Chairman of the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association, MACBAN, in the South East zone, Alhaji Giddado Sadiq, in this interview culled from Vanguard speaks on how the proposed Fulani Vigilante will work in communities of the South-East, noting also that ranching is almost impossible in the zone because of limited land space.

What are the details of the proposed establishment of Fulani vigilante in south East?

The proposal is that wherever you chose to live, you have to make sacrifices and do what will bring peace in the area. If you read the newspapers you will see so much criticisms on the Fulani herdsmen, the Fulani in general or the northern extraction here in the South-East and so we have to do whatever is within our reach to redeem this name. There is no race that does not have criminals among them. It is not good to say that everybody from the race is a criminal. That is why we want to come out to work with the people that we know.

The Fulani herdsmen here in the South-East or any other place are looking for greener pastures to raise their cattle. They are not here to bring about violence or to make troubles. So that is why we want to redeem the name and for people to see us as peace loving people. This vigilante we are talking about, we did not say that they are going to work on their own but they will be under the supervision of their host or under the supervision of the Fulani.

How will the Fulani vigilante work with their hosts when they leave in the bush?

Most of the clashes we are having between farmers and herders are about the destruction of crops or killing of cattle. If we have a task force or vigilante from our own Fulani side, whenever a report is made to me as a leader, like in a recent report made to me at Uzo-Uwani, which I assigned four boys to go and assess that destruction, value the destruction and make sure that the owners of the cattle pay compensation to the farmer. This thing cannot be done with only Fulani, at least the host will be there, the governor’s aide will be there with the Fulani, they will go and assess, after assessing they will know the Fulani that is responsible for that destruction. This is how they can work. Whenever there is a report of anything, these people will go. If the person responsible is from our side, they will know.

Does it mean that the Fulani vigilante boys will join the community vigilante to work together?

That is what I mean.

Do you mean they will together become guards at night and in daytime in the communities?

The Fulani vigilante is inside the bush and any fault that is attributed to the Fulani, it is that time that those people will be invited and they will guide the vigilante of the locals on what to do. If it is their own people, they know how to get them; if it is destruction of farm they will join hands to make sure there is sanity in that area.

Will the Fulani vigilante be restricted to the bushes?

Their work is for the Fulani, they cannot guard the locals, they cannot arrest an Igboman, they cannot molest any woman because the host community has its own vigilante. These people are working with the Fulani. First of all, what they will be doing is to identify the Fulani that enter into the South-East, if they spot the bad ones, they will be told to go back, if they are good, we stay with them. They will work hand-in-hand with their host communities.

How will you address the fear that people already have about Fulani and criminality?

In all the tribes, you have the good and the bad ones. It is not fair to say that all Fulani are criminals. I want to assure you that the Fulani are here for greener pastures, they are not here to fight or to rape or rob and in all these accusations, the Fulanis are suffering more than any other person. They are kidnapped, raped and killed. You won’t believe it if I tell you the number of Fulani that have been killed in the South-East, it is just that we don’t make noise about it so that it will not bring more troubles. We don’t talk about our predicament but the Fulani are suffering more than any other person.

Will the proposed Fulani vigilante carry arms?

The vigilante will be approved by the authority first. If the government approves that they carry weapons, fine! If not they will not carry arms. The weapon that Fulani have is their cutlass and sticks.

As a leader of Miyetti-Allah, have you ever caught any Fulani engaged in criminality?

This is a security matter. If you go to the office of the security agencies you will find out whether we do that or not. But when we suspect anybody we first ask the person the reason for his coming. The Miyetti-Allah has that instruction in the South-East, if such a person does not give convincing answer we hand him over to the police.

How has the Fulani vigilante been working in Enugu State as MACBAN said at the South-East security summit?

In Enugu State now, if I receive a report as a zonal chairman that cattle entered any farm, before the next day the matter will be resolved because of the boys we are working with. I told you earlier that we sent four boys to one community in Uzo-Uwani; our boys work 24 hours to ensure that there is peace between us and our host.

What is your reaction to clamis that a helicopter dropped arms for herdsmen inside a forest in Enugu State?

All these rumours are what have been causing problems every where. Does a Fulani man use jet? In every society, there are those that don’t like peace and make sure they sabotage peace. The government of Enugu State is trying. Those who make those rumours don’t like what the governor is doing. All these are rumours and lies. Are you saying the security operatives will be watching such planes go up and come down? It is not true.

There are fears that that the herdsmen want to use the N100 billion offered by the Federal Government to execute the vigilante project?

The least people that benefit from government are the Fulani. The farmers benefit more than the cattle breeders. Every year they give farmers fertilizers, they give them chemicals to farm but there is no single thing for the Fulani man. Nobody is vaccinating the cattle, no loan. We have so many people that are suffering, who have lost their cattle in this farmers and herdsmen crisis but do you know that a Fulani man cannot be compensated and it’s just about 35 percent of Fulani that have cows, the rest 65 percent have no single cow. There is no empowerment for them and now people are saying they want to give Fulani N100 billion and I just hear these things in the media. If any money was given to us, I think that I should know as a zonal chairman so that I can collect the one for South-East. I want people to discountenance all these fabricated rumours against herdsmen.

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