The fulani Attacks: A big fight ( published by: Dabo EUCLID)

Fulani herdsmen attacks: The
big fight back
— 8th May 2016
By Chidi Obineche
RIPPLES of the Monday, April 25th attack
on the rural agrarian community of Ukpabi
Nimbo in the Uzo- Uwani Local Government
Area, LGA of Enugu state which reportedly
left in its wake a staggering number of
deaths, injuries and destructions peaked at
the turn of the week. The condemnations
came like sparks of fire, but like a lion jolted
from a delirious slumber, the fight back has
slowly and steadily mounted, resulting in a
frenzy of protests, threats, and pre-
cautionary measures. Happily, no backlash,
or reprisal killings have occurred.
In- gathering
After days of seeming reluctance, President
Muhammadu Buhari took the bulls by the
horns by ordering heads of security
agencies to take all necessary actions to
rein in the rampaging herdsmen who have
continued to wreak havoc on different
communities across the country. The
president while receiving catholic bishops of
Nigeria said; “We are determined to secure
all Nigerians and I have told the Inspector
General of Police and other security
agencies, in very strong terms to deal
decisively with the attackers”. On the heels
of this declaration, the Enugu state police
commissioner, Mr Nwodibo Ekechukwu was
posted out of the state for alleged lethargy
and negligence of duty, before and during
the attack. Rising to douse the ethnic
tension which the attack triggered, the
Sultan of Sokoto and head of the Muslim
community in Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammed
Sa’ad Abubakar 111 called for caution so
that it will not snowball into a major ethno-
religious crisis. He said: “Here in Sokoto, we
will continue to do what is right; we will
continue to be hospitable to everyone
irrespective of what happens elsewhere.
Other states should replicate what we do
here and the ethnic tensions won’t split our
country”. The admonition from the sultan
and others seemed to have stirred more bile
and angst in the hearts of the herdsmen.
While the umbrella body for northern cattle
breeders, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association boasted that no one can stop
them from grazing their cattle in the
southern part of the country, northern
governors warned commentators on the
mayhem to desist from associating the
name ‘ Fulani’ with the herdsmen. The
apparent hardening of heart of the herds­
men spurred more vitriolic umbrages. Yo­
ruba socio – political group, Afenifere, the
Ijaw Youth Council, IYC joined the fray. Both
groups which spoke through Chief Kehinde
Arogbofa as Secretary General, and Mr Eric
Omare described the boast as an invitation
to anarchy, which they said, stemmed from
the support they enjoy from President
Buhari and Northern leaders. Former
Aviation Minister Chief Femi- Fani Kayode
warned that southerners might be forced to
even the score of the killings of their
kinsmen by the herdsmen. In a very caustic
tone he said, “This madness and endless
attempt to rationalize and justify it has to
stop. Nigeria is already on the road to Kigali
(Burundi)
“If they don’t stop the slaughter of
Southerners and the stealing and pillaging of
southern lands by their kinsmen, our people
will be forced to retaliate and this country
will burn and break. A word is enough for
the wise.” First son of the lateChukwuemeka
Odimegwu Ojukwu, Debe advised the people
to resort to self help. He told Sunday Sun
that “You can’t lie down in your house and
people come there to kill you. I believe the
time has come for self- help, because it is
only self- help that can check this menace”
Several other condemnations from groups
and individuals poured like a deluge, stoking
mass hysteria and tension. The mere
condemnations and suing of peace soon
crystallized into balls of actions. The Igbo
nation, which saw the attack as a sore
reminder of the ugly skirmishes of the past
that led to a grueling bloodbath and civil war,
swiftly moved to revive the dreaded Bakassi
boys of the late 90’s as a standby militia to
contain future attacks. The decision, it was
learnt, was reached at the emergency
Imeobi meeting of the apex Igbo socio-
cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo on May
1,2016, at Enugu. The communiqué released
at the meeting underscored the porous
security situation that led to the unfortunate
attacks. It partly reads: “ Our people should
learn and imbibe the culture of being ready
to defend themselves legitimately at all
times, and at all levels; at least to offer
reasonable defense, in the event of any
impromptu attack, as we, the Igbo, are
vulnerable and are grossly endangered.
“ That the National Executive Council of
Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo must set up, as a matter
of urgency, a ‘ security and strategic
endurance committee’, and a ‘central
coordinating security sub- committee on
town unions, vigilance groups and neigh­
borhood watchers.”
Other pre-emptive measures announced by
Ohanaeze include legislation by State
Houses of Assembly in the Southeast on the
imperative of restrictions on grazing land for
the cattle rearers. Enugu State governor
Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi announced the
reactivation of the Neighborhood
Association and Watch groups law 2006
which provides for the establishment and
operation of neighborhood watch
associations in every community in the
state.
He disclosed this at a meeting with
traditional rulers and Presidents of town
unions, where he doled out N100m initial
seed money.
Anambra State went a step ahead to launch
a helicopter for aerial surveillance of the
activities of herdsmen in the state. The
governor, Chief Wille Obiano, while
addressing workers in Awka on May 1,
assured the people that his administration
had all it would take to prevent any attack by
the herders. “There is routine helicopter
surveillance across the borders of the state
to ensure that any suspicious gathering of
people (herdsmen) or curious movements
across the borders are quickly picked up
and analyzed by security experts”.
By Tuesday, May 2, the brewing cauldron
had moved a notch higher. Several socio-
cultural and militia groups in the southern
part of the country declared their readiness
to confront the Fulani herdsmen. Agbekoya
gave the Federal Government a 14 day
ultimatum to stop the incessant attacks on
Yoruba land, even as it vowed to retaliate
any attack on its members. According to the
National Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr
Olatunji Bandele , the group would “close
down all markets in the south west, make
sure that Fulani herdsmen do not enter any
village in Yoruba land with their cows. And if
they dare enter, they are doing it at their
own risk.
“We have alerted Agbekoya south west
warriors across Yoruba land to be battle
ready in case the Fulani herdsmen do not
heed our warning, because this thing has
continued for the past four to five years
now. We have other security measures we
are keeping to ourselves” The deadline,
according to him, started to read from
Thursday April 28. Giving more hint on their
battle readiness, he said “we are not
bothered with whether they carry arms or
not, we will deal with the Fulani herdsmen
hands down. We have done it before. The
Agbekoya fought a 14- month war with the
military. That was in 1968/69. We have
instructed our warriors. Anywhere they kill
farmers again, we will move in” . Similarly,
the leader of the separatist Movement for
the Actualization of the Sovereign State of
Biafra, MASSOB, Mr Uchenna Madu
lamented that Igbo people had been “talking
and talking” while they watch their people
being killed. He said it was time for “action”.
He said: “The Fulani herdsmen are cowards.
After the recent attacks, they ran away. If
they mean business, let them wait for
Ndigbo, and we will engage them, man- to-
man. It will be demeaning to ask us if we
have the capability to confront them.”
The Herdsmen waterloo
In the search for solutions to the menace,
Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose came up
with a hilarious fangled twist on how to rout
the herders without bayonets, bullets,
cudgels and machetes. He advised the intro­
duction of a toxic drug, game line in rivers
and streams which will kill the cows
instantly when they drink water. In the not
distant past, fazed, and confused about how
to get rid of Fulani herdsmen who were
terrorizing their communities, women in
Nekede and neighbouring Ihiagwa in Imo
state dredged from their pot of wisdom and
sent them packing . They met their waterloo
when some women decided to stand up to
the AK47 wielding Fulani herdsmen. The
herders were having a free run in these
farms surrounding the Federal University of
Technology, Owerri, destroying crops, killing
challengers and raping women. With their
intimidating war arsenals, the women in
these two communities convened a meeting
on how to checkmate them.
They came up with the ingenious idea that
grazing animals cannot stand the smell or
hotness of chili-hot- pepper. They
experimented on it by spreading red – hot
dried chili-pepper around their farmlands. In
the run up, they tasked themselves by
asking every woman in the community to
donate one’ derica’ cup of grounded pepper
each, and got a huge drum of it. They
organized themselves in groups and went
out at night spreading the pepper across all
farms in their area and waited in hiding.
When the marauders showed up with their
cows the next day, the cows started falling
and running amok. 15 cows dropped dead in
an instant. The invaders fled, and never
returned to the communities till this day.
Beyond the Wailing Wall
The seething rage steamed with protest
marches and demonstrations. On
Wednesday March 3, hundreds of students
under the aegis of Federation of Association
of Nsukka students, FANS and South- east
Students Association protested at the
University town of Nsukka with bold
placards declaring that “ We don’t want Fu­
lani herdsmen in South east again.”
In Enugu, a coalition of women groups
staged a similar protest. In far away
London, the United Kingdom, Nigerians in
the Diaspora from different countries took a
protest march to Westminster parliament.
Fiery Ex Biafra warlord Col Joe Achuzia, (air
raid) Retd, told Sunday Sun solemnly that
“this issue is much more serious than
people are looking at it.” He declined further
comments. The South east senate caucus
met and called for an emergency South
east/ South/south Summit, comprising
Governors, National and state Assembly
lawmakers, traditional rulers, socio- cultural
organizations and other stakeholders
immediately. Spokesman of the group,
Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South,
described the unfolding situation as “scary”,
which requires a co-ordinated response
because of the “ominous silence and
apparent indifference of the presidency.
“We can no longer sit and watch, while our
people are daily slaughtered like fowls
without even attracting the cursory routine
condemnation by the presidency. It is
disheartening what is happening, and
somebody has to take responsibility.
Somebody has to be the institution of the
presidency of the federal republic of
Nigeria,” he explained. Ebonyi state
governor Engr Dave Umahi disclosed the
creation of grazing routes in the state, after
a meeting with heads of security agencies
and traditional rulers. He explained:
“These grazing routes are lands that are not
used for farming, where the herdsmen
would be allowed to use in feeding their
animals. They would not be allowed to stray
into farmlands where we cultivate farm
crops. Traditional rulers are enjoined to map
out the routes and inform the herdsmen”.
He tasked security agents to search the
herdsmen for arms. Correspondingly, the
Nigerian Army intercepted 92 armed
herdsmen along the Abuja- Keffi road.
Another group of 56 armed herdsmen were
arrested at the Dantata check point between
Kuje and the Abuja airport. Across the
length and breadth of the nation, the gyre is
widening for the hawks of doom and the
doves of peace.