By Emeka Alex Duru
(08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)
Ordinarily, the declaration by Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi banning open grazing in the South East, is one that should elicit excitement. He is the Chairman of the South East Governors Forum and presumably made the announcement on behalf of his colleagues. Like other governors in the region, he has had occasions to count the cost of the activities of murderous herdsmen and the resultant clashes with farmers in his state. He is also seen as a very close friend to President Muhammadu Buhari and thus assumed to have spoken with authority. But that, sadly, may just be where it all ends.
Umahi and his colleagues in Abia (Okezie Ikpeazu), Enugu (Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi), Imo (Hope Uzodimma) and Anambra (Willie Obiano), have not shown sufficient reasons to be trusted in banning open grazing and putting a stop to the menace of the criminal Fulani pastoralists. Their individual experiences in the hands of the herders and how they handled the situations, do not offer hope of better deal, this time around. In 2016 when criminal Fulani elements ran through Ukpabi-Nimbo, Enugu community and slaughtered over 50 indigenes, aside Ugwuanyi visiting and crying in the affected villages, not much was heard on measures to contain the killers. The marauders have also had field days in Umuahia (Abia), Okigwe (Imo), Abakiliki (Ebonyi), running unchallenged in the absence of internal arrangements to halt their menace.
In February 2020, the governors had vowed to put in place a regional security outfit to guarantee peace in the region. But besides the initial ululation that trailed the announcement, no meaningful development has come from the agenda, one year after. The much hyped security platform only existed in imagination, lacking form or character. So, while Umahi embarked on the chest-thumbing outing on the governors banning open grazing, those that accused him of merely engaging in publicity stunt, may not be entirely wrong. They knew that he was simply doing so because governors in other parts of the country are issuing such directives, now. To put it mildly, the governors of the south east, are not yet decided on how to go about defending their people in the face of the cattle Fulani onslaught. What seems to matter most to them, is political correctness or the scramble to be enlisted among the good boys of the President.
To be sure, nobody is nudging the governors to go on confrontation with the president or any authority for that matter. The point, rather is that their ambivalence on issues of security and delivering good governance is beginning to create void in the region. In the absence of a purposeful leadership, this void is being filled by individuals and groups who would not matter in normal times and they are being seen as defenders of the people’s rights and freedom.
By announcing the ban on open grazing without a comprehensive plan on enforcement, the governors are unwittingly opening another flank for tension in the zone. The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), has advertised its readiness to enforce the ban. In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the organisation said it would commence enforcement of the ban after 14-day ultimatum which its leadership had already issued on the matter.
“At the expiration of the two-week ultimatum already issued by our Leader for open grazing to end in Biafra land, IPOB and ESN (Eastern Security Network) will move in to deal with any herder flouting the law.
“Since the law enforcement agents are too weak or have wittingly failed to enforce the ban, we can no longer afford to sit idly and watch the wanton destruction of lives and crops of our people. ESN will do the needful. We shall no longer allow law breakers to have a field day after inflicting physical and economic harm on innocent victims”, the statement added.
The IPOB release portends signs of heady days ahead. Going by the trademark audacity of the herders, they may snub the directive by the governors and carry on with their monstrous engagements. They will of course, do so, assured that they have the support of a dubious presidency that can go to any length in protecting the provincial interest of the President and his Fulani kinsmen. The governors, on their own, lack the will and capacity to walk their talk. Something may give in, consequently. Make no mistake about it, IPOB and ESN are major factors in contemporary south east politics. You may disagree with their agenda, strategies and activities, but they are not to be dismissed with a wave of the hand.
The governors still have time to take charge and stave off the imminent tension in the zone. There is the need to convince the people on the plan to halt open grazing. There is also the obligation to ensure that the directive is followed to the letter. How they go about it, matters a lot. They particularly need to send the message that the directive is not an order on the Fulani to quit the East. Igbo land has a good history of accommodating the Fulani and other non-indigenes. The first Mayor of Enugu, Umaru Altine, was a Hausa-Fulani who contested and won the seat against a South East candidate. There have been other Fulani in the East, living in peace with the people.
A colleague and former Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Igbonekwu Ogazimorah, captured it brilliantly that “the cry against herder atrocities is not a demand or drive to evict Northerners from other parts of Nigeria. Far from it. We are talking of those who occupy bushes and forests, waylay women, young and old and rape them; We are talking of those who storm well cultured farms and cause their cows to eat up the crops; We are concerned about those who brutally cut to pieces the body and flesh of farmers if they ever attempted to resist destruction of their farms or found near the scene”.
These are the criminal elements, masquerading as herders in the East and other parts of the country. They give the Fulani a bad name and should be stopped. How the South East governors handle the testing challenge would be remarkable.
