Fulani Herdsmen: Sharia Council Cautions S’west Govs Over Ban On Open Grazing

The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria has warned South West Governors against banning open grazing without providing alternative.

The council said doing such would be an invitation to disaster. The South West Governors banned open grazing at a meeting, on Monday, with the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and security chiefs.

AAddressing a press conference at the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Osogbo on Thursday, the Vice President of the council, Sheikh Abdur’Rasheed Hadiyatullahi, who doubles as the Co-ordinator of Concerned Yoruba Muslims Scholars in Nigeria, called on the Nigerian Government to provide cattle ranch as an alternative.

Hadiyatullahi said banning open grazing was not a solution to reported killings and wanton destruction of farmlands by Fulani herdsmen.

He specifically called on the Federal Government and South West Governors, among others, to give Fulani herdsmen lands to ranch their cows.

He said the council was not in support of banning open grazing without providing an alternative means for Fulani herdsmen to pasture their livestock.

Without the provision of ranch, the council noted that herdsmen would continue to roam about and destroy farmlands.

Hadiyatullahi said, “Across the country, herdsmen are everywhere. So, we want the Nigerian Government to give them places to ranch their cows. We can’t support open grazing without providing a place where their livestock will be reared. How do you want them to survive? Will they not be constituting problems?

“These people (Fulani herdsmen) have no address; their address is their cows. So, Government should give them cattle ranch where they will be identified. They must be allowed to rear their cows because we need cows for our ceremonies. Do you want to be going to Maiduguri to buy your cows?

“We met the Fulani people and they live with us; we have to forgive and forget. I am not saying what they are doing is good but let’s forgive and forget. Let’s give them another opportunity to rear their cows in ranch.”

The Sheikh condemned the Igangan incidents and called for a dialogue between the host community and Fulani herdsmen.

He said, “To douse the tension immediately, we want the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, devise a mechanism whereby town hall meetings between herdsmen and the host community will hold and differences sorted out.

“We also suggest that cattle ranch should be created. This in our humble opinion, will go a long way in resolving the crisis. Because if the ranch is created, this will prevent the herdsmen from roaming around the city, invading people’s farms and destroying their crops.”

“Instead of issuing threats and counter-threats, we appeal to the various ethnicities in the country to understand the nature of the conflict. Herders and farmers crisis is not a Nigerian problem alone, it is universal. Nigeria needs to seek an enduring panacea to its own peculiar problems instead of aggravating the conflict,” the council vice president said.