For as long as I can remember, farmlands across Nigeria, especially the middle belt have been under siege. The scenes depicted in this video are all too familiar—herders grazing their cows on people’s farmlands with impunity. This practice is at the heart of the endless conflict between farmers and Fulani herdsmen, a conflict that has ravaged many parts of Nigeria. The Nigerian government has done little to address this gross injustice, and the consequences have been devastating.
Allow me to share a personal account of the atrocities committed by Fulani herdsmen. My family experienced this horror firsthand. We lost our father early on, leaving my mother to raise five children. To support us, she turned to vegetable farming, honing her entrepreneurial skills to make ends meet. During the dry seasons, we relied on local irrigation systems to grow our crops, and it was through this enterprise that we managed to survive and pay our tuition.
But our hard work and resilience were constantly truncated. On several occasions during the dry seasons, Fulani herdsmen would bring their cattle to graze on our farm. We would often arrive to water our crops only to find everything trampled and destroyed. It didn’t matter if we tried to guard our farm; the herdsmen roamed with assault rifles, unchallenged and fearless. These attacks caused us severe hardship. To make matters worse, farmers who attempted to defend their lands were often slaughtered. After all these years, the situation has only worsened.
Our farm wasn’t located in a remote rural area; it was in Abuja, the nation’s capital. If we faced such adversity there, imagine the plight of local farmers in the more isolated villages. This crisis isn’t limited to Benue State; it spans the entire country, with no state spared. But Benue State has been the worst hit. Benue, the once Food Basket of the nation. The Nigerian government must find a lasting solution to the farmers-herdsmen conflict. This video has reopened wounds I had hoped to heal. Things must change. Our government must live up to its responsibilities and protect its citizens from such relentless terror.
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