The Farmer-Herder crisis in Nigeria
Media Bias Against Fulani
Article submitted to 21Wilberforce who presented it to the then
US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, September 2019
Farmer-herder violence is a serious problem in Nigeria today, especially in the Middle Belt and Northwest areas of the country. Tragedies and atrocities are occurring every day, with apparently little effective remedy from security agencies. Intense media attention, particularly on social media sites, has focused on what is happening to the mostly-Christian farmers, and this is often framed as religious persecution. Much of the blame is placed on the mostly-Muslim Fulani pastoralists. But is this the full story? It is not. What is on ‘page two’ tells a different tale; every story has at least two sides. In this story, no ethnic or social group is entirely innocent, and no such group is entirely guilty. Meanwhile, hundreds, even thousands, of innocent women, children and men are suffering and dying on both sides.
Media impact
In many media narratives, the name Fulani or herdsman/men is frequently associated with terms like ‘terrorist,’ ‘militant,’ ‘killer,’ ‘attack,’ ‘brutality,’ ‘massacre.’ But try Googling ‘Fulani innocent:’ the term ‘innocent’ in the results always modifies someone other than Fulani. Is that true? Are all Fulani terrorists, and everyone else involved innocent? Of course not, but often that’s how it seems in the media. That perception can lead to further attacks as it further inflames anti-Fulani sentiment.
Perhaps because of this, the seemingly neutral descriptive term ‘herdsmen’ has become pejorative. Given today’s societal emphasis on calling people by their preferred designations, it seems important to note that the Nigerian federal government and Fulani themselves prefer and use the term ‘herder,’ to parallel the term ‘farmer.’
Stop calling us “Herdsmen” please. Our official position and of the FGN is to call us HERDERS. “Herdsmen” is a hate noun used by those who to do ethnic profiling and want to stigmatize #FulaniHerders
Strangely, the conflict is nearly always described as ‘Herdsman-farmer’ related, rarely ‘farmer-herdsman.’ Why should the Fulani always be placed first in this equation? Alphabetical order might seem more fair.
There is much concern in some circles today related to ‘dangerous’ or ‘hateful’ speech in Nigeria. The USCIRF has an excellent report which has a section addressing this issue. In other quarters there is discussion that this type of dehumanizing, dangerous and divisive speech seems to parallel the early build up to the Rwandan genocide. No amount of care is too great to avoid this type of future scenario in Nigeria.
Weak Reporting: selective or restricted information sources
It would seem that one reason the narratives around this crisis are skewed has to do with sources. When only one or two outlets or organizations become the go-to sources, the echo chamber begins to operate and most ‘reporting’ sounds the same. There ARE other perspectives to be had if the researcher/journalist is willing to work at it.
However, not every source can be trusted. In recent months, several people have been quoted/cited as speaking for the Fulani (mostly in terms of threats of violence), but frequently these people are unknown to the Fulani community and should hardly be relied upon as serious spokespersons for the Fulani.
One recent (July 2019) reputable Christian source was Rev. Father Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, who warned against hate speech against Fulani. But it appears few if any US-based media outlets picked up this source.
From a Fulani Muslim perspective, there are several Twitter sources that can provide some context, such as @FulbeHateTrackr and @CORETherders and @Pastoralist1
There is also a Fulani Christian Association of Nigeria, based in Jos, which could provide background for the experiences of people caught in the middle between their Fulani heritage and their Christian faith. Contrary to popular opinion, there are tens of thousands of Fulani Christians in Nigeria, some of them quite prominent, but also some among the herding population.
Fake News: false accusations against Fulani
When making use of Nigerian media as news sources, it is important to be aware that many of them do not do investigative reporting, but simply repeat what they find in other sources. However, when the serious researcher looks at these articles with knowledgeable eyes and is willing to wait for further confirmation, there is much to be learned. Below are a few examples.
Example 1: An attack in Jalingo, Taraba State, initially credited to Fulani, later proven to be caused by Kona youth
Reported sensationally on Sunday: supposedly caused by Fulani attackers
Follow-up on Monday: actually caused by Kona youth manning roadblocks and killing innocent travelers.
Example 2: An attack in Nasarawa state initially credited to Fulani, later proven to be caused by brothers of the victims.
The US media reported sensational headlines about Fulani herdsmen but a follow-up report from a local investigative organization proved them wrong:
“However, a spokesman of Numa Kochu, the village that was attacked, told reporters that members of their local vigilante group were able to apprehend three of the attackers and to their surprise, they were not Fulani herdsmen as initially thought.
“I got a call from the community after the incident. When I got there, the persons were already arrested by the people of the community. They told me they came and were shooting guns. Immediately they (the attackers) saw the people, they started running to the bush. The people pursued them and caught them there. Now we are trying to see if we can go into the bush to get their guns. They are three in number and they are not Fulanis, they are our brothers. Their names are Blani Zaman Gbugar, Garba Musa Amos and Ridan Labari.”
Example 3: Attack in Kauru Local Government, Kaduna State: Reported in the US as a ‘Fulani Herdsmen’ story, the article contains inaccuracies, inconsistencies, unlikelihoods, and buried inconvenient facts.
Inaccurate: Nigeria does not have counties, but rather local governments (‘Christian residents in Kaduna state’s Kauru County…’).
Unlikelihoods: The stated population balance between Muslims and Christians is unusual (‘Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Muslims living primarily in the north and middle belt account for 45 percent’); the counting of ‘well over 200 armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen’ at ‘between 3 a.m and 4 a.m.’ in the dark during an attack is most unlikely.
Inconsistencies: the first article refers to an attack at in the early hours of the morning; the linked police report says 2:45pm.
Buried inconvenient facts: a hyperlink in the original article, giving the police report and including this line: ‘Preliminary investigation later revealed that the attack might not be unconnected with the attack of Fulani camp the early morning of the same date in the area.’ No mention of this was made in the first article; did no Fulanis die in the earlier attack? Or were these deaths omitted as inconvenient to the persecution narrative?
Case study: Kajuru crisis, February 2019,
including eyewitness reports
Most people reading the first articles would probably automatically assume that Fulani had killed villagers (because that is the common narrative.) Only those with eyes to see would have read down into the article to the names of the settlements:
‘The settlements affected include Ruga Bahago, Ruga Daku, Ruga Ori, Ruga Haruna,
Ruga Yukka Abubakar, Ruga Duni Kadiri, Ruga Shewuka and Ruga Shuaibu Yau.’
Ruga is the Hausa word for a Fulani settlement. These attacks took place in Fulani camps.
The Kaduna State governor visited some of the sites and then the controversy began. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) (spokesman personally known to me) denied the reports of killings of Fulani. . A coalition of Fulani groups (some members personally known to me) published the names, ages and locations of 131 Fulani who died. Claims and counter-claims continued and continue to be evaluated in Western media.
What is the truth?
An eyewitness (Fulani Christian) known to me personally for twenty years was present when the Governor’s visit took place several days after the incident, and he reported that he saw the Governor cry at the scenes. He (the eyewitness) helped to bury uncountable bodies. Those bodies that were burned were ‘falling apart like roasted yams…they had to be covered where they lay.’ More than 260 Fulani died in one morning in Maro, Rima and Dogon Noma areas. Among the Kurrawa clan, 89 Fulani died from one extended family. Among those Kurrawa who were killed were at least 30 Christian Fulani (ed: some of them personally known to me.) Survivors were taken to the Ladduga Grazing Reserve and to Gerku, as well as across the river to Bandi, Goraji and Kadusa (ed: where most of them still remain 7 months later with little food or shelter.)
Another well-known Fulani eyewitness to the aftermath was with the coalition of Fulani groups trying to work with the local authorities responding to the incident. He, too, helped to bury many bodies, worked to locate and evacuate survivors (including many orphaned children hiding in the bush) to safer locations, distributed food aid, and took injured people to be treated in hospitals.
A Fulani pastor was also an eyewitness to the aftermath, on the scene soon after the incident to help negotiate with security agencies and local authorities for security escorts to rescue survivors and he visited the injured in hospitals to pray and counsel. More than a dozen other Fulani believers worked in the area for about two weeks to continue the rescue and evacuation of Fulani Christians and often their surviving non-Christian relatives.
Summary: Attacks on Fulani happen regularly but are rarely reported.
These examples are not an isolated incidents: attacks against Fulanis happen regularly, but are reported rarely. The narrative on the farmer-herder crisis is incomplete when it focuses only on the impact on largely-Christian farmers. No one is disputing that farm communities are being attacked and farmers killed by Fulani. However, it is not responsible or ethical to ignore the other side of the story (killing of Fulani herders) simply because it doesn’t fit a preferred narrative.
Please note: The original article also showed a number photos of armed cattle herders that are often used in articles about Fulani of Nigeria. The author demostrated that those photos are misleading as they are taken from other ethnic groups in other countries across Africa. This information can be found here on our website.