FORTY FULANI FACTS MOST NIGERIANS DO NOT KNOW - Zackarys Gundu
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FORTY FULANI FACTS MOST NIGERIANS DO NOT KNOW - Zackarys Gundu
Prof. Zackarys Gundu happens to know more about the Fulani ethnic group because he has been exposed to them and their worldview throughout his life. He was a schoolmate with many of today’s Fulani aristocrats. More importantly, he studied history and anthropology as a professor of archeology at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Prof. Gundu’s insight about the Fulani is evidence-driven and thus is very difficult to contradict. But as he rightly asserted, the facts he shares regarding the Fulani may have been encountered by some before in incoherent and disjointed formats, which many Nigerians simply ignored or overlooked in the past.
But all is not well with Nigeria today, as was the case only a few years ago. The existential threat facing every Nigerian now is sudden death at the hands of the Fulani herdsmen militia. Miyetti Allah, which has President Buhari as its Life Patron, has coordinated the migration of the Fulani in the West African sub-region into Nigeria as a gambit to bolster the domination of the beef cattle business and politics in Africa’s largest economy. The migrating hordes, some of them coming from as faraway places as Guinea and Mali, now swarm the woods and farmlands of Southern Nigeria. Local vigilante clashes in the Western corridor have uncovered these non-Nigerian Fulani who are spearheading the herdsmen terror attacks and kidnappings for ransom in that part of the country.
Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio was the first to send a clarion call to Fulani across West Africa to converge for the conquest of Gobir (Sokoto) which was ruled by an Hausa king in 1804. The clarion call sent out by Miyetti Allah and the Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) is in the tradition of their great grandfather and the first Sultan of Sokoto. It is more important today than only a few years ago to know as much about the Fulani as humanly possible because history is poised to repeat itself soon. The Fulani history in Nigeria is that of conquest, occupation and eternal domination; nothing has changed in the past two hundred years. Another wave of invasion is about to be unleashed with the goal of conquest in mind.
The Fulani, in the eyes of many on the outside, seem to be coterminous with the Muslim faith. Is this really true? If so, it is essential to first understand how the Fulani see this religious faith from the perspective of their cultural group. This is the angle that someone of Prof. Gundu’s pedigree has taken in this revelatory compilation. Take time to digest and assimilate the nuggets of knowledge from the sage.
In summary, the Fulani see themselves as an exceptional group endowed with the capacity to impose their willpower over others. The group had thrived in its nomadic livelihood that revolves around pastoralism. The inevitability of violent territorial conflict has fashioned the Fulani culture for centuries. When the host ethnic nationalities were being taken on in isolation, it was easy for the Fulani aristocracy to exploit the lucrative beef cattle market in Nigeria without much popular complaints or resistance. Persistent bloodthirsty herdsmen terrorist tactics have now unified the indigenous nationalities in the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria in opposition to Fulani irridentism. A major showdown with the Fulani seems inevitable under the prevailing circumstances. Getting into the mind of the archetypal Fulani must be seen as the first order of business for whoever seek a decisive containment of Fulani irridentism in this sub-region.
To read the 40 Fulani Facts by Prof. Gundu, go to the LNC USA website homepage and scroll toward the bottom. Share widely with your social media contacts as usual.
Okenwa.
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