National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo has lampooned what he termed the Federal Government’s lack of seriousness and non-commitment to ending the perpetual farmer-herders crisis in the country.

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, Bodejo, the Special Adviser to the Bauchi State Governor on Farmers and Herdsmen, said the proposed colony for Fulani herders should be in every state and the federal capital territory.

The Federal Government is tinkering with the idea of establishing a Fulani colony in Benue State. What is your view on this?

I don’t know who sold the idea to the Federal Government. Nobody consulted our association. Our interest is for peace to reign in Benue. We have so much interest in the state because it has water. When you see the herders migrating to Benue, it is because of River Benue. Before the former governor, Samuel Ortom asked the Fulani herdsmen to leave the state and his introduction of the satanic anti grazing law, our people had a very good relationship with the Tiv people. It was the former governor that severed that good relationship between the two groups. Fulani lost their lives and their cattle and the Tiv people also lost their lives and their property because of the problem Ortom created between the two groups. Anything that will bring back the good relationship between Tiv and the Fulani is a good development.

However, for now, I don’t think my people are safe in that state. Some people will just see them, kill them and make away with their cattle. This is the situation in the last eight years of Ortom as governor of the state. So, I don’t know about the idea of establishing a Fulani colony in that state. Maybe, the government will call to brief us so that we can contribute our ideas on the project because we need peace to return in Benue.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is opposed to it and has called on the governor and the people not to accede to such request. What is your position on this?

The Federal Government is not yet serious in ending the Fulani- farmers’ crisis in the country. I have so much respect for the Federal Government and the relevant security agencies, but if they are serious, they should site such things in Niger, Nassarawa, Adamawa and Taraba, Yobe and other states where you have much concentration of Fulani, and not in Benue, where they are haunted. The herders that left Benue because of trouble are in some of the states I mentioned. All the herders that left Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina because of trouble are in Bauchi, Gombe and Yobe states.

Why must Benue State be the first consideration for this project? I don’t think our people are safe in that state. Maybe, the person that sold the idea to the Federal Government is new to the situation in the country or doesn’t have the history of states in Nigeria. For now, I cannot support any Fulani to go and settle in Benue because his safety is not guaranteed. It is a dangerous area for us. They have different security organisations targeted against us – livestock guard; this guard and that guard. Our people have lost millions of cattle to these security groups.

I cannot support my people going there; I will be waiting if they would call me to make an input into the project, and I will tell them the truth.

If the government establishes the colony, they will put the necessary amenities and provide security. Why are you opposed to it?

If there is peace, there is no need for you to go and provide security for herdsmen or farmers. I will like the idea if it will make the Fulani to rear their cattle unmolested. I’m still asking why it is Benue State alone. I want it to be established in all the 35 states and Abuja, excluding Benue. The number of Fulani herdsmen killed in Benue is incalculable, as well as the cattle. Benue should not be considered for such a project. I don’t know the people behind this or their advisers, but we don’t need Benue, the government should look for other states, we can’t take that risk of going to Benue.

You said the Federal Government was not interested in ending the farmers- herders’ clashes, but President Bola Tinubu has said that he was going to buy lands to establish ranches as a way of ending the crisis?

The Federal Government shouldn’t bother itself buying lands to establish ranches because every state has a grazing reserve for Fulani. Some of them were gazetted, while some were not. Maybe, some people are not telling the Federal Government the truth or reminding them of the existence of grazing reserves. There are more than 700 grazing reserves across the country. We can start with the one that were gazetted.

The herders don’t need much; what they need in the grazing reserves are just amenities like school, hospital, veterinary clinics for their cattle, and water. We have one in Laduga, Southern Kaduna. At Laduga, the Fulani have settled there and they are carrying on with their activities, and you can’t see any crisis in that grazing reserve.

President Tinubu should give directive and collaborate with the state governors because they know everything about the grazing reserves, and open them for the Fulani to be settled there. The only thing the Federal Government should do is to put in necessary amenities like water, school, hospitals and veterinary clinics for their cows. That is as simple as that, and not going into something that is difficult.

President Tinubu is saying that he would buy land for you people to do ranching. Is it not the same as grazing reserves?

It is a good idea. Like I said, anything that will bring peace and comfort for the herders will be welcomed with both hands. However, it is better to go back to the areas that have been created for us; the government papers are there. So, let us go back there instead of going to buy a new land for us. You want to go buy a new land when there is already existing one for us. It makes more sense to go and open all the grazing reserves instead of buying new lands.

Now that the Federal Government plans to buy land for ranching, will it be in every state?

If the government wants to buy land for ranching, it should be in every state because Fulani are in every state, and they are a major ethnic group. There are Fulani in Edo, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa; everywhere in the country. You can see them speaking Igbo, Yoruba and other languages. President Tinubu should wake up and do something for these herders. He should not allow some people to mislead him to change his mind on what he is proposing to do for us. For the eight years of the past government, it was all just talk and nothing more. Today, they would come with cattle colony, the following day, they would talk about grazing reserve; another day, they would talk about ranching, and so on. If Tinubu wants to buy a land, let him do it do to save the lives of Fulani and to save the country.

Why is it that the Middle Belt and the South are always opposed to ranching, colony for the herders and even buying land for you people?

The Fulani are in great numbers in Taraba, Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Kano and Niger, I will advise the government for whatever they want to do for the herdsmen, even it is buying land, let them start first with those states I have listed, and the crisis between the farmers and the cattle rearers would come down by 75 per cent. If you want to do colony in Benue or Akwa Ibom, maybe it is a way of somebody wanting to corner the money because it may not work. These boys, the IPOB and the other group in South West, will not allow you to go and corner land in Igbo land and in the Yoruba land for the herders. Nigeria is one, but if you want to do something, you do it at the place where the Fulani herders are already there. It is time to do something for them there so that some of them that are not enjoying where they are would return and join their brothers. What led them to go to where they are not wanted is because of water and grass, and when the government establishes ranches in those states, they would come back to settle with their brothers and have peace of mind. Nobody wants to suffer; everybody wants to enjoy peace. If the ranches are set up, they would stop migrating from one place to the other. They would settle in one particular place and do their business.

As the Special Adviser to the Bauchi Governor on Farmers and Herders, what are the agenda you will give to the governor?

I will tell the governor the need to enlighten and ensure that the herders are sending their children to school. Also, I will advise him on the need to reopen the grazing reserve in the state. The first priority is to end the farmers and the herders’ crisis that has claimed so many lives; to make sure it is a thing of the past. The farmers would be told the need not to encroach into the grazing route or reserve. The Fulani too are farmers; it is not just about cattle rearing. So, each group would be told not to encroach into the other’s area. I thank the governor for the appointment. The office is my area; I’m very competent in this field.

Will this new office not distract you from the programmes of your organisation as you are the one organizing Fulani herdsmen in West Africa?

This is part of my programme and it is the area I know very well. If it was an appointment outside this area, I would not have accepted it. This is my field, and it is something that I have been doing before. I thank Governor Bala for the appointment. This will make me to bring my contributions on how the farmers and the herdsmen can cohabit peacefully for the progress of the country.

I urge the other state governors to give appointments to people who are versed in the offices they are assigned. You cannot ask a medical doctor to head Water Board, or an accountant, you give him Education ministry.

The farmers and herders are the same; Fulani and Hausa are the same, but some people because they didn’t win election would try to separate them. When you bring the herders to a particular place, the issue of banditry would end. Because they have a place to stay, the government doesn’t need to go and send soldiers to go looking for bandits. This is so because some of the bandits are claiming to be Fulani when they are not. They commit atrocities in the name of Fulani. (Saturday Sun)

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