By Jude Opara

Recently, the entire country was jolted when an anonymous letter allegedly written by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) surfaced in Asaba, the Delta State capital warning the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to reverse the law banning the controversial Open Grazing.

The MACBAN has denied the letter.

In a statement, secretary General of MACBAN, Baba-Ngelzerma said the association has nothing to do with the said letter. He also described MACBAN as a responsible organization with eminent personalities as its members and so, will not do anything to jeopardize the peace of the country.

However, many analysts still believe that the federal government must act now to stop any planned attack on the state.

Such people argue that the Benue experience where the group was severally alleged to have issued such threats, they were denied and afterwards the state has continued to battle with attacks and killings of citizens by suspected herdsmen.  

But with all the concern so expressed, the recent statement issued by elder statesman, and the Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and Chairman of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), Chief Edwin Clark is the most profound.

The response of Clark which is also a warning and an appeal to the government is apt at this time because given the charged atmosphere in parts of the country. Certainly, every effort must be put in place to ensure that Delta state does not slip into crisis, especially given the events in the neighbouring South-East.

“We have watched with restrained patience, the reckless and irresponsible utterances of the so-called Fulani Jihadists and the Miyetti Allah, who believe that they own Nigeria from the North to the sea, and therefore, have the impunity to warn the State Governments, particularly the Delta State Government and Governor to withdraw, within 72 hours, his decision against open grazing, recently taken by the 17 Governors of the South, in a meeting held in Asaba.

“We have decided to issue this advice and warning to the Federal Government and the Fulani Jihadists that the people of the Niger Delta will resist in such a way that will make it definitely impossible for the Federal Government security forces to cope with, should this action escalate.

“We are reacting because this is not the first time Fulanis and their collaborators have insulted our people. It will be remembered that sometime in 2009, a Legislature from Kebbi State in the National Assembly asked the Federal Government to resettle the people of the Niger Delta in another territory to create a conducive and unhindered atmosphere for the oil companies to operate.

That we warn, the resulting consequences will be very unpleasant to them. The Federal Government has continuously condoned them and behaving as if the Federal Government is the one giving support to these Fulani Jihadists and the Miyetti Allah because what is happening today in Nigeria, which has resulted in unprecedented insecurity and bad governance in Nigeria, will be worse, if they are not called to order by the Federal Government within the shortest time possible.

“In 2014, during the National Conference, some Northerners made a very offending and provocative statements that the entire country belongs to them. This statement was made by a highly educated person, Dr. Usman Bugaji. This made the Delegates of the Niger Delta to issue a statement of about 17 pages, that they will break away or that they will seek for self determination if the arrogance and meanness of these Fulanis continue. As the Leader of the South-South Delegates to the Conference and in the interest of peace and continuance of the Conference, I immediately rose up to the occasion. I publicly disowned the document on the floor of the Conference. I remember His Royal Majesty, the Lamido of Adamawa, commended me for that statement when he was introduced to me by a former Minister of Defence in Jonathan’s government, Dr. Bello Alero. The Lamido Adamawa, told me that I had saved the country.

“For some Fulani Jihadists to issue such insulting and provocative 72 hours’ notice to the Governor of Delta State, without the Federal Government and the elders of northern extraction, ever calling them to order, is most disappointing, considering that the same Northern elders were quick to accuse Igbo leaders of not publicly condemning IPOB. Such impudence of the Fulani Jihadists will no longer be tolerated. They even claimed responsibility for the burning/bombing of the Secretariat in Asaba which also houses the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) Office.”

It must be stated that the federal government should immediately rise to the occasion to address the issue of the so-called herdsmen and bandits who are causing crisis in almost every part of the country. The continuous papering of issues that concern the Fulani herders by the federal government has become a huge source of concern because the government has never been very decisive in addressing their issues like they do when it has to do with an organization like IPOB for instance.

Again, it is more worrisome because many stakeholders in the Nigerian project have over the years accused the present administration of secretly pushing a “Fulani agenda”. Some have claimed that the attacks is an effort to intimidate the hapless people to provide land for the marauding Fulani herders largely from other parts of Africa.

Already some notable Nigerians like General T Y Danjuma and even former President Olusegun Obasanjo have at different times accused the present administration of having an agenda to ‘Fulanize” the country using the herders as a means of achieving that.

Even the federal government has at various times claimed that these notorious killer herdsmen are not Nigerians but migrants from other countries around Africa. But in all the narratives, the government has not spoken forcefully against these killers. Instead they are more or less being pampered when they are described as ‘bandits and unknown gunmen’.

We have seen a notable Islamic cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi visiting the bandits in the forest to negotiate with them and even advocating for them to be granted amnesty.

In fact, the actions of the federal government in the past six years really suggest that there is a special interest in entrenching the Fulanis from across the continent in Nigeria. The government initially came up with the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA), when that was rejected, they came up with the land transformation policy also aimed at procuring land for the herders.

Therefore, the government of Delta state and indeed the federal government must act fast to ensure that things do not degenerate. We have seen in the past where the Army and even the Police have been accused of indirectly siding these migrant herders when they are in conflict with the host communities.

“…Failure to adhere to this demand for being the host of the 17 governors, Delta state, most likely the city of Asaba and Agbor, shall encounter severe consequences than that of Bornu, Kebbi, Katsina. Kaduna, Enugu, Benue, Oyo and many more that will not respect the Fulani’s heritage, as we take responsibility for the detonate explosive uncovered in the state capital secretariat, which should serve as warning to the Delta state government for what is to come, should the government fail to abide by our demand.”

Clark also advised the President to regard himself as President of one Nigeria, and not as President of the Fulanis or the Northerners, warning that the South shall resist, at all cost, any attempt to subjugate the citizens of one Nigeria.

“I also use this opportunity to seriously advice the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over his irresponsible and unprofessional language, which is misleading and misdirecting Mr. President. Because the rhetoric question Mr. President asked during his interview with Arise Television, whether Nigerians want him (Mr. President) to contradict the Attorney General of the Federation was based on his understanding of the AG’s advice to him.

“Perhaps Mr. President is not aware, or he has not been advised by the AG that the Land Use Act which vested ownership of land on the State Governor is entrenched in the Constitution of the country. Therefore, any Gazette or Law passed by any State or National Assembly is and will be null and void because the 1999 Constitution supersedes all such laws or gazette notices.

The President has no power or authority to impose open grazing on State Governments. Such illegal action which are a breach of the 1999 Constitution, will not be accepted and will be legally resisted at all costs.

“Therefore, any law banning open grazing by State Governments is not only legal and binding, but is unchallengeable and binding on any person or group of persons, including the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no federal system where the federating units are not controlled by the Governors, who is the chief security officer of his federating. What we are practicing today, is not a federation. Rather, what we are practicing is a unitary form of government which makes our President the most powerful President of any Federal system. And that is why the people want a new Constitution.” 

Clark also appealed to President Buhari to call for a National Dialogue over insecurity and general violence, with Nigerians of various ethnic nationalities. He said such will make it is possible for the country to have a peaceful government until he leaves office in 2023.