Our battle with xenophobia, by Fulani herdsmen

In Recent years, Nigeria has witnessed an upsurge in violent clashes across many communities in northern Nigeria. Many of such clashes involve farmers and herdsmen and are sometimes believed to have been orchestrated by cattle-rustlers who after committing their crimes allow their stolen animals destroy anything on their path. Sometimes, Weekly Trust gathered, herders are […]

In Recent years, Nigeria has witnessed an upsurge in violent clashes across many communities in northern Nigeria. Many of such clashes involve farmers and herdsmen and are sometimes believed to have been orchestrated by cattle-rustlers who after committing their crimes allow their stolen animals destroy anything on their path. Sometimes, Weekly Trust gathered, herders are wrongly accused of collaborating with their own worst enemies: cattle rustlers.
The farmer/herder problem is responsible for a new frontline of violence, many times deadly. Some communities who had previously been living peacefully with herders would kill them, along with their cattle. Some state governments are even said to be the ones stirring trouble in many parts of the country to discredit the simple, peaceful herders.
Attacks on herders, their families and their cattle have been on the rise. Weekly Trust spent some time with a group of herdsmen who opened up on the major problems – including outright xenophobia – they are currently facing nationwide.
At Masaka, in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, one of the herders, Mahammadu Damina, said life is very difficult for them now. “We hardly sleep at night because we don’t know who is coming after us or our animals,” he said, adding that attackers start by shooting anyone they see around the animals.
Damina worries that they are at the receiving end of every conflict, even with their innocence. He shared the experience of how he narrowly escaped from angry villagers along a grazing route on his way from crisis-ridden Benue to Nasarawa State. According to him, some people in a village near Giza in Keana Local Government Area, upon sighting them called on villagers to attack them. He disclosed that their escape was a miracle, even though some cattle were lost in the incident.
Zheun, a village 20 miles off Abuja-Keffi Express way, which is home to some herdsmen, has also witnessed hostilities. Shehu Boushe was milking his cows when this reporter visited and exchange of pleasantries, he disclosed that his means of livelihood is increasingly threatened by cattle-rustling, bad image as a result of clashes with farmers, and new economic realities. Boushe stressed that no matter what, you cannot separate farmers from herdsmen. “These are people who have lived together for many, many years. We need pasture and they need the manure from the cattle dung. That is how we have been living peacefully in that chain of needs. But all of sudden these farmers are failing to reason well on who could be responsible for destroying their crops and they just attack us instead,” he said.
On cattle-rustling, he opined that there are people who are connected, even to people in government and he stressed the rustlers have leaders who supply them with sophisticated weapons that match even those of security personnel.
When Weekly Trust asked Boushe whether he will consider other ways of rearing cattle, like ranching, his answer was firm: “No.”
Boushe said whether a fence is built round the ranch, rustlers will still attack. “They will ask you to accompany the animals to a distance before you they turn you back. Don’t forget, they are heavily-armed, even with machine guns. So how do you challenge them with bare hands?” he asked. He has also lost hope for any future peaceful coexistence. According to him, “These are the signs of the end-time, which God has promised.”
Weekly Trust sought to know from Boushe’s wife, Sadiya, a mother of four in her 30s, how they manage life in their settlements in view of constant threats from rustlers and farmers. “In the past, our children could help take the animals for grazing but now, that’s not possible,” she said.
Recent statistics show that between January 2013 and April 2014, over 357 herdsmen have been killed in clashes with either rustlers or aggrieved communities across the country, particularly in northern Nigeria. Over 60,000 Cattle were rustled and many people brutally killed. Recently, people said to be members of security forces killed 32 herdsmen in Keana Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. 
Representatives of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association believe that the attack was politically motivated, accusing some politicians from Benue State and Abuja of being behind the attack. The association threatened to drag the Federal Government to court over what it called “ethnic cleansing.” In 2013, alone about 125 Fulani herdsmen lost their lives in the ethnic carnage that brought Nasarawa to its knees. 6,000 heads cattle were also lost in that conflict.
While the dust was just settling in Nasarawa State, in neighbouring Benue State about 18 herdsmen were killed while about 2,000 cows were stolen. Many, women and children, were displaced. While relevant stakeholders were struggling to find lasting solution by bringing both sides to discuss peace in Benue and Nasarawa states, Taraba State erupted. Seventeen herdsmen lost their lives and 700 cattle have so far been lost. That crisis still ranges on.
Kaduna State has also witnessed some nastiness, when in recent weeks about 1,000 cattle have been rustled and last week two herdsmen were killed in Fadan Karshi by a mob of angry youths who thought the herdsmen were behind deadly raids on their communities.
Plateau State is just settling after three years of sustained attacks on herdsmen in areas like Langtang, Mangu and Barkin Ladi areas. There, about 87 herdsmen were killed and 7,200 cattle rustled.
Salihu Jibrin, a herdsman, told Weekly Trust that the cordial relationship between farmers and herdsmen has been marred by frequently hostilities. “In the beginning, the farmers believed we are collaborating with the rustlers. But when they realized that we are even more vulnerable and suffer more losses, they’re now seeking for cooperation in confronting this menace,” he said. “How can we just wake up and start killing people we’ve been living with for ages?” he queried.
Jibril also fondly remembered peaceful days gone by. “A lot has changed now and I’m not sure if that sort of cordial relationship can exist again. Our way of life, our future, are threatened,” he lamented.
Boushe, in an earlier encounter, remembers when farmers who would invite a visit with cattle to their farms for manure, hate herdsmen today. “People think we are responsible for these crises, but we aren’t,” he said, pointing to the sky: “But God knows.”