There is a terror organisation that may even be deadlier than Boko Haram. Members of this group are usually regarded as Fulani herdsmen and are known as Fulani militants in a Global Terror Index Document [http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2015.pdf The document rates Fulani militants as fourth most deadly terrorist group of the year 2014 in the world; and the second most deadly terrorist group in Africa after Boko haram.

The Fulani is a semi-nomadic tribe that resides in northern Nigeria.  The Fulani herdsmen are controlled by a group of elite Fulani cattle breeders known as Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

For over four years and as Fulani herdsmen migrate down south, they have engaged themselves in kidnapping and butchering our hapless farmers and their families. The herdsmen grievance is simply the farmers’ or their communities’ refusals to allow them graze on their farmlands and communal streams. They attack our villages by midnight with AK-47 rifles and machetes slaughtering men, women and children. They burn down communities and churches. During each attack, no government security force comes to our aid. No arrests; and Fulani herdsmen continue rampage across our lands. There have been at least five of such attacks this year alone. Two of such cases are the Agutu Massacre that about 200 people were murdered and the UNHCR representative described as the worst carnage she has ever seen [http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/03/unhcr-official-agatu-massacre-worst-ever-in-my-history-of-covering-crises/]; and the recent massacre in Ukpabi, Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani local government in Enugu on 25th April, 2016 were dozens of villagers were killed.

Sources:

• http://247ureports.com/full-report-fulani-militia-sacks-enugu-community-kills-over-48/
• http://dailypost.ng/2016/04/26/breaking-ugwuanyi-weeps-at-herdsmen-ravaged-community-declares-2-days-fasting/
• http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/26/fulani-herdsmen-sack-enugu-community-48-feared-dead/

Each night, we go to bed fearing that night may be our turn.

In the south, we practice a subsistence form of agriculture and our little farms which are also our ancestral homes are both our capitals and sites. Our communal streams, in most areas, are the only sources of “clean” water.

It seems human lives (especially non-Fulani lives) do not matter to the current president of Nigeria, Muhamumdu Buhari, who is a Fulani man and a cattle breeder too. His administration, since its inception, has never condemned the atrocities committed by these herdsmen or done anything to disarm them and bring the culprits to book; instead, some elements in the administration talk about grabbing farm lands from the victim communities and handing them over to the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria as grazing reserves—which means robbing us of our means of livelihood and homes by way of violent and political manoeuvre.

The government of Nigeria ought to step up to its duty of protecting the lives and properties of every citizen of the country regardless of their ethnicity or the region they reside. It should disarm the herdsmen; investigate the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and prosecute all the members as well as their militants involved in the mass murders. The government, both Federal and states, must make the cattle breeders ranch their cattle in their lands. Northern Nigeria is mostly grassland and of larger landmass than southern Nigeria.