Agatu Killings_2016.doc

[Zacharys]

This release on the Agatu killings may interest someone.

[Samuel Zalanga]

I just took some time to carefully read the press release. I am very sorry for this situation. To live with such insecurity in one's country is terrible. The way the information was presented, however, makes me wonder about how this issue is complex but it was reduced simply to the presence of Buhari in office.  It seems to be assumed that his being president made it possible because he is their patron. I know Toyin has posted many news items about this. Many people in this forum in the past have made insightful contributions about the nature of the problem.

With regard to such communal killings and fights, a lot of it had taken place in Nigeria in the past. I remember attending one annual meeting of the Association of Third World Studies, and one senior colleague who is a Nigerian and from Benue State and a high ranking military officer in the U.S., made a presentation about how some military officers under the regime of President Obasanjo went and killed many Tiv people in a community. I still remember how in his presentation he analyzed the song written by one traditional music composer and singer in the community. I remember how touching and painful it was for me to listen to his analysis. I felt the song writer felt they were like "orphans" in Nigeria or totally not seen as citizens. I know how such feeling of helpless is having grown up such communities and paid much attention to the struggles of the poorest of the poor, i.e., people who are treated like "non-persons."

There is no doubt that this situation indicates what I will call institutional or state failure. But the government failure is at different levels, federal, state,and local governments. I will add, even community failure. The fact that "Nigerians" as human beings even without government cannot see the dignity of others irrespective of ethnic,religious, class or regional differences is a much serious failure that accounts for this. If the black man cannot see the humanity of another black man, what is the moral grounds of criticizing a white person who is from far away? Charity begins at home. Killing others is not a sustainable strategy for living. I recognize the role of government but a situation where without government playing some role, people as a community cannot self-regulate their affairs just indicates something like "Hobbesian state of nature," and  how the nation has failed. It is as if, the people were all along living under dictatorship and never had some autonomy to understand the value of life on their own without someone regulating them. Such stories make me feel terribly bad.

As others have long ago said, this problem is a problem of development failure, state failure, institutional failure and the failure of community leadership. Given the fertility rate in Nigeria, it is obvious that when population is rapidly increasing with scarcity of resources, this would constitute a major challenge resulting in conflict, if left alone. Often communal and political fights in Nigeria are at their core, a kind of strategic positioning in the competition for scarce resource and in some cases, ways of getting advantage in labor market competition. Beyond that, when you have large number of cattle herders and fifty years after independence, with increased population and demand for land,someone still assumes such traditional mode of livelihood  will be a viable way of life as it is, without creating conflict, one is setting the country up for trouble.

I understand the argument that was made in the press release that is kind of rooted in the romanticist concept of citizenship and nationhood being something shared between present and future generations, but we can think better than that. Some Nigerians have been living in the U.S. for over 30 years now. Even if their communities have lands, that was not a strong romanticist heritage to keep them there. Some live in Nigeria but they have prospered in other parts of the country without relying on their ethnic homeland.  I see nothing wrong with that. Some are even buried away from their homeland. They only return to their ethnic homeland from time to time. Their children were probably born in another part of the country or world and will live their and die. I met many people like that in Jos last year. My point in bringing this up is to stress the fact that personally, all I need to know is that the persons killed are human beings with dignity and they deserve to live and be cared for, whether it is their intention to benefit from the land or not and whether their future generation decide to restrict their future to the land or not. My father's ancestral home is in Yobe but my commitment to humanity is not rooted in some narrow sense of ancestral origin. Anthropologically, that sense of person-hood is recognized but only a step in the long process of human evolution.  Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development will classify such thinking as level two, where people sense of morality or justice is defined by the demands of their group instead of a broader and universal concept of human dignity. And I still believe that with good leadership in Nigeria, many will one day live and return to visit their hometowns but not necessarily having such a direct connection with land. How many people in the U.S. rely on ethnic homeland for survival?  With great human capital, hopefully Africa will change and if one is qualified and is in demand, his or her future does not need to be tied to his or her ethnic homeland. The real issue for me is the human dignity of those people as human beings, period.

If we do not address human development and fertility problems in Nigeria, this kind of clash will continue. Indeed, more types of clashes will even emerge because there is a whole generation that is suffering owing to state and national failure across Africa to plan for the youth. The term that is used to describe such people is "WAITHOOD GENERATION." They have attended college, got Master's degree but still have no job and cannot get married or treat themselves as adults with full civic responsibilities. They are still waiting. This is a time bomb. Such people can use and capitalize on any primordial relationship to survive even if they are not really oriented to such kind of behavior. Some Nigerians on this forum are older than me, and so they may have a better insight, but my feeling in the Nigeria I grew up when I was young compared to one that is existing now, is that even though we had problems before but this kind of lack of respect for human life in the name of ethnicity, religion etc, did not exist to this degree as I witnessed it.

I have no way of assessing Buhari's direct involvement in this massacre as the release tries to claim, but I know that the problem is more complicated than Buhari because we have had such communal clashes in the past under different regimes e.g., Jonathan.  There was one serious one in Nasarawa state. We must as much pay attention to social, economic and demographic forces as underlying causes and explanations for such conflicts just as we pay attention to human involvement and failure. What kind of national development in a country would fail to anticipate all these long ago? I was in Nigeria for a short time but I can just feel the demographic pressure and how it will lead to conflict in the future.

Furthermore, we should note that not all Fulani people are involved in this situation or that like this kind of conflict. In the long run, I will assume that the Fulanis involved will not feel secure too because in today's world, the instruments of violence are equally available to other people if they are pushed to the wall; in any case,  people have the right of self-defense. But that is not the kind of country we want our people to live in. Why the governments and community leaders cannot get their heads together and get to the bottom of this problem truly bothers me and often makes me sometimes doubt the capacity of Nigerian people to solve their problems.

Samuel

On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 11:56 PM, 'Zacharys' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

This release on the Agatu killings may interest someone.

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Zacharys Anger Gundu
Department of Archaeology
Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria.
Sent from my iPad


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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

A rich one, Samuel.

I wonder, though, if, on some of the points you make, you dont theorize to the point of losing touch with concrete socio- political realities.

The argument being made is not that the Fulani herdsmen/militia have not been engaging in murder, rape and pogroms in the past, but this destructive culture has escalated with Buhari's ascension, a pint reinforced by Buhari's response to the crisis in general and to the Agatu massacre in general., which is to maintain silence and when he was compelled to respond, perhaps after Ayo Fayose, Ekiti state governor and his major critic, publicly  decried his silence as deeply disturbing, he responded by a simplistic description of the massacre as a quarrel btw neighbors, neither is there any suggestion of prosecuting  those who massacred more than 200 people in various communities in Agatu, while he approved the murder of peaeful pro-Biafra protesters and the massacre of Shites described as belonging to a rival Islamic group in opposition to the majority Sunni Islam in Nigeria.

So, people are asking -what is the rationale for this pattern of impunity demonstrated  by the Fulani militia in Nigerian history?

Why has the state under successive Nigerian govts proved unable or unwilling to prosecute these characters?

I conclude that it is bcs of the influence of the Fulani in Nigerian politics.

Others build on similar perspectives in relation to the  current situation and argue that the recent escalation in the activities of the Fulani herdsmen militia  is due to the national ascendancy, of Buhari, their life patron.

If you observe that the north central state communities are described as  having been made  to turn in their weapons under a peace arrangement but the Fulani never did, going on to acquire sophisticated weapons,  even more and they struck  again even after Buhari stated he was setting up an inquiry into the issue after his initial silence, its clear the belief has some merit.

As for the question of allocating land across Nigeria to Fulani herdsmen, the greatest itinerant traders in Nigeria are Igbo traders.

Does anyone allocate shop space to them?

No.

As business people they pay for the space they use for their commercial activities, which is what business all over the world do.

Why are Fulani herdsmen being made beneficiaries of a plicy of unjust exceptionalism?

Why should land belonging to others be used to placate people who have made themselves into a terrorist group, internationally known as one of the the deadliest  in the world?

Is it even safe for anyone to allow Fulani herdsmen to lease or rent land on their territory?

I dont think so.

They are too dangerous.

Also, Nigerian political organization is primarily ethnic and if we are to go beyond that, not to the detriment of anyone.

You cant be governor in state different from the genetic ancestry of your parents in spite of how long you have lived in that state.

It would be greatly unjust to argue for allocation of land to Fulani herdsmen on the basis of  a universal Nigerian ownership of land across the nation  when that principle is not operational in Nigeria, and the Muslim North, where the Fulani herdsmen militia come from, is the witness, across the years since 1945, of recurrent massacres of non-Northerners.

The Fulani hdersmen should remain in their homelands in the North, and perhaps get logistical assistance help from the govt in growing grass in ranches they open there.

A state in the SW is described as banning them from practicing nomadic husbandry within its territory.

I pray other states follow.

I also urge the various communities in Nigeria to arm themselves and build independent military forces.

thanks

toyin

[kwame zulu shabazz]

Brother Toyin,

Thinking through your comparative point about Igbo merchants and Fulani pastoralists, one might also note that some Nigerians complain about Igbo domination of local markets even as they tolerate that (perceived) domination. I pass no judgement on that question. My point is simply to say that solving the farmer/herder crisis will require concessions on all sides.  Lastly, this rivalry precedes Buhari (as you acknowledge) so its not clear to me that Buhari's presumed bias on these matters provides a simple explanation for the intensification of these conflicts. Last, I struggle to find the "dialogue" in the letter you posted. The tone is polemical. Whilst it is clear that some of this is driven by politics, it is equally true that dire climatic change (i.e. desertification) is also a major concern. Would not a true dialogue make some mention of the role that climate change plays in this conflict?

Forward ever, 

kzs

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Toyin:
Please let me have Zachary ' s email address.
Best wishes,
Ib
---

On Mar 9, 2016 12:15 AM, "Ibrahim Abdullah" <ibdu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Dr. Gundu:
Please let me have your email address.
Best wishes,
Ibrahim Abdullah

On Mar 8, 2016 7:10 AM, "'Zacharys' via USA Africa Dialogue Series" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

This release on the Agatu killings may interest someone.

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Hi Dr. Gundu:
Please let me have your email address.
Best wishes,
Ibrahim Abdullah

On Mar 8, 2016 7:10 AM, "'Zacharys' via USA Africa Dialogue Series" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

This release on the Agatu killings may interest someone.

[Zacharys]

Ibrahim,

You can reach me on taku...@yahoo.com or zag...@abu.edu.ng

I hope you are fine with your family. Best regards.

Zacharys Anger Gundu

Department of Archaeology

Ahmadu Bello University,

Zaria.

Sent from my iPad

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks, Kwame.

Self Sufficient  Capitalists and Parasitic Capitalists : Comparing Igbo Business People and Fulani Pastoralists

True, complaints about Igbo domination of trade in particular goods is well known.

 What are the similarities and differences between Igbo traders, other Igbo  business people  and Fulani pastoralists?

What are the differences between them in terms of the point  I make about private businesses having to source the platforms for their business using their own  resources rather than having them handed to them by the state or the state impoverishing others to favor some businesses and their associated ethnicities   at the expense of others?

I expect that the strategies through which Igbo traders achieve dominance in particular trades are not difficult to understand if one looks closely.

They are not achieved through concessions from any party, whether local govt, state or federal govt.

Fulani herdsmen dominate the cattle business in Nigeria.

I wonder if they have any competition in the first place.

Igbo traders and Fulani herdsmen are both highly migrant, although in different ways,  and often operate  in terms of concentration of members of the same ethnicity in the same location.

 Igbo traders are self sufficient  capitalists who live by the understanding of significant self sufficiency on the part of the business person, self sufficiency demonstrated by operating according to the rules of the communities in which they live, the central aspect of which, in this context,  is creating a space for their work by paying for their shops.

 The Fulani herdsmen, on the other hand,  are often parasitic capitalists, capitalists who insist on making  others bear the operating costs of their business by developing a culture of grazing their cows on farmland belonging to others, and resorting to maiming and killing when challenged in this nefarious act, compounding this culture through rape and armed robbery in the South and ethnic pogroms in the North Central, decimating entire communities and taking over their land as the Nigerian govt looks on.

Igbo traders and Fulani herdsmen are in very different social worlds.

Rivalry vs Pillage and Pogroms

I wonder what you mean by rivalry in relation to this situation.

Rivalry involves competition btw groups but what is at play here is outright stealing of what belongs to one by another, not rivalry.

Perhaps you meant to indicate 'conflict' with reference to the South and the ethnic tensions in the North Central in relation to tensions between the Fulani and natives in the North Central.

The current crisis in the North Central has gone beyond simply being describable in terms of 'conflict', or 'ethnic tensions' but is a war of occupation by the Fulani, who armed with sophisticated weapons sweep on defenceless communities and massacre their inhabitants, men, women, children, the elderly.

Why the Accommodation of a Terrorist Group?

The question being asked is why this carnage by a terror group which has made itself into one of the world's deadliest has been ongoing for years without the decisive intervention of the Nigerian govt?

Why has this terrorist group escalated its destruction, as demonstrated by the Agatu massacre?

Pointing  to such ecological factors as desertification as prompting the movement of the herdsmen militia is inadequate because nothing prevents these herdsmen from seeking sustainable solutions rather than operating through a policy of theft,murder, massacre and conquest.

It is more realistic to see the choices made by the Fulani herdsmen in terms of a vision of Nigeria which sees the country more as a space for pillage than as a space for equitable co-existence.

Dialogue has been ongoing  on this subject, representations have been made to the authorities on this subject, but these efforts have resulted largely in the Fulani herdsmen growing stronger in their level of military empowerment and destructiveness.

A search for 'Fulani Herdsmen' on the site Information Nigeria, gives an update of these developments up till the Agatu massacre and its fallout.

Why cant the Fulani herdsmen/militia  use the resources used in acquiring the kind of weaponry they employed in almost subduing an army unit on one occasion in addressing the need of their cows for grass to graze on?

I am not able to see where further accommodation of these terrorists by anyone comes into the picture.

It is dangerous to allow them move freely anywhere outside their own  territory in the North bcs they are highly armed, very dangerous and destructive and absolutely non-accommodating.

It is not possible for a terrorist group to operate freely in a nation without decisive, frontal  challenge by the govt in the absence of collusion by the govt.

I am arguing that the influence of Fulani in Nigerian politics, predating this administration, is the source of that collusion.

Buhari's silence at the Agatu massacre and his later response after protests at this silence escalated, reinforces this understanding.

The fact that the militia continued on their decimation of the Agatu communities even after Buhari eventually spoke up, blaming the situation on a quarrel btw neighbors indicates that the Fulani terrorists  are not deterred by buhari's  claim of commitment to justice.

The fact that no prosecution is forthcoming, for these killers of innocent people, a situation repeating past cyles of such destruction, reinforces the understanding that these horrors have escalated bcs of a greater enabling factor, Buhari's presence and indirect collusion through silence or downplaying or ignoring the reality of the situation.

Charles Ogbu presents part of the picture in his Facebook status update of Wednesday, 9th March 2016 at 5.54 am :

'Before now, the Fulani were known to attack their victims in the middle of the night and withdraw immediately after the attack before security agents could arrive the scene but since their Patron -Buhari became President, they became more daring and emboldened in their approach. They now attack, kill and maim communities and still remain right there at the scene of their crime telling us to our faces that they killed hundreds of innocent people in revenge for the death of their cows in the hands of those people. And the security guys will be there just listening without doing anything.

What's more, rather than prosecute them, the govt will be busy spending billions looking for grazing field and special Brazilian grass for the same people who just massacred hundreds of innocent villagers right there in their sleep.

The kind of state sponsored impunity and gross injustice going on in this country is enough to make anyone regret being born here'.

thanks

toyin

[Salimonu Kadiri]

It may be difficult for a social Darwinist to understand that it is virtually impossible to keep cattle and cows in a seven square metre room as a vehicle spareparts trader would comfortably do. In Europe, US and Canada, farmers are heavily subsidised because of their importance to the society and I have never heard anyone complain that since hairdressing saloon owners are not subsidised, farmers too should not be subsidised.
S. Kadiri
 

 

---

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2016 08:37:54 +0000
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Agatu Killings_2016.doc
From: oluwas...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Certainly not subsidy that involves stealing land from others to give to the Fulani herdsmen.

Not subsidies as a reward for ethnic pogroms.

Some US states give incentives to technology companies.

Nigeria's greatest export apart from oil is Nollywood.

In fact, the most creative industry in Nigeria, in terms of  adding of value to a product is Nollywood, not the oil industry which is more an extractive than a refining operation.

The most prominent manufacturing industries in Nigeria are the manufacturing industries in the SE, which run from shoes to vehicle manufacturing,the last being exemplified by Innoson Motors.

What incentives does the govt provide to them?

Why this sudden drive to incentivize what is in effect  a terrorist group?

The best that should be done in relation to these characters is to prosecute them for crimes committed agst Nigerians and assist them with logistics in building ranches  in the North.

[Obadiah Mailafia]

Prof. Kadiri,

You recently wrote: "It may be difficult for a social Darwinist to understand that it is virtually impossible to keep cattle and cows in a seven square metre room as a vehicle spareparts trader would comfortably do."

I beg to politely disagree. What has that got to do with social Darwinism in any case?

You seem to neglect the famous "Enclosure Movement" which went on in England from the eighteenth to early nineteenth century. Because of the menace of itinerant herdsmen, the English launched a social and political movement to get parliament to pass a legislation banning such backward practices. They were so successful to the extent that in English law, if a sheep or cow wanders into your property it becomes ipso facto yours. In fact some economic historians would argue that the Enclosure Movement contributed to the industrial revolution in England, because it solidified the concept of personal legal property and land ownership, which defined boundaries and made it possible for artisanal industries to be developed. The Fulani own no land in Nigeria, as land ownership is an ancestral matter. Nobody's land is going to be given to them. If government wants to do so it should enter into negotiations with communities who are prepared to sell such land to them. But these must be private commercial negotiations.

But I agree with you on the general principles of subsidies for the farm sector. North America subsidises its farmers in various ways. The EU spends nearly 70 percent of its budget on farm subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We were fools to be persuaded by the IMF/WB not to have any subsidies at all for our peasant farmers. We need some form of subsidies. Problem is, to what extent can we afford it?? Nigeria is a poor developing country. We have all sorts of competing needs, all of them equally valid. We need some form of commercially sensitive subsidies for agricultural inputs such as pesticides, herbicides, credit, sprinklers, tractors etc. They must be clear and transparent and universal in application, not some political gimmicks to favour some group at the expense of the others.

Another problem is the bona fides of some of the so-called Fulanis. Lest I am misquoted as usual, I did not say all, but SOME. Some of these Fulanis, are they really Nigerians? Recently the Government of Ghana turned back over 50,000 Fulani herdsmen and their families who had suddenly entered Ghana territory, which I considered to be a bold and courageous act. The government simply turned them back, warning that Ghana would not entertain the kinds of atrocities these people are committing in Nigeria. Some of the Fulanis who infiltrate our boundaries and cause such havoc to our people are not even Nigerians. The ECOWAS Protocol on the movement of persons specifies that you are allowed right of stay for 3 months. Anything beyond that requires a whole series of consular formalities that must be fulfilled according to existing law. In northern Nigeria there has been an insidious population war based on religion. If anyone suddenly crosses the border, so long as they are Muslims, they become Nigerians overnight. Niger is probably the fastest growing nation on earth. The dream of most Nigerien youths is to move to Nigeria. They desperately want to take leave of their desert wasteland and they envy our green and pleasant land.  I suspect their are millions of settlers in northern Nigeria from Chad, Mali, Niger and others who have become automatic Nigerians in that regard. The idea is to swell the numbers of the core north for political and religious hegemonic reasons. And their main target is to terrorise and eventually depopulate the Middle Belt. They have turned the beautiful near-temperate Jos of my childhood and youth into a wasteland. When aliens infiltrate your community carrying sophisticated weaponry, leaving havoc on their trail, they are stricto sensu enemies in the sense understood by the German political and legal philosopher Carl Schmitt. And they must be treated as such.

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Allow me to clap for this beautiful piece from Obadiah Mailafia.

toyin

[kenneth harrow]

hi toyin
the enclosure movement led wealthy landowners to fence off common lands used by the peasantry to graze their animals. they became so impoverished they left for the cities, in massive numbers, driven off by wealthy nobles or landowners.
it was not a pretty picture. the displaced peasants were forced to accept labor conditions in the newly formed factories in cities, living under the worst conditions in england since the middle ages...enabling the industrial revolution to get a start, and to legitimize its exploitation of the labor of the poorest.

other than that, it was great.
ken

-- 
kenneth w. harrow 
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
har...@msu.edu

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Dear Obadiah Mailafia,
While attempt by a leper to clap hands might be amusing, I wish to register my protest against you for scornfully labelling me a Professor as if it is your belief that only titled professors should participate in debates on this forum.
 
Concerning your query about what Social Darwinism has to do about the criticism of the Federal government, by Oluwatoyin Adepoju, for planning to provide grazing grounds (ranches) for Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria, it is very clear to me that he believes in the survival of the fittest as propagated by Charles Darwin. In his view, the federal government is wrong in providing grazing grounds for Fulani herdsmen since no government provides shops for Igbo spareparts' traders. Even though I am not a professor my innate intelligence tells me that one cannot keep cows in a seven square metres' room as Igbo vehicle spareparts' traders do in Nigeria. You failed to observe that I likened the provision of grazing grounds for Fulani herdsmen as necessary subsidy compared to subsidies to farmers in Europe and USA where no subsidies are paid to motor vehicle spareparts traders.

 

Pretending to understand me as if I had advocated for indiscriminate and unhindered freedom of Fulani herdsmen to graze their cattle anywhere in Nigeria, you studiously referenced England's 'Enclosure Movement' of the eighteenth to early nineteenth century. According to you, "They (the Movement) were so successful to the extent that in English law, if a sheep or a cow wanders into your property it becomes ipso facto yours." The action of nobles and barons in England in confiscating community owned land into their personal properties and the expropriation of animals from the peasants that actually worked on the land was a crime that no genuine human being should applaud. England's Enclosure Movement had nothing to do with nomadic grazing of cattle but a ploy by the English Barons and Nobles to steal land and animals from peasants.

 

I am aware of several clashes between Fulani herdsmen and crop farmers which of course should not occur in a developed and organised society where cattle breeding and rearing are kept in ranches. But Nigeria, as Fela sang in *Upside-Down* is everything disorganised and citizens, for examples, are forced to get electricity through individual private generator and water through privately owned bore hole. In that cannibalistic economy, import wavers and foreign exchange are issued to the strong and influential few to purchase those commodities from abroad. Nigerians eat meat everyday and the source of supplies are Fulani herdsmen. In the good olden days a Fulani herdsman would lead his cow, hundreds of miles, and armed only with a rod to cudgel a cow into following the row. Nowadays, as rural banditry produced kidnappers for ransoms, Fulani herdsmen have been menaced by what is known as Cattle Rustlers which is why Fulani herdsmen now arm themselves with AK-47 gun instead of rod. If the proposed ranches for Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria is implemented, it would be difficult for non-Nigerian Fulani to intrude into Nigeria with their herds of cattle since freedom of grazing anywhere and anyhow no longer obtains.

S.Kadiri    

 

  
 

---

Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:17:42 +0000

[Zacharys]

Salimonu Kadiri, 

Kindly avoid seeing scorn in the way Obadiah addressed you. I wonder why you saw scorn there but refused to see the scorn in your point that cattle/ cows cannot be kept in a seven square meter room as a vehicle spare parts trader will comfortably do. That statement is certainly more scornful and mischievous. Added to the social Darwinism bit, the statement  is also a high level attempt to obscure the issues at stake. The point that should be clear is that, cattle breeding is big business. If the Ibo is paying heavily for his seven square meter spare parts room, how will you explain states and communities to turn  hundreds of thousands of hectares to the Fulani as grazing reserves and cattle routes free of charge? Does it not make sense that these herders buy  land for ranches and settle their cows?  Owners of cows in Nigeria are not peasants, that is one reason why they can afford sophisticated weapons for those who look after their cows and can retain the services of a standing militia that can be mobilized at short notice against whole communities. That is one reason why they can look an Inspector General of Police  in the  face and say they slaughtered hundreds of farmers because of lost cows and nothing will happen to them. In refusing to applaud the enclosure movement in England, because it was a crime , I hear you saying the slaughter of children, women and the rape and destruction of whole villages by Fulani bandits is worth applauding because the Fulani have been menaced. Their activities are not criminal. Kadiri, we have to be honest in this matter, as one philosopher said, we must go for useful answers instead of simple answers. Now Fulani herders deliberately herd their livestock into people's farms. They do it because they are armed and can shoot any farmer resisting them. Does it not make sense to you that if we have our own enclosure policy, these herders will think twice before allowing their livestock to enter into others farms? If the truth were to be told, our population is increasing yet our boundaries are fixed. If we put Nigerian population at 167 million, it will translate to 0.3 hectares of arable land per citizen. At an annual growth rate of 2.5% the country's population will exceed 300 million by 2037 at which time the size of arable land will shrink to 0.161 hectares per citizen. We must all know this and appreciate the fact that indiscriminate herding of cattle within the country and across international borders is not sustainable. In fact, if the Fulani want to remain in business breeding cows, they must also be prepared to phase out the current sickly breed they keep. These cannot give us quality meat and  other dairy products. Talking of subsidies, it makes more sense to support the Fulani to replace their cows with better breeds than to force states and communities to indulge them with land for indiscriminate grazing across the country. 

As pointed out by others, Buhari is life patron of these herdsmen. During his PTF years, he designed a template of grazing reserves and stock routes across the country. His body language   and attempt to revive this template today is capable of escalating and emboldening his kinsmen. Notice how the vocabulary around the murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen suddenly changed to cattle rustling when Buhari came into power. Notice also how some Northern Governors quickly organized to get his immediate support to deal with cattle rustlers in the forests of Northern Nigeria. Notice the sad silence of these Governors in the slaughter of children and women in Central Nigeria by these Fulani bandits. Again, we are forced by this action of the Governors to appreciate sadly that in Nigeria, the Fulani cow is privileged over and above human life. What a country. What a people. What leaders.

Zacharys Anger Gundu

Department of Archaeology

Ahmadu Bello University,

Zaria.

Sent from my iPad

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Zachary,

God bless you forever.

How can a human being who claims to be making a rational argument, reduce the pogroms committed by the Fulani militia  in the North Central and their campaign of terror- murder, rape and armed robbery- across Nigeria, a culture of conquest that has led to their recognition as one of the deadliest terror groups in the world,  to the claim that they carry weapons bcs people steal their cattle?

Loyalty to what values can motivate a person to such inhuman behavior?

With the level of evil human beings demonstrate, we dont need the devil to explain the existence of evil, as some schools of thought believe.

Or does the devil or the devil's influence exist in the human being, as a school of thought holds?

While some may see this response of mine as demonizing a fellow human being, one must ask what can be more evil than tacitly justifying murder, and mass murder, a campaign of mass murder on a large scale, a systematic process of massacre of entire communities, including children, women and the elderly, and stealing their land?

Is it not in not being alert to such manifestations of the ultimate nullification of the value of human existence that the horrors that at times shape human existence thrive?

I place a lot of value in discussions like this one bcs they contribute to shaping public perception which in turn influences  politicians' assessment of what they can or cannot do.

Thanks again, Zachary.

toyin

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Zacharys Anger Gundu,
 
I am yet to be informed by the moderator that only Professors are qualified to contribute to debates on this forum. Premised on lack of information to that effect, I consider it scornful to address me as a Professor when I have never claimed to be, or introduced myself as one and, above all, the subject under discussion does not require the expertise of Professors. When mythologists who claim to be experts in listening to the voice of demons and understanding their language advance pedestrian logic and reason that investing in cow breeding is the same as investing in vehicle spareparts trading, it is appropriate to draw their attention to the obvious fact that the volume of space required for cow breeding is much more larger than that of vehicle spareparts trader. Therefore, it is not scornful, as you wrongly believe, to state that cows/cattle cannot be kept in a 7 m² room as one will do with vehicle spareparts.
 
You queried, "If the Ibo is paying heavily for his seven square metres spare parts room, how will you explain states and communities to turn hundreds of thousands of hectares to the Fulani as grazing reserves and cattle routes free of charge? Does it not make sense that these herders buy land for ranches and settle their cows?" To begin with, the vehicle spareparts sellers depend on Nigeria's foreign earnings, that belong to all Nigerians, to import the spareparts that are not produced in Nigeria. Through the corrupt system that operates in Nigeria, the spareparts importers even get waivers from the minister of finance. Nigeria's foreign exchange should be used by the government to import essential goods for the use of all Nigerians and not to empower and enrich individuals. So, if the Igbo is paying heavily for his 7m² spareparts room, it is because he has heavily been subsidised through foreign exchange allocations and grant of waiver. About 30,000 cows are slaughtered daily to water the mouth of meat loving Nigerian consumers, thanks to the hard-working Fulani herders who breed and nurture their cows locally and save Nigeria from spending her foreign earnings on importation of meat.
 
Your second question with regards to if it does not make sense that Fulani herders buy land for ranches and settle their cows is related to your third question in which you asked, "Does it not make sense to you that if we have enclosure policy, these herders will think twice before allowing their livestocks to enter into others farms?" I am answering the two questions simultaneously. Land, just like the rain that falls in the sky, the sun that shines and the air we breath, in the geographical space of Nigeria, is a gift of nature to all Nigerians and not an individual property. This is confirmed when you wrote, "If we put Nigerian population at 167 million, it will translate to 0.3 hectares of arable land per citizen." Going by that assertion of yours, every Nigerian today is entitled to a 3,000 m² of arable land if it is shared evenly among all Nigerians. You cannot confiscate Fulani herdsmen's portion of arable land and turn around to demand that they should buy back the same land to settle their cows? As long as Fulani herdsmen are Nigerians, their shares of 3,000 m² of arable land in Nigeria should be allotted to them for ranching or for any other purpose at their discretions. It does not make sense to compel Fulani herders to buy what belongs to them. It is on this ground that the Federal government would be doing justice by providing ranches for Fulani herders so as to end their nomadic and involuntary encroachment on farmers' plantations around the country, with their cattle. Give first 3,000m² arable land to all Nigerians and thereafter make law for enclosure if necessary.

 

For many years now, there had been clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria but the violence has never been as severe as in recent times. Former Senate President, David Mark, visited Agatu to personally evaluate the gravity of the situation. He reported that ten communities were raced down while no fewer than 500 lives were lost. On Wednesday, 9 March 2016, the Senate debated Agatu massacre which it blamed on overpowered Boko Haram insurgents and not Fulani herdsmen. How are we sure that the Agatu massacre was not perpetrated by organised criminals? In Agatu, no Fulani herders as well as dead or living cows were seen in the vicinity. An impartial observer will never fail to observe that, at most, four Fulani herders would guide a flock of about one-hundred cows with one of them carrying gun. It is therefore unthinkable that four Fulani herdsmen with one of them carrying gun would be capable of perpetrating Agatu massacre. It is even worrisome when mudslingers portraying self as sound analysts assert that Fulani herdsmen are used to abandoning their cattle to rape women and engage in armed robberies. I am not a Fulani but I know that they are human beings just like all other Nigerians. There are criminals in all the ethnic groups in Nigeria including the Fulani. However, if I were to judge Fulani herdsmen as a group, they are hard working people whose services to the Nigerian society should be rated necessary and higher than vehicle spareparts and bleach cream traders.

S. Kadiri 
 

---

Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2016 04:19:31 +0000

[Obadiah Mailafia]

Mr. Kadiri,

1) My profound apologies for the heinous crime of addressing you as "Professor". In such forums, when I do not know much about someone, I have to play it safe by addressing them with a generic such as "Professor". It's something I learned from the Americans. They can call an untenured adjunct assistant "Professor". It's only when you dig into the nitty-gritty that you get to know who's who. For playing safe, obviously I caused offence. Ma binu o!

2) No, people are so funny! In feudal Europe, dastardly things did happen. Even the most progressive reforms, as Marx would tell us, had hidden within them the collective self-interests of the ruling class. But it is odd to dismiss most such reforms for that singular reason. This is the first time I am hearing -- and I am a student of Europe who is fluent in French, with passable German, French, Spanish and even Arabic -- that the Enclosure Movement was nothing but a bloody sport orchestrated by the feudal lords to take over the sheep and cattle of the poor. I thought I was discussing with my peers, not some God-forsaken recruit.

3) As far as I can see, all your "arguments" and non-sequiturs amount to a defence of the Fulanis and their atrocities in the Middle Belt. A dear Igbo friend laughed in my face and declared that it is payback time for the Middle Belters who supported the northern oligarchy during the Biafra civil war. That is one view. As a social Darwinist you clearly want the killings of unarmed defenceless peasants in the Middle Belt to continue. I hope you can leave with your conscience.

4) Herewith a website, Gurara Forum, which you may wish to peruse. I am sorry the pictures should not be looked at during dinner time:

http://www.guraraforum.org/gallery/

5) Gurara Forum is made up of very young people -- most of them poor students -- who have decided to come together to monitor atrocities against my people in Southern Kaduna. I hail from Sanga LG of Kaduna State and the pictures you see are those of killings of my own Sanga people. Some of those bodies you see are those of my own direct relations. It makes me very, very angry indeed. I sent this link to someone who thinks like you do and they accused me of blackmail. We are being whipped and we are not being allowed to cry. The latest news: Senator David Mark went to Agatu to view the site of the tragedy. The Fulanis opened fire on his entourage and it was a miracle they escaped. Can you believe it? People being treated like this on their own land? A few yeaers ago I was decorated with a high chieftaincy title as an Agabaidu of Idoma Land in the palace of the Ochi Idoma himself. I solemnly promised that I would uphold and protect the interests of all the Idoma people. To all intents and purposes, I am also an Idoma citizen. Whatever affects the Idoma people affects me also.

6) At the end of the day, we are intellectuals. We harbour no personal animus for Islam, Fulanis or anyone else. God forbid! But believe you me, we are sworn enemies to all fascists and murderers. We will resist them forever.

7) I thank you for nothing.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Agabaidu Mailafia,
 
In Latin countries and France the word professor depicts a teacher which is not a big deal. Nigerians are titles sick and as you know, Arabs and other Muslim world (outside Africa) never have the epithet Alhaji/Alhaja before their names as Nigerians do. Here in Nigeria we have, Alhaji, Alhaja, Reverend, Bishop, Pastor, Chief, Engineer, Barrister, Doctor and Professor attached to our names to show off in the society. It is tragic that the enormous populations of highly titled and educated people in Nigeria have not resulted into industrial and economic developments. Big educational titles amount to nothing but ego boosting chauvinism. Since the educated elites never work for collective-progress but self-progress, they always incite the uneducated masses into violence against one another on ethno-religious basis. 

 

With regards to your romantic views on Enclosure Movement in item 2, I do not think that the five grades of the British nobility, Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron were created just for  funs, but for special purpose of oppressing and exploiting the underprivileged. The speech of D. Giddy, the President of Royal Society (1767-1839), in the House of Commons referred to by J.L. Hammond and Barbara Hammond, shed light on the intention of the ruling class that opposed giving education to the poor thus, "Giving education to the labouring classes would teach them to despise their lot in life, instead of making them good servants in agriculture, and other laborious employments to which their rank in society had destined them; instead of teaching them subordination, it would render them factious and refractory, ... it would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books, ...it would render them insolent to their superiors ... (p. 57, The Town Labourer (1760 -1832) The New Civilisation By J.L. Hammond and Barbara Hammond)." 

 

I wonder from where you got the idea that I am defending "Fulanis and their atrocities in the Middle-Belt," as asserted in your item 3. Are we not discussing about Fulani Herdsmen? To the best of my knowledge not all Fulanis are herdsmen. If there are hostilities between non-herdsmen Fulanis, Fulani herdsmen should not be blamed for the atrocities of other Fulanis that are not herdsmen. The converging point in our discussion is whether it is good or not for the federal government to provide grazing grounds for Fulani herdsmen in order to prevent clashes, not only in the Middle Belt but throughout Nigeria, between Fulani herdsmen and farmers whose farmlands are regularly encroached upon by Fulani driven cattle. As it has not been proved that the Agatu killings were perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen, it would be unjust to attribute the dastardly act to them. 

 

Concerning your laughing Igbo friend and his utterance over payback for Middle-Belt's support for the northern oligarchy during the Nigerian civil war, I regret to remark that both of you are ahistorical ethnic mandarins. Middle-Belter soldiers that constituted over 80% of the infantries in Nigeria  spearheaded July 29, 1966 coup that killed Aguiyi Ironsi and wiped out most Army officers of Igbo stock in the North, Lagos and West. Due to the domination of the Middle-Belters in the Infantry Battalions, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon, who was junior in rank to Brigadier Ogundipe and Colonel Adebayo was imposed on Nigeria as Head of State even above other Lieutenant Colonels such as Bassey, Nwawo, Imo, Kurubo, Effiong, Njoku, Ojukwu and Ejoor, who by dates of enlistment in the army and promotions were senior to Gowon. The 4th Battalion in Ibadan which was dominated by Middle Belt NCOs were said to have been incensed by the killing of their Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Abogo Largema, in the January 1966 coup and therefore rampaged outside the military barrack in Ibadan hunting down any Igbo they could identify. Beside Largema, another Middle -Belter killed in January 1966 was the Adjutant General, Lieutenant Colonel James Yakubu Pam. The troops in Ibadan were transferred at the end of August 1966 to the North where they intercepted trains ferrying Igbos from the North to the East at Makurdi and slayed them in September 1966, a factor that led Ojukwu to declare his Republic of Biafra. Gowon, a Middle-Belter, and not the Northern Oligarchy declared war on the secessionist and the rest of Nigeria supported him.

 

Much as I condemn the killings in Sanga, Southern Kaduna, I am not convinced that Fulani herdsmen are capable of wrecking such havoc on a community. To get at the core of the problem, we should stop sloganeering. Which Fulani herdsmen would abandon his cattle to go to a desolated and abandoned Agatu to shoot at the inspecting Senator Mark and his entourage. What would a Fulani herdsman achieve by such action? Are you not possibly blaming the crime of some Fulani politicians on Fulani herdsmen? Finally, I am aware that Fulani herdsmen and farmers throughout Nigeria have had violent clashes because the former had driven their herds to eat up the former's crops and plants. It is on this ground that I applaud the Federal government for proposing to eliminate this violent clashes by allotting grazing ground to Fulani herdsmen. That should not be conflated with supporting murderers be they Fulani or any other groups in Nigeria.

S.Kadiri   
 

---

Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2016 07:22:20 +0100

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Agatu Killings_2016.doc

From: obmai...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Apologies if this has been posted earlier.

Google stated the attachments in the earlier post were too large

Manufactured Logic

Manufactured logic involves creating a form of reality that exists purely in one's imagination, making claims for such purely imaginative thinking as binding on other human beings.

Salimonu's claim in his last post that the land of Nigeria belongs equally to all Nigerians is such an example of manufactured logic.

Not only has that purely imaginary thinking no place in any law of Nigeria or of any part of the world, it has no reflection in any Nigerian customs as these cut across all aspects of life in Nigeria from earliest times to the present.

There exists no where in Nigeria where land is understood to belong equally to all Nigerians, making it possible for the govt to allocate land from anywhere to anybody.

Beyond the basic legality of land as an ancestral and economic resource   defined by  ancestral and economic bonds, Nigerian political identity is rooted in ethnic history.

Fulani militia terrorism builds on that ethnic politics.

The only ethnic group in Nigeria that invades the territory of others is the Fulani.

This possibility emerges from the tacit support of Fulani elite who are the patrons of this militia, of whom Muhammadu Buhari is the most prominent.

So, as the Fulani terrorists build on support from their patrons, almost all of whom who remain silent as they carry out a nation wide campaign of murder, rape, massacre and land theft, in a country in which one cannot become governor of a state if one does not have genetic roots in that state, a situation amplified by the dehumanizations to which non- Northerners and Christians are subjected in the Muslim North as demonstrated  by the recurrent  pogroms in that region, we should be spared the absolute  hypocrisy  of claims to land of other Nigerians for the terrorist group the Fulani militia are.

Self Delusional Fictions

Self delusional fictions consist of struggling to wish away facts that are empirically evident to everybody, trying to substitute one's wishes for such facts.

The Agatu massacre carried out by the Fulani herdsmen militia has been admitted by them.

"Agatu People Triggered Crisis by Killing 10,000 of Our Cattle – Fulani Community Leader" ( March 3, 2016, Premium Times)

They claim they killed 300 or more human beings bcs these people had killed thousands  of their cattle.

People asked, how could these village communities kill thousands of cattle?

How inane is it to justify a pogrom in the name of a spurious case of revenge for the killing of animals?

The fact that the Agatu massacre was carried out by the Fulani miltia has been certified by law enforcement agents who have reported  the fact of the Fulani invasion of the  Agatu communities, these herdsmen terrorists covering the space with their herds of cattle  as the  terrorists wield  sophisticated weapons :

"5,000 Cows, Armed Herdsmen Occupying Agatu communities — CP"

March 1, 2016, Vanguard

Highlight:

MAKURDI—Benue State Police Commissioner, Paul Yakadi, yesterday, said over 5,000 cows accompanied by armed Fulani herdsmen were occupying part of Agatu local government area of the state, where about 300 lives were allegedly lost last week and 7,000 persons displaced.

Yakadi, who led a team of police officers to assess the besieged communities, confirmed that seven villages... had been completely deserted. He told newsmen ...“The worrisome renewed attack on the Agatu communities by Fulani herdsmen was as a result of the alarming influx of the herdsmen into the area through neighbouring towns of Naka in Gwer West local government area of Benue State, Loco and Doma of Nasarawa State, where cattle are made to swim across the water to Agatu. The Command, which was on an assessment tour of the area few days ago to identify areas that security needed to be beefed up, discovered Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated weapons with their cows numbering over 5,000."

This latest massacre builds upon  a systemic process of what is certainly ethnic cleansing and which might amount to genocide in the North Central, a process which is the apex of the Fulani herdsmen's militia  nation wide swathe of murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping  and property destruction, a bare faced negation of Nigeria's  sovereignty that has led various research groups, within and outside Nigeria to describe the Fulani militia  militia as one of the worlds deadliest terrorist groups.

The dateline of horror unfolds unrelentingly:

"8 Killed in Fresh Fulani Attack on Benue Villages"

Vanguard - ‎Mar 8, 2016‎

The attack came on the heels of the Agatu killings, where over 300 people were allegedly killed in over one week of sustained offensive on Agatu communities by suspected Fulani mercenaries.

According to a source, “it was a coordinated attack on the four villages by the well-armed herdsmen who stormed our villages in large numbers."


"Benue Farmers Seek End to Senseless Killings by Fulani Herdsmen"

Elombah.com  27 February 2016

"At least 145 persons in 25 villages have been reportedly killed in the last 72hours from those attacks which began on Wednesday night though to the early hours of Thursday. 

In a press statement, the Benue All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) President, Engr. Iornenge K. Adamu said the attacks had become unbearable and called for an end to the carnage which according to him could spell dire consequences for the state and nation if allowed to continue. 

"Benue state is the food basket of the nation.

“The victims of these attacks are predominantly farmers who more or less, are responsible for this appellation as they produce yams, cassava, soya beans, beniseed and other crops in large quantities to feed the state and its environs."

Fulani Terrorists in Abbi Community on February 9 Murdered 150 People and Decimated the Town

 February 9, 2016


"22 Killed and Others Injured As Fulani Herdsmen Sack Communities In Kogi"

Ginjaland. Nov 19, 2015


"How Fulani Herdsmen Kill, Rape Ogun Residents, Farmers"

Vanguard, October 2, 2015

Fulani Herdsmen Attack Traditional Ruler's Palace"

Naij.com 2015

"Barely 48 hours after Fulani herdsmen reportedly killed no fewer than 11 people in Berom in Barkin Ladi local government area of Plateau state, the armed bandits have attack the palace of a traditional ruler."


"Hundreds Displaced in Adamawa as Fulani Herdsmen Attack Two Communities"
2013

leading to the following assessment of this terror group:

"Global Terrorism Index: Nigerian Fulani Militants Mamed as Fourth Deadliest Terror Group in World"
The Independent [UK] 18 November 2015

Highlight:

"Only Boko Haram, Isis, and al-Shabab were deemed deadlier than the little-known militant group from West Africa"

BOGbadamosi

Wrong. They are the absolute deadliest Terrorist Group. Google their activities in the last couple of weeks in Nigeria and Ghana alone.

The Global Terrorism Index (2015)    "an attempt to systematically rank the nations of the world according to terrorist activity" by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP)   "an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank [ at the University of Maryland],dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and progress" provides the following summations on Fulani herdsmen militia terrorism.

These summations, which led the research group to rank the Fulani herdsmen militia as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world, pale beside the Agatu massacre of 300 and above in February 2016 , carried out by these terrorists :

"Groups of Fulani militants have used mainly machine guns and attacks on villages to assault and intimidate farmers."

p.45

"There have been reports of a link between Fulani militants and Biko Haram, particularly in regards to smuggling and organized crime."

p.24

"In addition to terrorist attacks, in 2014 Fulani militants were also engaged in non-state armed conflicts with groups from three different ethnic groups that resulted in 712 deaths. These conflicts were with groups from Eggon, Jukun and Tiv communities which are largely farming communities. Tensions between the Fulani and the other ethnic groups are over the use of land and there may also be religious elements to conflicts. Some communities, particularly among the Tiv, may also be largely Christian, adding a religious dimension to conflict with predominantly-Muslim Fulani groups."

p.46

"The death toll of the Fulani militants, also from Nigeria, jumped to 1,229 people compared to 63 in 2013."

p.40

No 10 on the Twenty Most Fatal Terrorist Attacks in 2014

Date : 05/04/2014

City : Galadima

Fatalities : 200

Group : Fulani militants

Description : Assailants opened fire on community leaders and residents that were meeting in Galadima village. At least 200 people were killed and an unknown number were injured in the attack.

p.12

Reinforcing the culture of deadly impunity resulting from the political backing they have as described by Ena Ofugura on the teleguiding of Fulani herdsmen miltia terrorism by Fulani elite who are their patrons as evident on the website of the group, these destroyers of Nigeria as a space where humans strive for a humane existence shot at the convoy of ex Senate President David Mark as he inspected the devastation at Agatu, on Friday, 10th March 2016.

"Governor Ortom of Benue State declared that Boko Haram’s terrorism was becoming a child’s play, compared to the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen...as “more Local Government Areas are being attacked on daily basis.”“As we speak, the Fulanis have started moving out of Agatu to other parts of the state..Logo, Tarka, Buruku, and Kwande [ are]  all under attack by the Fulani mercenaries. What we are witnessing today in Benue is more than what happened in the North-East [with Boko Haram],” he said.

"Fulani Gunmen Shoot at David Mark" Tribune, March 12, 2016

A report, that, in its summation of the horrors carried out by the terrorists in neighboring Taraba State is enough to make one cry:

"The state, over the years, has suffered from communal and inter-tribal crises but this latest onslaught by the Fulani “terrorists” that has lasted for over two years now has been described by many as the worst in the history of the state.

Since December 2013, armed Fulani men have been invading the state through the Nasarawa and Benue axis. They have killed more than 1,484 people in the state between December 2013 and June 2015, according to a report of the Nigeria Security Conflict and Analysis Network (NSCAN).

The report indicated that over 500,000 people have been forced out of their homes and made to take refuge in neighboring Benue State, even as over 2,400 others are living in camps in Bali and other areas across the state."

Yet a person who claims to speak as a human being among other humans struggles to deny ob behalf of these characters  of their years long national campaign of human degradation.

The claim reported for the Nigerian senate of  of the Agatu massacre as carried out  by Boko Haram "mixing  with Fulani herdsmen to cause havoc" makes little sense and exemplifies the fear or conspiracy of the Nigerian political elite in relation to frontal engagement with this crisis bcs not onkly is the attack consistent with the years long ethnic cleansing the Fulani miklitia has been carrying out in the North Central and the lower intensity but still fatal infractions in the South, with the herdsmen  promptly occupying Agatu with hundreds of their cows, even as they are heavily armed.

On what grounds, therefore, can anyone describe these herdsmen simply as Boko Haram operatives masquerading as Fulani herdsmen, as a senator from one of the affected states, Taraba, is described as doing?

There is clearly something very wrong at play, an effort to deny evident reality.

Bolaji Omitola's "Between Boko Haramand Fulani Herdsmen: Organised Crime and Insecurity in Nigeria" which concludes that complicity  between   Boko Haram elements  and  Fulani  herdsmen  and  other  terror  and  criminal  groups  can  account  for  the  intensity  and  recurrence  of  the  Fulani herdsmen  attacks  on  farmers  and  the  inability  of  the  security agencies to sustain a halt to the attacks" reinforces a picture emerging from the development of this crisis that Nigeria is at war on a national scale, from Boko Harm in the North East and Fulani herdsmen militia terrorists  in the North Central and Southern Nigeria.

BOGbadamosi

Wrong. They are the absolute deadliest Terrorist Group. Google their activities in the last couple of weeks in Nigeria and Ghana alone.

BOGbadamosi

Wrong. They are the absolute deadliest Terrorist Group. Google their activities in the last couple of weeks in Nigeria and Ghana alone.

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

It is bcs of such determined refusal to relate to reality that Nigeria refuses to adjust to 21st century reality.

Only a  certain fantastically deluded character of respondents known to me  outside the fold of the Fulani herdsmen and their ethnic affiliates  still hopes to convince others that the Middle Belt is not suffering an invasion by Fulani herdsmen, a group that has publicy claimed the Agatu massacres,claiming the massacres were committed  in vengeance for the killing of their cows.

These are the same characters some people are proposing allocating land to across the nation.

This culture of denial of reality is too influential in Nigeria-

'Much as I condemn the killings in Sanga, Southern Kaduna, I am not convinced that Fulani herdsmen are capable of wrecking such havoc on a community. To get at the core of the problem, we should stop sloganeering. Which Fulani herdsmen would abandon his cattle to go to a desolated and abandoned Agatu to shoot at the inspecting Senator Mark and his entourage. What would a Fulani herdsman achieve by such action? Are you not possibly blaming the crime of some Fulani politicians on Fulani herdsmen? Finally, I am aware that Fulani herdsmen and farmers throughout Nigeria have had violent clashes because the former had driven their herds to eat up the former's crops and plants. It is on this ground that I applaud the Federal government for proposing to eliminate this violent clashes by allotting grazing ground to Fulani herdsmen. That should not be conflated with supporting murderers be they Fulani or any other groups in Nigeria.'

This kind of thinking abounds in Nigerian govt.

it justifies why Nigerians should not have electricity

why Nigeria cannot refine most of its fuel

why the Nigerian educational system suffers from low expectations

etc etc

why

bcs the people who insist that what is wrong is the way things should be are the ones in control

i fear for that country

with all the education of its citizens, finding people ready to stand for unblemished truth in public space is difficult.

With the level of horror visited on the Middle Belt, is that not enough for the leadership from that region, governors, senators, local govt chairmen, to raise an alarm of international proportions?

Should Nigerians as a whole not demand an accounting?

Abacha was not operating at that level of murder before Soyinka went into exile canvassing agst Abacha abroad, but today the same Soyinka has long been bought and remains silent as the blood of innocents in the Middle Blelt and the SE  flows at the hands of his political allies.

NADECO existed only to protest the Abiola outrage by Abacha, and with their region pacified, they exist no more.

To your tents, O Israel.

A senator from Taraba state, hard hit by Fulani herdsmen terrorism,  is quoted as insisting that the terrorists  are Boko Haram operatives masquerading as Fulani herdsmen.

The governor of Benue state, however, also hard hit by the evil nomads,  insists  they are Fulani herdsmen  on a program of mass massacre and land  acquisition across the Middle Belt.

Ben Bruce, senator for Bayelsa outlines a plan for  phasing out nomadic husbandry but is silent on the escalating killing by the nomadic pastoralists.

To your tents, O Israel.

Supporters of the govt find it expedient to maintain silence.

Could religious affiliation be the central inspiration of the delusionist who struggles to absolve of their inhumanity  the Fulani herdsmen whose leadership has publicly claimed the Agatu massacre as revenge for the killing  of their cows ?

Is the amalgamation of the Muslim North and the South that created Nigeria not one of the most destructive acts in history?

The culture of repeated mass murder, of recurrent pogroms, of ideologically justified massacres, year after year, in riots since 1945 to the the present, in religious terrorism, in herdsmen terrorism, comes only from that region-the Muslim North.

Within the same nation, senators of various religious affiliations are described as voting to approve the culture of paedeophilia which Muslims insist on  retaining  from the example of Muhammed, in declaring that marriage at any age makes a female an adult.

Is there a nation?

No.

A geographical expression, a basket woven of leaking contradictions, a pit which light falls through, a hole through which human blood flows, a trough for pigs to feed fat at, a space where caricatures dance pretending to be human, a ball of darkness....

Can trees be sustained in poisoned soil?

Beautiful lights are shining on top of the tree

glowing cities are being built

but the roots are rotten....

toyin

[Salimonu Kadiri]

 The Nigerian 21st century realist has posted a Premium Times (Ng) publication in which one Ado Boderi who on Thursday, 3rd March 2016 claimed to be speaking on behalf of the Fulani Community in Agatu at a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase. Premium Times reported (obs: did not quote) Ado Boderi to have said that the precursor to Agatu killings was the killings of 10,000 Fulani cows and added that criminal elements from both sides escalated the crises despite the quick intervention of the governor (of Benue State). One Akpa Iduh, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of Agatu indigenes at the meeting with Solomon Arase was reported to have decried continuous and unprovoked attacks on his people by Fulani Mercenaries. If we consider the fact that not all Agatu indigenes are farmers and not all the Fulani resident there are herdsman, the crises in Agatu could not have been caused by disputes between Fulani herdsmen and Agatu indigenes. It is a crisis caused by competition for space of land between the Idomas who consider themselves as indigenes of Agatu and resident Fulanis as settlers. That is why Akpa Iduh was reported to have decried constant and unprovoked attacks on his Idoma people by Fulani Mercenaries and not Fulani Herdsmen. Since the purpose of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, was to investigate the cause of the massacres in Agatu and to bring the perpetrators to justice, the reported admission of Ado Boderi to the killings of humans in revenge for the killings of 10,000 Fulani's cows would have attracted immediate arrest of Ado Boderi. It should be noted that the federal government had deployed soldiers and police to Agatu on March 3, 2016, to restore peace.

 

The campaign to paint Fulani herdsmen as villains and devils in Nigeria was supported with posting of some online newspapers on this forum on March 14, 2016. From Vanguard online of March 1, 2016, we are told that Benue Commissioner of Police, Paul Yakadi had said that over 5,000 cows accompanied by armed Fulani herdsmen were occupying part of Agatu local government area of the state, where about 300 lives were allegedly lost last week and 7,000 persons displaced. It is remarkable that Benue Commissioner of Police could give estimate of number of cows but not the number of armed Fulani herdsmen that accompanied the cows. Why was the Police Commissioner powerless in combatting armed Fulani herdsmen that had committed murder and illegal occupation of properties of the murdered? The alleged occupation of part of Agatu by armed Fulani herdsmen with about 5,000 cows must have been temporary since the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, was in Agatu on March 3, 2016 and he did not see the alleged armed Fulani herdsmen occupants and Benue Commissioner of Police did not draw his attention to such either.

 

In the Tribune online posted by Fulani herdsmen basher, it was written that DAREDEVIL Fulani herdsmen, on Friday, 11 March 2016, shot at the convoy of former Senate President, David Mark, during his assessment tour of the destroyed Agatu Communities in Benue State. Tribune wrote further, "The former Senate President, however, escaped unhurt. ..//.. The convoy was at Akwu Community when some fleeing herdsmen sighted the convoy and shot at it, causing members of the lawmaker's convoy to scamper for safety. The security men attached to the convoy were ordered to remain calm and not to exchange fire. The former Senate President thereafter ordered that the convoy continue to move." If there were really fleeing herdsmen at Akwu, how many were they? Were the fleeing herdsmen in company of their herd of cows? If not, how did the journalist know that shooting fleeing persons were herdsmen? If the shooting herdsmen were in the company of their cows, how could they flee with their cows as the journalist would want readers to believe? Where were the Soldiers reported to have been redeployed from Enugu to Agatu to restore peace since March 3, 2016, when the former Senate President's convoy was shot at on Friday, 11 March 2016? Normally, security men are trained to protect the life of their principals and they never wait to take instruction from their principals to act whenever occasions warrant their actions. On the contrary, whenever occasion warrants it, the principals are obliged to follow the instructions of the security men when danger looms. Here we are being told that convoys scampering for safety had time to instruct security men not to return fire against assailants. It must be moonlight fable!! After the fictitious gun shots, the former Senate President ordered the convoy to move to other affected community. Coincidentally, I read Premium times online of 12 March 2016, that reported the visit of David Mark to Agatu communities thus, "Some of the villages visited by the former senate president and his team had been deserted and virtually turned into ghost towns. What is left of a hitherto boisterous Agatu communities of Aila, Akwu, Adagbo, Okokolo, Ugboju, Odugbeho, Ogbaulu and Obagbaji are the debris of the wreckage." Quoting a statement from the office of David Mark, the paper wrote, "Ten communities were raced down while no fewer than 500 lives have been lost to the recent hostilities." It should be noted that Akwu was second in the series of eight communities visited by Mark's convoy, despite the purported gunshot at his convoy. Neither the statement from Mr. Mark's office nor Premium Times reported of any gunshot against the convoy. Noteworthy is the increase in the estimated death casualties to 500 by David Mark on March 11, 2016, from estimated 300 by Benue State Commissioner of Police, Paul Yakadi, on March 1, 2016. 

 

In view of the above analyses, it is yet to be established that the Fulani herdsmen unleashed the violence that claimed many lives in Agatu. The mayhem in Agatu might have been perpetrated by Idoma and Fulani politicians vying for hegemony in the area and both sides using criminal elements to achieve their goals. We must know that not all the Fulani in Agatu are herdsmen and not all the Idoma in Agatu are farmers. However, since there had been clashes between nomadic Fulani herders and farmers all over Nigeria, I think the idea of creating grazing ground for Fulani herdsmen would eradicate the cause of clashes between the two professions that are so important for the wellbeing of all Nigerians. Some mythologists say that Fulani herdsmen are their fourth greatest terrorist on earth, I beg to disagree; the greatest terrorists on earth are weapon manufacturers and their merchants. It is wrong to allow emotions to overtake ones own logical reasoning.

S. Kadiri  
 

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Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2016 10:17:39 +0000

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Sorry, Salimonu.

Your efforts at revising reality only help to further demonstrate the culture of denial among some that is feeding the growing terrorism of Fulani herdsmen.

Your genocide supporting narrative also helps put in context the fundamental disjunction represented by Nigeria and why the nation is not likely to succeed but continue  to be marked by taking one step forward and two steps backwards.

 Fulani Herdsmen's Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing and Land Stealing Through Pogroms and Murder and Destruction Across Nigeria

I and others in this group have already provided a survey of the Fulani herdsmen's campiagn of ethnic cleansing and land stealing through pogroms in the North Central, as well as the destructive and muderrous culture they have demonstrated  for years across Nigeria .

I will distribute these summations  widely to help counter the efforts to spread these invaders among Nigerians, a volatile killing force that in effect represents a potential army of occupation.

They should be confined to their geographical localities so as to avert either another civil war, which might be slowly brewing at this rate or a conquest of territories beyond their pogroms in the North Central.

Using a Prosterous Lie in Justifying Genocide

The preposterus character of the clear lie by the leader of the Fulani herdsmen that the Agatu people killed 10,000 of their cows is summed up by  an eye witness at Agatu:

"It is simply inconceivable and logistically improbable to kill 10,000 cows without a major military operation utilizing rocked propelled grenades, attack helicopters etc. such a mass slaughter would take weeks and the skeletal remains of the cows would completely dot the landscape of Agatu and the stench would permeate the air."


Fulani Herdsmen Terrorism and Their Use of Mercenaries

 Vanguard

 March 4, 2016

Breaking: Why We Attacked Agatu – Fulani Herdsmen

'"Akpa Iduh who spoke on behalf of the Agatu people, said the Fulani were bent on taking over Agatu land hence their resort to recruiting mercenaries to wipe out his people."

Fulani Herdsmen's Use of Weapons as a Means of Intimidation as They Carry Out Criminal Acts

Daily Times

"Save Us from Fulani Herdsmen, Fed Poly Ado-Ekiti Cries Out"

At a pre-convocation press conference in Ado Ekiti on Friday, the Rector of the institution, Dr. Taiwo Akande stated :

“Our major headache is that of the menace of the Fulani cattle rearers that has been destructive to many of our demonstration farms and pilot plantations.

“They bring their animals to the campus environment and eat up every green thing in sight and if we challenge them, they will bring out guns and machetes”, she lamented.

“It is most painful to also disclose that some of the pilot farm projects, academic, research demonstration farms and recently established plantations on which we pinned our hope of future revenue enhancement have been destroyed one after the other by the Fulani herdsmen."

AIT

2 weeks ago

Cross River Traditional Rulers Cry Out Over Automatic Weapons Carried by Cattle Rearers

'The Council of Traditional Rulers in Cross River Central Senatorial district of the State have called on the state and federal government to help them over dangerous weapons carried by some cattle rearers use to threaten them when [faced by]  complain [ts] on illegal gracing of their farmlands.

Paramount Ruler of Yakkurr Local Government ObolOfemUbana made the call in Ikom during the central senatorial district meeting between the traditional rulers and the state political office holders in the Senatorial district.

He said Cattle Rearers are carrying automatic weapons which they used in threatening to kill their subjects when they complain of illegal grazing of their farmland. They called on Governor Ben Ayade, Federal government and security agencies to look into the matter.'

On Why the Fulani Herdsmen Terrorists Are Above the Law in Nigeria

Google the name "Ado Boderi" and you get at least 14,700 results (0.52 seconds).

All these hits, from various news organizations,  present his bold declaration as a representative of the Fulani herdsmen, that

'Agatu People Ignited Bloody Crisis By killing 10,000 Of Our Cattle, Says Fulani Community Leader'

Implications

"Since the purpose of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, was to investigate the cause of the massacres in Agatu and to bring the perpetrators to justice, the reported admission of Ado Boderi to the killings of humans in revenge for the killings of 10,000 Fulani's cows would have attracted immediate arrest of Ado Boderi."

Salimonu Kadiri

Why has Ado Boderi not been arrested?

All the facts of the meeting where he made his inhuman  assertion are clearly stated in the hundreds of news reports on the incident:

"A clearer picture of why Fulani herdsmen invaded Agatu local government area of Benue state emerged, Friday, at a stakeholders meeting organised by the Inspector General Of Police, IGP, Solomon Arase, when the leader of the herdsmen in the besieged community, Ardo Boderi, claimed that over 10,000 cattle were allegedly killed by people of the area.

The meeting held in Makurdi, the Benue state capital,

 had in attendance

top Benue State government functionaries,

chiefs and stakeholders from Agatu and Fulani leaders in both Benue and Nasarawa state

and was presided over by the IGP [ Inspector General of Police]."

How can a person make such an assertion, and in public, at a meeting with virtually the whole world in attendance?

Even more interesting, the person walks free.

Since the national ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Fulani and an owner of cows, affliation with whom is proudly  demonstrated on the website and Facebook page of the  apex organisation of the Fulani herdsmen, The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), states the Agatu massacre is purely an issue of

disagreemnents between communities

and therefore

not an issue requiring a criminal investigation

why would a representative of the Fulani herdsmen not be able to make a public proclamation of such evil magnitude in such a supposedly high powered gathering and get away with it?

Even in the face of such a chillingly fantastic  declaration, coming on the heels of the growing recognition of Fulani hdersmen militia as perhaps Nigeria's deadliest terror group, a recognition summed up by the Global Terrorism Index,what responses have we got from the Board of Trustees of the Fulani herdsmen's association?

A board composed of

His Eminence
Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Ill
The Sultan of Sokoto
Chairman of the Board of Trustee

His Royal Highness
AIhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II
The Emir of Kano
Member of Board of Trustee

His Royal Highness
AIhaji Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdapha
The Lamido of Adamawa
Member of Board of Trustee

His Royal Highness
Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman
The Emir of Katsina
Member of Board of Trustee

His Royal Highness
Aihaji (Dr) Shehu Idris Abubakar
The Emir of Zazzau
Member of Board of Trustee

                                                                                                                                                                 SILENCE

from the national ruler, Muhamadu Buhari, Fulani and cattle owner on the fanastic story of 10,000 cows


                                                                                                                                                                SILENCE

In the face of the ultimate barbarism represented by the preposterous character of that lie, from all these people, we get

                                                                                                                                                                SILENCE

What do we get in place of silence?

We get the IGP arguing that bcs the people the Fulani terrorrists killed were not taken to the police station, the publicly  quoted death toll is exaggerated.

We get the Minister of Agriculture arguing that the perpertrators  of the crime are not Nigerians.

We get an annoucement from the govt that in an era in which  foreign exchange is not to be provided for education abroad, in the face of the gross inadequacies of the nation's educational capacities,  even as the national leader keeps his children in schools abroad, that the govt will import grass to feed the cows of the Fulani herdsmen.

One does not need an oracle to make the message clear.

What is the message?

                                                                                            THE FULANI HERDSMEN TERRORISTS  ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OWNERS OF NIGERIA

Who are the owners of Nigeria?

                                                                                                                                         THE HAUSA/FULANI

What kind of ownership is this?

It is one in which

                                                                                                           YOU MASSACRE WHOLE COMMUNITIES AT WILL AND GET AWAY WITH IT

                                                                                                          YOU KILL PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY AT WILL AND GET AWAY WITH IT

                      

                                                                YOU INTIMIDATE, CAJOLE OR BRIBE THE REST OF THE COUNTRY INTO ACCEPTING YOUR WAY OF LIFE  EVEN THOUGH IT IS ANTHITETICAL  TO THEIRS

                                                            such as creating or sustaining a constitution stating  that a girl of any age becomes an adult once she is married, thus legalising paedophilia in the name of Islam

                                                                                                              such as quashing a bill for gender equality in Nigeria by describing it as un-Islamic

No amount of economic power and education is superior to human life.

Southern Nigeria is economically and educationally better off than the Muslim North, but its people and the largely Christian communities of the Middle Belt are laregly at the mercy of the culture of murder and violence that is a central feature of the Muslim North.

I know Muslims from the Muslim North whom I admire. But that region is a deadly region for Nigeria.

The other parts of Salinolu's summation are not worthy of my attention.

[Abdul Salau]

What is at stake is the future of the most populous Black country in the world. Using conflicts between nomads and farmer, as pretexts that will be used to launch a full scale war against the Nigerian state.  Some powerful forces within and outside of Nigeria have a design to destroy the Nigerian State.  We know the poor in Nigeria including Fulani have rampant poverty rates, who is funding and arming these Fulani militias ?  How are Fulani's able to kill 300 or 500 and no causalities within the ranks of these Fulani's? 

  

When it is said and done these internal collaborators will be consumed in their evil machinations they are constructing.  Remember collaborators in the slave trade  were also taken into slavery.  Northern emirs own cows so they are responsible for these killings. These are fallacious arguments for the weak minded.  Foreign funded NGOs like the Middle Belt Forum will be exposed soon as the enemy of the Nigerian state and people. The classical divide and rule strategy is being used to frustrate and undermine the unity of the Nigerian people.   Where are the police and armed forces sworn to protect the Nigerian people in Agatu and  Southern Kaduna and Plateau?

It is time for patriotic people to speak up and demand that security forces in Nigeria protect Nigerian people.  Nigerians must speak up about conflicts in their areas in a manner which informs and not to incite people to more violence.

[M Buba]

Dear Salimonu,

I salute your attempts at focusing on solutions to the herdsmen/farmers clashes around the country. However, comments by your detractors, who describe the Fulani as genocidal and marauding terrorists, bent on extending the frontiers of the jihad, in cahoots with the murderous and violent Hausa in the Muslim North, against both the Christian Middle Belt and 'better off' Southern Nigeiria, sound like sermons straight out of Trump Tower. 

These attacks wish to broaden the issue to the old north/south, Muslim/Christian divide, completely ignoring oil, agriculture and migration as forces of nature (ironically) keeping this country together. Civil wars are never good  for nations, and their capacity to cause lasting physical and psychological damage to citizens should not be undersestimated by this 'Trumpian' collation of unreliable Internet trolls. 

(This whole debate is probably never about Fulani/Agatu, but a call against Buhari and whatever he is believed to stand for.)

Once again, I salute you, Mr Kadiri:

Malami

Prof Malami Buba

Department of English Language & Linguistics

Sokoto State University

PMB 2134, Birnin-Kebbi Rd,

Sokoto, NIGERIA