I hope this letter meets you in good condition of health; If so, doxology. Heheheheheh! That was how we started letters those days in primary school. So, I wanted to humour you with it before delving into the real issue that I want to bring to your attention.

Senior, do you know that if cattle herdsmen, Fulani or any others, behave, live and do business like those of us who sell spare parts do, Nigeria will be better for it? Sincerely, however, I do not expect you to know this fact because you probably have never sold spare parts and probably never owned a shop where ‘vehicle’ spare parts are sold. I deliberately added vehicle to distinguish those dealing in automobile spare parts and those dealing in other types of spare parts. There are many types. Don’t ask me to list them.

Senior, please, do not take offence that I decided to make this letter public, instead of sending it privately to your office. I was afraid that some of your aides would intercept and thrash it, instead of bringing it to your attention. So, no vex!

The issue here is that I find your analogy of the cattle herdsman and the spare parts dealer embarrassingly bizarre. I do not want to believe that you do not know the innuendo you were drawing by making that comparison. It was a low for you. Many had seen you as a young man blessed with the gift of the intellect. I saw you that way too. But you failed me and all those others. And this is because your analogy was putting spare parts traders on the line of harm and destruction for doing legitimate business.

Let me put it this way sir. The spare parts dealer is a patriot who pays tax to relevant authorities. He buys land and builds a mall or rents a shop where he pays monthly or yearly rent to sell spare parts. No spare parts trader is known to have trespassed into another’s land, destroyed his crops or shops and forcefully taken over. No spare parts seller is known to have killed anyone so as to establish his dominance of the space where his shop is situated. The spare parts trader lives among and with the people, not in forests. He pays rents for his apartment or buys land and builds one for himself. He enjoys life. He makes money, obeys statutory laws and fixes himself with good automobiles. You will find him on his off days catching his fun at gardens, bars, clubs, beaches, etc.

He does not take pleasure in the destruction of anyone’s means of livelihood. He ensures that his children go to school and get even better education that he did. He is always a good neighbour and since he is driven by profit and the need to make more money, he remains focused on his business. That is the spare parts trader you may want to like.

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On the other hand, the cattle herder, especially the imported variant, neither obeys statutory laws nor pays taxes. He takes pleasure in invading and destroying farmlands and crops. He takes life as easily as he likes and rapes without remorse. He sees himself as above the law and has never been deterred by presidential, governors’ or ministerial orders. He cares less about life and living and values the life of his cow much more than his own life. He believes in destruction and will destroy whatever he wants without reprimand. He would never buy land to ranch his cows. He would never rent spaces to do his business like the spare parts trader would. The cattle herder would walk his cows from Kaura Namoda to Umuahia, irrespective of the availability of vehicles whose spare parts are also readily available. He believes that, after God, nothing else is as valuable as a cow. And he does not conform, or understand, the demands of a fast-urbanizing society.

There are many more differentials that I may not list here because of space. But, Senior, as a learned gentleman, I had expected you to know that the constitutional guarantee on free movement does not also cover animals. Animals have no right to free movement. If they do, I am sure that animal farmers, including those that breed dogs, cats, snakes, rabbits, et cetera, would be free to let them roam the streets, including the lawns of the Presidential Villa, freely. Even animal rights advocates have never advocated free movement of animals even in the forests. They ask for specifically demarcated areas that animals would inhabit. That is why we have games reserves, where animals are protected. So, by drawing such conclusion with your analogy, you clearly suggest that cows are entitled to same rights as Nigerians. Is that your intendment? Please, educate my ignorance on this.

Senior, I had expected you to draw your analogy on the ban on open grazing by governors of southern Nigeria with the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages in states of the North where the Sharia law is in force. With the promulgation of that law, governments of those states in the north took a decision that, to my mind, was against the constitutional guarantee on the freedom of Nigerians to reside and do business in any part of the country. Besides enacting that law, the states, beginning with Kano, legally created a Sharia law enforcement police called Hisbah. Hisbah has not stopped confiscating and destroying alcoholic beverages from the shops of those who trade in the same and sell only to those who consume them. They apprehend haulage vehicles ferrying such beverages into states of the North and physically destroy the goods. It was reported that, in November 2020 alone, Hisbah destroyed beer worth N200m with a particular trader losing about N35m in the exercise. This is irrespective of the benefits derived by the state from the value added tax on beer. Please, sir, I ask, has any particular herder that you know lost cattle worth N35m in any state of the South?

Further, sir, your analogy suggests that you are firmly in support of open grazing. But, have you been able to analyze open grazing against the demands of a fast-urbanizing society? Or do you suppose that Nigeria must restructure to 1960 and resuscitate grazing routes that have been caught up by urbanization and population explosion? Do you realise that, by your advocacy, given your office, you create the impression that Nigeria cannot move forward and be counted among rationally led countries because of the innuendo you create that cattle herders must be allowed to continue a primitive habit in the 21st Century?

Also, have you tried to examine the benefits of cattle ranching? There is ample evidence to prove that ranched cattle are healthier and produce more milk and meat. Evidence also abounds to show that the value chain of ranching is a huge job creator. Or you think that a progress-intended idea like ranching is targeted against the Fulani? If you so think, you inadvertently suggest that the Fulani will not allow Nigeria walk on the path of progress because it is managing Nigeria at this time. Well, I do not know your intensions but I suggest that you take another look at the benefits of open grazing and place them side by side those of ranching.

Besides, I would encourage you, as the learned gentleman that you are, to execute your office beyond the walls of any ethnic tribe. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic society and should be allowed to take advantage of its diversity to breath freely. Please, remove the knee on its neck. You are not the attorney-general of any ethnic group or ethnic federation but that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I know that even you will be happy to see the herdsman behave, act, live and do business like the spare parts seller. Nigeria, I am certain, will be better for it.