BEROM-FULANI IMBROGLIO

We are worried that discussants on this forum have remained at a peripheral level about the ongoing Berom/Fulani imbroglio. Members are viewing it as one tribe's inhumanity (Berom) to another tribe (Fulani). Since these people have not suddenly gone mad, we should inquire: What went wrong? Who drew first blood? Who is the aggressor? What is or are the issues in contention? For how long has the problem lasted? What is the solution to the problem? Why have governments at Fed and State levels not been able to solve it? Etc.

For the benefit of discussants, here is a little background info: The Berom and Fulani have lived in symbiosis with the Fulani for about 200 years. The Berom therefore included the Fulani chief, Ardo, in the Berom Traditional Council, which has 11 district heads as members. The current Gbong Gwom's name is Buba, a Fulani name. We all remember the Plateau State Assembly member who died in a Fulani attack along with Sen. Dantong just under 3 yrs ago - his name was Gyang Fulani. Do the Beroms therefore love the Fulanis so much or what?

Beroms used to loan their boys to Fulanis who taught them cattle rearing and graduated with them with the gift of a calf while the Fulani fertilised Berom farms with their cattle dung. Both Beroms and Fulani occupied Bisichi town until all Beroms left the town about 40 yrs ago. Beroms voted Alhaji Isa Haruna, a Fulani man from Bisichi town, into the Northern House of Rep's in 1958. After his tenure, Alh. Isa Haruna told the Berom to field their man, and they fielded Malam Bature Dangyang.

Then something went wrong around 1999. What was it? We cannot say with certainty. Did the Berom suddenly decide they didn't like Fulanis as friends or did the Fulanis wake up one morning and just decided to start grazing their cattle on Berom growing farm crops and shooting them with AK47s? After losing about 1,000 men, women and children in four years, the Beroms, decided to embark on reprisal attacks which you are discussing right now. Note that the Berom are 99.9% Christian while the Fulani are 99.9% Muslim. But we don't know if the cause of the problem between them is religious or ethnic.

Note too that Fulani elite like Alh Sale Bayeri and Dr Aliyu Tilde have spread false propaganda that there is a genocidal war against the Fulani by Berom. The Berom have taken their case too to the ICC with the assistance of SERAP claiming genocide against them by the Fulani. Obasanjo imposed a state of emergency (SOE) on Plateau in the days of Gov Dariye, purely because of this problem. Some asked for same in Gov. Jang's days but only 3 LGCS were placed on SOE by GEJ. Note that SOE cannot solve the problem.

Before road blocks around Bisichi, there were many other road blocks set up by angry villagers in Vom, Riyom, etc, because the JTF soldiers refused to protect the Berom. Note that the number of Beroms killed is estimated to be a hundred times the number of Fulanis killed by Beroms in reprisal attacks. Several organisations, like Stefanos Foundation, have records, with names and pictures, of Beroms killed.

Rustling of cattle is another dimension to the problem, which cannot be the cause of the 5 year old imbroglio. Remember too that Fulanis are attacking people in Zamfara, Kaduna, Oyo, Ekiti, Benue and Taraba States.

Some conniving legislators with sinister motives tried in the 6th and 7th NASS to get a Grazing Bill passed to give Fulani cattle rearers only, land paid for by federal funds, in all the 36 states of Nigeria, while farmers are chased away. May be the nomadic way of life is now obsolete and the Fulani must sedentarize on modern cattle ranches.

You analyze the situation and proffer solutions. But note that the Beroms are only doing the natural thing for any humans - defending themselves. Even if Beroms have suddenly turned cannibalistic, is Fulani flesh the only human flesh available to them? There is more to this problem than meets the eye. Politics, land, religion and big rich and powerful men from other parts of Nigeria are definitely involved. We sincerely pray to God for peace in all parts of the Middle Belt.