Why Herdsmen Become Criminals – Miyetti Allah Secretary-General

Alhaji Baba Othman, Secretary-General of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has attributed the involvement of herdsmen in criminality across the country to their inability to protect themselves from full-time criminals.

Othman made this claim on Tuesday in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Pidgin Service.

According to Othman, who is also the Special Adviser on Agriculture to the governor of Yobe State, herdsmen are the biggest victims of criminality and are, therefore, drawn into crime when they suffer theft of their livestock by rustlers. The Miyetti Allah scribe explained that when innocent herders lose their animals to rustlers, they are left with nothing and have no skills in other areas. As such, they find crime attractive and with easy access to firearms, they join kidnap gangs and other criminals in a bid to find ways of earning a living. Those who do not have their animals stolen, he added, are kidnapped and are forced to sell off their animals to pay ransoms that range between N5 million and N10 million, which ensures that they no longer have anything but crime to live on.
Othman noted that between 10 and 20 herdsmen are kidnapped daily and that over 10,000 herdsmen have been lost to bandits. This, he said, has caused panic among herdsmen, forcing over 30 per cent of cattle herders to relocate to other West African countries, where they feel much safer to continue their trade.

Othman frowned at the blanket description of the Fulani as criminals, noting that only a few members of the ethnic group are involved in criminal activities. He blamed the persistent clash between herdsmen and farmers on the failure of the government over the years to assist herders in transiting from free-range grazing to ranching, adding that this has ensured that children of herders also continue with the outmoded methods inherited from their parents instead of going to get educated.