians?

Let me ask Saleh one question: who is the aggressor? Did other Nigerians invade Fulani towns to attack them? So, Saleh is saying that Fulani herdsmen who migrate from all over Africa through open borders of the North (those of the South are firmly shut) should be allowed unchallenged, as they have been doing, especially since the last 6 years of the Buhari government, to continue to attack innocent people in their homes, spill blood and rape their wives and daughters? So, Fulanis should be allowed to invade helpless farmers’ farms, kill the farmers with their sophisticated AK-47 riffles, destroy their farms and freely graze on their crops with their cattle? Oh, Fulanis must be allowed to walk leisurely with herds and hordes of cattle across the Federal Secretariat buildings and Three Arms Zone of Abuja, with vehicles and trekking human beings stopping and waiting for them to pass? So, that is Saleh’s own warped idea of living together? So, Southerners should be wiped out from the face of Nigeria in a carefully choreographed genocidal script, and they must not complain just because they will seek power, and must need Fulani support? So, the Southern Governors hate the Fulanis for telling them to stop open grazing and movement of cows by road across the South, thereby killing innocent people and destroying people’s means of livelihood? So, the life of a cow is more precious than that of a human being?

I cannot understand Saleh and his Miyetti Allah’s reasoning and illogicality. Or can you? So, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State is a “vagabond-in-power”, simply because he cried out that he was tired of being a helpless undertaker, coffin maker, an elegy orator and chief mourner presiding over daily slaughter of his own people?

So, because the Fulanis are all over Africa, and they had successfully overrun Guinea and Sudan (predominantly Muslim countries), they should also be allowed to overrun plural Nigeria (there are actually more Christians than Muslims even in the North) and wipe out the other 373 ethnic groups of Nigeria (according to Professor Onigu Otite)? I cannot comprehend this man. Or can you?

More questions please, Saleh: So, a personal profit-making venture such as cattle rearing should be forced willy-nilly on all other Nigerians as a fundamental objective and directive principle of state policy? So, the yam produce, cocoa palm kernel and tomatoes farmers of other ethnic groups, should equally be allowed to invade and seize Fulani lands and impose their trade on them? How would the Fulanis feel if the Igbos insist that because they are excellent traders, shops must be built for them by the Federal and State Governments across Nigeria, free of charge, to ply their lucrative trade? How will they feel if rearers of pigs (even when the Muslim Fulanis forbid pork meat) overrun their territories with hordes of pigs, all in the name of keeping Nigeria together?

Nigeria’s population projection by the United Nations for July, 2021, is 210,665,492. Of this number, only 17 million people are Fulanis, according to Saleh. There are three classes of Fulanis based on settlement patterns: the Nomadic/Pastoral or Mbororo; the Semi-Nomadic and the “Settled” or “Town Fulanis”. Thus, the Miyetti Allah nomadic or pastoral group constitutes only one-third of Fulanis in Nigeria. This means, speaking arithmetically, 8% people out of Nigeria’s population of 210.6 million people. So, going by Alhassan Saleh’s puerile vituperations, a tiny, but powerful, well-connected, power-dominating minority of 8% of Nigeria’s population must be allowed forever to tyranise the vast majority, impose their will; govern them by force; kill them; wipe them out of Nigeria, all in the name of peace, unity, indissolubility and indivisibility of Nigeria? So, the other 92% Nigerian majority should be held down by the jugular, just to make Nigeria work and prevent Fulanis from leaving Nigeria? Haba! I can never understand this man and the cattle rearers he spoke for. Or can you?

Nigeria is a Federation that operates the principles of federalism. Under this, the FG, States and LGAs have their respective rights and spheres of influence. There is the exclusive, concurrent and residual lists under the Constitution. This was why Justice Olajuwon of the FHC, Makurdi, held that since land in every State is controlled and managed by the Governor and LGs of such States, the FG cannot whimsically and capriciously grab lands in States; but must go through either the Governor or LG of such State.

President Muhammadu Buhari is in trouble. This is because there are a lot of people who present themselves to him as his friends, but who actually are his enemies. These people do not want Buhari to succeed, because they mislead him, give him wrong advice, and put his regime in bad light before the public.

If it is not Lai Mohammed, always parroting like canary, and deploying all lies at his disposal to hoodwink those he thought were unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood ; it will be Garba Shehu, attracting quantum of enemies to the administration through his propaganda and combativeness, or Femi Adesina, trying to make darkness look like daylight, just to please his paymasters and save his job. They all cage our President and hold him hostage. What a pity!

Since the meeting of southern governors in Asaba, Delta State, where without mincing words, demanded the restructuring of the country and also banned open grazing of cattle in their states, not a few of President Buhari’s so-called friends were unsettled.

Rubber-stamp Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, rushed to Aso Rock, where Buhari is the Chief Tenant, and told the Southern Governors to first restructure their states before asking for Nigeria to be restructured. That was to please the President.

Now, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has slammed the southern governors for banning open grazing of cattle in their region.

Speaking on a television programme, Malami compared the southern governors ban of open grazing, carried out by Fulani herdsmen, to if the Northern Governors were also to ban spare parts trading, mostly carried out by South Easterners, in their own region.

According to the Attorney General: “It is about constitutionality. Within the context of the freedoms enshrined in our constitution, can you deny a right of a Nigerian?

“It is as good as saying may be the Northern Governors coming together to say that they prohibit spare parts trading in the North. Does it hold water? Does it hold water for a Northern governor to come and state expressly that he now prohibits spare parts trading in the North?”

Continuing, the Chief Law Officer of the federation said: “If you are talking of a constitutionally guaranteed right, the better approach to it is perhaps to go back and ensure that the constitution is amended. The freedom and liberty of movement, amongst others, is established by the constitution.

“If by an inch, you want to have any compromise, the better approach is to go back to the National Assembly for open grazing to be prohibited and see whether you can have the desired support for the constitutional amendment in that respect, but it is a very dangerous position for any governor in Nigeria to think that he can bring about any compromise on the freedom and liberty of individuals to move around”.

Perhaps, Abubakar Malami was not being too pretty or sarcastic. How could he compare the spare parts dealers, who genuinely registered their businesses, rent and pay for their shops, and pay various taxes and rates, with the murderous Fulani herdsmen, who hide in the bushes with their cattle, and then trample on people’s farmlands, destroy their crops, kill, maim and rape their women?

Have the spare parts dealers ever trampled on anybody’s rights? Have they ever destroyed anybody’s property? Have they ever killed or maimed anybody, or raped any woman? These are questions the Attorney General should answer with all sincerity and honesty.

When Abubakar Malami was talking about freedom of movement, that the Fulani herders have the freedom to go to anywhere they like in the country, as guaranteed by the Constitution, then, the Honourable Attorney General or any of his officers, has no right whatsoever to stop me, if I desire to enter into his office anytime I like, or into the Aso Rock itself?

Freedom of movement without restriction or without responsibility is nothing but anarchy and confusion, and is never practised anywhere in the world.

In any case, I do not even think that the Southern Governors had ever proposed to restrict anybody’s movement in the South, only that cattle should not graze in open fields or in farmlands. Whoever wants to rear cattle should buy a land, encircle it and lead his cattle inside it. They call it ranching. It is criminal for cattle to be allowed to graze in the open field, and destroy people’s property and farmlands.

I am not a lawyer, but I think if we search our statute books, we may find something like bye laws prohibiting animals from entering into people’s farmlands and destroying their property. I also think that there are laws against trespassing and encroachment on people’s land.

I do not think that the people who enacted these laws went to the National Assembly to seek for permission before enacting them as Abubakar Malami had suggested. But these all add to misleading our President.