Bruno Akhigbodemhe is the manager of Midland farms owned by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae. He speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on the activities of Fulani herdsmen on the farm in the last seven years. Excerpts:
SINCe when have you been experiencing the invasion of Fulani herdsmen on this farm? I have been working with the farm for the past 20 years but the issue of Fulani herdsmen getting into our farms to destroy our crops dates back about six or seven years ago.
Often when they create an ugly situation in the farm, we report to the police in the state, informing them about the damage done to the farm and the threat to our farm and crops. On most of the occasions, the police do come to warn them.
On one occasion, some arrests were made when they destroyed our workers’ crops. Most workers also have their own private farms, because our chairman, Chief Olu Falae, normally gives out some pieces of land to the workers to make their own farms so that they can have food to eat. On one occasion, they came to destroy the private farms of some of the workers, arrests were made and those involved were asked to pay some damages for the crops destroyed.
They were only able to pay N40,000 out of the N75,000 they agreed to pay. The most recent one was when they brought their cattle to destroy our maize about two months ago. About four hectares of land were destroyed and because the maize was just about three weeks old, when we reported to the police again, we quantified the damage only on what we used to raise the crop and not what we were expecting from the harvest, and we asked them to pay N204,000. But when started begging, our chairman, being a lenient person, asked them to pay whatever they could afford to serve as punishment to them and to keep them off our farm. The herdsmen paid N120,000 as compensation instead of the actual cost.
They also promised at the police station not to come near the farm again.
Did they sign any undertaking not to come near the farms and did you report them to the leadership of the Fulani community in the area?
Yes, they did. They signed an undertaking. That was the major thing my chairman was hammering on at the station. He was not particular about the money they promised to pay as compensation. They actually signed an undertaking that they would not come to the farms with their cattle to destroy our crops again.
Regarding reporting them to the leadership of the Fulani in the community, we’ve not done so. But there was a time that we reported their destructive attitude to the police commissioner then. The police invited the management of the farm and the leadership of the Fulani community to a meeting in order to put an end to the frequent invasion. Based on this, I was invited as the manager of the farm to represent the farm, and I was at the SIB office on more than five occasions. But the head of the Fulani and his lieutenants never showed up. Whenever the officer in charge called them, they always had one excuse or the other not come and whenever they picked a new date, they would never show up.
But we learnt that the leader of the Fulani once threatened that if you failed to erect a fence on the farm, the cows would always get there to eat the crops and if anything happened to his men, they would retaliate?
It was the chairman of the Fulani in the area that said this while he was asked to sign an undertaking that the herdsmen would not come to any of the farm again. He said he could not sign such undertaking, that he could only sign an undertaking that the people that were arrested would not come to the farm again. He was asked to sign an undertaking concerning other places and farms within Akure and Airport road. He told the police that herdsmen from other areas might come to destroy other people’s farms and he might not know them, so he could only vouch for those people that were arrested in connection with the destruction of our farm.
How many days after the last invasion by the cattle rearers did the abduction of your chairman happen, and can you describe how it did?
It was over two months after that Chief was kidnapped. The chairman came to the farm on that fateful day. He had called earlier that there would be a brief management meeting because he had other schedules for the day. He was the Local Organising Chairman for the just concluded Anglican Diocese Conference which took place in Akure, and had plans to leave the farm early to attend another important meeting in town in respect of the conference. There was a downpour the previous day, so after the meeting, he called me that he noticed that there were blockages in the farm dam spillway. He said I should take some of our workers to the dam to clear the area to prevent over flooding.
We were on our way to execute that assignment when we met some strange people on the road who blocked our way, about six of them. They started shooting, the driver tried to put the car in reverse but we got hooked and the driver stopped. They pounced on us and started beating us, some of the workers ran away while they took hold of me, the driver and one other boy. Immediately I alighted from the vehicle, they dealt me a blow in the head with a machete, very close to my ear, and started flogging us with us with cutlasses and sticks.
They were shooting sporadically while doing all these to us to scare the people on the farm. I guess one or two of them knew Chief and when they discovered that he was not with us, they decided to march us to the office, which is about a kilometre away. They would march on us, flog us, then ask us to run till we got to the farm office. About three of them were putting on masks and they were still shooting. Chief came out from his office to know what was happening and immediately they saw him, they took him away with them. We reported to the police immediately.
But after Chief Falae regained his freedom from the kidnappers, it was reported that the herdsmen came back in the middle of the night to destroy your farm again.
It was true. Just two weeks after Chief was released, they came again with their cattle in the night. It was in the middle of the night. Some two days before that, some of my workers informed me that they saw some Fulani herdsmen and their cows around the farm and immediately, I informed my Chairman who also informed the state Commissioner of Police. A team of policemen came to the farm and searched all the place and nearby communities for them but we couldn’t find them. But some two days after the search, they came into the farm in the night and well over four hectares of our maize were completely destroyed. We informed the police again but no one was found, but it was clear to the police that the destruction was done by the cattle because we could see their traces and their footprints all around the farm.
What do you think can bring an end to the face-off between farmers and cattle rearers?
Cattle rearing is part of farming but I will suggest that there should be a law to confine cattle rearing to certain grazing areas. Cattle rearers could come together to have a grazing area that will not harm other people’s business. This will prevent the frequent fighting and the issue of trespassing will not arise again. The government should establish an agency or commission to monitor the activities of these cattle rearers across the country and should spell out the areas and routes they can graze in because cattle rearing cannot be phased out. We have cattle farmers in other advanced countries and their activities never pose a great challenge to other farmers like we are experiencing in Nigeria.
Culprits are unknown to us —Ondo Fulani head
Alhaji Bello Garuba is the head of the Fulani Community in Ondo State. He speaks with Hakeem Gbadamosi on the recent accusation against the Fulani in the state over their involvement in the kidnap of Chief Olu Falae and steps taken to halt destruction of farms by cattle rearers in the state. Excerpts.
What can you tell us about the recent development in Ondo State concerning Fulani herdsmen and the kidnap of Chief Olu Falae?
I am the chairman and head of the Fulani in Ondo State. When I heard about the kidnap of Chief Olu Falae, I felt so sad about the news, especially when they said the abduction was carried out by some Fulani herdsmen, we swung into action to ascertain this fact but we eventually discovered that this criminal act was not carried our by any of our men in Ondo State here. It has never happened in the state before and our men have never been involved in this kind of criminal act, we know ourselves and no Fulani man in this state will ever be involved in kidnapping because we are law-abiding people.
But before Chief Falae was kidnapped there had been series of invasions by your people of his farm, with their cattle eating the crops in the farm, what steps did you take to stop them from going to the farm to destroy the farm produce again?
It is true that my people’s cows have destroyed crops in Falae’s farm but when I was informed as the head of the Fulani, I called them to investigate and it was discovered that the boy who led the cattle to the field on that day slept off and the cattle moved into Falae’s farm. I called them to order, warning them not to move near the farm again. Before then, we were invited to the SARS office because the management of the farm had reported the case at the police station and we sat together to settle the matter amicably. The farm manager and the secretary were there with us at the station and we agreed to pay for the damage in the farm after we negotiated with them and we paid for this damage, they are even lenient with us and we settled the matter with a promise that our people will not come into Chief Falae’s farm again. We called a meeting of Fulani herdsmen and we all agreed that nobody should trespass or graze near Chief Olu Falae’s farm any longer.
It was how many days after you resolved the matter that Chief Falae was kidnapped by the gunmen?
It was close to two months after the incident that we learnt about the ugly incident of his kidnap but I am very sure at that time that the abduction was not carried out by Fulani herdsmen in Ondo State. I checked from all our people because we know ourselves and I am very sure none of my people was involved in the incident. No one was invited or interrogated. The police only searched the area for the criminals but could not find them.
Some suspects have been arrested over Chief Falae’s kidnap, are they Fulani herdsmen from your group in Ondo State?
No. They are not from here at all. We appreciate the good work of the police and thank God they were able to arrest these criminals who want to tarnish the good name of Fulani people in Ondo State. We are a good people and law-abiding people. I was at the Special Anti Kidnapping Squad unit some few days ago, I don’t know any of the suspect paraded by the police. They are not from here, they are not even involved in cattle rearing. They are not Fulani who reside in the South West here, they were arrested outside Ondo State. Two of them were apprehended in Kogi State in Lokoja and they have confessed in their statements how they kidnapped the man. We don’t know them at all. I understand one of them slept in the house of a Yorubaman in Ogbese on the eve of their crime, but he lives somewhere else. I don’t know any of them.
But after Falae was released, some cattle rearers still went into his farm to destroy his crops again, what is your reaction to that?
Sincerely, I can tell you categorically that the destruction was not done by our men here. No Fulani herdsman from Ondo State here would dare go near Falae’s farm because we have warned against it and I know our people will never go against our collective decision. Those who did this havoc might be from other state passing through Ondo State to other state and since this was done in the night, because the police looked for them the following day and could not see them, they might have crossed to other areas.
What do you think government should do for cattle rearers to put an end to this problem your people are facing from farmers and other people?
I want to sincerely appeal to government to create special reserved areas for cattle rearers across the country in order to put an end to all these problems. Naturally, no farmer will be happy to labour for so many months and for cows to just invade the farm in a day and eat up the farm. No one will be happy, but if the government can provide a special areas where our cows can graze, it will reduce the confrontations between the Fulani cattle rearers and farmers. We are all contributing to the development of the nation’s economy and we should be treated as stakeholders. We are a peace-loving people.
There was a time we noticed a strange man among our people, who was doing nothing for a living. I personally reported him to the police and he was arrested and interrogated. He is still in the custody of the police till now, this is because we suspected his movement and he’s a stranger here. We are a hardworking people who also contribute to the economy of Ondo State too. Some of us were born and raised in Ondo State and we have no other home than here. I have been in this state for over thirty years and all my businesses are here, so I will not want anything to affect the state negatively and as Fulani people, we have been living with the people here peacefully. We are not thieves or kidnappers, we are a law-abiding people, peaceful people.
Tribune.
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