Fulani Militia: Why They Strike (Revised Version)

It has been a bloody three months for Nigeria. While the Boko Haram insurgency continues to claim lives in the North East, a greater menace ravages the countryside in Central Nigeria. Hundreds of villagers have perished in the hands of suspected Fulani militiamen in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Kaduna States.

Armed marauders, armed to the teeth, storm villages in the dead of the night, slaughter everything that breathes, cart away valuables, livestock, and then set the villages ablaze. These gruesome attacks have been repeated in many communities on the Plateau, Nasarawa, in southern Kaduna and lately in Benue State.

Each time this macabre tale is told, blame for the wanton destruction of live and property is placed on the Fulani. Most times, the Fulani domicile in and around the affected communities deny involvement in the atrocities, often heaping the blame on the now fabled “unknown gunmen”.

The situation is so bemuddling. It raises serious questions that need urgent answers. Who are these armed marauders? Where are they from? Why do they attack defenceless villages in Central Nigeria? Are they an organized armed militia comprising of disgruntled Fulani herdsmen as widely speculated?

In a bid to make sense of the terrible situation, some theories have been spun, even though one or two seem to veer towards the realm of conspiracy theories.

One such theory is that which postulates that the Fulani uprising in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is a latter-day jihad aimed at exterminating the Christian peoples of the area, conquer their land and turn it into pastureland for cattle grazing. This theory however falls flat when you consider the fact that there have been reported cases of Fulani militias pillaging villages in Zamfara State and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State (both Muslim dominated areas) that predate the recent attacks in Benue State and Southern Kaduna. Just a few weeks ago, parts of Kastina State (a Muslim dominated state) was also attacked by suspected Fulani militiamen.

Another theory has it that the current spade of Fulani attacks has its origins in the conflicts that regularly breaks out between herdsmen and farmers in the north for which Fulanis regularly lost both lives and cattle. Some contend that the violent attacks on farming communities are merely reprisal attacks or even acts of self defence.  

The grazing reserve encroachment theory states that the conflict raging between Fulani herdsmen and farming communities in the north is as a result of the absence of grazing reserves for herdsmen to rear their cattle. The theory states that whatever grazing reserve there was has been taken over by farmers all over the country, leaving herdsmen without pastureland for grazing. It is the pressure to find pasture for their cattle that often pitches herdsmen against farmers along the Sudan Savannah region of Nigeria.  

Then there is the Boko Haram intervention theory. Its proponents contend that the gunmen engaged in the mindless killing of villagers in Central Nigeria are not Fulanis herdsmen but Boko Haram mujahedeen. They argue that one of the stated objectives of the Boko Haram insurgents is to protect and avenge Muslims anywhere in Nigeria; as such they have been intervening on behalf of the Fulani whenever the latter come off the worse for it after bloody land disputes with non Muslim farming villages. But then, this theory does not account for the attacks on Muslim communities in Kastina, Birnin Gwari and Zamfara.

Perhaps the most plausible explanation for the Fulani uprising is the climate change theory. It postulates that due to climate change and the attendant desertification and loss of pastureland in the Sahel, herdsmen (from Niger, Mali, Senegal, Chad, and Burkina Faso) who have lost cattle to drought and have gotten access to the small arms awash in the region (due to the Libyan crisis and Tuareg insurgency in Mali and other Sahelian states) migrated southwards to the lush grasslands of North and Central Nigeria.

This band of mostly cattle-less herdsmen are thought to have aggregated into a formidable militia, gun-for-hire mercenaries, that are often called upon by their indigenous Fulani kinsmen to fight on their side whenever they have a dispute with sedentary farmers. This militia are also said to collaborate with some rouge elements within the indigenous Fulani communities to rustle cattle from villagers.

To lend credence to this theory, some have cited the account of villagers in Southern Kaduna who reported that they saw busloads of Fulani militiamen arriving at a Fulani homestead on the eve of the bloody attacks on villages in the area.   

A lot of the members of this militia are also believed to have organized themselves into gangs specializing in cattle rustling and armed banditry in the North West of the country especially in areas around Birnin Gwari (Kaduna State) and communities in Zamfara State.

But, why Nigeria? Why didn’t the Sahel Fulanis migrate to greener pastures in other countries in the West African sub region? It could be due to two reasons: First, Nigeria has a larger population of Fulanis making it easier for their Northern kinsmen to blend into their communities without much suspicion. Second, our borders are more porous and our security more lax than that of other countries in the region. 

Whatever the true cause of the crisis in Central Nigeria, the carnage currently going on in that region must stop. The government has a constitutional duty to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians. It therefore must make stopping the massacres in the north a priority. We must also identify the true causes of this crisis and provide lasting solutions to restore peace and security in Nigeria’s food basket.