Murdered For Daring To Condole a Bereaved Family:

A corrupt-free Nigeria in which fulani feel no qualms gunning down well-wishers on condolence visit to their (fulani) residence; a Nigerian in which cow dungs float on the streams and lakes from which villagers get their drinking water and are, daily, either killed or intimidated on their farms by armed fulani herdsmen to the deafening silence of the President and the presidency ...is as meaningless to those villagers and other concerned citizens as good music is to the deaf -like me.

Three days ago, in Taraba state, a fulani man came out with a gun and shot to death four Tiv men among those who visited a hausa/fulani compound to condole a family that had lost two of its members to armed robbers along a feeder road in the area. Not many may be aware of the horrendous experiences to which Fulanis have continued to subject our villagers-from 2011 when they took up arms and invaded many communities in the Middle Belt-since the happenings are mainly in areas with either poor access roads or where there are no individuals willing to speak for their people. Let it be known to whoever might read this piece that the Fulanis' murderous impunity against our farmers has not abated; the killings are going on silently in the hinterlands of many states.
Obviously, to the president and his handlers, if the killing of 14 persons in the same Taraba state on 15 September 2015 and another 20 persons in plateau state less than 48 hours earlier could not move anyone in the presidency to at least issue a statement condemning such terrorist acts then why should anyone think the killing of four Tiv men on a condolence visit to a hausa/fulani family deserves any form of reaction from the seat of power? But to those whose consciences are sensitive to horror, suffering and pains, such a cold-blooded act of murder is an assault on mankind's inherent conception of "human felling". This perspective alone presents enough reasons for a govt that is manned by conscientious people to act on the matter to, at least, demonstrate to the public that this govt is "for nobody but for everybody".

A Corrupt-Free Society Without Security Of Life and Property Is A Tragic Paradox!

Revelations in the ongoing investigation of corrupt politicians in Nigeria have taken our attention away from one of the many threats being faced by Nigerians in this country: Fulanis are now consolidating their positions in the areas they have "conquered" by erecting permanent structures on deserted homes and farmlands in parts of Taraba and Nasaeawa states. In some parts of Benue, they are pouring in with more cattle and have taken over the streams and swamps as water ponds and grazing fields for the dry season.
Sign this petition to protest this insidiously suffocating tactics of the fulanis, which is more threatening to the unity of this country than boko haram.

Sign this petition to save Nigerian Farmers:

 https://www.change.org/p/the-federal-govt-of-nigeria-tell-the-fulanis-and-others-to-ranch-their-cattle

Ranches Remain The Only Option For Ending Herdsmen/Sedentary Farmers Crises in Nigeria:

This demarcated lush green grass field (a ranch) can be artificially produced in core northern Nigeria's vast land to accommodate the thousands of cattle herds that are now being moved to other parts of the country, with consequent crises between herdsmen and sedentary farmers that have cost thousands of human lives, maimed thousands of others and destroyed property worth billions of Naira. The money and efforts that have been "invested" so far by cattle owners to sustain nomadic grazing of cattle, by all means, if invested in the Ranch System, should have solved 3/4 of this herdsmen/farmers problem, leaving just a little for the govt to complete. It's time to call it quit with this outdated and destructive grazing practice of wandering here and there with cattle in search of pastures. 

"Fulani herdsmen Vs. farmers: Time bomb in the making."

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Oct 19, 2015 — The Nomadic Fulanis have over the years, built up resentment among many farming communities, which have lost billions of naira worth of crops to grazing activity. Lives and property have also been lost in clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and farmers. However, the kidnapping of former secretary to the Federal Government, Chief Olu Falae by herdsmen has added a new dimension to the menace of the cattle Fulani, which has fuelled ethnic tensions and call for a permanent solution to this problem. Paul Omo Obadan examines the situation and how all citizens can enjoy their constitutional rights without trampling on that of others.

Barely two weeks after some Fulani herdsmen attacked and kidnapped the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, right on his farmland in Akure, Ondo State, a group of herdsmen have again allegedly attacked and destroyed the same farm. According to the farm Manager, Bruno ‎Akhigbodemen, while conducting newsmen round the farm located at Ilado in Akure North Council area of Ondo State, over one square kilometer plantation of maize was destroyed during the invasion.

Akhigbodemen said that the Herdsmen stormed the farm with their cows and wrecked the havoc despite the horrible experience the workers and their boss had in the last two weeks sequel to their menace‎.

“Efforts by the guards to prevent the destruction of the farmland were rebuffed as they were threatened by the herdsmen until their cows grazed to their satisfaction. This incident is coming after his kidnap and payment of N5m ransom to free him from his abductors.”

The former Minister for Finance has been having a running battle with the Fulani herdsmen ‎whose cows have on several occasions destroyed his crops. The latest destruction according to findings is the fifth within two months. Before his kidnap, two Fulani herdsmen were arrested and detained for destroying over N500,000 worth of farm products. They were released after some of their leaders wrote an undertaking that they would pay compensation and would not encroach on the farm again.

Three weeks after the incident, Falae was abducted by gun wielding Fulani herdsmen on the same farmland and was released after 72 hours. This unfortunate incidence has brought to the fore, the menace of the herdsmen and the need to deal with the issue promptly before it spirals into an ethnic conflagration.

It is has also brought to the front burner the lacuna of tolerance amongst the various ethnic groups in the country. In this case, the Fulani herdsmen from the Northern part of Nigeria.

Herdsmen have over the years contributed their quota to the economy of Nigeria. The place of Fulani herdsmen is inevitably important as they have sustained the production and sale of meat in markets across the country.

However, despite this positive inclination, their activities in recent times leave much to be desired, according to reports. The conflict between the Fulani herdsmen and the farmers usually arise when the former invade community farmland with their cattle and let them graze unrestricted both on cultivated and uncultivated land thereby destroying valuable food and cash crops, which are the mainstay of the host communities. When the communities try to resist them and request their exit, the Fulani herdsmen become violent and attack the community. Armed with sophisticated weapons, including AK 47 rifles, they usually attack their target communities at the time they are most vulnerable such as at night or on Sundays when they are in their churches, killing people with impunity, mostly women and children, burning houses and looting properties. The Middle Belt has been the worst hit with communities in Plateau, Nassarawa and Benue states suffering a heavy toll in human lives and property.

The history of the Fulani encroachment on private land in Northern Nigeria tells a story of bitter conflict down the years, especially between the unwelcome guests and the Tivs on the Plateau. There is the story of how the Fulanis would leave many of their animals to graze all over the rich valleys and hillsides of the plateau, at the beginning of each season, while they wandered away with the rest to seek pasture in other parts for more greenery, to the consternation of the landowners. On their return, the nomadic herdsmen would simply gather their cattle, which would meanwhile have grown fat, and be on their way.

The Tivs then devised a plan to deal with their unwanted guests. They simply ate many of the cows and sheep that were left behind at the beginning of the season and waited for the owners. When the Fulani herdsmen returned for their cattle at the end of the season, the Tiv looked them straight in the face and blantantly confessed, “Munchi.” That is, “We have eaten them.”

This resulted in several conflagrations with the Tivs being victorious since they had the home advantage and were themselves steeped in a culture of warfare. The Fulani hardly gave up but spread their search for grazing fields to other parts of the country like Kwara State. From Kwara, they spread their tentacles to the South-West and South-East.

Most worrisome is the brutality and impunity with which the herdsmen operate without regard for the law and the sanctity of life coupled with the inability of the Nigeria Police to defend the victims mercilessly slaughtered in their homes.

According to a Public Analyst and strategist, Ayodeji Taofik Sobulo, it is unfortunate that this level of criminal impunity is happening in a sovereign state with a constitution, which declares that the security and welfare of the citizens shall be a major responsibility of the state.

“I think our government should do more in the area of security and protection of lives and properties not only in affected areas but also all over the country.

The government must urgently summon the political will to forge a lasting solution to the Fulani herdsmen and farmers clashes to prevent its escalation into tribal wars and to avert further loss of lives and property.

The FG must as a matter of priority reposition the intelligence agencies, the police to stop the attacks, killing and wanton destruction of property by the Fulani militia and retaliatory attacks by the victims. They need to be arrested, disarmed, prosecuted and jailed if guilty while their sponsors should be smoked out and brought to justice,” he said.

There pertinent questions begging for answers. Is there a clandestine agenda of the herdsmen? Who are those arming the Fulani herdsmen to unleash mayhem on innocent and defenseless Nigerians? Why are the police incapable of protecting the farmers from violent attacks by Fulani herdsmen? Is it true that they are better armed and sometimes out-number the police? Why is it difficult for the Federal Government to contain the terror of the herdsmen? Why is it that the Fulani herdsmen alleged to be behind the inhuman killings and destruction of property in the affected states and indeed across the country always get away with their crimes without being brought to justice?

Analysts believe that there is certainly grave danger ahead because some of the ethnic nationalities incessantly attacked by the Fulani militia have warned that if the government fails to protect them, they are left with no other choice than to form their own militia to defend themselves and their land from the marauders.

Yoruba leaders give red card to Fulani herdsmen

For instance, Yoruba leaders have been spitting fire and brimstone against the backdrop of the abduction of Chief Olu Falae. Prominent Yoruba leaders rose from an emergency summit in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital a fortnight ago and handed a red card to Fulani herdsmen in the South-West.

The leaders, who include President of Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd), who was a former military governor of the defunct Western Region; Chairman of pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo amongst others. They all frowned at the abduction of Falae and described it as unacceptable to the Yoruba race. In the communiqué read to reporters by Dr. Kunle Olajide, Yoruba leaders sought an end to grazing in Yoruba land and directed all nomadic herdsmen to wind up their activities in the region. Failure to adhere, according to them, may lead to a breakdown of law and order.

The communiqué also demanded immediate arrest and trial of culprits involved in the kidnap of Falae, adding that those found culpable in the alleged killing and torture of farmers on their farmlands by the herdsmen should be dealt with accordingly.

“The return of the herdsmen to his farm on Monday, October 6, 2015, to continue their mindless grazing is to us an open declaration of war on the Yoruba people by these invaders. The summit was not unmindful of the fact that the ordeal of Chief Falae is a continuation of the series of attacks these herdsmen have inflicted on our farmers over the years in their contempt for our land and the people therein, which now appears to mean nothing to them than a grazing reserve,” the communiqué read in part.

However, in a reaction to the statement by the Association of Fulani Chiefs of South West Nigeria and Miyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, that banning nomadic cattle rearing as proposed by Afenifere is a violation of 1999 Constitution.

Afenifere Chieftain, Yinka Odumakin described the Fulini leaders’ position as absurd and inconsiderate. He insisted that the South West has had enough of the marauding activities of the Fulani herdsmen which must end.

He said: “The Cattle Rearers Association quoting the constitution and other treaties to justify the violation of our people by the Fulani herdsmen is quite absurd and very inconsiderate. Do those laws they quoted abolished the rights of our people at the appearance of herdsmen? If they insisted nomadic grazing is a way of life for the Fulani, why are they not doing it on their soil since the north has the biggest land mass?

“We insist that we have had enough of the marauding activities of the Fulani herdsmen on our land, he said.”

However Sunday Mirror findings dug out a twist to the whole imbroglio as a native Yoruba and Professor of Islamic studies in the Department of Religions, Lagos State University, (LASU), Is-Haq Akintola said that the various ethnic groups are still not integrated in the country.

According to him, “Some of us in the South have this dogma about the North/South dichotomy and we believe everything from the North must be bad. And instead of accommodating people from the North, we are hostile. This may have formed the background for what is happening presently.”

He also said that the abductors of Chief Olu Falae are not the Fulani herdsmen. “I don’t want us to make that mistake of believing that Fulani herdsmen were the ones who came to kidnap Chief Olu Falae for two major reasons. One, they have never been known to be involved in kidnapping. And two, it was a ploy by the kidnappers to keep the police away from their trail and send them on a wrong trail. And the kidnappers actually succeeded.

Also incensed by the vituperations of the Yoruba leaders, the National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, who spoke to Sunday Mirror in a telephone chat said the utterances of the South-West leaders to say the least, is unpleasant and capable of plunging the nation into unnecessary crisis. Yerima also noted that the position of the pan-Yoruba group was an embarrassment and disappointment to the North.

His words: “It is unfair and unfortunate. I am working and collaborating with leaders of Fulani herdsmen from all over the geo-political zones of the country to find a lasting solution to the imbroglio. Very soon, we will come out with a communiqué,” he said.

A public affairs commentator, Mr. Olubodun Yusuf, however said the only way to forestall this is to stop the proliferation of arms in the country and if I may tell you something, during the election we all saw a large amount of arms on our streets and after the elections where have they all gone to, some for robbery, cultism, land grabbing and other nefarious activities and this include our borders. Sometimes ago, a military man was slaughtered on the long bridge going to Ibadan by this same herdsmen and till date nothing was done.

We need adequate security in all parts of the country and the government can introduce what we have in Lagos, (Neighbourhood Watch) all over the country. This is how the dreaded Boko Haram sect started in Nigeria and because the government of the day then was not ready to nip it in the bud, it has festered to a monster that we are struggling to curtail, and if care is not taken we will lose our grip on the Fulani herdsmen.



Clashes threat to peace and unity

Barrister Emmanuel Nwaghodoh, is a Staff Attorney with Social and Economic Rights Center (SERAC), an NGO that protects the social and economic rights of Nigerians.

He argued that the clashes between the Fulani and farmers is another major threat to the peace and unity of this country.

“It started some years back and people seem not to realise where they are coming from and how far they are going. Few years back now, it has become a serious threat not just among the Western states but all parts of the country. Even recently, the kidnap of the elder statesman has also been attributed to the activities of Fulani herdsmen. The government needs to see it as a serious security threat and begin to put in motion machinery on how to curtail the activities of the Fulani herdsmen.

I see it as a task that is beyond the state governors. I am looking at a situation where the Federal Ministry of Agriculture begins to put in place designated grazing areas in some states. It could be in the six geo-political zones. So that even if they migrate from the North, and come to the South, instead of moving from one community to the other destroying people’s crops, they just move straight to the designated grazing ground and begin to raise their cattle there.

Since they are mainly from the North, northern governors should also do more to also curtail the incessant movement. I know that five states in the North could take care of all the grazing of all the cattle in this country. But if they feel five states is not enough that each state in the North including also the Middle Belt should set up areas for grazing to minimize their movement from the North to the South,” he said.

However, the last administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan budgeted N100 billion to begin the first phase of the resettling of the herdsmen. What has become of that plan or the project? The resurgence of kidnapping and other forms of insecurity show that Nigeria still has a long way to go, in making the country safe. The situation should be checked before it spins out of control.

They should be checked and seek other modern ways to feed their cows.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Reverend Ayo-Oluwa Ogunyemi, Chairman LACOMFOR, said “The Yorubas should not be tempted into waging reprisal attacks against their assailants in order to safeguard their lives, properties and territories. The mantra of this administration is change.

“One of the changes I want to see is the difference in the way the Fulani nomads earn their livelihood

The Federal Government already has enough of inherited security challenges to cope with which are yet to be resolved. And so these criminal elements within the Fulani herdsmen fold should be put in checked before their activities become another inglorious national phenomena. It should not be allowed to snowball into another security storm where some unscrupulous politicians can profit from as the case may be with the Boko Haram issue now.

Frankly speaking, while the Yorubas duly recognise the Fulani herdsmen as their fellow countrymen and brothers, however the criminal elements among them, who have constituted themselves into social menace should be flushed out after scrutiny/ due process without further delay."
http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/fulani-herdsmen-vs-farmers-time-bomb-in-the-making/

Ranch Your Cattle To Save Nigeria From More Bloodshed!

"Fasehun Tasks Yoruba To Fight Fulani Herdsmen"

"Founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Frederick Fasehun, has asked the Yoruba race to rise and fight the menace of Fulani herdsmen even as he described the destruction of Chief Olu Falae’s farm in Akure by cattle belonging to Fulani herdsmen as an embarrassment to the Yoruba race.
Fasheun's admonition came on the heels of a second attack on the farm of Chief Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which was destroyed approximately two weeks after the herdsmen kidnapped him and detained him in the bush until a ransom was paid. Falae was released after four days in the den of the abductors, an experience he described as "hell".
Fasehun, spoke at the Yoruba Summit in Ibadan on Thursday, stressing that Yoruba’s patience with the Fulani herdsmen, who he accused of killing and raping their hosts, had been exhausted. He therefore called for a radical approach to curb the deadly activities of the herdsmen.
“We can no longer continue to preach patience when our guests are disrespecting our territorial integrity. As it is, the territorial integrity of the Yoruba race is at risk. This is the time for the Yoruba people, especially the youth, to stand up and defend their nation.
“We do not have to depend on the Fulani herdsmen cattle when we have goats and chicken here. If it is confrontation, we are prepared to confront these people. Enough is enough.
“These killing, kidnapping and raping by these people on our land must stop. When violence confronts violence, we will achieve peace. We have been preaching peace for 55 years but peace has not been sustained,” he said.
Although he maintained that there was still room for dialogue, Fasehun said the visitors must learn to live with their hosts in Yorubaland.
He stated, “I believe in dialogue but it must have an end. In Oyo State during Lam Adesina era, the present President of the country, Muhammadu Buhari, came to Ibadan to complain to the governor that his people, the Fulani herdsmen, were being confronted by the indigenous farmers.
“Now that Buhari is the President, the Fulanis had the courage to traverse the entire land space from the North to kidnap Falae in a corner of Nigeria. How much patience do you want 50 million Yoruba people to have again? Nigeria belongs to all of us. The invasion must stop. We should inform those who are violating the integrity of our people to stop.”
At the event, which was attended by prominent Yoruba elders, leader of the OPC, Gani Adams, blamed the invasion of the Fulani herdsmen on disunity in Yoruba land.
He said, “We lost Yoruba unity because we disregard the strength of our language. We only react, we are never prepared. The issue is beyond Falae; unless we address it quickly. We must put politics aside and we must restructure Nigeria on the basis of true federalism.”
- See more at:

Fasehun Tasks Yoruba To Fight Fulani Herdsmen | First Africa News

Founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Frederick Fasehun, has asked the Yoruba race to rise and fight the menace of Fulani herdsmen even as he described…

firstafricanews.ng

Fulanis not relenting, more dangers ahead for Nigerian farmers:

Oct 10, 2015 — "Falae, grazing fields and herdsmen’s logic: In their response to the controversy raging over the abduction by suspected Fulani herdsmen of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, and the destruction of a part of his farm, the umbrella association of Fulani herdsmen (Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria or MACBAN) spoke animatedly of unspecified African Union and Economic Community of West African States charters guaranteeing the free movement and grazing of cattle within and across international borders. A MACBAN spokesman and Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, Mohammed Bambado, put the herdsmen’s case succinctly: “Need we remind our brothers (Afenifere) of the African Union and ECOWAS charters that give people and animals, particularly livestock, free movement within and across international borders of West African states. Such calls and actions are in direct breach of a number of international treaties and obligations regarding the free movement of persons and animals.” Yoruba leaders on Thursday rose in defence of Chief Falae and called for the expulsion of herdsmen from the Southwest if they would not desist from their destruction of farmlands and other criminal activities. For the first time in many decades, they have hinted of self-determination.

However, countering the threat of expulsion, Alhaji Bambado argued: “Banning the movement of cattle from one part of Nigeria to another also violates the constitution of Nigeria on the freedom of movement of people and livestock. It also amounts to ethnic profiling of the nomadic Fulani.” At least three spokespersons of MACBAN addressed the press on the call by some Yoruba groups for the government to curb what they described as the herdsmen’s harmful economic and destabilising activities. All three acknowledged that frictions between farmers and herdsmen had become an issue, but their recommended panaceas were as contrastingly weak as their assertion of their rights remained adamantly strong. They suggested that everyone, including the government, must join hands to rectify the problem. One of the MACBAN spokespersons, and Sarkin Fulani of Abeokuta, Mohammed Kabir, offered a curious view of the problem. Said he: “We have appealed to the Federal Government and state governments in the Southwest to help create grazing reserves. It is done in many advanced countries. When these things don’t exist, the herdsmen have to encroach for survival…God forbid that we will be importing all our cattle from overseas like our cars. This cattle rearing creates jobs for thousands if not millions of people. There is ranching in advanced countries but we can’t be ranchers because we can’t afford it.”

While stoutly defending the rights of their members, the herdsmen offered no definite position on the rights of farmers whose crops the cattle destroy. In the opinion of Alhaji Kabir, If grazing fields would not be created, then the cattle would graze where necessary to survive. It is this dangerously myopic view of economic essentials that is at the bottom of the fierce rivalry between farmers and herdsmen in many parts of Nigeria. If herdsmen would do anything to survive, farmers would also deploy all their resources to protect their crops. Just as animal husbandry is the life of herdsmen, farming is also the life of farmers. Where the rights of herdsmen end, the rights of farmers begin. If farmers would not hold the country to ransom, it is incomprehensible that herdsmen should hold the country to ransom. Both farmers and herdsmen are after all engaged in private economic activities. The activities may be different in scope and orientation, but they remain essentially private businesses. And if herdsmen think it logical to engage in self-help because the government is lax in providing grazing reserves, farmers would sooner than later also embrace self-help, as some restive parts of Nigeria are showing. But this zero-sum game could yet prove lethal for everyone, even as the government continues to feign ignorance of the national security implications of the clashes.

Chief Falae was abducted by suspected Fulani herdsmen late September and released injured and bedraggled after payment of ransom some three days later. Before his abduction, he had had clashes with herdsmen, which the law enforcement agencies could neither resolve nor prevent. About two weeks after his release, herdsmen again provocatively grazed in his farm and destroyed a vast portion of it. Once more, the police were both helpless and frustrated. Clearly, Chief Falae would be right to feel his livelihood was being threatened. Not only was his life threatened in his own community during the abduction, he is now being forced out of business. While the abduction saga lasted, the crime was dangerously morphing into ethnic conflict, with Fulani herdsmen painted as aggressors who understood nothing but force, a replay of the sanguinary conflict laying Plateau State waste. Rather than see both the abduction and destruction of farmland of a notable Yoruba leader as capable of fuelling ethnic distrust and acrimony, the government’s response has been tame. The response went no further than tasking the police with the rescue of Chief Falae, a task carried out desultorily and opportunistically.

The suspicion is that the government is sadly and inexplicably unable to appreciate the terrifying dimensions the abduction saga could assume. Faced with a lot of security challenges in the North, Southeast and South-South, most of them inherited from inept leaders, the Buhari presidency is demonstrating virtually the same aloofness and incapacitation. Even the so-called Goodluck Jonathan national conference was unable to adequately address the problem of herdsmen/farmers conflict. It left the matter in suspended animation. The South believes northern governments should bear responsibility for livestock business and truck their products to the South for sale, while the herdsmen think it is everybody’s business. As the Secretary, Association of Fulani Chiefs in the South-West, said, if other countries could create ranches, Nigeria should not be an exception.

With Boko Haram stubbornly carrying out desperate and random attacks in the Northeast thereby making the region unsafe, and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) spoiling for war in the Southeast and independence, the last thing the Buhari presidency needs is a destabilised Southwest. So far, the federal government has not demonstrated the capacity to judge the brewing herdsmen/farmers conflict in the Southwest as a potential and grave threat to national security. After the release of Chief Falae, the police were insensitive to suggest they would probe the traumatised family for paying ransom. Worse, other than giving the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) the marching orders to rescue Chief Falae, the president did not deem it fit to pay a visit to the Yoruba leader and elder statesman, an occasion the president would have used to make far-reaching policy statements on the country’s widespread and incessant herdsmen/farmers conflict.

President Buhari must tackle the problem urgently. He will unfortunately be proceeding from an obviously weak position as a Fulani man who had once, as a patron of MACBAN and former head of state, intervened on behalf of cattle breeders in a dispute between herdsmen and farmers in Oyo State during the governorship of Lam Adesina. But he can rise above the fray. For, as president, it is assumed he is now mature, wiser and patriotic to dispense justice and see every citizen as his responsibility. His oath of office at least assumes that he is capable of fairness and equity. The herdsmen’s view that Southwest states must create grazing reserves for cattle breeders is hardly tenable. Also, the argument that if there are no grazing lands, then cattle."

http://thenationonlineng.net/falae-grazing-fields-and-herdsmens-logic/

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Tell The Fulanis and Others to Ranch Their Cattle!

Since 2001, nomadic cattle herders in Nigeria who are mainly of the Fulani ethnic group from the north-western and north-eastern parts have been attacking sedentary farmers in their homes and farms across the country, particularly central Nigeria, over "grazing rights". The attacks, similar to the "Janjaweed" raids in Darfur, Sudan, have resulted to thousands of deaths, burning of homes and displacement of hundreds of thousands of villagers from their ancestral lands. And now, they {Fulani herdsmen) are occupying abandoned homes and farmlands of the dead and the displaced. Apart from the many lives and properties that have been lost in the crises, survivors in many of the affected areas cannot go to their farms again as some have been killed in such attempts.
The streams and lakes from where my community gets its drinking water are no longer safe as they now float with cow dungs. There is hunger and disease, and the killings and burning of homes are still ongoing.
There is more than enough land in the places where these fulanis come from to accommodate their cattle-if the unbridled grazing habit of cattle herders had not destroyed the grassland there and accelerated desertification.
The Nigerian govt has not done much to either protect the farmers, bring the perpetrators to book or compel the Fulanis to change from nomadic grazing of cattle to the modern system of breeding animals in demarcated and or fenced premises.
Kindly help impress it on the federal govt of Nigeria, which controls all the security forces of the country and have the final say on any matter of national security, to make it mandatory for the Fulanis and other cattle owners to RANCH THEIR CATTLE and save human lives, and save the biodiversity of the affected areas.
The following are just but a few links that provide insights into the horrors of the nomadic Fulanis and sedentary farmers' crises in Nigeria.
http://williamukor.blogspot.com.ng/
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fulani-herdsmen-kill-80-in-attack-on-benue-community/204180/
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/suspected-fulani-herdsmen-kill-28-injure-many-in-benue/ 
 

"The Darfur Genocide" is already Here in Central Nigeria!

2001:

The killings became widespread and assumed Ethnic Cleansing character in 2001, during the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo. The Tiv ethnic group were the first major targets of Fulani herdsmen and their hired mercenaries. They started from Tiv villages in Kundum, Quanpan local govt area of Plateau state, and swept down into Awe, Obi and parts of Keana in Nasarawa state. The killers were always described as "unknown gunmen" (as is currently the case in Plateau state). Alago people were then brought into the crisis to give it a semblance of "communal conflict". In Taraba state, the Fulanis boldly opened another war front by killing the wife of Hon David Mtwen on her farm in the Wukari area, followed by the massacre of 7 Tiv worshipers in the NKST Church, Zege Ate, during a Holy communion preparatory service in June 2001. Here too, like in Nasarawa, Jukuns were brought in to continue with the killings. Subsequent manipulations of news on the matter which often failed to reveal the actual number of Tivs killed, and the glaring partial roles of the Nigerian Army deployed to halt the crisis in Taraba state-who couldn't save a single Tiv village in the affected areas and were severally accused by the victims of looking the other way while Tivs were being killed, exposed how insincere and unprepared the govt of the day was in attending to the crisis. And when some soldiers were killed by suspected Tiv youths in Ukum local govt-probably mistaken for the killers who normally wore Army Uniforms, the Obasanjo govt ordered one of the most brutal massacre of unarmed civilians in the history of this country. Soldiers went on killing sprees in Ukum and extended to the home of a former Chief of Army Staff, general Victor Malu-a Tiv man, in faraway Katsina-Ala local govt. The army later apologised, but thousands of Tiv lives were already lost.

From then till date, central Nigeria has not experienced peace as Fulanis in "Janjaweed" style raid homes and farmlands of villagers in the area with impunity. They no longer hide under willing tribes but merely use them along side their fighters and the foreign mercenaries who are brought into the country through the porous northern borders. In one of such gory killings which took place on September 15th. 2015 in Ibi local govt area of Taraba state, some soldiers had led a group of fulanis to search for one of their brothers who was missing, the man was found dead in the bush in an area where Tiv people have their farms, the body was moved away and the soldiers moved to wherever they had come from, Fulanis then took up arms and killed 10 Tiv villagers who were working on their farms. Three farmers still remain missing.

Below is a write-up by an individual from Plateau state who believes the killings are a Jihad being prosecuted against the people of Plateau and others in this part of the country:

BEROM MASSACRE, AN EXTENSION OF BOKO HARAM AND JIHAD IN GRAND STYLE. Posted on August 20, 2015 by Yohanna

Posted on September 17, 2015 by dalyopbakofriday

There is no doubt that President Buhari is ever ready to govern this country. But, while emphasis are laid on war against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country, is the president doing anything different from previous administrations to address the increasing acts of terrorism and ethnic cleansing in Plateau State?
In 2007, the late President Yar’adua inherited the Plateau crises from President Obasanjo. Between the 8th and 9th of March, 2009, the residents of Dogo Na Hauwa in Plateau State woke up to a horror beyond their wildest imagination where more than 500 women and children were gruesomely hacked to death at night by Fulani herdsmen.

This was followed by myriads of other attacks, sacking entire communities like one would an unproductive employee. The ailing president looked the other way as though Plateau State was not a federating unit in Nigeria. He did little or nothing to address the core causes of the killings besides deploying security personnel, some of whom were accused of participating in the genocides and exhibiting total indifference to the situation of the defenceless victims. In fact, they were only seen after the attacks taking statistics of damage done to lives and property like some chartered statisticians.
The Jonathan administration came with some strong words which sparked hope in 2010. But as soon as the elections were over in 2011, the killing spree resumed with a wider coverage to include Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, Nassarawa and some Gbagi settlements in Abuja. The then president, who was overwhelmed by the Boko Haram insurgency seemed to have no idea of the carnage that was going on in the villages of Plateau State particularly Riyom and B/Ladi despite the deaths of serving senator, Gyang Dantong,

and Plateau Sate House of Assembly member, Gyang Danfulani. The president persisted in his ignorance of the night attacks in the villages until his exit on the 29th of May. This ushered in Baba Buhari as the Grand Commander of the Change Army who raised our hopes.
But the hopes are only proving to be transient. We are unspeakably perplexed by the coldness that characterizes Mr. President’s disposition towards the systematic, well-orchestrated and incessant massacres of Berom in the villages of Plateau State by Fulani herdsmen, officially known as “unknown gunmen”. Aside our indefatigable president only dismissing the ugly trend as “farmers/herdsmen clashes” in his most celebrated inaugural speech of “I belong to everyone, I belong to no one”, he has not brought this issue to the front burner with the view to investigating the actual causes, punishing the perpetrators and providing a long-lasting panacea to it. The eight people killed by the gaseous escape in Jos received a presidential condolence but the killings of hundreds, destruction of farms and sacking of villages in Plateau have not.

With due respect to His Excellency, it is by no means a clash when women and children are hacked to dead or shot at in their farms. It is terrorism. It is massacre. It is genocide.
While it would appear that President Yar’adua swore to a code of silence to the sustained annihilation of whole villages on the Plateau, President Jonathan seemed to have sworn to a code of ignorance. The pertinent question begging for answer is, to which of these codes has our respectable and amiable president pledged his allegiance? The presidential code of silence or the code of ignorance? Is there a hidden clause that forbids presidents from addressing the Plateau matter? Baba Buhari obviously has the political will and commands the requisite respect to end this abuse of humanity. So what is preventing him from taking immediate action as he is rightly doing with other terrorising attacks in the country?
It may, at first glance seem like this is a Plateau problem, but there were instances where, out of rage, the victims of these attacks blocked highways and attacked innocent travellers. This is by no means a justification for any act of carnage. My point is that we must not wait like we did with the issue of Boko Haram when it was at its embryonic stage, only to be proactive when it became a hydra-headed monster which sought to consume us all. With the killing of any Nigerian citizen in Nigeria or elsewhere, we lose our humanity when we stay aloof.
Those close to the president, please inform him that Plateau State needs urgent presidential attention. Community policing and collaboration have stemmed the occurrences of crises in Jos and environs, but not the unabated daily killings in the villages of Riyom, Bokkos and Barkin Ladi.
We either collectively speak as Plateau people and bring an end to these insane killings now or forever remain silent." https://fbdglobalnews.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/berom-massacre-an-extension-of-boko-haram-and-jihad-in-grand-style-posted-on-august-20-2015-by-yohanna/

Indeed, the Buhari govt's continued silence over the murderous activities of fulani herdsmen against farmers in Nigeria, particularly in central Nigeria, has already cast the shadow of the Darfur Crisis of Sudan here, and it may turn out worse if no urgent steps are taken to sincerely and boldly address the fundamental issues responsible for the killings.

#RanchTheCattle and all else will resolve themselves.
 

Fulani Still On Killing Sprees As Buhari's Govt Remains Sillent:

The dead body of a missing fulani herdsman is found by soldiers in an area where Tivs of Dooshima in Ibi LGA, Taraba state, have their farms, fulanis then take up arms and murder 12 Tiv farmers; the police in Taraba through their PRO calls the act: "reprisal attack"; the army whose "anti cattle rustling unit" provided escorts for search and recovery of the dead fulani man are nowhere near to be seen and have no comment to make. This is the scenario around Dooshima 1 & 2, Ibi... local govt area of Taraba state. It happened yesterday, Tuesday the 15th day of September 2015. The same yesterday, two other Tiv men were killed by Fulanis near Kedenya in Donga LGA of the same state, bringing the number to 14. On the same day, 20 Berom persons were massacred by fulanis in their villages in Barkin Ladi local govt area of Plateau state. Total number of villagers killed by fulanis within a day is 34, with some still missing. And in Benue state, a young man who challenged a fulani herdsman for leading cows to destroy his growing guinea corn had a gashing cut on his cheek from the fulani man's machete.

Plateau state:
                
(By Marie-Therese Nanlong.)

 Jos – No fewer than 20 people have been killed in attacks carried out in the early hours of Sunday in Zakupwang community, Foron District and Fan village in Fan District of Barkin Ladi Local Government council of Plateau State.
The attack as usual residents alleged was carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen between the hours of 12am to 1am and 13 people were killed but three others who sustained injuries and were rushed to the hospital died later.
It would be recalled that the State Governor, Simon Lalong had set up a 14-man committee, seven each from the Berom and Fulani communities, to reconcile their differences and find lasting peace in the areas and the Committee’s work is ongoing.
Neither the Operation Safe Haven nor Police could be reached for confirmation but the Member representing, Riyom/Barkin Ladi federal constituency in the National Assembly, Istifanus Gyang who confirmed the incidence also condemned it.
According to him “We have received with shock the killings of 17 persons through violent attacks on seven villages of Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area.
“The renewed attacks are least expected at a time when concerted peace efforts and dialogue meetings are on-going between Berom and Fulani stakeholders.”
He appealed to the Berom and Fulani stakeholders not to allow the unfortunate incidence defeat the on-going peace efforts stressing that to do so will be of victory to those who do not want peace and have made blood letting their vocation and daily delight.
He added that despite the setback, he remains committed to “ensuring that Barkin-Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency is re-branded from an axis of violence and bloodshed to one of peace and prosperity.” http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/20-killed-in-renewed-attack-in-plateau-communities/

And in Taraba;

- 10 killed, 3 missing in fresh Taraba attack:

Posted By: JUSTIN TYOPUUSUon: September 16, 2015:

 

Despite Governor Darius Ishaku’s efforts to ensure peace in Taraba State, no fewer than 10 people were feared killed, while three others were said be missing when Fulani herdsmen attacked a Tiv village in Sarkin Kudu, in Ibi Local Government Area of the state.

The incident happen in the early hours of yesterday and tension is still brewing in the area following the attack.
According to local residents, trouble started when the corpse of a Fulani man was found in the bush between Sarkin Kudu and Dooshima villages of the local government. Cause of the death could not be ascertained as at press time.
The dead man had been declared missing by his relations within the village and the matter was reported to the Nigerian Army stationed in the area to control the long-standing communal crisis in the area.
Chairman, Tiv Cultural and Social Association, Ibi Local Government chapter, Mr. Mkavga Orhembaga, told National Mirror that when the case of the missing Fulani man was reported to the army, all the people in the area went out to search for him.
He added that the body of the man was later found in the bush by the army in company of some Fulani men.
“When the body of the Fulani man was recovered, his kinsmen started attacking Tiv people on their farms in the area, killing 10 persons while three others are still missing.”
Police Public Relations Officer, Taraba State command, ASP Joseph Kwaji, could not pick calls or reply the message sent to his phone to confirm the development.
At the time of filing this report, police from Wukari area command, in company of mobile police men were said to be patrolling the area.
http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/10-killed-3-missing-in-fresh-taraba-attack/

Silence is the word from the Buhari's govt on the killing of farmers by cattle-herding fulanis!
 

Here, Humans Are Killed For "Grazing Rights"!; There, Cows Are Moved To Preseve Plants!

Get the latest on our work for biodiversity and learn how to help in our free weekly e-newsletter. RELATED CAMPAIGNS• Urban Wildlands • San Francisco Bay Area and Delta Protection • Mining ACTION TIMELINE + DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS Climate Report Calls for Grazing Reductions on Public Lands Center petition to raise grazing fees Center report: Assessing the Full Cost of the Federal Grazing Program United Nations report on cattle and global warming, 2006: Livestock’s Long Shadow Appeal of Fossil Creek range allotment grazing authorization                               GRAZING The ecological costs of livestock grazing exceed that of any other western land use. In the arid Southwest, livestock grazing is the most widespread cause of species endangerment. By destroying vegetation, damaging wildlife habitats and disrupting natural processes, livestock grazing wreaks ecological havoc on riparian areas, rivers, deserts, grasslands and forests alike — causing significant harm to species and the ecosystems on which they depend. Despite these costs, livestock grazing continues on state and federal lands throughout the arid West. Livestock grazing is promoted, protected and subsidized by federal agencies on 270 million acres of public land in the 11 western states. Federal-lands livestock grazing enjoys $100 million annually in direct subsidy; indirect subsidies may be three times that. On the Tonto National Forest in Arizona in 2004 and 2005, ranchers were subsidized under just one federal program to the tune of $3.5 million for “range improvements.” ECOLOGICAL COSTS Cattle destroy native vegetation, damage soils and stream banks, and contaminate waterways with fecal waste. After decades of livestock grazing, once-lush streams and riparian forests have been reduced to flat, dry wastelands; once-rich topsoil has been turned to dust, causing soil erosion, stream sedimentation and wholesale elimination of some aquatic habitats; overgrazing of fire-carrying grasses has starved some western forests of fire, making them overly dense and prone to unnaturally severe fires. Keystone predators like the grizzly and Mexican gray wolf were driven extinct in southwestern ecosystems by “predator control” programs designed to protect the livestock industry. Adding insult to injury — and flying in the face of modern conservation science — the livestock industry remains the leading stodgy opponent to otherwise popular efforts to reintroduce species like the Mexican gray wolf in Arizona and New Mexico. ECONOMIC COSTS It isn’t simply the direct subsidies and federal assistance programs that public lands livestock operators rely on. The federal grazing fee is unreasonably low, creating a de facto subsidy for cattle owners. The western livestock industry would evaporate as suddenly as fur trapping if it had to pay market rates for the services it acquires free of charge from the federal government. Private, unirrigated rangeland in the West rents out for an average of $11.90, while monthly grazing fees on federal lands are currently set at a paltry $1.35 per cow and calf. Despite the extreme damage done, western federal rangelands account for less than 3 percent of all forage fed to livestock in the United States. If all livestock were removed from public lands in the West, in fact, beef prices would be unaffected. OUR CAMPAIGN Since our founding, the Center has led efforts to reform overgrazing on public lands in the West. Our work protecting endangered species has removed cattle from hundreds of vulnerable riparian areas in national forests in Arizona, New Mexico and California over the years; in 1999 and 2000 alone, we brought pressure and lawsuits resulting in cows and sheep being removed or restricted on more than 2.5 million acres of habitat for the desert tortoise, southwestern willow flycatcher and least Bell’s vireo in the vast California Desert Conservation Area. We’re now in court to increase the federal fee for livestock grazing on public lands to an amount that’s fiscally responsible and less ecologically harmful. Center legal action has compelled the Forest Service to do an environmental impact statement on the impacts of grazing on more than 13 endangered species; in the late 1990s, our work persuaded the Bureau of Land Management to remove cattle from all or part of 32 allotments along the middle Gila River and the Forest Service to remove cattle from 250 miles of streams on 52 allotments in the upper Gila. The Center also played a leading role in the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, including drafting of a report criticizing the proposed “Ranch Conservation” element of Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and promoting alternative recommendations to stop grazing in critical habitat for imperiled species. In 2010, Center work helped stop domestic sheep grazing on 7,500 acres in and around the greater Yellowstone ecosystem to protect grizzly bears, lynx, wolves and bighorn; we also halted grazing on a quarter-million acres of Oregon’s Malheur National Forest to protect steelhead trout. In 2011, Center appeals stopped grazing on 33,000 acres of national forest land in Arizona. The Center and allies sued the federal government to compel it to fix agency budget woes by reforming or eliminating the grazing program, which loses money just as rapidly and consistently as it destroys habitat. Unfortunately, in 2014 the Obama administration announced it would refuse to increase grazing fees to levels reflecting grazing’s true financial and environmental costs.

"Success" Being Recorded By Fulanis In Their war Against farmers In Central Nigeria Must Have Informed This:

EXCLUSIVE: Use Fulani herdsmen, hunters to fight Boko Haram, Joda, Ribadu, others advise Buhari; 

As Nigeria grapples with the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the North-Eastern part of the country, the option of recruiting and paying “attractive amount of money” to Fulani herdsmen to tackle the insurgents has been recommended to the Federal Government.

"The recommendation is contained in a bulky report titled: “Towards a New Dawn in Nigeria post 2015.” It is a compendium of papers, suggestions, analyses, and reports presented by, scholars and policy practitioners assembled by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr. Obasanjo assembled the think-tank of experts, as special committees of the Centre for Human Security of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, to provide actionable and “innovative” policy recommendations for President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle myriad of challenges – particularly those of security, economy, education, and infrastructure – facing Nigeria.
The recommendation of recruiting Fulani herdsmen to confront Boko Haram insurgents was made by a team led by Ahmed Joda and consisted of Nuhu Ribadu, Steve Orosanye, Tunji Olagunju, George Obiozor, Yusufu Pam, and Peter Okebukola.
Mr. Joda was also head of the transition committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari before his inauguration while most of the others held various positions during the Obasanjo presidency with Mr. Ribadu being the internationally acclaimed pioneer chairman of Nigeria’s major anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].
Noting the socio-economic conditions which provide easy recruits for Boko Haram, the team stated that, “a Boko Haram recruit is offered a juicy pay in a milieu where joblessness pervades”.
Five Steps
In its recommendation, the team made a five-point proposition, covering finance, recruitment, accountability, reward, as well as schedule and propaganda.
It asked the Defence Ministry to determine the battle fronts where the herdsmen would be needed and the specific number and duration of service to ensure accountability of the process. This, according to the report, will involve working in collaboration with civilian Joint Task Force.
According to the report, the second step would involve the Presidency and the National Assembly. After the Defence Ministry and Civilian JTF must have concluded issues of finance, personnel, and logistics, the presidency should present the case to the National Assembly for urgent approval of funds needed.
Subsequently, a joint team of defence officials, civilian JTF and heads of Fulani herdsmen would be commissioned to recruit and pay the volunteers with accurate records kept.
The fourth proposal involves saddling the Federal Ministry of Information, National Orientation Agency, as well as public and private media houses with war propaganda.
They are to embark on “intensive broadcast of jingles to the general public and use propaganda to cause panic in the ranks of the insurgents.”
Similarly, the team proposed that agencies of the federal and state governments, vigilante groups, telecommunication companies and non-governmental organisations should dissipate efforts towards massive enlightenment about how the insurgents, not government troops, are killing people and the success stories of government’s efforts. The enlightenment should also include committing religious leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto and other Islamic scholars to condemn terrorism and “preach true tenets of Islam”.
In its last proposition on the use of Fulani herdsmen to confront Boko Haram, the team proposed that the National Intelligence Agency, State Security Service and the media are to provide “random monitoring of the Fulani herdsmen especially during pay period to ensure they are getting their agreed payments”.
Use hunters too
In another recommendation off conventional military deployment, the think-tank also asked the federal government to adopt the “Mubi Model” of supporting, rewarding, and arming hunters to fight Boko Haram.
The Mubi model refers to the incident in November 2014 when a group of hunters and local vigilante mobilised and successfully liberated Mubi and other towns in Adamawa State hitherto occupied by the Boko Haram sect.
The think-tank therefore urged the federal government and governments of the insurgency-ravaged North-Eastern states to “review the vigilante strategy and support volunteer hunters with generous welfare, military training and light weapons” and provide “corruption free reward system to the vigilantes that is sustainable and competitive to Boko Haram financial offers.”
The committee’s recommendation of using herdsmen and hunters to fight Boko Haram is to supplement the efforts of the Nigerian military.
It urged the consolidation of the military campaign, as well as motivation and provision of adequate equipment for the military to be able to defeat the insurgents whose actions have caused the death of about 20,000 people, mostly in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states since 2009."
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/188828-exclusive-use-fulani-herdsmen-hunters-to-fight-boko-haram-joda-ribadu-others-advise-buhari.html


Or this:
        Sudanese government use of ethnic militias for counterinsurgency
"Until the late 1990s, the fighters referred to as Janjaweed, although overwhelmingly Arab, appear to have been loosely organized groups from different backgrounds. ¹²⁶ But the Sudanese government has a long history of using Arab and non-Arab ethnic militias to fight rebels who sprang from their traditional enemies.¹²⁷
The government of President Nimeiri (1969-1985) initially armed muraheleen, Baggara (Arab) tribal militias of the Rizeigat from southern Darfur and Misseriya from southern Kordofan against southern rebels.¹²⁸ In 1989 the muraheleen were incorporated into official government militias controlled by the army and continued to receive government support for the purpose of attacking Dinka and Nuer civilians, whose men had joined the southern rebel SPLA (formed in 1983). The government arming of Baggara men with superior weapons turned a usually manageable conflict into a one-sided orgy of slaughter of civilians, looting, burning—and slave-taking in northern Bahr El Ghazal.¹²⁹
That template has now been imposed on Darfur, where some Arab nomads are given automatic arms and free rein to attack their usual African sparring partners, in the name of government counterinsurgency.¹³⁰
Many or most of the Janjaweed leaders were emirs or omdas from Arab tribes, and several were appointed by the government in the administrative reorganization of the mid-1990s. The participation by ethnic-political leaders leads to increasing ethnic polarization as members of one ethnic group are summoned and recruited by their leaders to join in a free-for-all war against another ethnic group.
The Janjaweed are not simply a few side-lined ostracized outlaws, as the government suggests. Among the leaders participating in the war in Darfur against the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa are:

• Hamid Dawai, an emir of the Beni Halba tribe and Janjaweed leader in the Terbeba-Arara-Bayda triangle where 460 civilians were killed between August 2003 and April 2004.¹³¹  He has residences in Geneina and Bayda.
• Abdullah abu Shineibat, an emir of the Beni Halba tribe and Janjaweed leader in the Habila-Murnei area.  He has residences in Geneina and Habila.
• Omda Saef, an omda of the Awlad Zeid tribe and leader of the Janjaweed from Geneina to Misterei.  He has a residence in Geneina. 
• Omar Babbush, an omda of the Misseriya tribe and leader of the Janjaweed from Habila to Forbranga, with a residence in Forbranga.
• Ahmad Dekheir, an omda of the Ma’alia tribe and leader of the Janjaweed in Murnei.

In recent months, Masalit say, some of the Janjaweed have been organized into structured liwa, or brigades. Rebel leaders say they have identified six Janjaweed brigades.  Masalit civilians, however, were able to name only two – Liwa al-Jammous, or Buffalo Brigade, formerly headed by Musa Hilal, and Liwa al-Nasr, or Victory Brigade, formerly headed by Shukurtallah.
These brigades are organised along the lines of the Sudanese army and headed by officers who wear the same stripes as generals in the regular army.  The only difference between Janjaweed and army uniforms, Masalit say, is a badge depicting an armed horseman that the Janjaweed sport on their breast pocket.  They drive the same Land Cruisers as the army and are accompanied by armed bodyguards.  They carry the same Thuraya satellite phones as senior army officers. 
The government compensates the Janjaweed officers and militia members. The homes, cars, and satellite phones are part of the compensation for the officers. They are also paid monthly stipends or salaries, according to Masalit interviewed separately, at different times and in different places. Four different persons agreed on the exact amounts - £300,000 Sudanese pounds a month (U.S. $ 117 as of mid-2003) for a man with a horse or camel, and £200,000 a month (U.S. $ 79) for a man without – roughly twice as much as a soldier of similar rank.¹³²
Idriss, forty-three-year-old leader of a local Masalit self-defense group in Gozbeddine near Habila, said payments to Janjaweed in his area came from the government:
In August 2003, the government said all Arabs who came with a horse or a camel would get a salary of £300,000 and a gun.  The Arabs weren’t organised before; it was only groups of thirty or forty attacking civilians for their cows.  When I was in Habila, there was an office for organizing the Janjaweed.   It flew the Sudanese flag.  It used to be a PDF office.¹³³ 
Another person, a former police officer, said top Janjaweed officers receive as much as £600,000 Sudanese (U.S. $ 233), a respectable sum in a poor country.
A friend in the Janjaweed once told me he was paid £300,000 Sudanese.  He got it from an office near the mosque in Geneina.  Some soldiers say the top brass in the Janjaweed get double that…¹³⁴
That many Janjaweed apparently now receive regular salaries suggests a degree of organisation and direction never enjoyed by “Arab nomads”. 
High-ranking civil servants, themselves not Janjaweed, appear to have a role in recruiting Janjaweed. In a document obtained by Human Rights Watch, the state governor or wali of South Darfur orders commissioners “to recruit 300 horsemen for Khartoum”.¹³⁵ The letter, dated November 22, 2003, is from the office of the governor to commissioners of mahaliyas¹³⁶—one of Nyala and the other of Kas, the capital and a large town in South Darfur, respectively.
It thanks the commissioners on behalf of the state minister of the interior and the governor for their “efforts against the rebels,” which were “highly appreciated.” It reaffirms a commitment to an agreement made between the minister and the commissioners “on all actions against the rebels” and asks the commissioners to implement it. The letter next lists promised donations and projects, apparently to benefit the janjaweed community, which include a campaign to vaccinate camels and horses; building of three classrooms and donation of books, desk, and clothes for students; construction of a health unit and donation of twenty-four hand pumps for eight villages.¹³⁷

Recruitment of criminals to lead the Janjaweed

In Darfur, the government is also recruiting criminals to spearhead this counterinsurgency operation, with predictable results. The most prominent Janjaweed leader in West Darfur state is Abdul Rahim Ahmad Mohammed, a former army officer known universally by his nickname of “Shukurtallah.”¹³⁸ He emerged at the head of the Janjaweed in Dar Masalit after he was arrested on charges of killing civilians. 
Shukurtallah is a member of the Mahariya ethnic group from Arbukni village just outside Geneina. He reportedly served in the Sudanese army in Juba for several years in the late 1990s before being transferred back to Geneina.  In 1999, according to Masalit residents of Geneina, he was taken to court by relatives of men he was accused of killing.  He was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, but was released and soon after appeared at the head of the Janjaweed forces in Dar Masalit.
Ahmad, a Masalit farmer from the Geneina area, said his family encountered Shukurtallah twice while Shukurtallah was still in the army – in 1994 and 1999:
In 1994, the army came to my village, Habila Canare, with Shukurtallah.  He was a very tall, thin, cruel man, with a scarred lip.  He hit me and jailed me for two months.  He told me: “You are a rebel!”  In 1999, he took me from Naga village, near my home, and imprisoned me for thirty-five days.¹³⁹
In 2003, Ahmad’s brother, Mohieddine, was stopped by Janjaweed at one of the exits to Geneina.  They demanded a large payment on groundnut oil he was carrying.  When he protested that he had no money, they sent him to their “leader” in Janjaweed offices in the Medina al Hujjaj – the old customs yard in Geneina.  There he found himself face to face with Shukurtallah:
He asked me: “How did you know my place?”  I told him his men sent me there.  He wrote a letter to the Janjaweed saying: “Let him go.”  All the burning, all the looting was Shurkurtallah’s.  He had one office in the army barracks and another in the Medina al Hujjaj.  Sometimes we saw him in army cars and sometimes with the Janjaweed on horses.  He was a very cruel man.¹⁴⁰
While many of the leaders who rallied their fellow tribesmen to form militias call themselves “general”, ordinary Masalit call them “mounted criminals” or, more simply, “thieves”.  Ali, a Masalit who left the police force after twelve years’ service, said many of them had been arrested and jailed for theft:
I was a policeman.  The Janjaweed are Arab criminals.  Some come from jail and then are trained by the army in Geneina - in the old customs yard, Medina al Hujjaj.  Shineibat, Hamid Dawai - Janjaweed generals, but thieves!  Just like many of the men who serve under them: Idman… Brema Labid… Ali Manzoul… All thieves!  All released from jail.¹⁴¹
Aqid Younis, a Janjaweed leader in Habila, has a reputation in the area as a cattle rustler.  Yousif, a farmer from the nearby village of Abun, said Younis has been notorious in the area for years:
He’s a thief, but they never put him in prison.  He was a nomad before, in the bush, but in 2003 he moved into Habila.  We saw him travelling in army cars to Geneina.¹⁴² 

Impunity for the Janjaweed: Police Forbidden to Punish

The Janjaweed are not only persons whose criminal past is forgiven, they are also assured that they will not have to face local criminal prosecution for any of the crimes committed while pursuing and evicting, looting and pillaging, the ethnic groups allegedly aligned with the rebels.
Nureddine from Misterei village resigned from the police force in 2003 after “the government took the Arab tribes and allowed them to be the law, over everyone else”.  Abaker said the army chief in Misterei, a Dinka from southern Sudan called Ango, ordered the police “not to interfere with the Janjaweed.  To let them do whatever they wanted.”¹⁴³
 Ahmad, a thirty-five-year-old farmer, said friends in the police force in Geneina were also told not to take action of any kind against Janjaweed:
We spent two months in Geneina early this year after our village was burned.  Some people brought their cattle with them, but the Janjaweed stole them inside Geneina.  Friends in the police force told me they were told not to lodge any complaints against the Janjaweed.  They were not to interfere with them in any way.¹⁴⁴
The Janjaweed do not attempt to conceal their crimes, but they have attempted to conceal the organized and extensive nature of their military operations and logistical support system, at least in the larger towns. They are apparently treated secretly in hospital facilities in Geneina, capital of West Darfur state.  A nurse from the government hospital who entered these facilities one day said she was ordered to leave immediately:
The Janjaweed asked me: ““What are you doing here?  You are not allowed here.”  Doctors from our hospital told me they worked there secretly at night.  It paid well, they said.¹⁴⁵
The hospital, formerly a private house, carries no signs identifying it as a hospital and is said to be used exclusively by Janjaweed. "

#RANCH THE CATTLE TO SAVE NIGERIAN FARMERS FROM FULANI HERDSMEN!

 

Like the "janjaweed" militia in Darfur, Sudan?

 

As Nigeria grapples with the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the North-Eastern part of the country, the option of recruiting and paying “attractive amount of money” to Fulani herdsmen to tackle the insurgents has been recommended to the Federal Government.
The recommendation is contained in a bulky report titled: “Towards a New Dawn in Nigeria post 2015.” It is a compendium of papers, suggestions, analyses, and reports presented by, scholars and policy practitioners assembled by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr. Obasanjo assembled the think-tank of experts, as special committees of the Centre for Human Security of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, to provide actionable and “innovative” policy recommendations for President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle myriad of challenges – particularly those of security, economy, education, and infrastructure – facing Nigeria.
The recommendation of recruiting Fulani herdsmen to confront Boko Haram insurgents was made by a team led by Ahmed Joda and consisted of Nuhu Ribadu, Steve Orosanye, Tunji Olagunju, George Obiozor, Yusufu Pam, and Peter Okebukola.
Mr. Joda was also head of the transition committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari before his inauguration while most of the others held various positions during the Obasanjo presidency with Mr. Ribadu being the internationally acclaimed pioneer chairman of Nigeria’s major anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].
Noting the socio-economic conditions which provide easy recruits for Boko Haram, the team stated that, “a Boko Haram recruit is offered a juicy pay in a milieu where joblessness pervades”.
Five Steps
In its recommendation, the team made a five-point proposition, covering finance, recruitment, accountability, reward, as well as schedule and propaganda.
It asked the Defence Ministry to determine the battle fronts where the herdsmen would be needed and the specific number and duration of service to ensure accountability of the process. This, according to the report, will involve working in collaboration with civilian Joint Task Force.
According to the report, the second step would involve the Presidency and the National Assembly. After the Defence Ministry and Civilian JTF must have concluded issues of finance, personnel, and logistics, the presidency should present the case to the National Assembly for urgent approval of funds needed.
Subsequently, a joint team of defence officials, civilian JTF and heads of Fulani herdsmen would be commissioned to recruit and pay the volunteers with accurate records kept.
The fourth proposal involves saddling the Federal Ministry of Information, National Orientation Agency, as well as public and private media houses with war propaganda.
They are to embark on “intensive broadcast of jingles to the general public and use propaganda to cause panic in the ranks of the insurgents.”
Similarly, the team proposed that agencies of the federal and state governments, vigilante groups, telecommunication companies and non-governmental organisations should dissipate efforts towards massive enlightenment about how the insurgents, not government troops, are killing people and the success stories of government’s efforts. The enlightenment should also include committing religious leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto and other Islamic scholars to condemn terrorism and “preach true tenets of Islam”.
In its last proposition on the use of Fulani herdsmen to confront Boko Haram, the team proposed that the National Intelligence Agency, State Security Service and the media are to provide “random monitoring of the Fulani herdsmen especially during pay period to ensure they are getting their agreed payments”.
Use hunters too
In another recommendation off conventional military deployment, the think-tank also asked the federal government to adopt the “Mubi Model” of supporting, rewarding, and arming hunters to fight Boko Haram.
The Mubi model refers to the incident in November 2014 when a group of hunters and local vigilante mobilised and successfully liberated Mubi and other towns in Adamawa State hitherto occupied by the Boko Haram sect.
The think-tank therefore urged the federal government and governments of the insurgency-ravaged North-Eastern states to “review the vigilante strategy and support volunteer hunters with generous welfare, military training and light weapons” and provide “corruption free reward system to the vigilantes that is sustainable and competitive to Boko Haram financial offers.”
The committee’s recommendation of using herdsmen and hunters to fight Boko Haram is to supplement the efforts of the Nigerian military.
It urged the consolidation of the military campaign, as well as motivation and provision of adequate equipment for the military to be able to defeat the insurgents whose actions have caused the death of about 20,000 people, mostly in Borno, Yobe.