The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fulani

  • President Buhari and Fulani herdsmen

    I think it is a great pity that the Buhari presidency, which started with a promise of change and hope for Nigeria, is now letting itself be defined by the most primitive development that this country has ever experienced. I refer to the series of barbarous invasions of various rural communities and small villages across Nigeria by the people whom we all call Fulani herdsmen.

    In the past few years, the rampage has been mostly in the Middle Belt, where a long succession of destruction of villages and massacres of their inhabitants has ultimately painted an unmistakeable picture of deliberate and systematic genocide. Today, no serious minded Nigerian can doubt what the citizens of the Middle Belt have been saying – namely, that there is a plan by the Fulani to wipe out some Middle Belt peoples and take over their territories.

    This Middle Belt picture is bad enough. The fact that it is taking place in today’s Nigeria disqualifies Nigeria to be regarded as a member of the modern world’s comity of nations. Worse, it is enough to eliminate Nigeria’s claim to be one country at all. And it continues, without any hope of letting off.

    At first, only few scattered forages of this sickening crime reached the states of the Nigerian South. But that has now changed. The rampage has now spread fully to the states of Southern Nigeria, even all the way to the states in the thick, and sometimes mangrove, forests of the Atlantic coastlands where there is not much grass to attract cattle. Suddenly bursting on rural communities in the dead of night, blatantly killing, maiming and seriously wounding men, women and children, burning homes and barns, and, reportedly, raping women, and then slinking away in the dark, this army of invasion has struck in almost every state of Southern Nigeria. A couple of weeks ago, the governor of Enugu State burst into tears when he saw the scene of total horror left behind by the invaders in a part of his state. Today, the Governor of Ekiti State is mourning the dead and struggling to save the lives of the maimed and wounded men, women and children of the small town in his state where the invaders struck a few days ago.

    It is getting worse. From the way this whole thing is shaping up, it can only get worse and worse. Nigerians are wondering why none of these desperadoes are being arrested. From time to time in the war against Boko Haram, we get reports that some of the Boko Haram terrorists have been captured and arrested; we are even shown pictures of these in the media. Nigerians cannot help asking, why the difference? Why are these people not being arrested?

    Indeed, why are they still able to move across this country at will and strike at will wherever they choose to? Why does it seem as if nobody, no authority, is doing anything to stop them – or even to restrain them even a little?

    Yes, Nigerians know that the president has ordered the military and police authorities to stop these people’s attacks on villages and farmsteads. But why is it that the president’s order seems to be producing no measurable result? Why, in spite of the president’s order, are these killers still freely and boldly spreading across Nigeria, killing, maiming and destroying, and getting away through long distances, all without encountering any disturbance by Nigerian law enforcement?

    Can Nigerians be blamed if they say, as they are now increasingly saying in the open media, that they suspect something fishy in this whole situation? Can Nigerians be blamed if, for instance, they say, as more and more of them are openly saying that they suspect that Nigeria’slaw enforcement authorities are afraid to deal with these killer herdsmen as they would deal with all other citizens because the killer herdsmen are the ethnic kinsmen of President Buhari?

    Moreover, since the Nigerian government has chosen to give little or no information to Nigeria about this killer gang, about its ways and means of operation, and about its purpose and objective for its hideous brutalization of peaceful Nigerian citizens across the face of Nigeria, is it surprising that Nigerians are themselves finding ways to fill the information gap? We have all tended to identify these people as Fulani herdsmen, but most of us are now saying that, though many of them are indeed Nigerian Fulani herdsmen, very many others are neither Fulani nor herdsmen. That very many are foreigners who have come to Nigeria.

    Very importantly, President Buhari himself has strengthened these suspicions. Without directly informing Nigeria, President Buhari let out the information in an interview with the CNN in London some days ago that many of the killers are indeed Libyans, elements from the highly trained and well-armed private militia of late President Ghadafi of Libya, most of whom fled south into West Africa after the fall of Ghadafi. Nigerians at home and abroad are wondering and asking, why did President Buhari not give this very important information at home and to his country? Why has he not done so even days after his London CNN interview? Why?

    Is President Buhari aware of the implications of that information to the CNN? Can’t he and his officials see that our president has said that foreign militia elements entered our country – invaded our country – and are killing people at will across our country, and our government has done, and is doing, nothing about it?

    How is it that they cannot see that a full statement – a full explanation of all circumstances of this crisis – has long been due from the President of Nigeria? Are we to live with the disturbing surrender to the fact that such a statement will never come from our president?

    The effect of this whole shady handling of this crisis is being reinforced daily by the kinds of statements emanating from significant Fulani citizens. Since these significant citizens know that foreign militiamen have been involved in the attacks on various parts of Nigeria, why have some of them been repeatedly claiming that the attackers are all Fulani herdsmen, Nigerian Fulani citizens who, as citizens, are free to go anywhere in Nigeria? Why that huge piece of misinformation?

    Is it surprising then that Nigerians are now increasingly coming to the belief that some very major, some extraordinary, objectives underpin this whole development. Many Nigerians are asking openly in the media whether this is not a heightened phase of the old Hausa-Fulani efforts to establish their sole and perpetual control over Nigeria, or to forcibly Islamize the whole of Nigeria. That is, have some in the Arewa North elite now gone so far as to recruit and bring into Nigeria Ghadafi’s uprooted private army, to hide among Fulani herdsmen, and to masquerade as Fulani herdsmen, for the purpose of intimidating the rest of Nigeria into some sort of surrender?

    Inevitably, over-arching the whole atmosphere of fears and suspicions generated in this crisis is its impact on the Buhari presidency. If President Buhari does not hurry to come open before the people of Nigeria, to give them full and ascertainable details about what is happening in their country, and to announce and convincingly follow up with plans to rid Nigeria of this terrible threat, his whole presidency could be doomed. Already, he must be aware that his stock has been falling gradually. Even his anti-corruption war, which started with a great deal of excitement and support, is losing enthusiasm and support as this Fulani herdsmen crisis grows bigger and bigger. It would be a great pity to see Buhari lose his once   considerable political capital over this squalid issue. It would be a greater pity to see Nigeria fall over it.

  • Who are the Fulani?

    The profiling of the rampaging and murderous herdsmen as Fulani has quite expectedly incensed the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, the 19 Northern Governors and commentators on the evil unleashed by these mindless, AK 47-wielding marauders. If they are not Fulani, who else are they? Definitely, these herdsmen are not Afemmai, of which stock I belong; neither are they Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw or Idoma.

    Whether the herdsmen are from Nigeria (it has the largest concentration), Guinea, Niger, Chad, Mauritania or Sudan, the Fulani are the Fula or Fulbe people bound together by the same language and culture. Most of them (about 18 out of an estimated 20 million) are nomads and the largest nomadic pastoralists in the world. Their related ethnic groups are the Hausa, Kanuri and Toucouleur. So, who is fooling who?

    So, let’s call the herdsmen what they rightly are: Fulani.

     

    • Kola Danisa, Abuja,

  • Church seeks compensation for victims of Fulani herdsmen’s attacks

    The Prelate and  Moderator of the General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Prof. Emele Mba Uka, has called for the payment of compensations to the families of the victims of the Fulani herdsmen’s attack.

    He made the call with particular to Ukpabi Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

    Speaking with The Nation in Calabar, Uka also called for the re-building of all the structures damaged in the attack by the Federal Government.

    This, he said, was in keeping with the spirit which inspired the on-going re-building of the structures damaged by the Boko Haram mayhem in the North East and the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the area.

    “Anything short of this,” the Prelate stated, “would amount to lack of genuine sympathy and a lamentable demonstration of double standards by which the Federal Government tends to treat issues affecting people in South East geopolitical zone.”

    Prof. Uka described President Muhammadu Buhari’s orders for “Onslaught Against Rampaging Herdsmen” as mere rhetoric if it is not backed by a seizure of illegal arms being carried by the herdsmen.

    The Prelate charged the President to go beyond rhetorics and institute a probe into the sources and reasons behind the deadly ammunitions which the rampaging herdsmen carry with impunity and which they use to unleash vicious attacks and wanton killings of innocent citizens of the country.

    On reported moves by the Federal Government to establish cattle ranches with public funds for herdsmen in parts of the nation, the Prelate warned against this as it would only end up in increasing the tension and friction between the herdsmen and host communities, thereby worsening the security situation in the country.

    “Besides, the business of cattle-rearing is a private enterprise and Government has no right to invest public funds in private enterprise belonging to particular individual(s) from particular ethnic and religious group(s),” he said.

    He opined that the ranches be established only in States where cattle-rearing is the predominant occupation of the people concerned.

     

  • Fulani herdsmen: Between cow meat and rabbit meat

    Is cow meat good for human health? Are snail and rabbit not better sources of animal protein? And can they not replace cow meat in our diet? These and other similar questions have filled my thoughts since nomadic Fulani herdsmen became a new serious factor in Nigeria’s political turbulence a few month ago. Man began earthy life as a nomad millennia ago. But in many parts of the world today, Nigeria inclusive, most men live in settled communities, in many cases peacefully under a social contract known as the LAW. But there still are nomadic people. Some Fulani are settled, others nomadic. The nomadic Fulani are shepherds and cow rearers.

    In Nigeria, they walk their cows over thousands of kilometres, grazing them on greens and herbs in the bush and on crops in farmland they fall upon. When the owners of these farms challenge them, the Fulani open fire from AK47 assault rifle, killing and maiming. They have killed thousands of agatu farmers this way in the middle Belt region of Nigeria. Last month, they killed more than 40 people in their sleep at night in some villages in Enugu State. They claimed some farmers in these villages assaulted or killed herdsmen and cattle which grazed on their farms. So, the nomadic shepherds mobilised reinforcement to avenge their loses. To rub salt on injury, as we say in Nigeria, the presidency may have masterminded the bill in the national assembly under which governors of the states would be forced to reserve land in their states for the exclusive grazing of Fulani cattle, or, if they do not, the Federal Government can make compulsory acquisition for these purposes.

    This has led many Government watchers to wonder anew if the Fulani is, indeed, a special race in Nigeria “Born to Rule”, as many of them say they are. Many media writers have reminded the nation that the Fulani sneaked in on the Hausa states, overthrew their governments, imposed Fulani religion, Islam and sought to expand territorially south worlds, in particular into Oyo Empire. They were halted at Oshogbo. But the army general, Afonja, the Alaafin of Oyo, supreme commander of Oyo forces, sent to Ilorin to defend the northern boundary, connived with Alimi, leader of the Fulani, to seed Ilorin from Oyo Empire. He succeeded only to be consumed soon afterwards by Fulani forces. Today, a Fulani Emir, not a Yoruba Oba, presides in the royal court of Ilorin. It is not surprising, therefore, that many southern Nigerians see the attempt to set up Fulani cattle ranches in southern states as a modern move by the Fulani to conquer the south politically.

    This bid has failed through political party machines such as the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), Nigeria’s National Alliance (NNA), and National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and lately the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). As one government critic has pointed out, the proposed Fulani cattle ranches may grow in two or three generation of their families to formidable military bases from which a Boko Haram-type military/political conquest of the unsuspecting south of Nigeria will be launched.

     

    BUHARI’S ROLE?

    any people suspect president MuhammadBuhari, a Fulani, is pursuing a Fulani agenda, from the way he has handed Fulani herdsmen aggression so far. If this is true, it is capable of overthrowing his Change agenda which, on the surface, is guided to be a fight against corruption in the Nigerian system which would make the country more efficient. South western love efficient government, and fell for this trap, say Buhari’s critics. If the agenda turn out to be a mere fluke for some other initiative, it should take no time for him to learn that the billions of naira recovered from individual public thieves every day cannot compare with the life of a southern Nigerian killed by Fulani herdsmen because he would not permit that his property be stolen by armed robbers. For armed robbers, and nothing else under the law, are what Ak-47 wielding Fulani herdsmen are when they forcibly break into a farmland or a suppress resistance to a break-in with the force of guns.

    President Buhari’s guild, according to many people, is that he kept mute while his kinsmen were rampaging other people’s farms, and even sought to extract land for them from the state governments, as a way of stopping the carnage. Thus, Buhari is seen as fighting corruption and thieving public officials and private business men on one hand and, on the other, condoning the same actions among his kith and kindred. The much he has done in public, and that was after the governors of Igbo states took the fight of their people to him, was to ask the Inspector-General of Police to fish out the hoodlums. Did the Inspector-General have to be told by the president before he would know that was the job for which the public pays his salary and takes care of him and his family? Did the Government of Enugu State not appeal to the Commissioner of Police in the State for help before the carnage occurred in which 40 people were murdered callously in deep sleep at night and 300 were critically injured?.

    Was it not worth the while of the Inspector General to visit the affected villages? Was the inefficient commissioner of police compensated with his deployment to another state, rather than sacked for the loss of lives and disturbances of public peace which he was meant to protect? Was his deployment a salute for correctly reading the body language of the president and the Inspector – General?.

    BUHARI BLAMELESS?

    Left to me the blames belongs not to Buhari, the Inspector-General, the Police Commissioner or the Bridgade Commander. The trouble lies with southern political leaders. Every President from the south (Obasanjo, Jonathan) loves to maximise Federal power and might, in order to stay in power for as long as is possible. Obasanjo and Jonathan stoutly rejected the idea of the states having their own police forces because they wished to use the Army and the Federal Police exclusively to rig and win elections.

    The south-eastern state, where the Fulani carnage has just occurred, were the loudest in the south in the opposition against state police, simply because Jonathan, their mentor, didn’t want state police the states of the south-west, except, perhaps Ekiti State, were loudest in the demand for their own police forces. At that time, as always, I had learned not to blame other people for any uncomfortable experience I encountered. Rather, I ask myself about how I got into it, extricate myself from the equation and discover that the equation collapses.

    Had the eastern states joined the demand for state police and had their police forces, would they need to go to president Buhari, like chicken beaten by rain, to complain that neither the Nigeria police nor the Army gave their people cover in their hour of need? The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is for Federal agenda. If the Federal body language backs the Fulani herdsmen right or wrong, so will the NPF and the Army respond. When the debate over state Police Force came up about two years ago, this column suggested that the question be seen only in the light in which Mother Nature would have wanted the security of the human society organised. After all, Nature is our guide and teacher. The human body presents a wonderful example of this guidance and teaching. There are about 100 trillion cells in the average adult human body. These cells are organised into homogenous tissue, organs and systems. Each cell is capable of its own defence. So are the tissue, organ and system. There are, in addition, body-wide defence system. In the human society, this suggests a need for several layers of defence systems as well. If one fails, the next level drops. Many countries adopt this defence scenario. Nigeria is still archaic, leaving every matter of security in Federal hands. Thus although the governor is the chief security officer of his state constitutionally, this is only a borrowed legal role. He is impotent, as the south-eastern governors have discovered. To kill the idea of Police Forces in the 36 States, northern governors sold the idea that they would be abused, citing the examples of Local Government Police abuse by State governments in the First Republic. They even threaten to walk out of the conference which discuss this matter if State Police was approved. This column asked them if the Federal Police at that time wasn’t abused as well. Now, too, hasn’t it shown potential for abused?

    Would it not have been better if the baby had not been thrown out with the bath water? Couldn’t a Police service complaints court of sort have been set up, composed of respectable men and women to hear cases of Police misuse and promptly and judiciously decide such cases? What is happening today reminds me of the three groupings mankind is said to fall into… those who live in the past, those who live in the present and those who live in the future. Those who live in the past do not understand present events. They understand them only when these events have become “past tense” and hits them flat on the face. Such is the case with the need and demand for state Police. The natural people are people who experience on-going events and understand the messages they are bringing to them. So, personally, I do not blame Buhari for the crime his kinsmen are committing all over the country. I blame the lack of State Police Forces for them. Had the governors their own Police commands, they would easily get the herdsmen arrested and arraigned in court for armed robbery, ingress into another man’s property, or for murder. And surely they would be jailed or executed if found guilty under the law. So, to the drawing tables, let us all return. And in the interim, what do we do?

     

    ANOTHER WAY OUT.

    Must we eat cow (red) meat? The Hindus do not, and are alive and healthy. Adherents of the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, like other vegetarians, to be among the earth’s healthiest and longest living people. Many Scientific Studies have shown that eating red meat increases blood cholesterol level, damages the arteries and the heart, raises hormone levels and causes hormonal imbalance, impedes digestion, causes colon cancer and shortens lifespan among many of its’ health hazards. If we can give up red meat on these account, the market for cows in the south of Nigeria will diminish and the nomadic Fulani will return home with all his troubles. He will not ask for a portion of your land for a cattle ranch that someday in the future may create an Zagon – Kataf in your state.

    ALTERNATIVE TO RED MEAT

    We cannot eat fish all the time, otherwise meal times will become boring times. So, fish, oily fish in particular, is suggested only as a part of the mix of alternatives to red meat. Since I began to withdraw from red meat, I have found the good old snail and rabbit meat to be good options. Going by pilot projects at Umudike and Ile-Ife in the 1980s and 1990s, it is possible to produce snail in millions every year. At that time, was involved in a rabbit farming project named FARM NIGERIA, which was the brain child of one gentleman from Edo State whose interest was rabbit farming throughout Nigeria. Brigadier Samuel Ogbemudia (rtd) was our chairman, former President Shehu Shagari, the National Patron. The idea was to set up a pilot project in every Local Government Area in Nigeria. That meant 774 Pilot projects supported by extension workers from agriculture departments in Universities and Polytechnics nearby. If 1,000 rabbits are supplied to one pilot project and one female rabbit produces about 40 offspring every year that means, Nationwide, 3,096,000 or about 31 million rabbits from the foundation stock alone, not to mention their offspring as they mature. If about five projects surface in every Local Government Area that may yield almost 200 million rabbits in one year. In south-western Nigeria where red meat is served at wedding and funeral banquets, rabbits may easily replace red meat. A cow which costs about N150, 000 cannot serve more than 200 guests. At about N2, 000 per mature rabbit in Nigeria, N150, 000 should procure 75 rabbits. A half rabbit on every plate will yield 150 plates served. Imagine a half rabbit on your plate of rice!

    In rise and shine rabbitry.com, we are offered 10 reasons why we should eat rabbit meat. It says:

    It is one of the best white meat available on the market today. The meat has a high percentage of easily digestible protein. It contains the least amount of fat among all the other available meat. Rabbit meat contains less calorie value than other meats. Rabbit meat is also cholesterol free and, therefore, is heart-patients friendly. The sodium content of rabbit meat is comparatively less than other meats. The calcium and phosphorus content of this meat are more than any other meat. The ratio of meat to bone is high, meaning there is more edible meat on the carcas than even the chicken.

    onversely, Jan Ann Igan, in Demand Media, speaks of “Adverse effects of Red Meat”:

    “Red meat can increase your risk for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Red meat includes fresh beef, pork, lanil, muton and veal as well as processed milk that comes from these animal sources. These foods can add value to your diet as they are rich in protein, iron, vitamin B and Zinc. However, their saturated fats and cholesterol content can adversely affect your health and the manner in which red meat is produced, processed and cooked can also impact your wellbeing.  For these reasons, limiting your intake of this type of meat can improve your overall health and limit your risk of developing disease.

    Animal – based dietary fat such as the ones found in red meat can contribute to risk factors associated with heart disease and stroke. They add cholesterol and saturated diet, which can increase the accumulation of a fatty substance called plaque to the walls lining your arteries. In this condition known as arterosclerosis, your heart works harder to pump blood through the named blood vessels, increasing your chance of heart attack. The fat in red meat can also cause you to put on extra weight, a risk factor for developing high blood pressure which is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Red meat can increase your livelihood for developing cancer in several ways. For example, the iron in red meat is contained in a protein called heme and this protein can easily undergo a chemical change in your guts to form carcinogenic heme – nitrosome, compound associated with, for instance, colorectal cancer. The fat content of red meat may be a contributory factor in the incidence of estrogen and progesterone sensitive breast cancer, and, in addition, hormones used in the production of red meat can exhibit estrogenic activity and might also boost your breast cancer risk.

    The greater the amount of red meat you consume, of processed red meat in particular, the greater your risk can be of developing type 2 diabetes. Processed red meats can contain preservatives such as nitrosamines that are toxic to the pancreatic cells that produce in addition”.

    So, do we really need red meat the way we consume it and the skin (ponmo – Yoruba)? The wise will discover he or she doesn’t. If majority of the population is well advised to minimise or keep off red meat, demand for it will decline, the Fulani herdsmen will find the southern market less lucrative, will cause less human mayhem in this region and everyone will live happily with one another ever after. For now, the Fulani herdsmen are believed to be mere agents of army generals and emirs who supply them cows to nurture and sell in southern markets, and, for their protection and the protection of the animals, AK 47 riffles to bully their way through grazing farms. Thus, the Fulani herdsmen value the cow more than human life. In the south, human life ranks higher than animal life. These are two opposing worlds in collision the earlier they are separated the better for the country, the better for the Buhari Administration. Territorial Fulani expansion is not what Buhari became President for. Many of us saw him as one of the rarest Nigerian…Incompatible and imbued with love for the Nigerian project.

  • Herdsmen’s leader: any Fulani with AK47 is a killer

    Herdsmen’s leader: any Fulani with AK47 is a killer

    National President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria Alhaji Muhammad Kiruwa Zuru, in this interview with reporters, says herdsmen who carry sophisticated weapons should be arrested. KHADIJAT SAIDU was among the reporters. Excerpts:

    Sir you met with the Service Chiefs recently. What did you tell them?

    Yes, we met with the Service Chiefs and we pledged our support and loyalty to the security agencies and we also advised that proper investigation should be done in order to apprehend the real criminals and not the innocent persons for peace to reign in our land and we also called on the security agencies to use their discretion to clamp down on these criminals.

    Again,  any Fulani seen with weapons like AK47  is a criminal and is up to something; he should be arrested because our Fulani move with their wives  and children  wherever they go. How can they go and kill people and their wives and children will be safe?

    Are you saying these people committing these atrocities   are not Fulani?

    I’m not certain because once  a particular crisis occurs people will just say it is Fulani, for example, the issue of Enugu  crisis, which happened at night. I wonder the eyewitnesses were to have  concluded  that it was Fulani herdsmen.  I think jumping into conclusions should be with evidence but nobody was arrested.

    What will you say about the  Agatu case in Benue State?

    You see, the people of Agattu   usually cross over with canoes at night to kill Fulani cattle and then put these cattle inside their canoe and go away with them, even then nobody was arrested. Then how will you say it is Fulani herdsmen that committed this particular crime?

    Let me tell you one thing, it is not only Fulani that breed cattle; we have many tribes now that breed cattle who are herdsmen. Even former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a herdsmen. So can we just conclude without proper investigation it is Fulani herdsmen that are committing these atrocities?

    I urge the security agencies to  investigate this matter very well. And I also call on all Fulani to be watchful of strangers that are coming in from other countries. And they should know the kind of persons they are, before associ-ating with them.

    What can you say now that President Muhammadu Buhari has given the order to deal with the situation?

    In my capacity as the President, Cattle Breeders Association, I am worried and I will be very happy if government and security agencies can fish out the culprits and we as Fulani disown and disassociate ourselves from whoever is involved in such killings and kidnapping and government should take decisive  action  because it is   disastrous.

    What is the solution to this problems?

    The immediate remedy to this problem is justice and fair play by the leaders. The issue of cattle ranches or grazing reserves is secondary. It is painful to know that even the Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport here in Birnin Kebbi, Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi and the entire Federal Capital Territory Abuja are all set aside as grazing reserves but today it is no longer there and the Fulani are left alone without  any other option.

    Government should have it as a policy to always compensate for the grazing reserves taken away from the Fulani by the government. Secondly, if government will enhance the quality of the present grazing reserves, and provide water and other things,  then there will be no mass movement of Fulani from Jigawa to Enugu or to Lagos or to Ibadan.

    Therefore, we are in support of the establishment of grazing reserves. In addition, there is also need for proper enlightenment of the Fulani on the importance of the establishment of ranches and if this is done, a Fulani man can sell his property to establish ranches in their domains.

     

  • Fulani herdsmen are Jihadists, say Christian elders

    Fulani herdsmen are Jihadists, say Christian elders

    Christian leaders yesterday described the Fulani herdsmen as new forces of Jihad committed to the “islamisation” of Nigeria, urging the Federal Government to checkmate its nefarious activities.

    The Christian leaders alleged that, since the intelligence service is being used to promote Islamic ideology, the security organ has become a veritable tool for coercing, subverting and intimidating Nigerians.

    According to them, “the nation is in a state of emergency and the Federal Government should declare it thus, if indeed, the security of Nigerians is of paramount importance to this administration.”

    A member of the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), Moses Ihonde, said in a statement that the overhauling of the intelligence service is overdue so that it fulfill the mandate of protecting people, instead of promoting a religious ideology.

    He said the security agencies should have a national outlook, instead of building on its perception as a northern institution for the promotion of Islam.

    Ihonde said to resolve the lingering security crisis, Nigerians should support the call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the implementation of the 2014 National Conference to foster restructuring of the polity and restoration of true federalism.

    Describing the attack on the Nimbo community in Enugu State by the herdsmen as an act of genocide, he said unless urgent steps are taken, the forces of Jihad will spread their tentacles of terror and destruction to all parts of Nigeria in their bid to enthrone a Sharia state.

    He noted that a prominent Christian leader, Cardinal John Onaiyekan narrowly escaped death along Benin-Ekpoma Road, Edo State when his vehicle was shot at.

    Ihonde added: “We condemn in all totality all these unwarranted attacks targeted primarily at Christians and Christian communities by the forces of Jihad seeking to redefine Nigeria from a democratic nation into an Islamic theocratic nation.”

    The Christian leader frowned at what he described as the indiscretion of the 19 Northern governors who protested the labeling of the herdsmen as Fulani, despite their penchant for killings, rape, destruction of farmlands and invasion of Christian communities.

    He wondered why Middle Belt governors, whose states have borne the brunt of the attacks, could maintain silence when the Borno State governor denied the identity of the herdsmen.

    Ihonde said: “International observers have noted that the fourth most dangerous terror organisations in the world is the Fulani herdsmen. We consider this assertion by the northern governors as cruel, inhuman, and insensitive. Governor Shettima should immediately apologise to the nation.”

  • North’s senators: Not all herdsmen are Fulani

    North’s senators: Not all herdsmen are Fulani

    Senators of Northern extraction yesterday warned against provocative statements that could inflame tempers in the country following the killings by herdsmen in Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani, Enugu State.

    They also said that the categorization of all herdsmen as Fulani is wrong and should be stopped.

    The Senators under the aegis of Northern Senators Forum, said that they “note and appreciate the steps that the Federal Government has taken so far to contain the problems of herdsmen/farmers clashes.”

    They specifically asked community leaders (including governors) “to be careful when making statements on these ugly incidences.”

    Chairman of the Forum, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who read the communiqué of the lawmakers’ meeting, said they “resolved to continue their complete support for President Muhammadu Buhari in order to bring about even development to all sections of the country.”

    Adamu said members of the Forum further resolved to work assiduously to enact laws and amend existing ones when and where necessary in order to promote the interest of Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general.

    He added that they noted specially the steps taken by the government to wipe out incidents of insurgency and are hopeful that in no distant time: “we shall say bye-bye to the problem of insurgency.”

    On tagging every Fulani herdsmen, Adamu said, “We have tried to kill the idea that every herdsman is Fulani. I am a farmer but I am not Fulani by birth. It is very wrong to say that everybody you find with a cow is Fulani.”

    Adamu noted that when Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped the news went round that the kidnappers were Fulani.

    He said that when those responsible for kidnapping the elder statesman were eventually arrested, it was discovered that they were not Fulani.

    Adamu noted that when he travelled to the western part of the country, he saw a lot of Yoruba cattle rearers.

    He insisted that cattle rearing, is no longer the exclusive preserve of the Fulani.

    On inflammatory, he said that some groups in the South East have said that the Fulani should leave their part of the country, “if people from the North say the same thing of people from the south East, we wonder where it will lead the country.”

  • Governors, lawmakers and Fulani herdsmen

    Last week on these pages, we talked about Yoruba governors who wear Awo’s cap without imbibing Awo’s character and philosophy. I think they have their parallel all over the country especially in the north where Ahamadu Bello, Awo’s contemporary, with an annual budget of 44m pounds, lower than what each of the 414 LGAs in the north today collects as allocation, according Nuhu Ribadu, “maintained law and order and ensured effective security of life and property, built Ahmadu Bello University, Ahmadu Bello Stadium, NNDC, the largest black-owned conglomerate in black Africa;  built many textile factories, good roads, marketing boards, efficient water supply etc” while the 19 northern  governors sadly  have nothing to show for the N8.3 trillion they  got from the federation account between 1999 and 2010″.

    While Awo and Bello as Premiers, stayed  at home,  studied and proffered solutions to the problems of their people, many of today’s imperial governors spend more time in Dubai, Britain, US, Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia purportedly sourcing for investors or shamelessly using taxpayer money to fulfill their religious obligations. Some even chose South American islands as their own destination. But we now know from the Panama papers that some governors use some of the Islands as safe havens to avoid payment of taxes on alleged stolen state allocations badly needed to checkmate the menace of Fulani herdsmen that have turned part of the Middle Belt into a killing field in the last seven years.

    Unfortunately, northern governors and their lawmakers believe the federal government is the answer to all their problems. This is probably the only reason why 19 northern governors whose major reason for being in government is the protection of life and properties, will last week disingenuously claim the Fulani herdsmen problem have to be resolved by the federal government. Speaking on behalf of Northern Governors Forum, Kashim Shetima, their chairman insisted ‘the crisis goes beyond Fulani herdsmen and as such, the country must collectively work towards a solution’. He did not forget to introduce an odious comparison between Fulani herdsmen’s atrocities and kidnapping in the South-east  without making a distinction between the target of the latter which are  Igbo victims of the tyranny of their own leaders who made fortunes by bargaining in their names and the target of the former who are victims of state tyranny with an unjust land allocation Act which has reduced them to subsistence farmers in small parcels of land not yet confiscated by government to satisfy the rich.

    Now the patrons of Fulani herdsmen, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Associations speaking through Nuru Abdullahi and Ardo Ahmadu Suleiman, their leaders in Plateau and North West Zone arrogantly say the federal constitution which allows land to be taken from the poor for the use of the rich, gives them access to any land in Nigeria. To show there is unanimity of thoughts on the issue by northern politicians, Hon Sadiq Ibrahim (Adamawa APC) on April 13 sponsored the National Grazing Routes and Reserve Bill which seeks the establishment of a commission to control and manage grazing routes and reserves in all parts of the country. The commission will be expected to undertake a physical/geographical analysis of land use in each state in order to ascertain the best and most appropriate place to locate the federal government reserve and route within the state.

    Defending the bill during a Channels TV programme, Sadiq warned of the consequences of not passing the bill which include but not limited to the possibility of northern farmers driven by search for water overrunning the south in a matter of decades.  He forecloses the possibility of the north taking its fate in its own hands even after pointing out that Saudi Arabia a desert nation, has the largest cattle ranch in the world.

    Sadiq also attributed the mindless killing of farmers and armless children and women by AK47-wielding Fulani herdsmen to the fact that  most children sent out of their homes as early as their ninth birthday to herd cattle not necessarily owned by commercial cattle farmers but by uncles and cousins spend their formative years bonding, not with man but animals.

    The fundamental question to ask northern governors and their federal lawmakers, beneficiaries of the foresight of Ahmadu Bello who 60 years ago went round towns and villages of northern cities selecting underprivileged children including President Buhari for schools, is why they have not seen it as a challenge to end the lives of misery of nine-year-olds hijacked from their poor parents and forced to spend the most critical formative years  in the bush looking after cows owned according to Sadiq by ‘uncles and cousins’, who most certainly have their own children in the best schools in and outside the country?

    Shetima’s Borno State before the outbreak of Boko Haram insurgency had only about 30% of children of school age in schools. It was not markedly different in many parts of the north where when nine year olds are not uprooted from their families to spend the rest of their lives in the bush, they are roaming the streets of northern cities as almajiris. Until the bold step taken by the former Kano State governor to provide an alternative choice to Kano street urchins and the introduction of ex President Jonathan’s nomadic schools, we have no records of efforts made by other northern governors to stop labourers siring labourers.

    But the northern governors don’t have to look far to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and Israel where desert regions produce enough food to feed themselves and parts of Europe. Many of the governors who are now in APC should ask Tinubu, Fashola and even newly elected Ambode how they have been able to manage the peculiar problems of their state without federal government support.

    While the northern governors exploited the defective federal constitution to unfairly corner more LGAs and more federal allocations, Lagos State went on to create more Council Areas. The state in spite of a vindictive federal government creatively increased its IGR from pre- 1999 N600m to about N16b. The state set up LASTMA to tackle the traffic gridlock associated with urban centres in spite of a vindictive federal government that set up a parallel body made up of political thugs to confront Lagos State officials on federal roads. The state was the first to set up an Independent Power Plant. The pilot scheme took three years instead of three months because of a vindictive federal government fearing ‘Lagos might become like London”. Lagos State wanted state police to address peculiar urban problems as obtained in all federations in the world. The 19 northern governors that equally needed state police to address their own peculiar challenges of porous borders joined the federal government to kill the initiative. Lagos State did not give up. It went on to creatively make use of the same Nigeria Police to tackle the problems of violent crimes in the state. Fashola started the miracle of Oshodi; Ambode has completed it. Today, if you are caught loitering in Oshodi, you will be picked up by the police. And finally to ensure food security as well as prevent jobless immigrants taking on to crime, Ambode went to Osun State to lease land for agriculture. Two weeks back, he signed a Memorandumý of Understanding to establish a commodity value chain that will boost food processing, production, and distribution with Kebbi State.

    The 19 northern governors who are busy passing the buck, their lawmakers who are sponsoring bills to shift their responsibilities to others, and Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Associations who are threatening to unleash armed Fulani herdsmen on poor farmers must be reminded that in a federation, states have the constitutional duty of defending their citizens. And states who like Lagos cannot creatively do that through LASTMA or the police are at liberty to employ the services of vigilante groups because states exist primarily to protect lives and properties of their citizens.

  • Herdsmen: Northern Senators warn against provocative statements

    Senators of Northern Nigeria Wednesday warned against provocative statements that could inflame tempers in the country in the light of the killings by herdsmen in Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani, Enugu State.

    They also said that the categorization of all herdsmen as Fulani is wrong and should be stopped.

    The Senators under the aegis of Northern Senators Forum, said that they “note and appreciate the steps that the Federal Government has taken so far to contain the problems of herdsmen/farmers clashes.”

    They specifically asked community leaders (including governors) “to be careful when making statements on these ugly incidences.”

    Chairman of the Forum, Senator Abdullahi Adamu who read the communiqué of the lawmakers said that they “resolved to continue their complete support for President Muhammadu Buhari in order to bring about even development to all sections of the country.”

    Adamu said that members of the Forum further resolved to work assiduously to enact laws and amend existing ones when and where necessary in order to promote the interest of Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general.

    He added that they noted specially the steps taken by the government to wipe out incidences of insurgency and are hopeful that in no distant time, “we shall say bye-bye to the problem of insurgency.”

    On tagging every Fulani herdsmen, Adamu said, “We have tried to kill the idea that every herdsman is Fulani. I am a farmer but I am not Fulani by birth. It is very very wrong to say that everybody you find with a cow is Fulani.”

    Adamu noted that when Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped the news went round that the kidnappers were Fulani.

    He said that when those responsible for kidnapping the elder statesman were eventually arrested, it was discovered that they were not Fulani.

    Adamu noted that when he travelled to the western part of the country, he saw a lot of Yoruba cattle rearers.

    He insisted that a cattle rearing is no longer the exclusive preserve of the Fulani.

    On inflammatory, he said that some groups in the South East have said that the Fulani should leave their part of the country, “if people from the North say the same thing of people from the south East, we wonder where it will lead the country.”

     

  • Fulani- farmers’ clashes, an African problem

    SIR: The present situation between the Fulani and farmers is actually something that has its genesis in the colonial era. The powers that be at that time decided to balkanize an ethnic group, separating and sharing them using land borders, into 23 countries. Each fraction of Fulani was therefore forced to take on the identity of the country in which they found themselves (this is not peculiar to the Fulani but what makes theirs interesting is that they are the largest nomadic group in the whole world with this kind of presentation). The situation is replicated at many of our borders and certainly is a great challenge to the Nigerian Immigration Service, when on both sides the people are from the same ethnic stock.

    After every violent assault on Nigerian farmers, the Nigerian Fulani constantly say it is the handiwork of foreign Fulani. The ease with which these foreign Fulani enter Nigeria suggests that they take advantage of the relationship between them and their kin, under the guise of grazing cattle to perpetuate atrocities.

    Their attitude shows that their kith and kin in Nigeria are more enlightened, exposed and tolerant indicating that policies geared towards enlightenment and education e.g. the Nomadic Education Scheme should have been instituted and harmonised in all the countries that have Fulani population rather than being a programme operated in a single country. That way, each student could have obtained a transfer certificate to continue their education in whatever country they found themselves.

    The explosive nature of these foreign Fulani has made some lawmakers from the North propose a Bill that will reserve grazing paths in all the states in Nigeria. Such a Bill, if passed, will only be prolonging a negative lifestyle that denies the nomad quality life, when forever his life revolves only around the cattle and the money with which he buys or sells cattle, leaving him in ignorance about the present day and its dictates. Besides, Nigeria will be the destination of nomadic Fulani from all the other countries for the purpose of grazing and selling their cattle. These paths will soon be over grazed just as most of the North has become, due to lack of scientific intervention.  Before long, desertification or erosion will make these areas useless thereby forcing the nomads to start another round of agitation for more land. What will happen then?

    It therefore behoves the African Union, the African Development Bank and other agencies that have to do with agriculture in Africa to come up with urgent agricultural intervention programmes aimed at applying scientific solutions to the problem of desertification so that ranches can be set up simultaneously in all the countries that still have indigenous nomadic ethnic nationalities to stem the need to migrate about. Such programmes should mandatorily be supervised for successful implementation to prevent diversion of funds meant for the purpose.

    All over the world, except Nigeria, the customer is king. In Nigeria the customer is practically always left holding the short end of the stick. How can one explain the killing of one’s patrons? People who are the buyers and consumers of one’s commodity! If everybody in the South decided to boycott meat even for a week, the economic loss will be immense, unless the Fulani are bringing the cattle to export them through Nigerian seaports.

    The time has passed when people went to war in order to claim land. Everywhere is now mapped and everybody knows where they belong. Unfortunately there is no amount of fear that will make other people surrender their ancestral land. Saying compensation will be paid over forcefully acquired land will not solve the problem either because land is part of cultural heritage.

     

    • Fola Obaro,

    Lagos.