Nigerian state cracks down on Fulani herdsmen

ABUJA, Nigeria—A Nigerian state governor on Monday passed into law an anti-grazing bill that will regulate the movement and activities of herdsmen within the state. The new law makes Nigeria’s Ekiti state the first to take legal action against the rising number of attacks by Fulani herdsmen, even as the federal government has yet to address the situation.

Ekiti state Gov. Ayo Fayose signed the law that will criminalize grazing out of the established time limits and locations. Fayose said the state government already is working with local government to allocate certain areas for grazing. Any herdsman caught violating the restrictions or grazing with arms or weapons could face up to six months in jail, without bail.

“With the signing into law of this bill today, anyone caught grazing with arms or any weapon in Ekiti would now be charged with terrorism and be made to face the law according to certain sections of it,” Fayose said.

In May, Fulani herdsmen attacked a community in Ekiti state, killing two villagers and injuring several others. The incident caused many more residents to flee the town as they feared a repeat attack.

“The killing of our people must stop,” Fayose said after the attack. “It is deliberate, and we must take all actions to stop it.”

Fulani herdsmen have increasingly become a violent group across Nigeria. Changing environmental conditions have forced the herdsmen to move toward southern and western Nigeria to find grazing pastures, resulting in clashes between the herdsmen and farmers over land. By 2014, the herdsmen increasingly targeted Christian communities with sophisticated weapons, according to human rights group, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative.

In 2013, Fulani militants killed 63 people across the country. By 2014, the number of deaths rose to 1,229, and has been on the increase since then. The Global Terrorism Index currently lists Fulani herdsmen as the fourth most deadly group in the world. On Thursday, suspected Fulani herdsmen killed one religious official and injured four other people, including a pregnant woman, in Nigeria’s Enugu state.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in January the Nigerian Governors Forum will map out a plan to create grazing areas for cattle owners in response to the increasing attacks. But the plan is still pending.

“We find this failure of government unacceptable, as it is equally becoming more challenging to restrain our people from rising up to their own self defense,” Hezron Fada, the president of a community development association in Jos, said in a statement after an attack earlier this month. “The impunity of these invaders will not stop unless the government ceases to treat them with kid gloves.”

Nigeria’s Benue state government also sent an anti-grazing bill to the state’s House of Assembly. If passed, the law will completely outlaw open grazing in the state. In July, community leaders confirmed herdsmen killed about 81 people in attacks on different area councils within the state in about two weeks.

“When the bill is passed into law, any herdsmen that bring cattle to the state will go to jail,” Gov. Samuel Ortom said.