End the Agatu bloodbath now

The new wave of violent clashes in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State between suspected herdsmen and farmers has left on its trail massive deaths and destruction. Though the authorities have not come up with an official figure, survivors have alleged that not less than 300 persons may have been killed.  At least six […]

The new wave of violent clashes in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State between suspected herdsmen and farmers has left on its trail massive deaths and destruction. Though the authorities have not come up with an official figure, survivors have alleged that not less than 300 persons may have been killed.  At least six villages – Okokolo, Akwu, Ocholonya, Adagbo, Ugboku and Aila – and the headquarters of Agatu LGA (Obagaji) have either been razed down or totally deserted. This indicates that the animosity between farmers and herdsmen in the Benue and Nasarawa states has hardly ended in spite of interventions since 2014.
The bloodbath in Agatu exposes the lack-lustre attitude of government to the nagging problem of farmers/herders clashes due to pressure on land and grazing routes.  The land available for farming and grazing has shrunk due to population growth and urbanization. In the last 50 years since Independence, Nigeria’s population has grown exponentially. Also, the construction of tertiary institutions, capital cities, local government headquarters, new roads, housing estates, and related infrastructure have reduced the availability of land for farming and grazing.  Adding to this predicament is the insecurity in the North-East. Herders have to migrate from the North-East to the Middle Belt region to graze, especially in the Benue valley.
With unemployment, many youths from communities in Benue have taken to farming, leading to clashes between them and herders. Crops are destroyed. Cattle are rustled. Initial clashes have led to deaths counted in not more than two digits. However, since 2014, hundreds of persons have been killed because of the use of sophisticated weapons in the fighting. Coupled with the fact that most of the fighters are considered strangers to the Middle Belt, it is suspected that mercenaries may have been recruited from crises-prone areas in the Sahel Region of Libya, Niger, Mali, Central Africa Republic (CAR) and neighbouring war-torn countries from where illicit weapons are ferried into Nigeria. Governments have not done enough to tackle the conflict. In 2014, Benue and Nasarawa state governments set up committees at village levels.
The committees had the responsibility of isolating individual farmers and herders involved in clashes in order to settle their dispute instead of leaving them to escalate to inter-communal violence. Another intervention was an initiative of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, who set up a committee of the Northern Council of Chiefs on herders/farmers conflict. The committee had the joint chairmanship of the late Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Shehu Abubakar and the late Tor Tiv Alfred Akawe Torkula. The committee was to work out a comprehensive solution to the conflict in the Benue valley.
On his part, the erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan set up a high-level police and military command to maintain peace in the region. These have not led to a lasting solution to the conflict. The current government cannot shy away from putting an end to the violence, because as long as farmers and herders are left to self-help, the circle of violence and reprisal killings would not end. The government must ensure that peace is restored in Agatu, the militia in the area disarmed, and displaced persons rehabilitated or helped to return to their ancestral homes. Compensation should be paid to farmers and herders who have lost the crops and cattle in the conflicts as a way of assuaging feelings and breaking the cycle of violence.
 As farmers depend on their land for survival and herders on their cattle for their livelihood, government should put in place policies that would assist both parties in carrying out their trade without conflict. Traditional, religious rulers, and prominent leaders of Benue and Nasarawa must be brought together to agree on a genuine ceasefire and terms and conditions of peace, as a way forward.  No stone should be left unturned in the efforts to end the wanton killings in Agatu and other parts of the country.