- There is no point holding about ‘3,500’ herdsmen perpetually in detention
One frequently-asked question since the herdsmen/farmers’ crisis started is how many of the herdsmen have been arrested, not to talk of being charged to court for the crimes they are alleged to have committed? Indeed, the general impression is that of killer-Fulani herdsmen responsible for the incredible orgies of killings, rape and kidnappings, among other crimes that have become the norm in many parts of the country today, and yet have remained untouchable even by the security agencies because they are of the same ethnic stock with President Muhammadu Buhari.
So, all the security agencies do is simply look the other way as the Fulani herdsmen commit crimes. Rightly or wrongly, that is the impression out there.
But a Fulani group, Gan Allah-Fulani Development Association of Nigeria has reacted, saying that contrary to the general opinion, not all Fulani herdsmen are criminals. National chairman of the group, Saleh Bayeri, told journalists in an interview in Kaduna on Sunday that about 3,500 of their kinsmen are in detention in connection with one allegation or the other.
Bayeri said: “I am aware there are over 3,500 Fulani herdsmen or natives in detention in various security posts. I sincerely believe that something is fundamentally wrong with the system.” He is not happy that crimes and criminals’ issues have now been politicised or ethnicised, unlike what obtained in the past when they were treated as the crimes or criminals that they were. “I can recall vividly the issue of armed robbery in Nigeria which was entirely an issue in the southern part. Some people were picked as individuals committing crimes. Criminal activities in Nigeria were never an ethnic, religious or regional issue.”
Bayeri is not done: “Unfortunately, because of the advent of ethnic and religious hatred against us (Fulani) because we belong to a large ethnic group in Nigeria, we have been painted black and seen by many people as criminal.”
Many of us will simply express shock at the disclosure that such a huge number of Fulani herdsmen are being held in various security posts. If Bayeri’s claim is true, then it is news that should interest many Nigerians who see the Fulani herdsmen as the king’s goats that must not be touched.
But it is not enough to just clamp people/suspects in detention over long periods without arraigning them to face charges. When this happens, as is being suggested by Bayeri, a lot of complications arise. The Fulani group’s leader indeed gave insight into some of these feared issues: “Most Fulani people are innocently arrested and tortured almost to the point of death and money extorted from them to regain their freedom even when proven innocent. That is why today a Fulani man has become like an ATM.”
We want criminals punished for the crimes they committed. But we do not want the innocent to suffer unjustly. Even the guilty should not be subjected to extra-judicial treatment. Indeed, our legal system presumes an accused innocent until proven otherwise by a competent court of law.
So, we implore the security agencies holding these Fulani suspects to fast-track investigations into their cases with a view to arraigning them in court. It is in the absence of judicial intervention that people and groups come into all manner of conclusions, especially in a sensitive matter as the one at hand. This is at the bottom of the claims by several persons, groups and even the presidency for asking Fulanis to return to the north or stay put wherever they are, which they should, like other Nigerians in other parts of the country, feel free to regard as home.
