Plateau Killings: Why They Happen, And How To Resolve Them – By Reno Omokiri

The Christmas Eve killings in Plateau State are sad and condemnable. However, without understanding the root of this recurrent tragedy, we would not be able to end it permanently. Sadly, Nigerians are going through an epidemic of defective attention. Many of us, including our leaders, cannot even remember what happened last week. So, how can we be expected to recall what happened a century ago talk more of learning from it?

Many Nigerians are unaware that the farmer/herder clashes are not new at all. Lord Lugard faced them and wrote about it. Yes. And to understand what is currently occurring, we need to study what Lugard and his successors wrote about this recurring challenge.

Clashes between herders and farmers are as old as time itself and were what sowed the initial seed of discord between Cain, who was a former, and his brother, Abel, a herder. Now, if occupational rivalry can lead to bad blood between brothers, to the extent that Cain killed Abel, how much more between strangers?

Even Lot and Abraham had to separate because the insufficiency of land for grazing livestock was leading to fights between their servants-Genesis 13:7.

Those saying this is about supremacy between Islam and Christianity do not understand that the a significant amount of herders who self identify as Fulani are not Muslims. They are often irreligious or animists. Do not allow the term Fulani to confuse you. Fulani pastoralists are different from settled Fulani.

The Usman Dan Fodyo Jihad had nothing to do with pastoralists. Pastoralists turned conquerors did not run the Sokoto Caliphate and the emirates under them. That is a myth. That feudal state had as little to do with pastoralists, as the issues faced by Black Brazilians, who are mostly of Yoruba origin, have to do with the Yoruba in Nigeria. Avoid comparing oranges to apples.

If we do not correctly diagnose and understand this crisis, we will never solve it. We will keep on fighting a religious war when it is a matter of economic survival.

In Plateau state and other flashpoints of these clashes, Nigeria must establish grazing reserves, just as the Brazilian government did in Triunfo do Xingu. The only option to that is to allow this crisis to fester.

Lord Lugard forcefully settled some pastoralists and Tuaregs in the old Sokoto province. The colonial government that succeeded him also forcefully settled some Fulani pastoralists in the Jos area. The Sokoto experiment succeeded. The Jos trial failed. Chiefly because mining companies took over the lands allocated to the pastoralists. This was allowed for pragmatic reasons, as Britain needed their extractions to prosecute its war with Germany.

These are some of the historical backgrounds that we are not taking into account.

Let me throw something here. What do you think will happen if the Lagos state government suddenly closes Alaba, Ladipo, and other markets heavily populated by Igbos in Lagos? Of course, it will lead to an upsurge in crime as close to half a million people will be rendered jobless.

Now, juxtapose that against the reality of the increase in banditry and terrorism ever since these herders began losing access to their ancient grazing routes.

Ruga is not a new word or idea. People think Ruga is a Fulani word. It is not. It means Rural Grazing Area, which Lugard’s successor colonial administrators coined as a permanent solution to the farmer herder crisis. Because it became associated with Fulani herders, it was assumed into Hausa and Fulfulde.

If you can calm yourself enough to rise above your primordial leanings, it will become evident that there is no other solution. Farmers are not going away. And neither they nor any power in Nigeria can make the herders disappear.

Therefore, détente is the only solution for peaceful coexistence.

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents