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Abdullahi Mohammed, 30; thinks that the world has been unfair to him. as a nomadic boy. At the age of 10, he was already in custody of 10 cattle. He takes them to grazing, combing the entire community for green pasture.
Mohammed had no chance for schooling; he does not have any form of education. i centered on his herds of cattle and he seemed satisfied because his father and h sibling lived in the cattle farm.
Then, he was robbed of his cattle. Cattle's rustling was very popular at the time; rustlers sack a whole community when they strike. Mohammed was a victim; he had his entire flock stolen. "It was a very painful experience" he lamented. Although still about 11years old at the time, he wanted revenge by all means. Soon he got an opportunity to retaliate and he took the chance without blinking.
He joined the gang of cattle rustlers at 11, the youngest in a chain of criminal bandit which terrorized the country. In the gang, they have a group of 4 with each group consisting 20 people to form their own battalion; each of the group specialize in Kidnapping, Armed robbery; Highway robbery and Cattle rustling. It turned a deadly group.
"I never wanted to get into stealing but when I remember how my entire flock of cattle was rustled I told myself; I must get my own revenge. He belonged to the cattle rustling group, he learnt so fast that he became the ring leader at 15. "We rustled a lot of cow; I didn't want to stop until I get back my 20 cattle forcefully taken from me" he said his intention was not to kill but to recover his cattle and it appeared that he got them all back and even more.
He belonged to the gang until he had fully executed his revenge mission. But it was difficult to eave; the were feared and vicious and took to the criminality as a way of survival. He never still t0ok a break for lack of another means of sustenance "Everything I know is about cattle, that is the only way I know how to survive" he said. Rustled cattle are quickly sold in the market just in case the owner had put a mark on the body of the cattle.
At 30, Mohammed already has 2 wives with 10 children. Only one of them is in school. It was a tough fight for survival and he was left with the only option to rustle cattle.
UmartJ Namatazu, 46 Mohammed's corroborates story. Namatazu is the Chief vigilante (a civilian security force in the community) his work is to scoop through the community to smoke o criminal persons or gang. "I know this boy, he was very troublesome" Namatazu also narrates how a 10 year old boy was kidnapped and a ransom of 2million was demanded. We had to contact the Police and the Military; which assisted in returning the boy unharmed.
"We realised that it is information and intelligence that we work with, there is less force required when there is sufficient intelligence".
The Fulani community now experiences such peace that other communities are reaching out to them to learn how they achieved peace.
How ActionAid Intervened
Mohammed was nominated to attend one of the several peace building activities organised by ActionAid. It was the first time in his life to be in an organised setting. "I had never slept in such a big hotel that night. I was awake all night imagining how I came across such highly respected people: the commissioners were present, I was already getting tired of my lifestyle because whenever I leave my house in the morning, I know that I can kill or can be killed" he said.
ActionAid livelihood support for most vulnerable communities has also assisted in building and sustaining peace in the community.
"As the Chief vigilante security officer in this Fulani community, I can tell you that there has been significant improvement in the security of this area, it is no longer like before when herdsmen and farmers outrun themselves in gun battle. There is tolerance among the farmers and herdsmen, all thanks to the peace pact initiated by ActionAid" Namatazu said.
He said ActionAid has brought together a network of State security agencies which he collaborates with. "I was just informed of someone that was kidnapped last week, I immediately linked up with the security people in my network, they analyzed and tracked the mobile phone used by the kidnapper and we were able to trace the culprit to a member of the family of the kidnapped girl" Namatazu said. one, I thank ActionAid for organizing that programme that changed my life" he said.