Fulani herdsmen: A replica of primordial American cowboys

BY FOLORUNSO ADISA

For every crime, there is a punishment, for every violation, there must be restitution. The nomads of the world cannot place themselves above the law of settled humanity – Wole Soyinka.

But if one steals your cow, it is not an excuse to rape his wife or wipe out whole communities. Fulani herdsmen; a replica of primordial American cowboys.

Eminent columnist, Sam Omatseye, explained that like Nigerian Fulani herdsmen, “the American counterpart mounts a horse with stirrups and bridle and lariat. Both graze and move in sprawling expanse of plains and grasslands and travel miles under a benevolent sky and surly cloudbursts or dry heat.

“But the contrast begins here. Because the American cowboy confronted locals, they did not persist in fights of proprietary claims to grazing routes. They understood that the lands did not belong to them. So as communities sprouted, they adapted by charting new routes.

“Eventually, modernity caught up with them, and the open-range culture of grazing over wide swaths of territories became an anachronism. First, they took their cows to railheads. Later they had grazing reserves with stockyards and parking plants. Two intertwined things happened in the American case.

“One, a respect for the rule of law. Two, there was no resort to impunity by insisting that a century-old path ought to be sustained in spite of modernity.”

The prevalent bloodletting activities of the herdsmen which have taken over the atmosphere have not gone unnoticed. They entered into any community; they raided and raped, marauded and massacred their host community. They grazed on their cash crops and razed their houses.

News reports have it that nearly 100 people were gruesomely massacred in Barkin Ladi, an area of Plateau state. Sadly, the chairman the north central chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Danladi Ciroma, noted: “These attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support the killing of human being, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on revenge mission.”

Although we cannot excuse the fact that their cattle are being stolen. However, this is a lawful society and not a lawless one. Is it all about sacred cow or sacred rights? It is actually what they can easily call on the government or charge their violator to court that they may get the desired justice.

Herders are by definition people who move/guide tens and hundreds of cattle about. By extension, they are owners of cattle. The two go together herders and their cows so why is it difficult to apprehend them?

Recent events in Africa — genocides — should teach us just how dangerous, and what dire consequences, this kind of activities could incite.

It is as if we are actively trying to provoke an ethnic conflict, should we not arrest and address the case appropriately and earnestly.

These people, at first sight, wore a piteous mien, but they are agents of terror and horror. They found an excuse in their victims to have rustled their cattle, attacked them amidst all other ingenuine excuses they levelled against their host communities.

Perhaps, they are well armed and harmed anyone who confronted them to check their excesses. They are herdsmen; they are ready to set the heads rolling.

But they have chosen to maim and exemplify other forms of barbaric and inhuman acts.

These people have put a knife on the things that held us together, the centre cannot hold and we have fallen apart. Terrorism operates under the guise of religion and masquerades with the mask of ethnicity. The carnage grows unabashedly, home is no longer an abode of peace and comfort as every sight of even a teenager overseeing the affairs of a herd of cattle sends a shudder down people’s marrows.

Alas! Not all herdsmen are sinister, just as not all Yoruba are ritualist or all Igbos are cannibals. But behind the masks lies the ugly and inhuman faces of the devils; like Shakespeare stated: “Hell is empty, The devils are here.”

These (herdsmen) attacks are horrendous and indescribably evil. Alas! the concerned agencies (government and her allied bodies) are doing less than expected.

However, netizens should desist from their unbecoming activities of sharing gory pictures that are unrelated to the recent attack. I don’t think we help matters by climbing on Google and downloading years-old images of massacres and labelling them as images of recent attacks — that makes the whole painful story appear like a ruse. There used to be some talk about truth versus honesty in communication ethics classes — but all of that has gone through the cracks on social media.

Importantly, herders have got to be enlightened however that there is a culture of settlement and learn to seek accommodation with settled hosts wherever encountered.

If a law could be made that any cattle herder caught with sophisticated firearms be instantly disarmed, arrested, placed on trial, and his cattle confiscated, it will douse this ravaging menace to the barest minimum.

Also, the federal government should chart a route for them or create ranches for them all over the country to avoid clashes with host communities and inter-tribal mayhem.

For God so love the world that he gave every human BRAIN- chiefly the ability to THINK!

Folorunso Fatai Adisa is an undergraduate at the University of Ilorin.