- Calls for herdsmen to return to the north is not in line with a united Nigeria
The Nigerian soul seems fragile just now. Anything that grates it could lead to untoward consequences of fatal dimensions. So when a set of Nigerians that identify themselves as members of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the Coalition of the Northern Groups ordered Fulani herdsmen to vacate the south, it was potentially a call to arms.
They said the call was in the interest of the safety of the herders who had come allegedly under existential threats in the south. This treasonous order happened against the background of the RUGA controversy. Although the Federal Government withdrew its endorsement of the peculiar ranching policy for the southern part of the country, it left bitterness in the hearts of some groups in the north. According to such groups, the rejection of RUGA was an endorsement of a policy to exterminate herdsmen. The conclusion was a tendentious and ominous leap of faith.
The order was not only irresponsible, but it detracted from the efforts of well-meaning Nigerians to douse tension of ethno-religious combustion in the country.
In a salutary development, the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government lashed out at the groups, describing them as out of touch with the nation’s constitution.
“In line with our country’s constitution, the government of Nigeria and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will protect citizens of Nigeria wherever they find themselves,” said the president through his spokesman, Shehu Garba, adding that “no one has the right to ask anyone or group to depart from any part of the country, whether north, south, east or west.”
The cheering part of the narrative is that more influential groups have not joined such divisive rhetoric. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has not bolstered the NEF’s treason with a statement.
We will recall that a similar group a few years back also issued an order for Igbos to vacate the north; a call that led to panic that harked back to the dark fears that preceded the Nigerian Civil War. That episode petered out.
We cannot, however, wish away the tension in the country arising from the herders’ crisis. Herdsmen have been fingered in the waves of killings across the country, including in the southwest, south-south and southeast. The debate has also complicated the issue as to whether it is only the herdsmen that kill or bandits who do them under the herdsman’s cover.
More worrying is the fact that some southern individuals have stoked the flame. This is not time to trade blames but seek solutions. The NEF’s chairman, Professor Ango Abdullahi, supported the position of the upstart youths and their incendiary rhetoric.
A man who sees himself as a man of ideas and role model should not be associated with words such as these: “The bottom line is that their safety is far more important than their stay there. This is a country we all wish to keep together but not at the expense of other sections.”
At the heart of this crisis of herders is the inability or lack of will of the Federal Government to tackle the problem. It is not just a problem in one part of the country. Zamfara State, once quiet and under the national radar, is now the poster state for turbulence in the country. A tragic episode recently caught national spotlight when villagers heaved the body of a victim of bandits to the emir’s palace. Even in the president’s home state of Katsina, the bandits have overtaken quite a few villages, and peace is no longer routine in the lives of some of its citizens.
So long as the north provides beef and south consumes it, the herder issue will remain on the front burner until we resolve it. Divisive rhetoric only makes it worse
