‘Until I go back home, I do not see justice’: Construction of justice among internally displaced farming and herding communities in Benue State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Recurrent violent clashes between pastoral herders and farming communities in Nigeria have resulted in human fatalities, livelihood losses and displacements. However, studies have yet to interrogate how displaced farming communities construct justice as a way to restore peace. Using Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Abegana, Makurdi Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, 25 participants responded to questions on their experiences and how they see justice from their victimhood as a way to peace restoration. I also balanced this with how herders construct justice. Findings show that justice is constructed as returning to their ancestral homeland where they were displaced by conflict; compensation to rebuild burnt houses and restart businesses and implementation of open grazing by government to check recurrence. Herders see anti-open grazing laws as injustice, exclusionary and persecutory rather than see them as victims with human and material losses that need to be protected. This study recommends injecting victims’ perspectives into peace building interventions in conflict zones.

KEYWORDS:

• Pastoralist and farmers
• security
• victim
• transitional justice
• farmer–herder conflict
• justice

Acknowledgements

The author appreciates the comments of participants at the Regional Workshop on Armed Conflict and Political Violence in West Africa and Cameroon organised by the Conflict Research Network West Africa (CORN-West Africa), held at the Lagos State University, Nigeria between July 6–7, 2021. I acknowledge the vital role played by Yikwab Peter Yikwabs in the data collection for this study. The comments of Professor Oluwatosin Adeniyi and Dr Olaitan Faisol are deeply appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2 Verlumun and Fidelis. “Newspaper Coverage of the Herdsmen–Farmers Conflict in Central Tiv Land, Benue State, Nigeria,” 1–19.

3 Al-Chukwuma and Atelhe. “Nomads Against Natives,” 76–88.

4 Surulola. “‘Nomad Savage’ and Herder–Farmer Conflicts in Nigeria.”

5 Tade and Yikwabs. “If You Kill Me You take the Cow,” 273–80.

6 Moritz. “Understanding Herder-Farmer Conflicts in West Africa,” 138–48

7 Blench. National resources conflict in North-Central Nigeria: A handbook and case studies.

8 Anderson and Woodrow. Rising from the Ashes: Development Strategies in Times of Disaster. (1998), London: Intermediate Technology Publications; Spencer. “Pastoralism and the Growth of Civilization in the Sahel: Islam, Evolution, or the Tragedy of the Commons?” 17–29.

9 Benjaminsen and Boubacar. “Fulani-Dogon Killings in Mali: Farmer-Herder Conflicts as Insurgency and Counterinsurgency,” 4–26

10 Benjaminsen et al., “The Kilosa Killings: Political Ecology of a Farmer–Herder Conflict in Tanzania,”423–45.

11 Benjaminsen and Boubacar. “Farmer–Herder Conflicts, Pastoral Marginalisation and Corruption,” 71–81

12 Grady. “Promoting Peace Amid Group Conflict.”

13 Krause. “Stabilization and Local Conflicts.” 478–93

14 Adogi (2013). Fulani-Farmers Conflicts in Nasarawa State: The Ecology, Population and Politics, (2013). Abuja: Murry Greens Consult; Albert IO (2002) Alternative Approaches for Managing Farmers-Herdsmen Conflicts: The Oke-Ogun Case Study in Nigeria, (2013). Research Report Submitted to Development Policy Centre, Ibadan.

15 Odufowokan, D. Herdsmen or killer squads?, (2014) http://thenationonlineng.net/herdsmen-killer-squads/

16 Gyuse and Ajene. Conflicts in the Benue valley.; Gausset. Agro-pastoral Conflicts in the Tikar Plain (Adamawa, Cameroon). 90–111.

17 Amnesty International. Harvest of Death: Three Years of Bloody Clashes between Farmers and Herders in Nigeria. (2018), Amnesty International: Abuja.

18 New Telegraph. “Benue, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Plateau lose 47% revenue to conflict yearly – group”, New Telegraph, (2017) Thursday, December 7, p. 34.

19 International Crisis Group. “Herders against farmers: Nigeria’s expanding deadly conflict”, (2017) Accessed March 10, 2018. www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/252-herders-against-farmers-nigerias-expand.

20 National Security Strategy. Federal Republic of Nigeria, (2019) FGN: Abuja

21 Apart from the Goal 2 which speaks to Zero Hunger, Goal 16 of the SDGs deals with ensuring peace, justice and strong institutions (See https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals)

22 Karstedt. “From absence to presence, from silence to voice.” 9–30

23 Ibid.

24 Sherman, L. Reason for Emotion: Reinventing Justice with Theories, (2003).

25 Cohen. “Unspeakable Memories and Commensurable Laws. In Legal Concept,’” 33–49.

26 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Vol. 7, (2002) Cape Town.

27 Tade and Yikwabs. “If You Kill Me You take the Cow.” 273–80.

28 Pankhurst. “Issues of Justice and Reconciliation in Complex Political Emergencies.” 239–55

29 Ibid. pp. 241

30 Tade and Yikwabs. “If You Kill Me You take the Cow.” 273–280; Tade and Yikwabs. "Conflict Triggers between Farming and Pastoral Communities in Nasarawa State, Nigeria." 101–114.

31 Simon. Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Trans formed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear.

32 Findlay and Henham. Transforming International Criminal Justice: Retributive and Restorative Justice in the Trial Process.

33 Findlay and Henman . Beyond Punishment: Achieving International Criminal Justice.

34 Kirchengast. The Victim in Criminal Law and Justice., United Nations, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. ICTY at a Glance. www.icty.org/x/file/Legal%20Library/jud_supplementaccesssed 2008. University Press; Oxford, (2004)

35 Eze. Mediating complex community conflicts in Africa: connecting research to peacebuilding. African Peacebuilding Network Lecture series: No 5, (2019); Vaughan and Kilcommins. “The Governance of Crime and Negotiation of Justice,” 59–76.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 Wietekamp, Elmar et al. How to Deal with Mass Victimization and Gross Human Rights Violations. A Restorative Justice Approach, in Evald, Uwe and Turkovic´ (red). Large-Scale Victimisation as a Potential Source of Terrorist Activities. Amsterdam: IOS Press, (2006) 217–42.

39 International Crisis Group. Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer-Herder Violence. Brussels: Belgium, (2018). Accessed October 17, 2021. https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/262-stopping-nigerias-spiralling-farmer-herder-violence

40 For more discussion on contemporary triggers of the conflict, see Tade and Yikwabs, "Conflict Triggers between Farming and Pastoral Communities in Nasarawa State, Nigeria." 101–14

41 Kwaja, C.M.A. and Ademola-Adelehin, B.U. The Implications of the Open Grazing Prohibition & Ranches Establishment Law on Farmer-Herder Relations in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, (2017). Retrieved 10th March, 2018 from https://globalsentinelng.com/2018/02/09/global-sentinel-ffarn-publishes-policy-brief-solution-herders

42 The Guardian. Miyetti Allah urges NASS to stop enactment of anti-open grazing laws. https://guardian.ng/news/miyetti-allah-urges-nass-to-stop-enactment-of-anti-open-grazing-laws/

43 Tade and Yikwabs. “If You Kill Me You take the Cow,” 273–80.

44 Godfrey George September 3, 2021 (2021) Anti-open grazing: State govs lopsided in approach, says Miyetti Allah. Accessed September 4, 2021. https://punchng.com/anti-open-grazing-state-govs-lopsided-in-approach-says-miyetti-allah/.

45 Adebulu Taiwo September 2, (2021). ‘It didn’t bring peace to Benue’ — Miyetti Allah kicks against anti-open grazing law Accessed September 4, 2021. https://www.thecable.ng/it-didnt-bring-peace-to-benue-miyetti-allah-kicks-against-anti-open-grazing-law

46 Nwanosike, Onu. Miyetti Allah lists conditions to stop clashes between farmers, herders. Accessed September 4, 2021. https://thenationonlineng.net/miyetti-allah-lists-conditions-to-stop-clashes-between-farmers-herders/

47 Sarah. “The ‘Hierarchy of Victims’ in Northern Ireland.” 1–21

48 Tade and Yikwabs, "Conflict Triggers between Farming and Pastoral Communities in Nasarawa State, Nigeria." 101–14.

49 Villalón. “The Resurgence of Collective Memory, Truth and Justice Mobilizations in Latin America.” 3–19

50 De Greiff. The Handbook of Reparations.

51 McCarthy, Conor. ‘Reparations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, (2009).

52 Mani. “Editorial.” 253–65.

53 Verdeja “A Critical Theory of Reparative Justice.” 208–22.

54 Marie “Reparative development.” 15.

55 Marie. “Reparative development.” 15.

56 Adebayo and Akinyemi. “‘Wheelbarrow Livelihoods’, Urban Space and Antimonies of Survival in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria.” 23–42.

57 Pankhurst. “Issues of Justice and Reconciliation in Complex Political Emergencies.” 239–55.

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Oludayo Tade

Oludayo Tade teaches crime, victimology and security studies at Nigeria's Premier University, University of Ibadan and is a fellow of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) at the University of California, Irvine, USA, Tade's scholarly publications have appeared in journals like the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (IJSSP), International Review of Victimology (IRV), Journal of Financial Crime (JFC), International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJOTCC), Journal of Asian and African Studies (JAAS), Canadian Journal of African Studies (CJAS) and Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma (JAMT), Comparative Sociology, African Identities, Protest and Deviant Behaviour. He is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJOTCC) Sage as an associate editor and African criminology section editor. He is the communications officer of the Conflict Research Network, West Africa (CORN WEST Africa) and a member of the Nigerian Society for Criminology. He can be reached at [email protected].