Ex Nigerian Army Generals Fingered In Fulani Herdsmen's Attacks

 

Retired Army Generals and looted funds invested in cattle rearing business have been fingered in the growing attacks by Fulani herdsmen, according to Independent investigations.
It was gathered from security agencies that most army and paramilitary officers as well as corrupt politicians invested their looted funds in cattle rearing business and are determined to protect their business by arming their proxies.


Traditionally, the Fulanis are known to be cattle herdsmen. But rather than being solely responsible for the spate of killings that is spreading across the country, indications point to a sinister group of investors as being behind the killings as means of protecting their business valued over $300 million.
Only recently, Kashim Shettima, Borno State governor, leading 18 other governors of the Northern states, reacted against labeling Fulani herdsmen as the principal culprits after the herdsmen invaded Nimbo, an Enugu State community, were 48 people were reportedly killed and the entire place sacked.

Before the Enugu incident, there have been killings in Agatu communities in Benue State. There were also killings in Nasarawa, though with what is termed retaliatory killing on Monday of 20 Fulani herdsmen and 80 heads of cattle. There are also reported killings and kidnap allegedly perpetrated by the herdsmen in Delta, Kaduna, Ondo and Oyo over the last one week.

There has been outrage across the country, with prominent figures calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to rein in on the alleged perpetrators of the crime. 
But there have been silent whispers that the killings may not have been done principally by the so-called herdsmen.

“Most of the herdsmen you see grazing cattle are just keepers of the livestock and not their owners,” explained a former national officer of Myeti Allah, a transnational organization of Fulani herders, adding that herdsmen are mostly sedentary these days, preferring ranching than the traditional nomadic way of life.

 The insider told Independent that the nomadic herdsmen are charged by retired military officers to watch their cattle, graze and tend them.

“It is their retirement investment. I am inclined to believe that they have somehow raised militia to protect their investment from incessant clashes with farmers and settlers along grazing routes,” the sources explained, not willing to be quoted on account of the sensitivity of the disclosure.

It is further gathered that there has been significantly more investment in cattle ownership especially by politicians and former public office holders.

“This is because cattle herds in the hands of the average Fulani man is not as easily traceable as landed property or money in the bank that leaves a paper trail,” the source further explained. 

The source also told Independent that some of the former public office holders currently undergoing probe are reported to have large herds of cattle.

“Some of them are former military men and they hired gunmen to protect their investment. There are politicians involved in the business because it is lucrative as a long term business,” the source explained

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said that this claim cannot be verified. But a source in the Department of State Security (DSS), told Independent that it was working on several theories on unraveling the sponsors of the killings.

“There are thinking that insurgents may have morphed into this band of killers to escape the heat of the counter-insurgency campaign in the North East; there is also thinking that the killers are not Nigerians; there is also belief that the sponsors may have created the militia wing as reprisal unit against clashes encountered by their herdsmen along grazing routes,” the operative said.

The third theory by the operative may well be plausible given the outlay of cattle rearing and beef industry in the country.

On paper, there are 19 million heads of cattle in the country, according to Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. But other estimates put the cattle population at over 30 million. With beef consumption put at 310, 000 metric tons in 2013, market value of just beef is put at $300 million. The Federal Government projects that the figure will rise to 1.6 million metric tons in four years time, putting value of the market at close to $1 billion per annum.

Most of the heads of cattle are not ranched, apart from making them impossible for demographics, it is cheaper for maintenance. The grazers have 85 million hectares of uncultivated arable lands with 54 percent grassland/pasture resources. These variables, many now say may account for why herdsmen attacks are on the increase.