Beaten, driven, trapped: 48 Oyo communities decry handicap by rampaging herdsmen

Frustrated by the repeated destructions of their farmlands, livelihoods and the deaths of their kinsmen by herdsmen, residents of 48 communities in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State have lived in fear of the unknown with many deserting their homes and sources of livelihoods. WALE AKINSELURE who visited some of the affected communities reports their handicaps.

For residents of Asunnara, Gbagbo Egbejenni, Tenalo, Osin-Ago, Sopa, Konko Market, Abule Musa, Agbedegun, Arowo-Saye, Abule-Iyasango, Idi-Iya Olomopupo, Aba-Ohori, Abule-Omowo, Igbo-Eleru, Gaa Doogo, Omifunfun, Atobon, Alaganro-Asunnara, Igitele, Ominigbo, Bogunmbe, Abaibadan, Babaisale, Aasimi, Abasura, Alaago, Akoya-Oloye, Idelu, Itaku, Abule Church, Ogbin, Abule-Babadudu, Abesi, Akoya-Orile, Akoya-Agbelekun, Idiyan, Abule-Eleede, Abuleidiope, Abule Baale-Ohori, Ladubu, Owode, Alajuba, Idiapa, Egbeomo, Inamere, Abidioki, Owode, Abule-Tapa, it has been one long night of tears.

Holding a machete, Odeyemi John, a man in his 50s, at about 6.05pm, had just returned to his shed with tales of lamentation about how his son’s two hectares maize farm had earlier that day been brought to the ground by grazing cattle. At the sight of this writer, Odeyemi, with his butter coloured singlet and faded black trouser, let out his anguish with ferocity that betrayed his frame. Apparently, Odeyemi was frustrated at the continued grazing of farmlands in Akoya community, in Igangan area of Oyo State, by Fulani herdsmen without enough efforts by security agencies to arrest the erring cattle herdsmen. “He said, “In this community, the Fulani herdsmen are making farming unattractive as we continue to record huge losses.

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This is our only means of livelihood, yet they continue to make living impossible for us. Some of us had to obtain loans but we are made to incur losses. When we report to the police, they virtually do nothing as the Fulanis always have their way with the police. We are suffering and there is no one in this community that is not affected, as farming is our major preoccupation there. Today, their cattle grazed upon my son’s two acres farmland and destroyed the maize plantation in its entirety, yet fellow community people continue to ask us to be patient and not fight back. We are tempted to fight back as we have no one to fight our cause.”

For Olaoti Sunday, a man in his 40s, he arrived to see the cattle completing its maize plantation destruction mission. An eight-hectare maize plantation due for harvest in three weeks time had been feasted upon by the fattened cows. Olaoti looked helpless as he was not equipped to face the cows and its masters who destroyed the farm in two batches of visit. “The cattle began to devour the farm about three weeks ago. I met the cattle inside the farm with the cattle herders. We chased the person out of the farm but when I returned after some days, we met another four groups of cattle inside the farm. This has been happening to various farms here and people have been attacked. If they meet you inside the farm and you resist them from grazing, you could be attacked.” Olaoti said.

Commercial farmers in Igangan area of Oyo state also have similar tales of woes to tell consequent upon herdsmen invasion of the farms they manage. The voice of Manager, Fempanath Nigeria Limited, Kayode Olaitan oscillated between forte and mezzo forte as he gave details of the huge losses on investment incurred as a result of cattle invasion of his eight hectares maize farm. Olaitan had lost 40 tonnes of maize among other costs incurred to plant and weed running into about N3million.

According to Olaitan, the danger of not stemming the tide across the country was that many will be discouraged from taking to farming as a commercial venture. “We are commercial farmers, cultivating hundreds of hectares of land. We are investing in acquiring and farming on the land. We planted maize on a total of eight hectares of land expanse and to our surprise, cattle herders around here came to our farm and devoured all the crops. They ate them up so much that there was nothing left. And these are crops that were already developing the cubs. The cubs were already forming. There are several of them that were due for harvest in the next three or four weeks, but we have nothing left to harvest. We have invested a lot of money here. It cost us thousands of naira to bulldoze this land; we spent a lot of money to plough this land; we got seeds that were planted; we paid workers to plant these seeds; and we have a sprinkler irrigation system that we are using. These cost us a lot of money,” Olaitan said.

Akoya community, located in Igangan, Ibarapa North local government area of Oyo State, is an agrarian community. Virtually all families own farms and the major crops planted are maize, plantain, cassava, cashew, tomato, oil palm, cocoa, plantain, maize and groundnut. Typically, one has to drive, ride or walk through tributaries, bush paths to get to the farms there. Neighbouring towns to Igangan are Tapa and Ayete which boast of a barrage of hills and rocks.

A large signboard sited at the entrance into Igangan bearing the name of the Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Soliu Abdul’kadir directs the writer to the fortress of the Fulanis of the area. Behold huts built with raffia palms, buildings built with cement and bricks, solar power system, big generating set, mosque as well as Hajias seated with their men and children on mats in the “Sabo” they have carved out for themselves. However, clashes between dwellers of Igangan communities and the Fulani herdsmen in the area over invasion of farms by cattle have continued, dating back to 2013.

One of the leaders of Akoya community, Taiwo Moses, popularly known as “Honourable” decries that reports of invasion of farmlands had assumed an alarming dimension and was threatening the peaceful coexistence among Fulanis and community dwellers. According to Moses, more worrisome for residents is the seeming failure of security agents and traditional rulers to effectively call the herdsmen to order.

“The Fulani herdsmen have continued to wreak havoc on farmlands in this area. We have met with them several times not to continue to graze on our farmlands but they remain hesitant. We have informed leaders around to caution them but this has not yielded results. We report to the police but the only beg us to remain calm. The police seems to be conniving with the Fulani leaders. What we basically want is that the Fulani should stop grazing on our farmlands. It is the herd of cattle that meets the farmland not farmland meeting the herd of cattle,” Moses said.

Secretary, Ibarapaland farmers association, Adeagbo Taiwo says the situation had assumed a grave dimension. In a day, he said the association had been inundated with reports of herdsmen destruction of farmlands totaling about 100 acres. Adeagbo echoed the state of fear that had gripped farmers in Igangan who are now scared to go to their farms for fear of attack from herdsmen. Despite undertakings signed the Fulanis with the police to caution herdsmen against incursion on farmlands, Adeagbo avowed that the herdsmen remained brazen in their activities. This, he said, might not be unconnected with the fact that some community leaders and dwellers had had their palms greased by Fulanis hence would only gloss over than tackle the issue headlong. “Women are scared to go to their farms, while men have to move in twos and threes. These occurrences began in 2013. We got petitions of the destruction of farmlands ranging from eight acres to 20 acres and 30 acres. I have just been called again that cows are on a farmland grazing. We have forwarded a petition to the Alaafin of Oyo, the Commissioner of Police and the Governor over the several incidents there. Today, alone we have got reports of destruction of farmland of about 100 acres. Years ago, we went to Osogbo to report to the Assistant Inspector General of Police and he promised to arrest and sue the concerned Fulanis.

“Then, the Fulanis signed an undertaking. On the 7th of November, this year, a meeting was convened by the state government but many residents failed to speak up about their plight. Then some executives members Ibarapaland farmers association spoke about the plight of the people, on their behalf. We found out that one of the problems is that some are benefitting from the presence of the Fulani farmers not thinking of the havoc wreaked on the entire community.

“When we questioned the Seriki Fulani on why cattle continued to graze over farmlands, his response was that occurrences of cattle grazing over farmlands were not new and that as the number of Fulanis were growing, so was cattle growing and farmers increasing, hence farmers had to be patient. But we reprimanded him and asked that was it legal for cattle to continue to destroy crops. We are at a stage where we are tempted to say that farmers can also kill cows that destroy their farmlands. It’s peculiar to Igangan, as it is not happening in neighbouring places like Tapa and Ayete. We have complained that we are not sure of the capability of the police and traditional rulers to handle the issue,” Adeagbo said.

 

However, Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Soliu Abdul’Kadir refuted the allegations leveled against the Fulanis as unfair and lies. He said the Fulani leadership usually investigates reports of their cows destroying farmland and pays compensation to any farmer who brings such information of an invasion to their notice. According to Abdul’Kadir, for every alleged herdsmen invasion, their cows are usually killed in return, with no compensation from farmers and the community. “Whenever we are informed of cows invading a farmland, we try to find out the truth, the kind of farmland, and whose farmland was destroyed, and what measures the police was using to address the issue. There is no Fulani that is said to have destroyed a farmland that does not pay compensation. In fact, the situation is such that they kill the cows of Fulanis and we get no compensation from the farmers and community. There is no week that our cows are not killed. They tell several lies against us that we kill them. In the same way that they say we kill them, we can also say that the farmers do same to us, Fulanis. For everywhere they allege that a Fulani has killed a farmer, you find out that a farmer has also killed a Fulani,” Abdul’Kadir said. However, another Fulani, Soliu Umar noted that there also are Bororos, though they are all classified under the general umbrella of being Fulani. He added that those community dwellers also lace their crops with poison to kill their cows.

Meanwhile, the police chided allegations of being on the side of the Fulanis as false, spurious and baseless. Public Relations Officer, Oyo Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu averred that the police usually admonished both parties to embrace alternative dispute resolution to prevent a resort to violence and charged offenders to court when an amicable settlement could not be reached. Ajisebutu said it’s being fair in adjudicating justice was evidenced by the fact that more than six cases involving farmers and herdsmen had been charged to court, with some being investigated by the state’s Criminal Investigation Department.

“Allegation of supporting the Fulanis over community dwellers is false and baseless. We stand on the path of justice and fairness. Ours is to act as arbiters between the two parties, using alternative dispute resolution approach to avoid violent clashes. Where amicable settlement cannot be reached, cases are charged to court. Often, it is the parties themselves that initiate out-of-court negotiation to get financial compensation but when the results fall short of their expectations, spurious allegations are made. However, no fewer than 6 cases involving farmers and herdsmen in the area have been charged to court while some are still under investigation at the state CIID, Iyaganku. The CP, Abiodun Odude, has directed the DPO Ayete as well as other DPOs to treat such cases with all seriousness and promptness,” Ajisebutu said.

Private and commercial farmers who demand compensation for the destruction of their farmlands may again be offered sums between the range of N2,000 and N40,000 by the Fulanis. “When there is negotiation between the Fulani and owner of destroyed farmland, offer of compensation would usually begin from N2,000 and they hardly pay N15,000. For the past four years, I have not received compensation above N40,000, whenever my farmland is destroyed. To get a higher compensation, the case will have to be handled by the people in Ibadan,” Taiwo Moses, a community leader in Akoya said.

While commercial farmers like Olaitan look up to the police and the judiciary to adjudicate over the loss of millions of naira to herdsmen invasion, they note the need for cattle herders to be willing to lease, purchase or rent land to ranch their cattle. “We are willing to embrace compensation. We are commercial farmers, cultivating hundreds of hectares of land. We are investing in acquiring and farming on the land. We also expect the cattle herders to invest and acquire land, own their own ranches where they can own and keep their own cattle, as it is done in several parts of the world. They should also be able to lease, or purchase land to ranch their cattle without incurring losses for other farmers,” Olaitan said.

However, the Fulani cattle owners also decry that communities are unwilling to give them land for ranching, owing to the fear that they will colonise them and their historical territory. “We desire to have ranches. We desire to have land whether by rent or lease, but the communities are not willing to give us land. When we request for land, the community say that we will colonise and take over their land,” Abdul-Kadir said.

Towards stemming herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, the Oyo State Government anticipates that the state Assembly passes into law the bill to Prohibit Open Grazing, Establish Controlled Grazing and Regulate the Activities of Herdsmen in Oyo state, before the end of the year.

Among others, the bill which passed second reading stage on April 12, 2018 are that no herdsman shall cause his cattle to graze before 6am or after 6pm, herdsmen and cattle owners in Oyo state are to be mandated to submit themselves for registration at N5,000 each, and bound to register their cattle at N500 each, while every registered herdsman shall be issued an identification card and mandated to wear such card at all times.

The Oyo State Grazing Control bill, also stipulates that grazing of cattle shall only be done in ranches, either of Control or Private Ranch, and no herdsman or cattle owner shall cause his cattle to graze on any other person’s land or farmland.

Pending the expected passage of the bill into law, Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Community Relations, Murisiku Siyanbade, said local government chairmen were mandated to convene monthly peace meetings with farmers, herdsmen, security agents and community leaders. He added that farmers had been warned not to take the law into their hands by poisoning farms or blocking routes that cows pass to drink water, but report occurrences to the state government.

“There is a bill called Grazing Control bill, 2018 in the House of Assembly which is being processed for passage into law. The idea is to sanitize the situation. But before the bill is passed into law, the local government holds monthly peace meetings with farmers, herdsmen, security agents and community leaders. The Community Relations unit also goes there regularly and two weeks ago, we had a town hall meeting with all stakeholders. The government’s policy is no herding of cows beyond 6pm and before 7am.

“The law is not yet out but we have told them the contents of the law and that any infractions should be reported to the governor’s office. So far, we have not heard of any infraction within this week. The directive we gave is that if anything happens, they should report and government will take action. We have given them all the guidelines to follow that no underage should lead herd of cows and should be led by people of 21 years and above and that they should not carry firearms. We are also mounting pressure on the House of Assembly because we want the law out by end of this month or before the end of the law. When the law is out, no one can just bring cows to Oyo state. We want to put a stop to cows straying into peoples’ farms. We have also warned farmers against blocking the route that cows pass to drink water or poisoning their farms,” Siyanbade stated.