THE menace of herdsmen all over Nigeria is spreading like wildfire. The consequences are igniting conflicts in the country. Hardly a day passes without their unsavoury activities being reported in the media.
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From Benue to Imo, Rivers to Delta and from Ogun to Oyo States, the story is almost the same. Cattle minders simply run their livestock through farmlands, all year round; they graze on them and destroy what they cannot eat, consigning farmers and host communities to starvation and poverty.
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Attempts by these farmers to protest the activities of these rampaging vandals often end in bloodshed because the cattle rearers are always armed with sophisticated assault rifles such as AK 47.
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They have moved from bows, arrows and daggers of a few decades back.
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Apart from damaging farmlands, they also invade villages, kill and steal as well as rape women.
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Reports to the law enforcement agencies often fall on deaf ears, and villagers and their traditional ruler sare forced to cry out to state governors for protection with little succour.
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These herdsmen clearly violate the African concept of cohabitation between guests and hosts, which says, "May my visitor never bring me harm, and on his way home may he never develop a hunchback".
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Communities are being forced to fight in the absence of protection from the authorities. They are arming their youth vigilantes with equally dangerous weapons to fight back.