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Herder-farmers conflict: Embracing the Ganduje, Abounu solution | By Oludayo Tade
Fielding questions from journalists in Katsina, recently, the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, disclosed that his administration has been able to stem the tide of banditry by establishing a ranching culture in the state.
He said, “We are building a RUGA settlement in Samsosua forest, our border with Katsina, and we have succeeded in curtailing the effect of banditry in that area. So, we are building many houses, constructing a dam, establishing a cattle artificial insemination centre. We are establishing a veterinary clinic and already, we have started building houses for herdsmen.”
Ganduje advocated for the abolishment of nomadic herding which features the transportation or trekking of herdsmen from the north to the middle belt and southern part of Nigeria.
“There should be a law that will ban it, otherwise, we cannot control the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers and cannot control the cattle rustling which are affecting us greatly,” he said.
For Benue state deputy governor, Benson Abounu, Ganduje’s advocacy is worth embracing, adding that having seen it all, Ganduje, who was once a cattle rearer, is highly informed about the situation, and his recommendation of a law prohibiting nomadic grazing should be given a chance to bear fruits across the country.
There is no gainsaying Olayiwola Adeleke, the Chairman of the Igana Local Council Development Area (LCDA) and his constituency appreciates in no small measure, Governor Ganduje’s intervention and suggestions concerning the herdsmen-farmers conflict.
Not even Adeleke’s position as the chief security officer of Igana could earn him respect of preferential treatment when Fulani kidnappers accosted his vehicle and pounced on him. The beating he endured and humiliation he suffered in the hands of his assailants are better imagined.
According to him, “All of a sudden, we heard gun shots. These people came out from the bush with guns in their hands. They ordered us to open the door. They began to slap me and my driver, they beat us mercilessly. They were even shooting to scare people away. They are young boys. They are Fulani indigenes. They spoke Fulani language.”
On the heels of Adeleke’s travail, the chairman of the Ibarapa Northwest Local Government Area (LGA), Daniel Okediji, explained that the insecurity rocking Ibarapa metamorphosed from highway robbery to kidnapping.
He said, “Initially it was the case of Fulani herders attacking the farmers on their farms; when they destroy the farm, farmers would want to react but instead of them (fulani) pleading, some of them will start attacking the farmers with machetes.”
According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), escalated conflicts between farming communities and criminal herders are six times deadlier than Boko Haram Insurgency because of the number of civilian casualties.
Between 2010 and 2015, 850 violent clashes were recorded between farmers and herders in the middle belt region claiming the lives of 6,500 people and displacing 62, 000. In 2016 alone, ICG recorded 2,500 deaths arising from these violent clashes majority of the victims were from Benue and Kaduna and other southern States.
From 2018 when the crisis took a new dimension, an estimated 300,000 peoples have reportedly fled their homelands. As farmers flee their communities, criminal herders acquire their lands and settle.
Victims of kidnapping have also confirmed the identities of their abductors to be of Fulani extraction. Similar experiences of ‘terror’ by people of Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun led to the eviction of the Seriki of Fulani from the Igangan community in Oyo State, for allegedly aiding and abetting criminal Fulani herders and mediating payments of ransom to Fulani kidnappers.
The community claimed to have paid over N50million and lost over 15 people with many still nursing gunshot and machete wounds. Those who were kidnapped are still battling post-traumatic stress disorder. Many of their victims are female farmers, who were reportedly raped, while some have died in the process.
According to the Chairman of the Ibarapa Northwest, Okediji, “In one week, three persons were kidnapped. They collected N2million on the first victim, N3.5million on the second and N7.5million on the third.”
Sunday Oyebisi is another victim of farm plundering and violent attacks by Fulani herders. Oyebisi, who owned 30 acres of a cashew farm, suffered a raw deal in the hands of his assailants.
He said, “They will just drive the owner of the farm away and eat up (plunder) the farm. They have destroyed my 30-acre cashew farm and I reported to the police at Ayete but when Seriki Fulani got there, nothing was done to the case.”
The response of the State is rather slow and downplays the magnitude of the impending danger. The federal government, like some states preaches peaceful living without serving justice to the victims, many of whom accuse the federal government of pampering criminal herders thus emboldening other transnational criminal gangs of Fulani extraction to compromise national security and threaten food security.
The recent hike in food products is not unconnected with the insecurity being experienced by traders and the displacement of farmers from their homelands by Fulani herders. The food blockage from northern to southern Nigeria and the consequences of that action is also instructive, emphasising an urgent need for improved protection for farmers in order to guarantee food security and sustainability.
Adewale Moses, another victim of Fulani herders’ violence, said: “We can’t farm without anticipating attacks. One cannot send women to farm without them being raped.” May be this is why, James Olagbenro a traditional ruler in the affected area of Ibarapa maintained that the Fulani needs to leave the community for them to enjoy peace. This is by no means ethnic profiling. The association of criminal Fulani herdsmen with rape, farm plundering and kidnapping in southern Nigeria derives from the data extracted from victims of these crimes.
Unchecked invasion of farming communities and their displacement may create graver troubles for Nigeria. When farmers are chased off farms by Fulani herders and nothing is done to arrest them, the implication is that Nigeria cannot meet at least five of the Sustainable Development Goals and will not be able to feed her people. These are ‘no poverty,’ zero hunger, reducing inequality, sustainable cities and communities, peace, justice and strong institutions.
To resolve the conflict, experts have called for better management of the country’s security and intelligence system. There are increased calls for justice in dealing with reports and arrests of criminal herders.
Porous borders must be manned and movement of transnational herders controlled. In the southwest for instance, open grazing, child grazing among others have been banned in the wake of outrage and riots in Igangan and Shasha, in Oyo State.
While northern governors explore practical initiatives like Ganduje’s RUGA settlement, Fulani herders have been urged to conduct their activities in line with the laws of their respective states.
Nigeria may also take a cue from Tanzania where government is tackling the conflict between peasant farmers and pastoralist communities by making land available for private commercial interests.
Dr Tade, sociologist and media expert sent this piece via dotad2003@yahoo.com
Residents of the Hotoro area of Kano were thrown into panic after a woman allegedly set her co-wife and two children ablaze in a late-night domestic attack.
The incident occurred on Monday night in the Mai Allo area of Hotoro, leaving four persons with varying degrees of burns.
The victims — a 28-year-old woman and her two children aged seven and three — are currently receiving treatment at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dala and Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital.
Their father, who reportedly sustained injuries while attempting to rescue the victims from the inferno, is also undergoing treatment.
A relative of the family informed that they received a distress call around 3am informing them that the woman, her husband and the children had been set ablaze.
According to the source, the victim had spent less than two weeks in her matrimonial home before the attack occurred.
“She is about 28 years old. The children are from her previous marriage. They are stepchildren to the husband, who works as a tricycle rider,” the relative added.
Residents of the area described the incident as horrifying and called on security agencies to ensure justice was served.
“We are shocked by what happened. This kind of violence has no place in our community,” a resident said.
The suspect has since been taken into custody at the Mariri Police Division.
As of the time of filing this report, the Kano State Police Command had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
Crime & Court
UNIBEN killing: Edo security squad arrests 12 suspected cultists, seals initiation centres
Security operatives in Edo State have arrested 12 suspected cultists and sealed two apartments allegedly used as initiation centres during coordinated raids across parts of Benin City following the killing of a young man near the gate of the University of Benin.
The operation, code-named “Operation Flush Out Cultists and Kidnappers,” was carried out by the state’s Special Security Squad after the killing recorded on Sunday, May 10, 2026.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Patrick Ebojele.
According to the statement, the Chief Security Officer and Principal Security Officer to the governor led the raids conducted in Ekosodin, Isihor, Old Road off S&T Barracks, Airport Road, 19th Street Ugbowo, Ogba-Evbuodia and Evbuomore Quarters, all in Benin City.
Spokesman for the security squad, Noah Idemudia, alleged that some youth leaders within communities in the state were aiding violent crimes and harbouring criminal elements.
He said intelligence reports indicated that sophisticated weapons used in deadly attacks were often traced to communities across the state.
“Reports reaching us indicate that some persons are allegedly harbouring criminals. Intelligence reports also suggest that sophisticated weapons used in deadly attacks on citizens are allegedly sourced from communities.
“The governor is warning community leaders to maintain peace in their various communities and ensure that no unlicensed weapons are found in their possession, as they will be held liable and treated as criminals,” Idemudia said.
He, however, clarified that the 12 suspects arrested were not directly linked to the killing near the university gate.
According to him, the suspects were allegedly identified as members of different cult groups after security operatives reportedly discovered symbols, signs and other incriminating materials on them during the raids.
Idemudia added that the suspects had been handed over to the Anti-Cultism Unit of the Nigeria Police Force for profiling and further investigation.
Speaking on the properties sealed during the operation, he said one of the apartments was allegedly being used as a cult initiation centre.
He explained that operatives came under attack while attempting to arrest suspects at the location, forcing authorities to seal the premises and invite the property owner for questioning.
He added that another apartment raided allegedly contained shrines and fetish items scattered across several rooms, which investigators suspect were being used for initiation into different confraternities.
According to him, the owner of the property had also been invited for questioning by security agencies.
“The governor has warned those sponsoring cultism and violent killings in the state to desist immediately.
“Anyone found aiding criminality in Edo State will face the full weight of the law, as the state will no longer be conducive for criminal elements,” Idemudia added.
He also warned against unlawful gatherings, alleging that some cult groups were planning anniversary celebrations across the state.
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday convicted and sentenced former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, to a cumulative 75 years imprisonment in absentia over a ₦33.8bn money laundering scandal linked to the Zungeru and Mambilla hydroelectric power projects.
The trial judge, Justice James Omotosho, found Mamman guilty on all 12 counts bordering on conspiracy and money laundering filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The judge ruled that the prison terms would run consecutively, bringing the total sentence to 75 years.
Justice Omotosho held that Mamman deliberately absented himself from court on the day of judgment and during the previous adjourned sitting in a bid to frustrate the administration of justice.
He agreed with counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 empowered the court to proceed with sentencing despite the defendant’s absence.
The court consequently sentenced the former minister to seven years imprisonment each on Counts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 without an option of fine.
Mamman was also sentenced to three years imprisonment on Count 4 with an option of a ₦10m fine, and two years imprisonment on Count 5 without an option of fine.
Justice Omotosho further ordered that the sentence would commence from the date of Mamman’s arrest since he was convicted in absentia.
The judge directed security agencies within and outside Nigeria, including Interpol, to arrest the convict wherever he is found and hand him over to the Nigerian Correctional Service to serve his jail term.
The court also ordered the final forfeiture of two Abuja properties linked to the former minister, alongside various sums recovered in different currencies by anti-graft agencies.
In addition, the court ordered Mamman to refund the outstanding balance from the ₦22bn already traced to the Zungeru and Mambilla hydroelectric power projects out of the ₦33.8bn allegedly diverted.
The conviction followed a lengthy trial instituted by the EFCC, which accused Mamman of conspiring with ministry officials and private companies to divert funds earmarked for the two power projects.
Mamman was arraigned on July 11, 2024 on a 12-count charge and pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, the EFCC called 17 witnesses and tendered 43 exhibits to support its case.
Following the close of the prosecution’s case, the former minister filed a no-case submission on November 19, 2025, contending that the EFCC had failed to establish sufficient evidence against him.
However, Justice Omotosho, in a ruling delivered on December 11, 2025, dismissed the application and held that the prosecution had established a prima facie case requiring the defendant to open his defence.
The matter was subsequently adjourned for continuation of defence before Wednesday’s judgment brought the proceedings to a close.
The case, regarded as one of the most significant corruption convictions in recent years, stemmed from Mamman’s arrest and detention by the EFCC on May 10, 2021.
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