With a campaign of terror, with several innocent lives wasted, Fulanis are scheming to gain control of "grazing" lands across the entire Nigeria. That is the end game of their murderous campaign.
This "grazing" land campaign, disguised as accidental conflicts, is also similar to what Ibrahim Babangida did in Plateau state, giving migrant Hausa/Fulani land that belongs to native Beroms, etc, is causing violence in Plateau state today.
Read a few of the several accounts of this Fulani terror over several years. If this continues, it could snowball into unbridled violence across Nigeria.
It is worth noting that "president-elect," Mister Muhammadu Buhari, set to be sworn in as Nigeria's president tomorrow, is Fulani and, on recent occasion, drove these same hordes of Fulanis to South West Nigeria and threatened a sitting governor there!
Collins Ezebuihe.
PS: Please scroll down and read a few accounts I have pasted here.
|
|
|
Herdsmen
kill 100 in Benue
Our Reporter
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Herdsmen kill 100 in
Benue |
 advertisement
|
|
|
 
|
... Burn houses, farmlands
From ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi
No fewer than 100 persons were feared killed, while several houses and
farmlands were burnt in an early Sunday morning attack by suspected Fulani
herdsmen on four villages in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.
It was gathered that the gunmen invaded the area at about 4a.m. shooting
sporadically and killing many people at the refugee camps in Ukura, Gafa, Per
and Gusa villages.
Those killed in the operation, which lasted for more than five hours,
according to sources, included children, women and the aged, most of whom were
taking refuge in the affected communities after they had been displaced from
their ancestral homes during previous attacks.
Speaking in a telephone chat with Daily Sun yesterday, the Senior Special
Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Chief Joseph Anawah, an
indigene of the area confirmed the report, adding that the deceased victims had
been buried in a mass grave.
Anawah, who stated that some of the villagers were still missing at the time
of filing this report, revealed that some of the victims were burnt to death in
their sleep.
Condemning the brutal attack and massacre of his people in cold blood, the
governor's aide said the insurgents carried out the operation with sophisticated
weapons, including AK47 rifles, knives and spears, which they used in
slaughtering the peasant farmers. He said thousands of people had fled the
affected communities to neighbouring villages considered safer and called on
military authorities to investigate the attacks with a view to finding out why
soldiers, who were stationed in Logo could not intervene or arrest the
attackers.
Contacted, Commissioner of Police in the state, Hyacinth Dagala, who
confirmed the attack, said four persons were confirmed killed with several
houses destroyed. He denied that over 100 people were killed.
Dagala, who spoke with Daily Sun on telephone, said some policemen had been
drafted to Logo, adding that peace had returned to the affected areas.
|
- /
- Fulani Attackers Kill Another 30 In N'Central Plateau As Violence Escalates
Jonah Jang, Governor, Plateau State.
The onslaught in Plateau State monday continued fiercely, with at least another 30 persons killed, but this time, in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area in the Central senatorial zone of the state.
Soldiers had in an alleged reprisal on Saturday swooped on the Wadata, Kadarko and Kurmi villages in the southern senatorial zone of the state killing no fewer than 50.
The recent attacks on Barkin Ladi, suspected to have been carried out by Fulani herdsmen were on Vat and Zokupang villages of Foron district of the local government area.
Chairman of the Local government area, Dr. Emmanuel Lomang, while confirming the incident yesterday in Jos, said the suspected Fulani attackers stormed and killed 17 persons, including women, at Vat village and proceeded to kill another 13 in Zakupang village, both of Foron district of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area.
Lomang, who condemned the attacks, blamed the security agents for not protecting the people, decrying the incessant attacks on the locality in recent days, as he challenged the security agencies, particularly the Special Task Force (STF), to take their duties seriously.
The head of Kapwen village, a neighbouring village to Vat and Zakupang, Da Gwom Ishaku Pam, who said the incessant attacks on the area had caused them sleepless nights, also disclosed that a cleric working with the Church of Christ in Nation (COCIN), Pastor Luka Gwom, and a young lady, who was newly married, were also killed in the attack.
Efforts to contact the Media and Information Officer of the STF to speak on the attacks failed as he was not answering the calls put across to him.
Meanwhile, over 3,000 persons have been displaced after the Saturday invasion by the soldiers on the Wase communities in the southern part of the state.
House of Representative committee chairman on human right and member representing Langtan North/Langtan South federal constituency in the state, Hon Beni Lar, who hails from area, disclosed this in a statement issued on the havoc wreaked by the soldiers, and vehemently condemned the mayhem, which according to her, left over 50 persons dead in the wake of it.
While she lamented the wanton destruction of lives and property of the agrarian communities, Lar said the Nigerian government and the international community must note that there is a conspiracy against her Tarok people.
Lar also lamented that as the chairman, House committee on human right, it is an insult on her person that while she was in the fore front advocating for the right of every Nigerian in the world, Nigerian soldiers were busy attacking and killing her people.
She threatened to channel the ‘inhuman’ act to appropriate quarters, particularly, the United Nations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The lawmaker called on the relevant government agencies-NEMA, SEMA-to as a matter of urgency come to the aids of the displaced people with a view to bringing succour to the communities.
Follow us on twitter @SkytrendNews
Again, Fulani Herdsmen Kill Scores Of Locals In Southern Kaduna
Posted: Jun, 28 2014, 3:06PM
Gunmen operating in Southern Kaduna have killed 33 people in a village called Ambie and another 10 in Paa village. A security source told SaharaReporters that the killings took place in the late and early hours of Saturday.
The latest killings bring to about 200 the number of people killed since Monday in Sanga local government area in Kaduna State.
A community leader in the embattled area said there was a serious humanitarian crisis in the area. "More than 30, 000 people are camping in many public schools and police stations, and thousands are fleeing their villages to Nasarawa and Plateau states.
Sunday Ugah, a lawyer and member of the affected communities, made the disclosure.
Military authorities in the state confirmed the latest attack, but said they had not received full details of casualties.
The military said about 10 villages have been sacked by the armed bandits, while troops have been deployed to the area from Abuja, Nasarawa and nearby Plateau states in addition to mobile police officers.
Mr. Ugah said neither the state government nor agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had intervened
________________________________________
The cowardly silence of Nigerians in the face of these DAILY killings of INNOCENT Nigerians carried out by Hausa-Fulani elements is simply pathetic... and UNIQUE on Earth today.
Igboka
FULANI HERDSMEN AND CONDONED TERRORISM
BY TOLA ADENIYI
The Fulani cattle herdsmen are fast assuming the status of terrorists and the authorities that ought to have put them in check have continued to turn a blind eye. The unspeakable barbarism of these wandering hoodlums is highly intolerable and has no place in a civilized world.
Let us call a spade a spade. The Fulani cattle men who have wrecked and continued to wreck havoc all over Nigeria, especially in North Central, the South East, South-South and South West regions of the country must be checkmated before they plunge Nigeria into a full blown inter-ethnic war.
A friend, a renowned Professor of History and International Relations who also doubles as a veteran Diplomat, having served in more than two Grade One countries told me yesterday that the greatest threat to Nigeria’s corporate existence is not Boko Haram but the rampaging Fulani herdsmen! According to him, three major international Intelligence outfits have rated the terrorism of the Fulani herdsmen over and above Boko Haram and the horrifyingly and sophisticatedly armed Niger Delta Militants.
The horrendous villainy of the Fulani herdsmen lacks logic. Here are murderous group of men who hide under the shade of cattle tending to invade other people’s properties and top such thievery with wanton attacks on the farm owners. It simply does not make sense that a group of people, armed to the teeth, will trespass on other people’s legitimate source of livelihood, and after ruining the victim’s farm produce will go ahead to kill the victim!
This columnist has written over ten articles on the dastardly activities of the Fulani cattlemen, pleading with the Federal Government to take action, but all to no avail. Every now and again we are confronted with terrible news of the carnage caused by this lawless group on innocent farmers in South Western states, and in other regions already mentioned, and in most instances more than 100 lives are wasted by the cruelty of these unfeeling and conscienceless hoodlums.
Some uncharitable commentators have opined that the real reason why the Fulani herdsmen have continued to wax stronger is because most of the leadership members of the Security and law enforcement agents who are expected to curb the notoriety of the Fulani marauders are also of the same ethnic stock!
It is actually mind boggling that despite the visible horrors regularly inflicted on sections of the Nigerian populace by the lawless Fulani herdsmen, security agents appear to be condoning these horrors. I believe that if some of these Fulani herdsmen murderers have been arrested, tried, convicted and executed for the murders they committed, the obvious impunity these reckless men enjoy would have been eroded.
Nigeria cannot continue to ignore the serious damage the Fulani cattlemen are doing to her citizens and her international image.
Come to think of it! Is Nigeria the only country breeding and managing cattle? Are we the people of Nigeria the only human beings eating beef? Don’t other countries of the world have cattle, sheep and goats? Something must be seriously wrong with us and some of our outdated traditions and cultures. I spent months in Australia in 1991 and I can confirm that I did not see a single cow roaming the streets and yet Australia breeds about ten times the heads of cattle bred in Nigeria!
I am sick and tired of the silly argument that the Fulani are by nature a wandering and nomadic pastoral people. If the argument were to hold, how come the same Fulani ethnic group have produced some of the most brilliant men and women in the world? Dr Tahir, a former Minister, made a First class honours degree in one of the best universities overseas. Several friends of mine who are of the Fulani stock are amongst the best minds on earth. Why are they not Cyprian Ekwensi’s ‘sokugos’?
And in any case, even if any one was to raise and rear cattle, must such person trespass on other people’s property? Must they kill people whose crops their cattle had vandalised? Must such person or persons carry AK47 guns? Is AK47 the traditional stick for directing cattle!
As far back as 1983 when Engineer Dr Godwin Bakare introduced the Fodder Technology to Nigeria, and my personal foray into the business after visiting Spain in 1984 to meet with the masters of the technology, we have been making serious efforts to get the Governors of the 19 Northern Nigeria states interested in this miracle cure for the wandering Fulani cattlemen. With the Fodder, any amount of grass needed by cattle can be home grown. The Fulani herdsmen will not need to travel a yard out of their locality to feed their cattle.
The federal and state governments of the zones producing cattle should acquire large expanse of lands and erect fodder fields to cater for cattle and other domestic animals.
Grazing can now be done under a canopy!
I am sure that Agriculture experts will have several other options that the federal and state governments can explore to put an end to the dangerous wandering of the Fulani herdsmen.
It must be emphasised that the patience of many ethnic groups and geographical zones that have continued to bear the brunt of the Fulani herdsmen’s callousness is coming to an end. This notice must be taken seriously before the suffering villagers in Abakaliki, in some towns in Akwa Ibom and in many places in Plateau and Benue take up arms and resort to fighting back. No group of Nigerians have a monopoly of violence.
And let it not be said that the nefarious activities of the Fulani herdsmen are a part of a hidden agenda! As they say in Yoruba on the Bond FM, Koko Inu Iwe Iroyin programme, ‘if some one is being viciously beaten and a leader who is in position to stop the beating refuses to do so, it can be deduced that the leader is indirectly involved in the beating!’
Someone must take decisive action to stop the daring plunder which the Fulani herdsmen have continued to impose on the innocent victims whose farmlands they recklessly vandalise.
There is no place for Stone Age tradition in Nigeria. And there is no more space for reckless impunity. We are about to end political and economic/financial impunities. We must also end the Fulani herdsmen’s impunity.
Nigerian Security and Law Enforcement agencies must face the reality and accept that the Fulani herdsmen constitute a greater danger to Nigeria’s corporate existence than Boko Haram!
It is my prayer that the souls of the innocent men and women cruelly sent to their untimely graves by the Fulani cattlemen’s barbarity rest in peace.
And may it please Olodumare to give our leaders the wisdom and political will to put an end to the Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism.
abiodun KOMOLAFE, AMNIM,020, Okenisa Street,
PO Box 153,
Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State.
Tel:- +234 803 361 4419
+234 809 861 4418
Kaduna killings: Death toll rises to 66
Chairman of the Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Mr. Emmanuel Adamu, said on Wednesday that the death toll in the attacks on some villages in the council area had risen to 66.
A raid of two villages in the local government area by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Monday night left no fewer than 38 persons dead while scores sustained injuries.
Adamu said the number of dead casualties had risen to 66 by 6.00pm on Tuesday with 28 more persons dead.
The council chairman, who spoke in a statement on Wednesday, announced that a 24-hour curfew had been imposed in the area.
Adamu said the imposition of the curfew became necessary because of more killings and the rising tension in the area.
The attacks were carried out simultaneously in the villages of Ankpon in Nandu district and Kabamu in Fadan Karshi, both in the Numana district in the Sanga council area of the state.
Meanwhile, a Senator representing the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Sen. Nenadi Usman, on Wednesday condemned the killing in Sanga.
Usman described the killings in Nandu and Fadan Karshi as “unfortunate.”
The senator said the activities of the gunmen must be checked to forestall further carnage in the area and she called for immediate deployment of security operatives in the affected communities.
She said that all efforts to find a lasting peace in the area had been frustrated by the “senseless killings” of the people of Southern Kaduna, particularly the vulnerable women and children in the area.
While calling for calm, the senator urged the people of the area to make available useful information to security operatives to aid the arrest of those carrying out the dastardly act.
She said she would continue to do everything within her reach, including resolutions on the floor of the Senate, to find lasting solution to the killings in the southern part of the state.
Copyright PUNCH.
25 killed as Fulani herdsmen, Tiv youths clash in Benue
BY PETE DURU
MAKURDI—NO fewer than 25 persons were feared dead, Monday, in a fresh outbreak of heavy fighting between suspected fulani mercenaries and Tiv youths at Agasha and Yelwata, in Guma local government area of Benue State.
Vanguard gathered from an eyewitness that at the time of filing this report the mercenaries had sacked and taken over Tse-Gaa and Tse-Kpaegh, Kaambe district while fighting was still raging at Yelwata.
According to our source, the invaders who opened up two battle fronts in Guma this morning were matching towards the ancient town of Agasha but were being repelled by youths of the community.
“Several houses and farmland have been set ablaze by the herdsmen and many are fleeing the besieged communities.
“They stormed our communities in their hundreds early Monday morning, shooting sporadically and killing anything in sight, over 25 persons must have been killed on both sides; they took away two of our youths alive but many of our people are missing.
“They came into Agasha after crossing River Buruku at Ayila from neigbouring Nasarawa state; same for Yelwata which is also a border community.”
The Special Assistant to Governor Gabriel Suswam on Banking and Investment, Mr. Ayoosu Bem who hails from one of the invaded communities said youths of the area were putting up a resistance to the invaders.
Bem said, “the attackers came this morning and started killing and burning down houses; some of our people are missing while many are fleeing their homes.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Superintendent, SP, Daniel Ezeala confirmed the attack but said the command was yet to confirm the number of casualties adding that security personnel had been drafted to the affected communities.
- See more at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/03/25-killed-fulani-herdsmen-tiv-youths-clash-benue/#sthash.TmELkqmi.dpuf
 | |
 advertisement
| |
FULANI/JUKUN CLASH: Soldier, 50 others killed in Taraba  News  Thursday, April 17, 2014
No fewer than 50 people, including a soldier, were reportedly killed and several others injured in Wukari, the headquarters of Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State yesterday, following a bloody clash between the Fulani herdsmen and Jukuns in the area. Places of worships were among several buildings that were burnt by the belligerent groups. The crises reportedly started Tuesday at 10a.m. at Nwokyo village, near Wukari town, last week. It was said the situation escalated when the Jukuns, who went on a reprisal attack, lost seven of their members Tuesday evening. The Jukuns in Wukari were alleged to have been further infuriated when they saw the corpses of their men being conveyed to the Wukari General Hospital morgue at 4.30p.m. and started attacking suspected Fulani or Muslims in the area. Speaking with newsmen on the crises, the member representing Wukari I at the Taraba State House of Assembly, Ishaya Gani, said that his immediate elder brother was killed during the incident. He said that the incident was worse than last year's religious crises which led to the killing of over 200 people, pointing out that the victims would be given a mass burial later yesterday. Gani also blamed the acting governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar, for neglecting the security advices given him by stakeholders. He also revealed that a soldier was killed while two others were critically wounded, quoting the report he received from the Wukari. According to Gani, when some Fulani herdsmen from some neighbouring states started making life unbearable for the people of the area, he called on the acting governor to order the deployment of more security men at some strategic areas of Wukari council, but that Umar failed to listen to him.
|
Arewa Songs Of Conquest (1) By Yinka Odumakin
Arewa political artistes have been singing songs of captivity lately and not a few ears would have tingling especially among the greedy lot whose misplaced expectations have led into this quandary. But thank goodness for the Col. Dangiwa Umar of that region who sings redemption songs.
Among the former who see Nigeria basically as the northern soil and conquest from the south is Senator Saidu Dansadau.
His surname is from the Dansadau Emirate of Zamfara, the land of Sharia.He carries the typical aristocratic traits of many Fulanis,at least that was my impression when I entered his residence in Abuja in 2006 at the peak of the battle to stop Obasanjo’s evil agenda to change the constitution so he could have a third term in office.You cannot but want to give up on Nigeria when you see the same man as “navigator” carrying useless memos from some silly think-tank on the future of a country he nearly plunged into war over inordinate ambition.
Back to Dansadau.I was invited to some event in Abuja in 2006 at the Adamawa Governor’s lodge in Abuja by then Hon Sola Adeyeye (now a Senator) to gather more pressure against the third term gambit. Obasanjo’s deputy, Atiku Abubakar was part of the night’s event. We were about an hour into the meeting when security operatives stormed the place with an instruction to disperse the gathering.
The day after, Prof Adeyeye whom I spent the night with invited me to a meeting at Dansadau’s residence in Abuja.He was soft-spoken (as if they are trained in it) with the usual aloofness.
I did not see him again until the 2014 National Conference where we were both delegates. One of his major contributions at the conference was the call for the establishment of a Women and Children Islamic Commission to deal with the prevalence of divorce in northern Nigeria. He said men in the region were not compliant with Sharia when it comes to divorce as many kick out wives after eight children. He spoke about a gentleman who already had 78 divorces in his 50 years on earth.
But why I’m writing about him this week is his song of conquest that just went viral even before the inauguration of a northern president. It was a simple question to him on whether the APC South West demand for Speaker of the House of Representatives was just and fair. He said it was gluttonous after having the Vice-President as if there is no aspirant for the same position from the North West where the President comes from. I personally don’t give a damn how they share their spoils.
The bit that got my goat, however, were the further speaks that came from the abundance of his heart and I quote the former Zamfara Senator verbatim:
“Nigerians should take note of the voting trend since independence. In fact, since the 1950s, the North Central per se had never voted in the manner it did along with the other parts of the North as it did at this particular time. These are the kind of things we have been looking for, (for) a long time. Various initiatives have been put in place in order to see that northerners from wherever they are, from the 19 states, become one as far as voting is concerned. We are not saying 100 percent of northerners should be in one political party but that northerners should have one voice, they should decide and dictate the politics of Nigeria; like it has been before independence and even during the First Republic because of the numerical strength of the North.
“But of recent we became divided so we became so vulnerable. But God in His infinite wisdom and mercy used the goodwill of General Muhammadu Buhari and we have gotten the kind of unity that we have been yearning for, for so long. We have realised this dream now. So, now that we have achieved the unity we long for because of Buhari’s goodwill, it is only fair that we now make some efforts to consolidate these gains because General Buhari will not be the president for ever. So that after him, we have consolidated on this goodwill and we will be able to grow this unity, political cooperation, electoral cooperation from strength to strength so that the North will as much as possible dictate the political landscape of the country and what happens in Nigeria as it used to do. This is necessary because my fear is that not that Senator Ahmad Lawan is not qualified, he is very much qualified, but in third world countries where there are lots of crises and ethnicity and religions, you have to balance power in such a manner that every ethnic and religious group as much as possible will feel satisfied with the balancing of power. That is all we are saying.
“And for the North East, they really deserve the Speakership. There is no doubt going by their number and what they contributed to the success of the APC going by the candidates contesting for the position, they truly deserve a very important office in this dispensation. There is no doubt about that. But I feel no sacrifice is too much as far as the unity of this country is concerned. No sacrifice is too much as far as it concerns the growth and the continuity in power of the APC. So, in order not to take a decision that will make the strength of APC wane so quickly, I think regional groups and individuals should learn to make sacrifices.
“In fact, where I fault the leadership of the APC is why should the leadership do zoning in piecemeal? Why should they zone the Speakership to the South West? When you are taking that decision, why didn’t they take the entire zoning together? That was what the PDP did in the past and since it is good, the APC should emulate it. If any crisis arises as a result of the zoning I will blame the leadership of the APC. Why, because if they had sat down from the word go to zone all the positions, this problem wouldn’t have arisen.”
Only the naive and uninitiated would not be able to get his drift.
Senator Abraham Adesanya in his lifetime was fond of telling the story of two friends, the cock and the fox. The fox was relating with the cock with respect thinking that the comb on its head was a burning fire until the day the latter, driven by greed, asked the former to feel his head in exchange for a favour. The fox did and discovered that what it feared as fire was so cold and delicious. That was how the cock that was hitherto feared became a regular meal for the fox.
Arewa Songs Of Conquest (2), By Yinka Odumakin
Solomon in the Bible carried out all possible experiments on behalf of humanity and documented it all in the Book of Ecclesiastics. Those immovable truths have proved inviolable to date. In like manner, Prophet Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo who created ethnic pride for the Yoruba country carried out loads of experiments with the Nigeria project and like Solomon and documented his findings in his various publications.
Unfortunately the Yoruba political landscape of today is littered with men who have never read a book from Awo even when they are in love with his glasses without his vision and his cap covering brains they never engage in thought.
It is not that difficult for such men to remove the ancient landmarks which their fathers have set and thus become a plaything and song themes on the lips of Arewa children like the gentleman I quoted extensively last week.
The summary of all Awo findings is that a multi-ethnic Nigeria can only prosper with its constituent units living in peace and happiness if it was run along federal principles. That was what Awo fought for all his political life that denied him “power at the centre” but he remains at the centre of political discourse in Nigeria, 28 years after his transition to higher glory.
And within those years arose strange children in Yorubaland who, buoyed by unearned wealth, felt the Awo way was not for them. They chose the Akintola road and with their media power they blackmailed those who insisted on the Awo path. They were able to mobilize a generation of angry and disoriented youth who were totally bereft of knowledge to act against their own enlightened self-interest. Like bewitched Galatians, they confused their own desires for good governance with Arewa quest for CHANGE of baton. In a matter of weeks, Arewa spokesmen are making it clear that the March 28 removal of the virus that entered their power computer was the only common denominator and hangers-on should find their level.
What a tragedy of victory! The stiff-necked adventurers who uncritically assumed a day would come when Arewa would embrace power sharing are now doing what Yoruba call “aramora, iso kijipa”, like you are being whipped but you can’t afford to drop any tear. The children of Oduduwa who gave an identity and the formula to engage all nationalities with pride are now hovering like Almajiris in Abuja because they sacrifice their core values to play at their traducers’ area of strength. The gloom on their faces is worse than those of who lost elections. They are now busy tearing themselves into pieces jostling for who will be the senior in the slavery they have just sold themselves to. Like Fela Anikulapo Kuti around this time in 1984, “I just dey look and dey laugh”.
These folks lack any institutional memory to even understand the subtlety of those they are engaged in power game with. They are in a game whose rules of engagement they don’t have the faintest idea of. They didn’t know that the power of cash becomes immaterial when the key to the treasury is handed to those you thought you were funding. Some folks are so poor despite having tons of cash.
In 1962, Obafemi Awolowo in the course of the legislative sitting passed a note to the then Prime Minister of Nigeria, Tafawa Balewa. The content was “when can we see?”
The response was instant “why not now?” Pronto the Opposition Leader and the Prime Minister moved to his office and Awo stroked the frame of his glasses and looked straight into Balewa’s eyes, asking: “Mr PM, what is it I’m hearing about plans to impose emergency rule in Western Nigeria today?” Balewa laughed haughtily and said, “Come off it Chief Awolowo, how would you countenance such a wicked rumor? Do you not know how long a process it takes to do such a thing?”
Meeting ended and both men returned to the chambers. By the evening of that discussion, a state of emergency was declared in Western Nigeria.
FULANI HERDSMEN AND CONDONED TERRORISM
BY TOLA ADENIYI
The Fulani cattle herdsmen are fast assuming the status of terrorists and the authorities that ought to have put them in check have continued to turn a blind eye. The unspeakable barbarism of these wandering hoodlums is highly intolerable and has no place in a civilized world.
Let us call a spade a spade. The Fulani cattle men who have wrecked and continued to wreck havoc all over Nigeria, especially in North Central, the South East, South-South and South West regions of the country must be checkmated before they plunge Nigeria into a full blown inter-ethnic war.
A friend, a renowned Professor of History and International Relations who also doubles as a veteran Diplomat, having served in more than two Grade One countries told me yesterday that the greatest threat to Nigeria’s corporate existence is not Boko Haram but the rampaging Fulani herdsmen! According to him, three major international Intelligence outfits have rated the terrorism of the Fulani herdsmen over and above Boko Haram and the horrifyingly and sophisticatedly armed Niger Delta Militants.
The horrendous villainy of the Fulani herdsmen lacks logic. Here are murderous group of men who hide under the shade of cattle tending to invade other people’s properties and top such thievery with wanton attacks on the farm owners. It simply does not make sense that a group of people, armed to the teeth, will trespass on other people’s legitimate source of livelihood, and after ruining the victim’s farm produce will go ahead to kill the victim!
This columnist has written over ten articles on the dastardly activities of the Fulani cattlemen, pleading with the Federal Government to take action, but all to no avail. Every now and again we are confronted with terrible news of the carnage caused by this lawless group on innocent farmers in South Western states, and in other regions already mentioned, and in most instances more than 100 lives are wasted by the cruelty of these unfeeling and conscienceless hoodlums.
Some uncharitable commentators have opined that the real reason why the Fulani herdsmen have continued to wax stronger is because most of the leadership members of the Security and law enforcement agents who are expected to curb the notoriety of the Fulani marauders are also of the same ethnic stock!
It is actually mind boggling that despite the visible horrors regularly inflicted on sections of the Nigerian populace by the lawless Fulani herdsmen, security agents appear to be condoning these horrors. I believe that if some of these Fulani herdsmen murderers have been arrested, tried, convicted and executed for the murders they committed, the obvious impunity these reckless men enjoy would have been eroded.
Nigeria cannot continue to ignore the serious damage the Fulani cattlemen are doing to her citizens and her international image.
Come to think of it! Is Nigeria the only country breeding and managing cattle? Are we the people of Nigeria the only human beings eating beef? Don’t other countries of the world have cattle, sheep and goats? Something must be seriously wrong with us and some of our outdated traditions and cultures. I spent months in Australia in 1991 and I can confirm that I did not see a single cow roaming the streets and yet Australia breeds about ten times the heads of cattle bred in Nigeria!
I am sick and tired of the silly argument that the Fulani are by nature a wandering and nomadic pastoral people. If the argument were to hold, how come the same Fulani ethnic group have produced some of the most brilliant men and women in the world? Dr Tahir, a former Minister, made a First class honours degree in one of the best universities overseas. Several friends of mine who are of the Fulani stock are amongst the best minds on earth. Why are they not Cyprian Ekwensi’s ‘sokugos’?
And in any case, even if any one was to raise and rear cattle, must such person trespass on other people’s property? Must they kill people whose crops their cattle had vandalised? Must such person or persons carry AK47 guns? Is AK47 the traditional stick for directing cattle!
As far back as 1983 when Engineer Dr Godwin Bakare introduced the Fodder Technology to Nigeria, and my personal foray into the business after visiting Spain in 1984 to meet with the masters of the technology, we have been making serious efforts to get the Governors of the 19 Northern Nigeria states interested in this miracle cure for the wandering Fulani cattlemen. With the Fodder, any amount of grass needed by cattle can be home grown. The Fulani herdsmen will not need to travel a yard out of their locality to feed their cattle.
The federal and state governments of the zones producing cattle should acquire large expanse of lands and erect fodder fields to cater for cattle and other domestic animals.
Grazing can now be done under a canopy!
I am sure that Agriculture experts will have several other options that the federal and state governments can explore to put an end to the dangerous wandering of the Fulani herdsmen.
It must be emphasised that the patience of many ethnic groups and geographical zones that have continued to bear the brunt of the Fulani herdsmen’s callousness is coming to an end. This notice must be taken seriously before the suffering villagers in Abakaliki, in some towns in Akwa Ibom and in many places in Plateau and Benue take up arms and resort to fighting back. No group of Nigerians have a monopoly of violence.
And let it not be said that the nefarious activities of the Fulani herdsmen are a part of a hidden agenda! As they say in Yoruba on the Bond FM, Koko Inu Iwe Iroyin programme, ‘if some one is being viciously beaten and a leader who is in position to stop the beating refuses to do so, it can be deduced that the leader is indirectly involved in the beating!’
Someone must take decisive action to stop the daring plunder which the Fulani herdsmen have continued to impose on the innocent victims whose farmlands they recklessly vandalise.
There is no place for Stone Age tradition in Nigeria. And there is no more space for reckless impunity. We are about to end political and economic/financial impunities. We must also end the Fulani herdsmen’s impunity.
Nigerian Security and Law Enforcement agencies must face the reality and accept that the Fulani herdsmen constitute a greater danger to Nigeria’s corporate existence than Boko Haram!
It is my prayer that the souls of the innocent men and women cruelly sent to their untimely graves by the Fulani cattlemen’s barbarity rest in peace.
And may it please Olodumare to give our leaders the wisdom and political will to put an end to the Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism.
abiodun KOMOLAFE, AMNIM,020, Okenisa Street,
PO Box 153,
Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State.
Tel:- +234 803 361 4419
+234 809 861 4418
Alternative E-mail: ijebuijesa@gmail.
