Act Before Herdsmen Drag Nigeria Into Civil War – Ortom Tells Buhari

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari concerning the criminal actions of herdsmen in his state.

The Governor titled the letter “Appeal to Act before herdsmen drag Nigeria into civil war”.

In the letter, Ortom said, “Mr President, we are not oblivious of the challenges that the country has faced in the life of your administration. These include two recessions, the COVID-19 global pandemic and the unprecedented nationwide security challenges resulting into the largest loss of lives and property since the Civil War. These security challenges especially have unsettled the country economically, socially and politically.

“Your Excellency, these security challenges have assumed new dimensions where the now emboldened assailants and armed herdsmen daringly enforce their will on legitimate owners and occupants of ancestral lands. There are many areas of concern over the Federal Government’s actions and inactions, including the widely discussed concern over inequalities in key appointments. These have reinforced the perception that the administration is not fair and just to all Nigerians.

“Mr. President, please recall my earlier letters drawing your attention to the murderous activities of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other armed Fulani socio-cultural groups and their leaders who publicly and brazenly claimed responsibility for the killings and destruction of property across states of the country. These groups and their leaders have also boasted that Nigeria belongs exclusively to them.

“I am writing to you as a patriot who is concerned about your reputation and the fate of our dear country. I am imploring you once again to rise to the challenges of these times to avert the country’s drift to anarchy and disintegration, a situation that sycophants and praise-singers might be unwittingly shielding from you.

“In 2015, Nigerians enthusiastically welcomed your return as a leader with a reputation for uprightness, fair-mindedness and integrity. The current situation is raising doubts in the minds of many Nigerians who had believed in you. Mr. President, your compatriots are looking up to you to act fast to redress the situation,” Ortom said in the letter.

Ortom, however, regretted that despite the series of letters he had written to the President drawing his attention to the nefarious activities of herdsmen in Benue State, the president has not done anything about the letters, thereby emboldening the herders to attack the more and render the state’s anti-open grazing law almost comatose.

“We are alarmed that rather than being censured, these leaders and organizations have been emboldened and intensified their atrocities. They have received encouragement in the process through various actions and inactions by the Federal Government, including the following:

(i) Open Visa Policy which has promoted unprecedented influx of Fulani herdsmen carrying sophisticated and prohibited weapons into Nigeria;

(ii) Non-compliance with the ECOWAS protocol on transhumance;

(iii) Swift condemnation of any perceived or real threats on Fulani while maintaining silence over their atrocities and admonishing victimized host communities to accommodate their oppressors and learn to live at peace with them;

(iv) The failure to arrest, disarm and prosecute armed herdsmen and Fulani militia;

(v) Disarming other Nigerians who have licensed weapons;

(vi)Continuation of open grazing and support for grazing reserves, stock routes, cattle colony and Ruga despite nationwide acknowledgement that this practice is unviable; and that ranching is the global best practice for livestock production;

(vii)The non-implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan despite its approval by the National Economic Council and its acceptance by pilot states.

“This ugly situation has caused devastation across the country. In Benue State, 19 out of 23 Local Government Areas have been affected by attacks of Fulani herdsmen leading to loss of lives, destruction of property and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Benue people who are now living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps and host communities across the state. The total number of Internally Displaced Persons currently in the Camps in Benue State is 483,692 persons.

“Returning these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their ancestral homes has been impossible as herdsmen continue to attack, kill, maim and rape those who return. The Federal Government is also yet to redeem the pledge made on 15th May, 2018 by Vice President Prof. Yemi Osibanjo to contribute N10Billion to Benue State towards the reconstruction, rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement of displaced persons. The failure of the IDPs to return to their ancestral homes to resume normal farming activities, together with the impact of climate change, has posed a serious threat to national food security, as evidenced by rising food prices.

“Mr. President, this call for justice is the heart cry of every patriotic Nigerian. It is not a call against the Fulani race or any other ethnic group, but a call to make Nigeria work for every Nigerian in line with the Oath of Office we took as leaders and your pledge to be a President for all Nigerians and to be for everybody and for nobody. Unfortunately, you seem to be tilting towards the Fulani at the expense of other nationalists.

“Many citizens including patriotic Fulanis like Dr. Nura Alkali are alarmed at this tilt and the boast of Miyetti Allah that Nigeria is the heritage of the Fulani of the whole world. These citizens continue to condemn the atrocities of the Fulani across the country while also calling on the Federal Government to end these atrocities by withdrawing from their one-sided sympathy for herdsmen.

“Only recently, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, added his voice in this regard. He acknowledged that seven or eight out of every 10 kidnappers arrested in Nigeria are Fulani. This is not a good testimony. More so, the consequences this image has cast on the Fulani tribe should be corrected now.

“It is important to point out that these are not sentiments directed against Fulanis who are indigenous to Nigeria and have been living at peace with other Nigerians. Testimonies abound in that regard. For example, my wife and I were accommodated by a Fulani man while in school at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Till date, we are still very good family friends and he visits me occasionally in Benue. This point underscores the pain we all have had to go through to understand the tragedy where armed herdsmen from Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and other neighbouring countries are pushing the whole country to the precipice. While addressing the Nigerian community on Tuesday 19th April 2019 in Dubai, you also blamed these foreign herdsmen for the attacks on Nigeria.

“Mr. President, as a major stakeholder in the Nigeria project, I have a responsibility to raise these major concerns and to offer some recommendations towards addressing them,” the governor pointed out.