Top government officials supply arms to Fulani herdsmen----ex-police boss

The former Commissioner of police, Lagos State, Abubakar Tsav was in Lagos during the last days of Babangida and the reign of Abacha, and despite the threats to his life during those days of holocaust, he remained steadfast in truth and professionalism, a testament the then Lagos State Military administrator, Buba Mohammed Marwa would jump into to defend him. A highly known investigator and civil right campaigner, Tsav spoke to our correspondent on phone last week, about the emerging new security threat, which is worse than Boko Haram, and averred his mind to EMEKA IBEMERE, that the conflict between the Fulani herdsmen and some communities in Nigeria is fueled by the arming of the cattle rearing Fulani herdsmen by the top government functionaries that owned the cows and the cattle.

 

Fulani herdsmen has been a thorn in the flesh of Nigerian farmers and their host communities, in fact it’s an emerging security threats like Boko Haram, what is your take on this?

You see, it’s a failure on the part of our security agencies. Ordinarily, Fulani herdsmen were going about before now with sticks for grazing of their cattle but now they go about with guns, like AK45 and other dangerous and sophisticated arms, from where they obtained their arms?

Did they acquire it from the air or from heavens or from spirits? How did they acquire them? If our law enforcement agencies were doing their work very well, they shouldn’t have allowed these herdsmen to amass arms and weapons and armed themselves, so much that they can challenge everybody.

And also we understand that these cows are owned by the top civil servants, politicians, and even top security personnel other government officers in the corridors of power. Highly placed government officials owned these cows, the herdsmen are just rearing it for them, and if that is the case, perhaps the highly placed government officials must have been the people supplying the herdsmen with arms and sophisticated guns.  They are the ones supplying them with guns, so what can the government do about this thing?

 We should apply the law that will guide the Fulani herdsmen, just like Buhari is applying the law on corruption. Nobody should be speared; anybody who is known to be supplying guns to the Fulani herdsman should be dealt with. And government should make effort to centralize these herdsmen to a particular place. We have huge acres of virgin land in this country, why government can’t establishes ranches or grazing areas for the Fulani herdsmen to stop them from encroaching on people’s farms, eating farm crops.

They should provide grazing areas for them, so that the scuffle between them and the farmers would stop. For instance, in my state, Benue State, where we have no industries, we have no factories, and our people depend on subsistence farming to live on, pay their children school fees, hospital bills, the farm to feed themselves, and so on and so forth, they have no other means of livelihood, government should therefore move these herdsmen to virgin land where they are no farms, so that whosoever wants to buy cow should go there and buy his or her cow, so that these herdsmen could be stopped from roaming the streets and causing pains to people. And when farmers want to defend their farms they killed them instead. It’s not good.

How do you blame the security agencies, how would they have known when these guns enter into their hands?

What are the duties of security men? To protect lives and property, to guide against the proliferation of arms in this country, and I know that if you want to apply for non prohibited fire arms, you apply through the police and the police will give you permit and if there are categories of arm which they cannot approve, they referred it to the appropriate authority  and you applied through the commissioner of  police, the police will give you the permit and there are certain arms which the police cannot approved, they will referred the person to the presidency and its only the presidency that can approve such arms. People have been arrested for using firearms without applying through the inspector general of police, or commissioner of police. How many Fulani herdsmen have been arrested or prosecuted for unlawful possession of fire arms? Check your record all over the country, how many of them have been arrested and charged to court or how many have been jailed since they have been killing their host communities and farm owners in this country? How many?

At the same time, people have also provoked these herdsmen, some will go and steal their cattle, some steal and kill their cattle and Fulani man will never forget anybody that harms or steal his cattle, that is why we have this conflicts, and there are some people who are so callous that they will collect money from these herdsmen promising to give them grazing lands and will not give them the lands after collecting money from them.

This also brings conflicts, so there is dishonesty in these parties, the traditional rulers, the farmers and the Fulani herdsmen and their host communities are the cause of the conflicts we are having today with the Fulani herdsmen. So, these elements are the factors involved in these crises. When we blame the Fulani herdsmen, we should also blame the people, the farmers, we should also blame the governments and security agencies.

On security agencies, what do you expect them to do in this herdsmen threat?

We use to have some security guides attached to the Forest department, we call the Forest Guide, so I would want the various states to create committees, comprising of known Fulani leaders and security agencies, and traditional rulers who will be able to control or monitor the activities of Fulani herdsmen, in that committee, if Fulani man’s cow destroy farm crops, the farmer should be able to report to this committee and the man involved should be investigated and compensation fee should be paid to the farmer or the land owner and at the same time the committee should warn people to stop the arbitrary attack and seizures of Fulani herdsmen’s cows and cattle and I believe with this everything will go on fine.

What is the security implications of all these because, these Fulani herdsmen have killed more than Boko Haram have killed from Jos to Benue to Ondo, to Kwara, Ogun, Oyo  and recently Delta States, these men have caused more harm than Boko Haram. Or is there any link between them and Boko Haram, people have been suspecting their relationship?

I don’t know if there is any link between them and Boko Haram and I also agree with you that they have killed more than Boko Haram. You will also know that Fulani people have also been killed. You know that Fulani depends on cattle for their subsistence living, they have no other business other than cattle rearing and it’s also reported that people have been stealing their cattle, cows and killing them. And Fulani man is a person that once you offend him, he will never forget and forgive you no matter how long it takes, he must take his revenge, so people should respect their rights.

My own solution to this crisis is that if government cannot establish ranches immediately, they should set up a body; and if the Fulani herdsmen’s cattle stray into somebody’s farm, and destroyed his farm crop; the Fulani herdsman who is responsible should be charged and made to pay for the cost of the damaged crops but if a cow destroyed your farm instead of you coming to seek compensation for the damage, you go on to kill the Fulani herds man’s cattle or even kill the herdsman himself, should not happened. I said before that Fulani man doesn’t forgive in a hurry and this is what has been fuelling this conflict.

 And for your information, these herdsmen are not from Nigeria alone. Some of them come from other neighbouring African countries to graze their cattle here in Nigeria. Majority of them are not Nigerians. From the story we have heard, they come from other countries and you have different categories of Fulani. There are some who are very kind, there are some who don’t forgive, there are some who come to deliberately destroy your farm crops, and wait for any reaction from anybody. So, we have some that very hostile and dangerous who can kill and destroy lives.

As an ex-police chief, how do you imagine these arms could have entered into these herdsmen?

I would also like to ask you the same question, how did guns entered into the hands of political thugs? It’s the same way. We have political thugs who carry arms in this country and these arms come through the borders, through the politicians and they give them to the thugs and don’t forget these cows are owned by highly placed politicians, top civil servants, both ex-military officers and serving army officers, so who could get these arms for the herdsmen, I don’t know.

What do you think is the reason for the cow owners arming the herdsmen for?

To defend their cattle and cows.

From the beast of the forest, or from the farmers?

In the past they were using them against wide animals, like lions and rest of them but these days people have been attacking Fulani herdsmen, with sophisticated guns, and they also need these guns to counter these attacks.

But most of them are not trained in the use of fire arms

 What of the political thugs, who carry arms are they trained? They are not trained, too.

So, you are you blaming the security for not being able to check the proliferation of arms in Nigeria?

Yes, even the problem we are having now is because the security agencies are not doing their work very well because if they do, from the beginning you see people committing crime, you arrest them, prosecute them, these things wouldn’t have gone bad as they are now, it’s because the security agencies neglected their works.

  There are these insinuations that Boko Haram while on rampage recruited most of them, in their bid to expands their terrorism act on Nigeria, how far is this true?

I wouldn’t know about that because, I have not been working on that, I don’t know much, but you see, from the story we have been reading, Boko Haram, even recruited younger men in the areas they took over, so if they can recruit young boys, they could as well recruit Fulani herdsmen to help them. But if they recruit Fulani herdsmen, what would happen to their cows and cattle? Would they have allowed their cows to stray about and come to join Boko Haram? That is what I’m asking, because the Fulani man loves his cattle more than anything else. Except some Fulani who have no cattle or cow can or may have join Boko Haram, but I don’t think those who have cattle or cow would have abandoned their cows to join Boko Haram, for what gain?

What is the solution to end the Fulani herdsmen’s threat?

Security agencies should be conscious of their responsibility. People should also be conscious of their duties, people should show more love to this country than they show to themselves. Again, people should have the fear of God and always try to speak the truth and seek what is right for this country.

Are you not sensing these herdsmen are using this terrorism act to intimidate people and take over the farm lands of their host communities?

It’s not easy for Fulani herdsmen to take any body’s farm land. People are making allegations that Fulani herdsmen wants to annex their lands and in all these crises that have been happening, we have never seen where they collected people’s land. Let me say this, they accused the Fulani herdsmen of claiming the lands for Islam, but all the places that the Fulani herdsmen fought with the farmers, they have not build any mosque on such lands, or building a settlements, depicting Islam. What interests a Fulani herdsman is where he can get green grass to feed its cattle and cows, which is what concerns them. They don’t live in permanent houses, they makeshift shanties, they leave here and move to the next place, so the allegation that the Fulani herdsmen want to take people’s land is not true. And Fulani don’t farm, so if they take people’s land what are they going to do with it.

Would you call for the establishment of National Commission on Fulani herdsmen just like other national Commissions we have in the country?

Well,  a committee based will be better because, if you have a National Commission for instance, they will based in Abuja, and you have Fulani herdsmen in the bush and not in the city of Abuja, so unless you formed them on national basis and send them to states, where the Fulani herdsmen are. Unfortunately, people take these herdsmen to be Muslim, but they are not all Muslim because and when they are attacking people they also attack Muslims, but you will find out that the herdsmen in the far North, rustle their cows like what is happening in Kano, Kaduna, Kebbi  states and the rest of them. There was a time people nearly introduced religious situation into the Fulani crisis but luckily God saved us and people realize the danger this would have brought and rested the case.

Are you saying some Fulani are not Muslims?

Well, majority of them are Muslims but there are quite a number of them that are also pagans among them, but majority are Muslims.

 

Do you think it difficult for National Assembly to put a cattle rearing law guiding the herdsmen in this country?

That is what I’m expecting them to do because they should have come up with a law that will restrict the movement of the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle in some quarters and areas in this country. They should come up with law but they cannot do that; I don’t know because some of them or may be majority of them know top Nigerians who have these cows or some of them owned the cows, may be but if these people wants to serve this country very well, everybody should set aside his personal interest and do things for the interest of this nation and their people, that is why they were voted into the NASS.