Your
Excellency,
I chose
this medium of an open letter to reach out to you because of the existential
danger presently confronting the peoples of Edo State .
It is no longer news that Nigeria
has become an open killing field stalked by so-called Fulani ‘herdsmen’, a
roving band of terrorists acknowledged by the Global Terrorism Index as the
fourth most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world.
The crux
of the matter is that while every community in Nigeria is alive to this danger
posed by this band of terrorists and have openly rejected penetration projects
variously referred to as ‘cattle colonies’ and ‘ranches’ advanced by their
sponsors who currently control the levers of power at the centre, the governing
elite in Edo state has maintained felonious silence over their forceful
occupation of Edoland and murderous activities within. It is possible that the
silence is induced by honest ignorance of the dynamics of the activities of
these terrorists on your part and therefore requires some enlightenment by a
recourse to some aspects of our history.
History
is a resource central to the survival of peoples and organisations. As it is
often said, it is the compass to navigate the past, appreciate the present and
consider the future. The *Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State |
Importantly,
before British invasion, the same alien forces who are ravaging all parts of
the country in murderous adventures today invaded Hausaland in 1804 and seized
the political superstructure of the Hausa who today are subsumed under their
domination. They indeed invaded Edoland from the north of our space known today
as Kukuruku areas, a name engendered by the heroic resistance to the
invaders known to oral tradition as Azanamas.
To be
sure, in about 1850 during the reign of Oba Adolo (1848-1888) the Edo people fought wars with the Nupes who formed the bulk
of the invaders under the superintendence of the Fulanis. The Nupes who
launched out on two fronts, westwards against the Yorubas and southwards
against the Edos in their crusade against the peoples of the forest region met
with resistance. The Yorubas inflicted a crushing defeat on them at the famous
battles of Osogbo spearheaded by the Ibadan
forces in 1840 and later the British at Erinmope in the late 19th century.
They had a field-day in the Kukuruku country which they raided for slaves
and altered the socio-political institutions of that part of Edoland a
great deal. In the records of the British, the Kukuruku division was formed
with headquarters in Fugar in 1919. Until this period much of Edo North,
including Ososo, Okpella, Uzairue North and North Ibie were administered as
part of Northern Nigeria under the British
from Lokoja. Indeed, without the overwhelming resistance from our forebears, we
would have been living in a world of aliens (for a comprehensive knowledge,
read Akhaine, S. O., The Kukuruku Wars and the Secularity of the
Nigerian State: Some Preliminary Reflections).
Unfortunately,
the British decolonisation process placed the levers of power in the hands of
the same feudal forces and the dynamics of the civil war were to ensure their
total control of the material forces of the state—all the instruments of
coercion to ensure perpetual domination of the rest of the country (See Kunle
Lawal, The Role of the United States in the Decolonisation process in Nigeria).
A recent writer and combatant in that war called the outcome of the civil war,
‘tragedy of victory’.
Your
Excellency, the struggle for restructuring is to restore what Pa Enahoro called
equitocracy to the federal arrangement
of the country. It is the extant relation of domination that Majors S. D.
Mukoro and Gideon Orkar sought to undo in their military revolt of April 22,
1990. It is exactly what the incumbent administration has been reinforcing by
what is now famous as his nepotist appointments in the security forces. The
partisan nature of the military in the genocidal war against peace-loving
peoples of this country is legendary. For example, when the people of Ukpabi
Nimbo in Enugu in South-East converged to discuss their fate in the hands of
the Fulani terrorists, security forces were deployed to halt the gathering
while arrest were made. Bosso Community in Niger state were attacked by the
‘herdsmen’, and therefore primed themselves for self-defence. For that reason, men
of the 31st Artillery Brigade invaded the community in a dawn raid. Nearer
home, after the killings in Ewu, Edo
State , the innocent
protesters were shot at by the military from a unit in Auchi. There are more
damning evidences across the country which lent credence to the accusation of
complicity of the military/security forces by the former army chief, General T.
Y Danjuma.
The above
is to give you a sense of the continuity in the quest for domination by the
Fulanis currently masquerading as herdsmen. One of the methods they have
adopted in recent times is what the British have called swamping. They evacuate
their people at nights into neighbourhoods and then form innocuous retail posts
over which they make inroads into occupied communities. It is an old stratagem
they employed in Hausaland before take-over in the 19th century. Having
been profiled by their murderous activities, they have been unable to realise
their occupation agenda so far. The current minders of the Nigerian state whose
interest is coterminous with this murderous ethnic group seek the realisation
of the agenda through ‘cattle colonies’ and ‘ranches’. Hence, the corresponding
resistance across the North, Middle Belt and the South.
Assuming,
it was a question of grazing only, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who read between
the lines, suggested a civilised approach to nomadic grazing long ago: a
functional rail line between the North and South that could facilitate the
transportation of beef through airconditioned compartments to the markets in
the South. The Guardian Newspaper even suggested in one of its
editorials, a dual economy, that is, the south selling hay to the herders in
the north while purchasing beef from them. It will interest you to know that
the then Midwest region had attempted a
self-sufficiency approach by establishing ranches to feed its own people. They
include Igarra and Ubiaja. The latter had a dairy. The last stocks at Igarra
were slaughtered for pepper soup by the Igbinedion Administration while the
Ubiaja ranch was sold to late Admiral Aikhomu for a pittance and ownership has
since changed.
My fear
is the influx of the ‘herders’ into all parts of Edoland: from Ovia North East,
Orhionmwon, Ikopa-Okha, Ibillo, Igarra, Ekpoma, Irrua, Ugbegun, Igueben
Agenegbode. Most alarming is large concentration of the ‘herders’ in a large
swathe of land lying athwart Ewohimi and Uromi in Edo
central (Esanland). The ‘herders’ script in Nigeria is land grab and control of
the locals.
The quest
for land acquisition is beyond doubt a well-thought out occupation script acted
successfully in Darfur by the Sudanese
government. Under the pretext of drought, Arabs from the north of Sudan and Chad
moved into Darfur known for its lush vegetation
and settled. Before long, the Arab government in Khartoum first and foremost armed the
Janjaweed bands to undermine the local people. Subsequently, it re-engineered
the administrative units of the areas and imposed the hegemony of the migrants
over the indigenous groups such as Fur, Masalit and Daju. The consequence was
the formation of two armed groups for self-determination, namely, Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) (for
details, see the UN Report on Darfur).
This is already being perfected in Southern Kaduna where Governor Nasir
el-Rufai has just created new emirates to impose Fulani jurisdiction over the
indigenous people of Southern Kaduna and
render them second class citizens in their ancestral lands.
Indeed,
the continuous influx of the terrorist herders into Edoland indicates that the
State government under your leadership may have ceded our land to them for
occupation, thereby fostering an existential crisis for Edo
people. I am not unaware of a statement from your office to the effect that Edo
State Government “has not ceded any land, in any part of the state, for
ranching project to any one” and recognises animal husbandry as a form of
business by private individuals, and that “the state government does not, as a
matter of policy, directly engage in businesses” but act to provide enabling
environment to attract private investors. I am also not unaware of the ban on
night grazing by your government. In relation to the actions of Governors Ortom
and Fayose, these are all kid gloves approaches. Human lives matter.
The
reality on the ground belies your government’s position. It is that a large
chunk of Edoland is being occupied by ‘herdsmen’ steadily and illegally. The
lie of things in relation to the subject demands more than statements. It
requires practical action.
So far,
we have recorded uncountable casualty from their murderous activities. In the
last three years, the following killings, by no means exhaustive, were
recorded. In 2016, a
64-year old farmer was killed in Okada town in Ovia North East; a medical
doctor identified as Ehidiamen Oakimena was killed by
herdsmen along Okada-Benin road in Edo state, a teenager was
killed in Ibore, Irrua; Two women, Mrs. Martina Emoyon and Mrs. Ariu were raped
and killed in Ewu in 2017; also, in 2017, a pregnant woman was raped and killed in
Ukpenu, Ekpoma. In the current year, a student of Ambrose Alli, Collins
Ojierakhi, was killed in Ugboha; Mr. Pius Eromosele, a pastor was killed in
Odighi Community in Ovia North East; the right hand of Arowolo Jerome, a
farmer in Igodi quarters of Ojah in Akoko Edo Local Government
Area of Edo State amputated by the herdsmen; A bus driver with Gloryland group
of school was butchered along Auchi road, Igarra. The domino effect in terms of
halting farming activities is immeasurable. Our people now stand the risk of
famine.
I have in
the above-offered insight into the threat the ‘herdsmen’ pose to our collective
existence. I am inclined to suggest some solutions. The first solution is based
on assumptions. If the present conflict is truly farmer-herder and driven by
climate change as some have argued the Edo government should sponsor an
executive bill to prohibit open grazing in Edoland as is done in all civilised
countries. The states from which the herdsmen are coming have been the
recipient of cash to push back desertification, and fortunately for them, the
Chinese have evolved biotechnique for growing vegetation in the desert, they
should buy into it and not export the consequence of their negligence to other
states. Some Edo indigenes have cows that are
also grazing in the open, they should be summoned and asked to put them into
ranches and encouraged to make the state self-sufficient without relying on
cows from the north. Also, there are already existing cattle markets in Aduwawa
and Ivbiaro-Warake road at the bank of River Orle on the Auchi Side; they
should be re-organised to be exclusively managed by Edo State
indigenes. Northern cattle traders can bring in their cows, sell and go—no
settlement and no occupation. Nigeria
is not a frontier state but a country of Indigenous people.
The
second solution flows from my conviction that the elements masquerading as
‘herdsmen’ are terrorists and are part of a heinous agenda of the current
minders of the Nigerian state to occupy the rest of the country and subjugate
them. The level of killings and its morbid nature which the terrorist herdsmen
have perpetrated in the Middle Belt and our own casualty in their barbarism
support my position. Our solution is a no, no, to the Federal Government
herders project, namely, Cattle Colony,
Ranches and Livestock Transformation Plan. Edo
is listed among other states where the pilot project would be experimented and
over which the Federal Government has voted N179 billion naira. While other
states have said no vehemently, Edo state
under your watch is still prevaricating. In practical terms, the state
government must mobilise all available legal instruments to remove the
terrorists presently occupying parts of the state. The open grazing law will
deny them the cover for their sinister project.
Let me
warn that if proactive steps are not taken now, we might soon find ourselves in
‘dishonourable graves’. It requires practical action and the time to act is
now.
Thanks
for your attention.
*Sylvester
Odion Akhaine, PhD (London ), is an
associate professor of political science and acting head, department
of political science, Lagos
State University .
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