National President of the Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), Khalil Muhammad Bello, has said the continuous clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the country is avoidable, and that the move by the Buhari administration to reclaim grazing reserves and cattle routes, is laudable.
Bello however, noted that while reclaiming these routes is a good move, the focus should rather be on Northern States where blocked routes ended up forcing herders to move down to the South where hostility between them and their host community is rife.
Bello stated this in Damaturu, Yobe State capital, in the weekend. He said, “our desire is to bring an end to the nation’s distractive perennial conflict between our two inseparable brothers (Farmers/Herders).
“We always observe and offer useful advice to federal and our Northern State governments on what ought to be done to end the said solvable crises and we were doing so by thorough assessment of any government programmes and policy that we felt had something to do to our pastoral occupation, which directly affects the nation’s security.
“Of recent interest is the federal governments widely publicised and highly applauded move to reclaim the encroached grazing reserves and blocked cattle routes across the Northern States with a view to ending the unnecessary clashes between cattle rearers and farmers and the wanton movement of pastoralists to Southern part of this country in search of animal pastures and water points which is mainly caused by the encroachment or total blockage of cattle routes.
“Government should be taking drastic actions against anybody found sabotaging government efforts in reclaiming the cattle routes and encroached grazing reserves”.
However, unlike the position of Bello, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, has insisted that herdsmen have the constitutional right to graze anywhere in the country.
He made it clear that the only thing that would stop herdsmen from grazing in any part of the country, is lack of grass. Otherwise, they'll continue to graze and nothing would happen.
While speaking on ban on open grazing declared by the Southern governors, he said, "We are going to follow the law and see how to approach some good leaders in the South-East, South-West and the South-South. We will also approach the Inspector General of Police and other security agencies to protect our people.
"It is not about grazing; it is a plan against Fulani people. Some people want to hijack the cattle business from us. Anywhere you go now, you see Fulani grazing cows and you will think they belong to them. No! The cows belong to some people in that area or community.
"If you go to Benue, the state that first promulgated the anti open grazing law, you can see cows grazing; their owners are Tiv people. Even the governor, Samuel Ortom, has so many cows. They want to chase us away and continue with our business.
"What these Southern governors are trying to do, some other African countries tried it, but it didn’t work. So, this one will not be an exception. You can’t just wake up without plan B, and say you have banned open grazing.
"This business has history; we didn’t just wake up and start cow rearing. It is a blessing from God; it is God that blesses us with this business, it is not like farming or palm wine tapping business. This is from the beginning; the only thing is how to transform the business.
"These governors are confused; they are trying to deny Fulani their rights and means of livelihood. Nigeria has only one constitution, which the governors are breaching. We may approach the court to stop them from carrying out their plans.
"The process by which they arrived at their decision was wrong. They were supposed to have invited us because we are part of their various states. If you are a governor, you are a governor for everybody living in that state. Since we live in all the states doing our business, it behooved them to have invited us to the meeting.
"I don’t know who is giving them this evil idea. No state can progress without Fulani being in that state; any state without Fulani is backward and poor. Fulani attract blessing. They don’t have problem, but unfortunately, people attribute kidnapping, robbery and banditry to them. It is not fair.
"They have not seen their people killing police and other security personnel. How many police stations have Fulani burnt? How many policemen have Fulani killed? But they want to tamper with the business God has blessed us with. The governors are very wrong."
When told Southern governors are determined to execute the recent ban, he said, "I say it categorically that this ban on open grazing by the Southern governors will never work. The only thing that can stop us from grazing in any area is if there are no grasses and water in such place. Fulani don’t have borders or boundaries; they don’t need permission to graze their cows from one area to another area.
"There is no law, no constitution prohibiting them from doing so. Fulani are educated and they believe in leadership. They follow the constitution, which permits them internationally to graze anywhere. ECOWAS permits us to graze anywhere, but any person that commits a crime, let the law of the land be visited upon such a person," he added.