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| Nuru Muhammad |
THE PROPOSED ANTI-GRAZING LAW IS NOT WORKABLE IN PLATEAU- MIYETTI ALLAH
Recently,
Nuru Muhammad, The Chairman Of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Plateau State
Chapter Spoke With African Drum And Expressed Displeasure With The Proposed Anti-Open
Grazing Bill Before The Plateau State House Of Assembly And The Handling Of The
Security Situations In The Country By The Government. Excerpts.
Sir,
recently, a youth group in Plateau state submitted to the Plateau State House
of Assembly a proposed Anti-Open Grazing Bill. What is your take on this?
Really Plateau has been peaceful and we are still
enjoying this peace and we will work very hard to maintain this peace that we
are enjoying. Secondly, the agitations that some people have sponsored a bill in
the house of Assembly seeking for a law to ban open grazing is not welcome in
Plateau state. This is because the Plateau state government including the house
of assembly consists of people that have been working tirelessly to ensure that
we sustain this peace we are enjoying. For this reason, I want to say that the
proposed bill before the Plateau state House of Assembly will never see the
light of the day. On the issue of the Plateau state government, we appreciate
their effort towards achieving this peace. Let me reveal this to you. The Plateau
state Peace Building Agency is on the move to organize dialogue session between
aggrieved communities in the state which we believe would provide the road map
to resolving our grievances. When the current administration in the state came
on board, what it did immediately was to bring the Fulani community that was in
conflict with Berom community on a round table discussion and the conflict was
resolved. It is the reason why we have witnessed peaceful atmosphere in the
state for the past two years in Plateau state. This issue of anti open grazing
is not workable in Plateau state because the government and the people of
Plateau state are peace lovers.
Have
you been able to go through the proposed bill, if yes, what are those clauses
that you feel can distort or reverse the peace we've been enjoying?
The bill was not made publicly so the bill is not at
our disposal. Our responses in respect of the bill are based on statements made
to the press by the sponsors of that bill. In their press statements, they
constantly maintained that they want a complete ban on the open grazing in
Plateau state and that they are ready to fight the government even in the event
it opted for ranching or colonies and decides to allocate lands for that
purpose. From there, we understood that the proposed bill is a violent bill. We
have encouraged ranching policy several times but we all know that it is a
policy that cannot be implemented over night. It is something that has to be
planned for quite a long time. Sensitization, trainings and re-trainings need
to be carried out to make the cattle breeders understand the importance, impact
and effect of ranching and not enacting a law banning open grazing without an
alternative. Just like the case of Benue where the state just decided to ban
open grazing without any alternative for the herders. So the herders are moving
around without knowing their faith. It is either they move to other states or
stay back in their states and there will be harassment, intimidation and
threats to the herders and that cannot work in Plateau state.
Fulani
herdsmen have been allegedly engaged in series of brutal killings and wanton
destruction of properties all over the country, what is your take on this?
We have uncovered plans to destroy the good image of
the herders. If you look at the herders, they are peace loving but some years back;
they have been brutally attacked from one angle to the other. The recent
killing in Benue was as a result of cattle rustling. The Fulanis had no
alternative than to resist the cattle rustlers. There are hidden agendas to
these killings. I totally disagree with the notion that it is a conflict
between herders and farmers. I am conducting a research on this particular
issue. Let me give you an example. The recent killings in Bassa were not as a
result of clashes between farmers and herders; instead, it was a result of an
attack on a Fulani boy called Abubakar Wada. He was killed for no just reason,
beheaded and buried in a shallow grave. If you also consider the killing of a
former head of service in Barkin Ladi, it was not as a result of farmers’ herders’
clash. It was a criminal act. Government needs to dig deeper to find out the
root cause of all these so we can understand exactly what the problem is.
You
said government should dig deeper into the issues and come up with a solution,
in another way, you are saying Government is not doing enough to bring an end
to these incessant killings?
To a certain level, the government is doing its best;
however, it needs to do more. Government needs to find a lasting solution to
this menace.
In
some cases, ID cards of military personnel were found at the scenes where these
killings occurred. What do you have to say on this?
Let’s consider what happened in Plateau state of
recent. It was alleged that it was security personnel who asked villagers in
Miango community to take refuge in a class room and promised to give them
cover. But what happened? Before morning 29 of them were said to have been
killed by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen. How these suspected herders
got into that place and killed 29 of them remains a mystery up to this moment. The house of the former head of service in
Dorowa where he was killed, in Dorowa was not up to 100 meters from the
security check point.
There are so many
things that are hidden and it is the responsibility of the Government to
uncover them. This thing is taking a different dimension but it is always tag
herders’/farmers’ conflict. We have professional intelligence officers in the
field, let them exhibit their professionalism and get us the real thing that is
happening. For the past 20 years, it has been the suspected herdsmen. Do you
want to tell me that these herdsmen are more intelligent than our security
intelligence? That is impossible. So, I am calling on Government to do the
needful and restore total peace in the country.
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