[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you find southern Nigerians shaking their heads and breaking out a sad dirge, know that once again, Fulani herdsmen have shown up in a community, leaving in their wake the usual signature tune of sorrow, death and destruction.
To cap it all , the legislative arm of government is said to harbour in their attention list, a National Grazing Bill that seeks to appropriate the lands of peasant farmers in the country, specifically for cattle herders, at a time of heightened mistrust between the nomadic herdsmen and the sedentary crop farmers found in the lush green vegetation of the south and the middle belt region of the country, two zones that have not been the traditional homes of the nomadic Fulani.
That is the proposition made, to wean them off the morbid propensity of killing those who oppose their peripatetic lifestyle.
The arguments of the nomads seem compelling though , that the federal constitution grants them the right to inhabit anywhere in the country they so desire and carry on their business in a peaceful atmosphere.
And they are absolutely correct.
Fulani In Northern Nigeria ~Historical Perspective
Unfortunately, their entrance into most communities has been anything but peaceful, going by recorded events dating back over two hundred years ago since their migration from the northern fringes of West Africa, especially the Futa djallon mountains in Mali and Senegal on the wave of a successful jihad or holy war to overthrow the indigenous Hausa kings, eliminate them and establish a Fulani dynasty that has lasted since 1804 till the present time.
Shehu Usman dan Fodio who led the revolution was a religious teacher, writer and Islamic promoter, and the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa States in what is today, northern Nigeria . He was a leader who followed the Sunni Maliki school jurisprudence and Qadiri branch of Sufism .
A teacher who lived in the city-state of Gobir until 1802 when, motivated by his reformist ideas and repression by local authorities, led his followers in a political and social revolution which spread from his base in Gobir throughout modern northern Nigeria and Cameroon , and was echoed in a Jihad movement led by the Fula ethnic group across West Africa.
Usman Dan Fodio developed a critique of existing African Muslim elites for what he saw as their greed, paganism, violation of the standards of Sharia law, and use of heavy taxation.
His uprising was a major episode of a movement described as the Fulani hegemonies in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. It followed the jihads successfully waged in Futa Bundu, Futa Tooro, and Futa Djallon between 1650 and 1750, which led to the creation of those three Islamic states.
As Amir al-Muminin or commander of the Faithful, he became a political as well as religious leader, giving him the authority to declare and pursue a jihad, raise an army and became its commander. A widespread uprising largely composed of the Fulani, who held a powerful military advantage with their cavalry (horses), started the jihad against Gobir in 1804.
This soon spread to the Hausa city states of Kano, Katsina, Zaria, including also Borno, Gombe, Adamawa, Nupe, and Ilorin. Soon all their indigenous rulers were executed to pave way for Fulani emirates.
After only a few years of the Fulani War, Usman Dan Fodio found himself in command of the largest state in Africa, the Fulani empire.
Thus, all Hausa states, parts of Nupe and Ilorin, and Fulani outposts in Bauchi and Adamawa were all ruled by a single politico-religious system.
From the time of Usman dan Fodio to the British conquest at the beginning of the twentieth century, there were twelve caliphs.
Their cavalry led conquest of most parts of the North before the British arrived as colonizers, made them lords and masters of the present day northern Nigeria, up from the Rivers Niger and Benue.
When the British came, they decided to rule the north of Nigeria indirectly through the political system they met, which was the emirate rulership, effectively stamping the authority of the Fulani rulers over most parts of northern Nigeria.
On January 1st, 1914, the British Governor general of Nigeria, Lord Frederick Lugard amalgamated the north and south into one country with a law that whoever was found on Nigerian soil on that day , automatically became a citizen of the new nation, called Nigeria.
Therefore, whatever, land the Fulani occupies today, was acquired either by conquest or purchase. Their history in Nigeria is about two hundred years old, whereas aboriginals have been here in the present day Nigerian territory for thousands of years.
Fulani Herdsmen Movement To The South And It’s Implications
The issue now is, why the sudden desire of the nomadic Fulani herdsmen in relocating to the sedentary South?
Why is it now such an attractive option despite strident opposition from the perplexed southerners ?
In a news report dated May 5, 2016 by The Trent, an online Nigerian news site, captioned, ‘Where Do You Expect Us To Keep Our 20 Million Cows?’ – Cattle Breeders Defend Fulani Herdsmen“,
“The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, has sided with Fulani herdsmen over the lingering violent clashes between them and landowners across the country, wondering where Nigerians expect cattle breeders to keep the over 20 million cows in the country.|
“Senator Alkali Jajere, who spoke on behalf of the group, regretted that Nigerians have refused to pay attention to what motivated Fulani herdsmen to migrate to other territories in the country, explaining that herdsmen moved into new territories because members of the Boko Haram sect attacked them in the North-East and other parts of the country and stole millions of cows from them.”
The implication of what Senator Jajere said is that because Islamist Boko Haram killed herdsmen and stole their cows, southerners who are principally farmers and fishermen must accommodate them with their about 20 million cows, lose their farmlands and die in genocidal numbers in the process , just to accommodate the Fulani 17th century style of nomadic cow breeding.
Fact is , the South was off limits to the Fulani ab initio, because the greatest killer of cows is the Tse-tse fly, according to findings . As small as the vector is, just a sting puts an ebullient cow to sleep and eventual death. Therefore, the Fulani avoided the south that is infested with it due to its many rivers and swamps, the natural habitat of the insect like a plague.
This has changed due to advanced medical research that has now provided a vaccine against trypanosomiasis, carried by the Tse-tse fly vector. With the barrier gone, herdsmen now cast covetous eyes on the lush green tropical vegetation of Southern lands as they find every reason to be in the South for purposes of grazing .
To drive home their point, a Fulani leader Nuru Abdullahi, Plateau State chairman of the Fulani Miyetti Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria spoke in an interview recently that they can’t be stopped from grazing their cattle in the South because the Constitution guarantees freedom of movement to everyone who is Nigerian and even to every West African as an essential part of the ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) charter. Any restriction is deemed illegal.
Giving legislators (northern legislators) backing to the agitation of the Fulani for inclusion in the South, senators from the nineteen states in Northern Nigeria have issued a communique regarding threats emanating from certain regions of the country demanding immediate relocation of herdsmen.
The Northern senators warned governors and village heads in South East in particular to cease from making proclamations that could overheat an already polarized country.
Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, APC ruling party’s senator, Abdullahi Adamu (a former governor) from Nasarawa West read a communique on behalf of the group.
Senator Abdullahi said, “We call on community leaders to be careful when making statements on these ugly incidences” of farmers /herdsmen clashes .
“There would be no country called Nigeria, if other parts of the country ask Fulani herdsmen to leave their communities and states. We, therefore, warn everybody, including governors to desist from making inflammatory remarks.”
This stiff warning has come from Senator Abdullahi because the Governor of the South Eastern state of Abia, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu declared that his state – and other South East states – has no land to donate to the Fulani for grazing. Abians were not prepared to wait for herdsmen coming all the way from the north before they could buy beef and urged his citizens to obtain land and start ranching cows in enclosed spaces. .
The Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, equally spoke recently that he has ordered his people to poison surface waters to keep cows far away from the largely agrarian State.
In like manner, the Oyo State Governor, Mr. Abiola Ajimobi also in the South West like Ekiti declared that his State has no land to earmark for Fulani herdsmen and their livestock. They too have suffered severe clashes especially in the Oke Ogun area of Oyo State.
Knowing the North and the diplomatic undertones in their softly spoken but stern words, what Senator Abdullahi is hinting at is a threat to expel millions of Southerners resident and working in the North in a tit-for-tat vengeance if herdsmen are sent out of the South.
And the North does not expel anyone peacefully. It must be followed by killings, arson and looting in it’s wake usually organized for and by the millions of homeless street kids of Northern parents that are not sent to school or housed, keeping them as large reservoirs of battle kids in times of unrest or elections.
The Way Out Of The Impending Anarchy
Before tackling this point, it is pertinent to do a comparative analysis between the economic output of the cow raised in a nomadic setting, vis a vis the cows raised in enclosed ranches.
The Fulani herdsmen own about 30 million cows and about 20 million Nigerians are engaged in that sector, according to sources.
The rate of parturition of the average Fulani cow is once in 3 years. The average milk yield per female cow is 1 litre per day.
Compare this to the South African cow that gives birth every year, producing 45 litres of milk per day, per cow.
Fulani Cow South African Cow
Calfing: Once in 3 years Once in 1 year
Milk yield: 1 litre daily 45 litres daily
Rearing style : Nomadic Ranching
Taking the analysis further to the Netherlands, where the popular Peak milk brand and other dairy products consumed in Nigeria and many other countries around the world emanate from, the country has a population of just 3. 86 million heads of cattle and engaged only about 261,480 full-time and part time agricultural sector workers, both in animal husbandry and crop agriculture in 2005.
60% of total agricultural production in the Netherlands is exported. Agriculture accounting for 2.1% of GDP of the Netherlands – industry accounts for 24.4%, and services 73.5%. The agricultural labor force is just 4% of the population while 74.1% are in services as of 2005.
The crop output of Netherlands in 2003 was valued at almost €10.6 billion, fifth highest in the EU after France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. This figure is more than the GDP of most African countries. Today over $10 billion worth of vegetables are exported to the rest of the world from the Netherlands.
Netherlands supplies much of the world with milk, cheese, and other animal based products yet has no history of farmers and herdsmen internecine conflicts. Milk production in 2005 totaled 10.5 million tons.
With the Fulani heads of cattle, there are no records kept of total milk yield in tons per annum, but certainly no one has ever heard or seen tinned milk from the breed.
It goes to show that the Fulani owning about 30 million cows is not wealth, rather it is uncontrolled trouble for communities that harbour the peripatetic lifestyle of moving their herds of cattle into people’s farms and lands from community to community especially in the South.
The refusal of the Fulani to modernize and abandon their nomadic lifestyle will turn out to be their Achilles heel. Any community that remains static soon goes into irrelevance and oblivion.
Like the way forward which Governor Ikpeazu of Abia State in the South East proposed, if his citizens embrace the modern method of ranching cattle, before long the Fulani would find themselves at the bottom rung of a business they dominated for centuries to new and emerging rivals, and that is the Fulani Achilles Heel, especially when their AK47 rifles are balanced out.
Greg Abolo is a public affairs analyst. You may reach him by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
