• Horror as killer Fulani herdsmen sack 29 Jos communities
…They invaded our communities, killed our people, burnt houses, says Gwangkat
on May 16, 2023, about 29 communities in Mangu Local Government, Plateau State, were attacked by the suspected Fulani militants, leaving the surviving residents in a state of shock, pains and grief.
National Director, Public Affairs, Mwagavul Development Association (MDA), Lawrence Kyarshik said the tragedy was unfortunate, adding that 29 communities in five districts of Mangu LG were affected by the attack.
He listed the communities to include Gwet, Mutong, nBwor, Komtul, Vodni in Pushit District. Also Dangdai, Changal, Kombili, Washna (Jwakchom), Larkas, Ajing, Fushi, Bin kwahas in Panyam District and Manja, Murish, Dungmunan in Kombun District. Others were Kyampus, Jwakmaitumbi, Kantoma, Alohom, Gaude, Danhausa, Kikyau, Gongong, Gudum, Tyop, Farin Kasa:
“Kubwat, Fungzai communities are in Bwai District while noting that there are still pockets of on -going attacks, threats to some villages. The attack has since caused the locals to raise questions as to whether their age -long accommodative spirit to the Fulani herders in the area was not a wrong path to take.”
MDA national president, Dr. Joseph Gwangkat, recalled that the members of the community had considered Fulani people their brothers to the point of marrying out their daughters to them, while noting that it was this solidarity and trust that made them, in 1986, give a Fulani man the opportunity to serve as their Councilor of the area.
He was however at loss as to what might have gone that wrong in their relationship to warrant the provocative attacks on their villages and communities by the same people they had embraced with open arms:
“We have always managed conflicts between our members and the Fulani in our communities; we facilitate peace with our neighbors by developing trust and the right attitude towards them. The Fulani living in our communities are perceived as extended members of our families because of our mutually beneficial economic activities.
“Besides, our own Fulani speak Mwaghavul language in addition to adopting some of our cultural ways of life. Out of trust, we buy and keep our cattle with them. In some cases, we have intermarried with them.
“This is purely a land grabbing mission by the Fulani herdsmen who want to take over our land. It is not religion as some people will want to paint it. They burnt Churches to shift attention and fuel the issue.
“Our problem is with the Fulani and not with any other person. I don’t ascribe to any calls for the Hausa man to leave my area. I have told people that some of my best friends are Hausa people, I have stayed in Zaria, I have stayed in Yola and stayed in the core – Hausa land and I have friends there. I even had friends who are Fulanis!
“It might interest you to know that the district I came from in Mangu LGA. In 1986 we unanimously gave opportunity for a Fulani man by name Abdullahi to be Counselor of our Ward, he is still alive today. He didn’t spend even a kobo, nor did he campaign, even when some of our youths contested but we said no!
“This is because we have stayed with these people for a very long time, and our relationship was cordial, I don’t know what went wrong and what exactly we have done wrong to them!
“Until towards the end of December 2014, we have had a smooth relationship with the Fulani. That year, a violent conflict erupted between the youths of Mwagavul natives and Fulani in Mangu District of the Mwagavul Chiefdom.
“This followed the killing of our son whose head was dismembered and beheaded and the community eventually traced the killer to a Fulani man. It was such a painful death. We tried to convince our angry youths that two wrongs don’t make right. Unfortunately, what started as violence by one individual against another soon snowballed into a full blown war between our communities.”
Peace, however, returned following the intervention of former state Director, National Orientation Agency, Mr. Bulus Dabit. The two communities resolved not to engage themselves in any kind of violence again.
Gwangkat traced the present attack to the incident that happened in April, 2023 at Murish, a border community with Bokkos Local Government, where a local working on his farm land was again killed. The locals responded resulting in causalities and destruction of properties on either side:
“ A young man went to his dry season farm and was cultivating his crops and some young Fulani men went and saw him and killed him.That act set anger, our youths were infuriated and there was a clashed along that axis of Murish, Jwakmaitumbi, Jwaktimnanle and Dungmunan. People were killed on both sides:8 properties were burnt, animals killed on both sides.
“But again the Local Government Council intervened and the Traditional Council and halted the conflict.
He blamed the two communities for the mess would no longer be allowed to continue. “We have to forgive each other and return back to our cordial way of living and we all agreed to forgive and we left.
Gwangkat said the attackers often come in their numbers. “The Fulani man is highly coordinated, you will find out that these people are in there great numbers. They can overrun a place within a few minutes, and that’s why I’m insisting that the issue at stake is land grabbing, because you cannot go to a place, attack them, kill the people, including women and children, burn their properties, and still pulled down the burnt houses to foundation level!”.
“If you had gone to Murish, you will find out that the place is a very fertile land. There is a stream that you can do your dry season farming there. The belt connects up to other communities like Fwumlan, Kwahasnan, you will see a stream where the farmers used to water their crops while they(Fulani) water their animals.
“You know that the Fulani man was not a farmer.Iin those days if they give us their cow milk, we give them grains. But they have started farming now, competing for land with us to farm and they need land to rear their cattle and that is why they are interested in the land and are out on this genocide.
“It is a clear case of ethnic cleansing and is happening real. We won’t allow them take over our ancestral land because we are the original owners of these communities, we don’t have any other place to go!”
But the Miyitti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) claimed that they were the victims and not the Mwagavul people. Gwangkat swiftly debunked their claim: “I don’t know when the aggressor has become a victim! You see, I am coming from the Livestock industry in case you do not know. I retired about 8 years ago from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Department. The MACBAN we know of yesterday is not the MACBAN of today. In 1982 when there was rinderpest and at the height of rinderpest my department was working very closely with MACBAN which is Miyitti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
“We were working closely with them for vaccination against rinderpest, and you know because the Fulani has a large national wealth, Federal Government was interested in it and he(Fulani) lives in bushes. We were going there especially my colleagues Vet Doctors and Animal Health Personnel giving them vaccines so that we protect the national wealth.
“So, the MACBAN of yesterday is not the same with the MACBAN of today because the MACBAN of yesterday was not militants, but it appears that the MACBAN of today, they look militant! By the time you go for a meeting with them, you hear the way they talk.
“They don’t respect their Ardos, but Ardos were the most highly respected Fulani leaders that we know because whatever intervention you want to do to livestock you must go through the Ardos not through MACBAN. They are their (Fulani) Chiefs but these days that relationship is no longer there so painful!”
The unabated attacks have multiplier effects on the economy of the state, food security, and increased in poverty in the years ahead. “Our people are largely farmers and they cannot go back to farm and you know Mangu LGA whether we like it or not is the food basket of Plateau State and by extension contribute sufficiently to the food chain in Nigeria. I don’t know where they farm Irish potatoes more than Mangu LGA in Plateau State, I don’t know where they farm maize more than Mangu LGA.
“Now, this is a farming season, and planting of Irish potatoes and maize in my place is time bound because of potatoes blight. If you plant it early you will harvest it before the blights season, but if you plant it late the tendency is that you will not harvest anything because of the potatoes blight. Secondly, maize is also time bound, if you plant early you will reap a good harvest but when it is late, the tendency is very high that you might not get anything.
“So, these people are not in their various villages, there are so many villages that were affected like Kombun, Mangu District, Panyam District, part of Pushit District that is the pain we are going through. And we will not see the magnitude now, because it causes hunger and poverty in the land because the economic bone of our people is our farm. Now it is evidently clear that from now to next year they’re not certain of going back due to fear of possible attacks.”