SUMMARY
A major cause of non-state conflicts in Nigeria has been the opposing interests of farmers and herders. The different means of earning an income in turn require quite different usage of land. The typical issue that has on several occasions erupted into conflict has been the destruction of crops by grazing cattle. These conflicts have been numerous, and some of them have even passed the threshold of 25 deaths and hence been included in UCDP data. It should be noticed that these groups are not solely defined by the source of income; they are also, as many Nigerians, defined by their ethnicity and/or their faith. Subsequently clashes between herders and farmers can be described in a variety of ways depending on the context and reporting.
The other dyads that belong to the same herders – farmers cluster of non-state conflicts are; Fulani – Yugur and Afor – Fulani.
The conflict between the Fulani and the Wurukum was tied to their different types of livelihoods. Fulani are traditionally herders, while Wurukum are predominantly farmers, and tensions and skirmishes appeared as the former’s cattle often wandered into the latter’s farm fields. This was most common during the dry season, from October to April, and it was after such an incident that the three months of violence took place. Further the different groups adhered to different religions, making the divide even deeper between the groups.
Since the reporting was scarce there is no information as to tactics, leadership, or distribution of fatalities. It is however described as religious clashes, and given the abundance of weapons, from guns to bows and arrows, the fighting is sure to have been chaotic and riot like. The conflict was primarily focused on access to farming and grazing land, but the religious and ethnic divides fuelled the dispute and generated the backdrop for the conflict.
The Fulani - Wurukum conflict must also be viewed in the broader spectrum of the ethnic and religious non-state conflicts that have ravaged Nigeria in the past and intensified with the end of military rule, from 1999 and onwards. The conflicts throughout Nigeria have ethnic, political, economic, and religious components, which have become inextricably linked over time, pitting various groups and alliances of groups against each other along different dividing lines.
The non-state conflict between Fulani and Wurukum is first included in UCDP data in 1999. By March of that year three months of ethnic clashes had resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.
