By Tony Eluemunor
In this pseudo-religious Nigeria where hypocrisy and perception trumps reality, people take extra-exception to being associated with anything to do with the devil. So I must the define Devil’s Philosophy at least as it pertains to this treatise to show that I do not intend to insult anyone Ah, it came from Bob Marley’s 1979 reggae music album; “SURVIVAL” and the track? “ONE DROP”. Marley sings: “A you fe give us the teachings of His Majesty, A we no want no devil philosophy: Feel it in the one drop; And we still find time to rap…”
Yes, the teachings of His Majesty should be true and wholesome in every particular material, unlike its opposite; the Devils’ Philosophy. The “One Drop” track exemplified what any musician could do with the one drop rhythm, one of the three main reggae drum rhythms, as performed by The Wailers’ drummer Carlton Barrett. Marley was also implying that Rastafarian belief was not merely a religious faith, it was a political and philosophical worldview. Thus, the track’s title was also deeply political as the one-drop rule is a social and legal principle of racial classification that was historically prominent in the United States in the 20th century. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor (or one per cent of black blood) of black ancestry is considered to be black.
Now, why should something as innocuous and non-political and non-ethnic as pastoralism and animal husbandry, assume such a gigantic and substantial political importance?
Or could the crisis actually be beyond the pastoral and animal husbandry issue? May we examine this question please, relating it to the lecture which Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, delivered recently, where he recommended the creation of a Federal Government agency that will regulate the activities of herdsmen.
According to the newspapers: “Speaking at the Peace, Unity, and Security Lecture Series at the ECOWAS main auditorium, Abuja on last Tuesday Malami admitted that the crisis between the herders and farmers had become a pressing issue and steps were needed to tackle it.”
My Comment: Gosh, what an understatement. This tragedy has been on in Nigeria for years. It was there all through President Mohammadu Buhari’s first tenure. The problem has turned the Middle-Belt into a battle field and the indigenous peoples have been at the receiving end. Yet, it is now that the Attorney General saw the need for action. Some persons out there may charge that you are only speaking up now that some people have started defending themselves against the excesses of the killer herders. What would be your reply to them?
He also said there was a need to revitalise the Nomadic Education Commission. My comment: Haba Mallam (I know you are an incredibly learned fellow), haba! What went wrong with the Nomadic Education Commission? Do the boat children of the fishermen have their own educational system? What about the market children of the store keepers and spare parts dealers? This writer’s Anioma people are predominantly farmers, yet, we have never called for the government to bring education to our jungles. Jokes apart, should you not begin by telling the nation how the money expended to promote Nomadic Education went? And what did it achieve? And now, that more and more herders are leaving the North and coming down South as global climate change, desertification, Boko Haram and banditry insurgencies have hampered cattle husbandry, should we dig up the schools of the 1980s and 1990s and transport them to… the South? Or we simply build new ones?
Yet, this is an important question: are basic and secondary education not for the state governments? Or do you want a special treatment for the Fulani? Tell me dear, Attorney-General, have you attempted to enforce the FREE and COMPULSORY education for ALL Nigerian children up to the prescribed level? And if there is no such law, what has stopped you, dear Attorney General and lover of Nomadic Education, from sponsoring such a bill? Remember you are not just an aide of the President, you are an OFFICER Of STATE, created by the CONSTITUTION. The President may say he does not need an Oil or Finance Minister, but he can never scrap your office. So, dear, dear, Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, act man, just act. If the law exists, go ahead and arrest every single Nigerian who has denied his children the fruits of education – whether Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, trader, prostitute, farmer, Civil Servant, everybody and of every vocation and profession.
Malami also said: “Nigeria is predominately agricultural in nature and by geography. To that extent, there is constant mobility of herders across the different belts of Nigeria. It is perhaps time to consider the setting-up of a commission for pastoralism regulated by law. This might provide recipes for resolving protracted farmer-herder conflicts. The commission may even engage in or facilitate in-depth analytical studies with a view to providing lasting solutions for the benefit of people and the country.”
My comment: No, mister, no. Must herders be migratory? What law on earth says so? And you are the Attorney-General, and so it must be clear to you that if someone asked what has been the most important single cause of the present problem, the answer shouldbe “the mobility of the herders”. Yet, you want it to continue? No, the answer should be to stop the mobility. The owners of the cattle must be told that it is a personal business. If they don’t like the idea of not continuing as itinerant herders, they can dump the business and embrace another businesses. There is something called cattle ranching. In my town of Ubulu-Uku, there is a local law made by the people themselves that goats and pigs and sheep should be penned in by their owners. The law is being obeyed. And then think how it is for such a people to see their farms being devastated by cattle herded by Fulani herdsmen. And yet, in year 2021 you still advocate such a practice which time has left behind.
And did you actually call for a Commission of Pastoralism? And you said it would then be regulated by law? You are the Attorney General of the Federation, so you know that in the Federal Capital Territory, it is against the law to keep a poultry in your back yard. Such farming is to be done in areas designated for farming. Yes, regulation is involved there…and it did not arise from a Commission on Poultry farming. So, laws can be made to regulate cattle herding without first setting up a commission. Dear Attorney-General, I know you are a very busy man, so you may not know that some states have already passed some regulations concerning cattle husbandry. To talk about a Commission to be over seen by the Federal Government, is to talk about taking such an issue away from the purview of the states. If am I wrong here, please dear Attorney General, please educate me.
He also called for the “revamping of the activities of the Nomadic Education Commission with a view to complementing the efforts of the government in resolving the farmer-herder clashes. Malami restated the commitment of the Federal Government in supporting initiatives and programmes that would help resolve the lingering farmer-herder crises in the country”. My comment: This is the way to go. Support the state governments and get the police, not Amokekun and the likes to deal with the herders’ problem. If the Police has no problem with enforcing the state and LGA laws, why is it hesitant in enforcing legally binding states laws on cattle herding? The Police should not pick and choose which laws to enforce. And as it is obvious the Federal Police is overwhelmed, please dear Attorney-General, help make state police a reality. Finish!
“The AGF argued that some of the ways for a peaceful Nigeria include strict adherence to the rule of law, respecting the sanctity of the fundamental human rights in all ramifications, including freedom of movement and the right of citizens to stay at whatever part of the country they choose to and other provisions as contained in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria remain fulcrum for a peaceful society”.
My comment: This is beautiful. When you read a learned fellow, you know it straight away. He even quoted the Constitution. Oga (the boss) Attorney-General, others have called attention to the ECOWAS protocol of free movement of persons, goods and services. The issue is not freedom of movement. It is freedom to destroy other peoples’ farms and properties. It is freedom to willfully and whimsically occupy other peoples’ pieces of land. So, the best practice for the herders would be to come into a place, and ask for a piece of land for their herding activities. Then, once they are allocated places or they buy such places, they should build a ranch so that their herds would not go beyond their ranches. Finish. Then, the non-Nigerians among them would have to show their passports at the border entry points, get them stamped, etc. They must be documented. If I just carry a basin of yams and plantain from my farm in Ubulu-Uku and go to Ghana, without a passport, how would visa be given to me at the entry point? Won’t I be turned back? And why are undocumented Fulani cattle herders allowed to pour into Nigeria unchecked? Foreign Fulani herders pouring into Nigeria? Such has been said often by respected members of our political class that they do not need be named.
Numerous others have also spoken on the issue and raised several points such as the pastoral and animal husbandry one. Or is the problem more serious than that?
My answer: It is more beyond pastoral and animal husbandry one for Fulani people arrive to settle among an indigenous people in a community, without co-mingling with the original and real owners of that community. And they come in unannounced. And they don’t even live with and among the people. They know nothing about the indigenous people, seek to know nothing about them, their norms and behavoural patterns, etc. Thus, it would not be a surprise that the new arrivals, with their cattle, would just jump onto a piece of land allowed by a farmer to go fallow for a few years, and when the owner returns to it, he would find herders there. The result? A clash!
And how to settle such a clash?. Instead of heading to the town’s king or village head, the herders would insist on involving their own Fulani chief, Seriki, who knows nothing about the laws of where he has chosen to settle. He is in a town where nobody has ever heard of him and suddenly, he would want to be treated as a Chief. Why would he assume he would be taken seriously? So, is the Igbo man in Sokoto not under what the laws or tradition relegate to the Sultan of Sokoto to deal with? Or is he only bound by the advice and powers of his people’s Eze Igbo there? Or should a Yoruba person in Maidugru simply not ask how the people of that area organise their lives, and the local laws they obey especially as pertain to their farm lands, but when trouble comes, he would not go to the King of the town but to his own Baale…in Maiduguri?
