Fulani Herdsmen and the Yoruba: Exercise Caution

[Toyin Falola]

If I have rejected your posting in the last 24 hours, I have not done so because of disagreements with your opinions. A wise person must respect other people’s views. I just called one person in the middle of the night to exercise caution. Ideas do not mean that one is right. Indeed, anyone who thinks he is right in arguments is patently unwise. COVID-19 has also shown you that even in so-called objective disciplines like the sciences, they don’t know enough. COVID-19 has humiliated the West in a way that it was difficult to imagine in 2018. Trump has made a fool of democracy in a way that Museveni sees the evidence to justify his actions. See yourself as a seeker of knowledge, not as a wise enforcer of knowledge.

 

The rejection is because:

1. Accuracy of statements. I cannot confirm the authenticity of your repost—many photographs have been sent about the burning down of Sunday Igboho’s house. Check that it is true, as this kind of information has consequences.
2. Abuses on the Fulani. Any time you generalize concerning many subjects, you are no longer accurate. You cannot say, “All Fulani are criminals.” Where there are strong institutions and laws, anyone who makes that kind of statement must be sent to prison.
3. Reckless Provocation. You don’t want to wake up in the morning and see the killings of innocent Yoruba traders in Kano or innocent Igbo women in Maiduguri. What happens in one part of the country affects another. 

 

You need to excuse my language: Education is no longer a marker of wisdom in the Nigerian intellectual community. We acquire education and experience to make statements that show maturity. When you see anyone who abuses the other person in public that is not an educated person, that is a foolish person whose contributions should be ignored. Saying that “all Fulani are criminals,” as someone said in a post that I have rejected, is the height of arrogance.

TF

 

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

superb

''See yourself as a seeker of knowledge, not as a wise enforcer of knowledge. '' 

TF

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[Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM]

I learned in the course of my membership of this forum that even highly educated persons regard freedom of expression as absolute. 

-Chidi Anthony Opara(CAO)

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

Thanks Toyin for your principled gatekeeping

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

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[Dr. Oohay]

Succinct anti-dogmatism guide.


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