Southern Kaduna crisis not religious —Miyetti Allah chieftain

The assistant national secretary of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, bares his mind on the crisis in Southern Kaduna and the way forward. MUHAMMAD SABIU brings excerpts:

What exactly is happening in Southern Kaduna?

Let me start by correcting one impression that has been trending in the social media and even the conventional media. It is being painted as if the entire Southern Kaduna is on fire and that is not correct. We have eight local governments in Southern Kaduna and only three or four local governments have been affected in the recent crisis.

Also, I want to make this point clear; if you are talking about the Fulani, you are talking about three types of Fulani. Number one, we have the indigenous Fulani. The second set are the semi-nomads Fulani who move their cattle to neighbouring states like Nasarawa, Plateau and so on and they also come to Southern Kaduna to graze. And finally we have those nomads who move from one country to the other. Again, let me make one point clear, it is not true that any time there will be an attack, Fulani people will relocate. But I want to say without mincing words that any time that their lives are being threatened, in order to protect themselves they leave the place for safety.

A typical example is one of the Fulani recently killed in the area. His name is Miyetti.  He was even   a supervisory councillor. This is to show you how popular he was in the community. So, when recently he was attacked in Attakard village by unknown gunmen, he decided to find out who were the real people behind the attacks and the routes they used to attack the village if we really wanted to get to the bottom of the crisis. Thus, he travelled as far as Jigawa State to trace those nomads there were attacking Attakard village in order to appeal to them to stop the carnage and embrace peace. Unfortunately, when he returned he was apprehended in Kaura and taken to the police station. But some youths went to the station, took him from police custody and killed him.

Are you trying to make excuse for your Fulani brothers in Southern Kaduna and how do you think peace can be restored?

What am I trying to say is that we want to be saved first before we can give our contributions.  Some of us want to contribute towards the peace process because we’re also born in Southern Kaduna. But in my own case, I’m doing what I am doing even though the place I come from, Jaba Local Government is peaceful. There is no problem; we’re living peacefully with our fellow brothers who are not Fulanis for several years. So, I believe nothing will happen to me in Jaba; but other Fulani who are from Jema’a and Kaura dare not go to those areas.  So, I am appealing that everyone should sheathe their swords and let us talk and find an amicable way of ending this crisis. These reprisals will not solve the crisis in the area. We must learn to forgive and forge ahead.

We are also saying any Fulani man who left and then returned to any part of Southern Kaduna, let us know him; we will meet and ask him why is he coming back. If he’s not willing to stay, he must sign an undertaking that nothing will ever happen to the people and the place. Let me also add that I am more worried about this crisis than you, because though I am a Fulani man from the bush, a Jaba man came to take me to his house and sponsored me to school. Without him, I couldn’t have been where I am today. I want to tell you that he gave me the best in life more than he gave his children. Let me share one of the experiences I had with this Jaba man. One day when we were returning to school; all his children occupied the back seats of the car but he insisted I must get a space before he drove us to school. That was the type of society we lived in then in Southern Kaduna. So, if anybody is worried about this crisis, I’m worried because I see Jaba as my home, see the people as my brothers. When the late Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa indicated that he was going to give me an appointment, I said to him ‘Your Excellency, I am not going to take any appointment until there is peace in Southern Kaduna.’ We started the reconciliation process before the hands of death snatched him away. And everything ended until now when the present governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, came and vowed to end the crisis.

 You said reprisals won’t help but why has it been difficult for the leaders stop the reprisals?

Whichever place these attacks happened, if you investigate thoroughly, it is always a revenge thing. This is one of the serious problems. Secondly, the identity of those who carried out the dastardly act is always shielded. So, if a mediator comes to the scene, he finds it difficult to bring both the victims and the aggressors to the roundtable for discussion. Sometimes, you’ll meet some of them and those you meet might not be sincere in their discussions; the moment you leave, the next thing you will hear is that there has been another attack. That is the unfortunate thing going on in the area and it has to stop.

What is the real problem from your own point of view?

I want to subscribe absolutely to the fact that the issue of grazing reserve is the main issue that is causing this problem. It is not religious or political. Of course, some people might be using the two factors but the main issue is grazing. These are my reasons: At the inception of this present administration, everybody was aware that the government formed a committee. I was privileged to be a member of that committee and we went on tour of the entire part of Southern Kaduna. We discussed with people from all shades of opinion, and wherever we went, the issue of grazing reserves dominated our discussions. But quite frankly, the people did not oppose the idea. There was a place we went, the traditional ruler said if there was no designated grazing area; he would volunteer to give his farm. But no sooner had our report  been handed over to the government, than we heard some political leaders from that area, I mean  elected representatives in the  area, calling a press conference saying that the entire people of Southern Kaduna, including myself, rejected the idea of grazing reserve. But this was not true. It was not the reflection of the committee’s work.

The committee went out to all the nooks and crannies of the area. But somebody decided that because he has power, he called pressmen and told them the Southern Kaduna people were not willing to accept grazing reserve. I think that is mischief, none of these people have ever gone to their constituencies to consult with the people. I don’t think somebody like General Martin Luther Agwai would lie to the government that my people accepted grazing reserve when he did not discuss it with them. What do we stand to gain from the grazing reserve? When you have grazing reserve on ground, you can separate the indigenous Fulani and those moving around. That’s why I oppose the idea of somebody moving with his cows to somewhere other than where he was. Why should you go there? Remain where you are and let those nomads that are plying the stalk routes pass.

But some people have always been quick to say that the killings were being perpetrated by herdsmen from outside Nigeria, a view that has been rejected by many people. What is your take?

I was coming to that; in fact, it is the second thing that I think causes the crisis. It has to do with foreign nomads coming into the country. There is a problem here; we have the ECOWAS protocol on trans-human activities. There is also the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods and people within the sub-region.  This protocol allows you to take your cattle from Central African Republic, Republic of Cameroon, part of Chad and Nigeria to Benin Republic and return. Nigeria is a signatory to this protocol. That means that if a Cameroonian nomad comes into Kaduna State, maybe to Igabi, it is the responsibility of Kaduna State government to ensure his safety and I think that is where the issue of compensation came in and why some people are crying as if it is abnormal.

What do you think is the way out of this crisis and how can foreign nomads be prevented from coming here and causing crisis?

I think the Federal Government should try to adopt the Gambian approach.  The Gambia is also a signatory to these two protocols but any country within the West African sub-region who wants to send its nomads to The Gambia must apply officially, telling them the number of nomads and cows expected there and the stalk routes they will ply and the time or duration they’ll be in that country.  And of course, you will countersign that your nomads will not take arms to The Gambia, and to ensure that all animals are vaccinated against killer diseases and that your people will be vaccinated against diseases too.

During our last visit to Niger Republic, we sat down with the nomads there and said please let us sign an agreement that when you’re coming to Nigeria, for instance, Kaduna State, you will not come with arms; our government will protect you. That was why last year in all these local government areas; we did not have any issue of encroachment into the farmlands.

We signed an agreement with them that if they come to Kaduna State they should not bring arms and if they did so, the Kaduna State government and security agencies would confiscate their arms and recover their cattle for them. We warned that they should not encroach into farmlands until our farmers harvested all their crops from the farms and took them home. But we expect the Federal Government to do something about it too.