Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
Just an aside. Social media must sometimes be social, sociable, here and there, a sense of humour, not that I crave your indulgence. I'm looking forward to our premier Nigerian political commentator Ayo Olukotun's next weighing in on what's going on in Nigeria.)
The first line of anti-war poet Wilfred Owen's most famous poem "Anthem for Doomed Youth " is
"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? "
That question could also be asked about the victims of the crass, criminal mass slaughter that is happening around the country. The death toll is mounting. When the mass slaughter is actually targeted killings of a specific ethnicity, religious identity, region, we're talking of genocide. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are reporting. The ICC is waiting.
In this imbroglio about Fulani Herdsmen, it is man and beast that's centre stage (perhaps a crude way of putting it when it's really "flesh and blood breaking down"). Islam being the way of life of the people that you consider to be your main antagonists in Nigeria - not necessarily because of their religion or cosmology, I should like to bring it to your attention that after the short ritual opening, al-Fatiha, the longest chapter in The Glorious Quran is Surah al Baqarah - The Cow! The sixth surah/ chapter of the Glorious Quran is Al-An'am - Cattle!
Here is what the Glorious Quran says about man and beast in Surah An-Nahl ayats 4-11
"He hath created man from a drop of fluid, yet behold! he is an open opponent.
And the cattle hath He created, whence ye have warm clothing and uses, and whereof ye eat; And wherein is beauty for you, when ye bring them home, and when ye take them out to pasture. And they bear your loads for you unto a land ye could not reach save with great trouble to yourselves. Lo! your Lord is Full of Pity, Merciful. And horses and mules and asses (hath He created) that ye may ride them, and for ornament. And He createth that which ye know not. And Allah's is the direction of the way, and some (roads) go not straight. And had He willed He would have led you all aright. He it is Who sendeth down water from the sky, whence ye have drink, and whence are trees on which ye send your beasts to pasture. Therewith He causeth crops to grow for you, and the olive and the date-palm and grapes and all kinds of fruit. Lo! herein is indeed a portent for people who reflect."
Although according to the your constitution, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is still a secular state, I think that when approaching your Muslim fellow citizens of Nigeria, higher than the Nigerian Constitution is the revealed word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so you could appeal to them through the ideas in the Glorious Quran, ideas that are the foundations of Islam, ideas with which they are in prior agreement.
The Glorious Quran exhorts the Believers to argue with courteous speech, not vileness, unwarranted arrogance and vituperation. Judaism espouses guidelines about lashon hara - and so you have never heard Oga Harrow cursing/cussing anyone, at least not in public – furthermore, it is forbidden to humiliate anyone and that's why sometimes one has to exercise extreme self-restraint and retrospectively thanks to Oga Falola's sensitivity filter "some things" have not been let through, because rudeness is something at which two can play, nothing to lose, the one exceeding the other in rudeness. For Christians, humility is of the essence. For all three (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) arrogance was the main quality of Lucifer/ Satan and that's what brought him down.
So,you had better be careful about what you say. They could kidnap you and demand a ransom of $1 Trillion. Who do you think is going to pay?Just as the Almighty threatened the children of Israel , " you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."
As to your vilification of our great hero, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, I leave you to the tender mercies of the likes of Gloria in Excelsis etc., some vindictive Fulani militias, maybe also Boko Haram, suffice it to say that I was indoctrinated into the great Shehu back in 1970 -71 at Legon, by Jeff Holden a British senior lecturer in African History and this was at a time when I knew absolutely nothing about Islam. It was also at a time when I was most impressionable. I wish that you had been there then, you would have idolised Abiola Irele even more. The indoctrination mostly took place not at the seminar room but at the Student Cafeteria, the senior staff common room and other venues where we could enjoy a few bottles of beer and even stronger alcoholic beverages of which Dan Fodio would have strongly disapproved. Sadly, Jeff was deported from Ghana, was given 24 hours to leave the country, because of a statement that he had made, that I'm sure Shehu Usman dan Fodio would have approved of. Jeff had said kalabule - either on the radio or on TV that "the money of the workers and peasants of Ghana was not being used in their best interests!"So the Oyibo was given a go back to your UK, quit notice. If Eboe Hutchful had said such a thing, Kofi Busia would have had to put up with it. Hutchful had once told me that Busia had "left his brains in Oxford" - maybe, Kofi should have been deported back to Oxford and that would not have been a treasonable offence? We can't start talking about our leaders like that, the president of x has left his brains at y, double-barrelled rhetorical questions at the press conference, questions such as "Mr. President, where did you forget your brains?"
One last little thing about the Great Shehu: I don't know enough about this, but I'm thinking about a more expansionist vision, which must be a challenge to the successors to his great legacy which must be carried forward: In time the borderless Africa from North to South in one great Islamic embrace but before that that, step by step, the Sokoto Caliphate could have been expanded to include all of the Republic of Niger and down West, the Yoruba kingdom joining forces with the Brethren in the Republic of Benin, to the North-east, all of the Lake Chad region. You get the drift.
Blue Note Records 75th Anniversary ( with Lionel Loueke
Thanks, Cornelius.--Can you share evidence with us, perhaps a consistent pattern of news reports over the years, that shows Fulani herdsmen as being terrorised by Nigerians, leading to the herrdsmen recently taking up arms in self defense and clarifying the time span of "recently"?I'm also interested in knowing why you see the various Fulani Herdsmen and Fulani militia massacres in the Middle Belt, in Nimbo in the SE, their various individual killings, rapes, maimings and land and farm spoilage and disposessions and their entry into kidnapping, spreading blood and tears across the nation as self defense.How did you change your mind from admitting the culpability of this group to disavowing or trying to modify such responsibility?You have thought it through or have new evidence?Who is responsible for the terrorism in the North apart from Boko Haram?What group of ethnic centred terrorists has the vocal backing of the Presidency and Nigeria's Fulani elite?Everyday is for the thief, one day is for the owner.Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.That madness at times emerges as hubris, as the Greeks put it.Some scions of a backward, feudalistic, violence sustained and poverty generating system think their primitive imperialism implies they are wiser than others.Eating fat, they condemen their brethern to living in forests, brigands depending on crime for survival, outcasts rich in tools of death but having no place in the modern world, while their own children live in palaces, attending prestigious schools across the world.May God bring justice to the evil members of the Fulani elite, those blood stained vampires who insist on taking us backward in their primitive ethnic supremacist mindset, even as those they lead live in squalor exceptional even by the standards of poverty in Africa.The name "Fulani" has become a byword for evil machinations, "Fulani herdsmen" a byword for the grossest inhumanity, all theough the leadership of the massacre justifying Miyetti Allah, the terrorism enabling Muhammadu Buhari and his govt and such atavistic creatures as that apology for a governor decreeing that his own people are free to live in any forest in Nigeria, while his luxuriant beauty of features shows he himself and his family live in great comfort.May God help us deal with these people who insist on taking us back to the stone age when others are going into space.May their evil be unshrouded even to those whom they consign to a life of perpetual wandering, welcome nowhere, companions with wild animals as they sojourn in forests, their presence anathema as they have become merchants of death, people with no place in a world defined by technological wonders, by the global unity of humanity, people reading no books, building no institutions but coddling weapons of murder.Fulani need to reexamine the legacy of Usman Dan Fodio.The culture of imperialism, a form of large scale armed robbery, has no place in the modern world.In the depths of poverty, of helplessness in the face of environmental challenges to your people's livelihoods, you make conquering others, through guile, betrayal, slaughter, rape and land dispossession your primary goal?Is there a greater form of stupidity than that?Invest in education?No, I will invest in terrorism.Invest in ICT facilities to develop my people to live modern lives?No, I will invest in AK-47s and rocket launchers.Invest in developing modern professional skills?No, I will invest in military training so as to control others through the fear of blood and death.Invest in creating irrigation schemes in my people's places of origin so they can feed their livestock, live stable lives and develop themselves and their children?No, I will invest in political manipulations, backed by rivers of blood, so that others will be forced by fear to surrender their own lands.Who am I?I am a scion of the conqueror Usman Dan Fodio.I am lost at the intersection of the past and the present but I think I have a right to rule others because my ancestors once subdued Hausaland and Illorin by force of arms.The ideas of social reform that Dan Fodio espoused are lost for me in the fact that he made us, his clans people, first among others, preaching social reform yet dedicated to ethnic superiority of his clansmen alone, and even then, recognising levels of superiority even within that group, between those directed towards representing others at the UN and those living in forests, those moving across the world's elite schools at huge monetary expense and those trekking great distances in the company of cows, an AK-47 a central possession.We are Nigeria's Fulani elite.ThanksToyinOn Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 04:04 Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
You don't understand? I suppose you understand Israel , the Palestinians and Iran , the way that you understand Nigeria and Boko Haram.
Whilst my Better Half does sophisticated crosswords as mental gymnastics, for balance, about two hours everyday, I play the guitar - it's an extremely logical instrument – as JT says, "Never does grow impatient, for the changes I don't know - no"
If you are looking for coherence in madness, look hard enough and you will surely find it.
You will find it (coherence) – one thought after the other) in sublime Hebrew poetry, juxtaposed against your bio-computer.
You should also certainly find it here, where the Holy Quran peaks beyond John Lennon's "ideal humanism", requesting that we move beyond the hatred, the walls, cobwebs, borders, boundaries, fences, obstacles, and other obstructions in our own minds:
"O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware." (Surah Al-Hujurat, Ayat 13)
One of the things that I most admire about you is your usually civil and civilised tone when for example addressing some big or not so big ass professors, and so far, you have been consistent in your views. With no respect whatsoever, ad nauseam, not sparing Nigeria's most important Muslim leaders, namely, His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto and the erstwhile Emir of Kano , you have named by name the most eminent Fulani Leaders in Nigeria as the "enablers" and facilitators of what you call Fulani Herdsmen "terrorism". You have also said repeatedly, that the patron saints of Fulani Herdsmen "terrorism" are the Fulani big shots in Miyetti Allah and that in your special book of angelology, the one you are writing, they are not saints but demons, all of them, only moved by self-interest, and acting in the name of your greatest fear/nightmare, what you refer to as "Northern Hegemony"
Re- "... oscillating between "Fulani herdsmen are terrorising Nigerians" and "Fulani herdsmen are an endangered species who are justified in carrying AK-47s across Nigeria".
Those are your words, not my words, so why do you attribute them to me and place them in inverted commas?
As everybody who has even half a brain knows, the truth is that there is no contradiction between those two perceptions – your on the one hand, "Fulani herdsmen are terrorising Nigerians" - and the absolute truth of the matter, the corollary to that as provided by overwhelming evidence is that the people you call "Nigerians" – not Boko Haramis, are 100% guilty of terrorising Fulani Herdsmen - whether they believe that the are "merely" avenging themselves on Fulani Herdsmen as their
scapegoat and public enemy number oneand that's why in self defence - and only of late, they have been forced to arm themselves, to defend themselves and their cattle – like the cowboys of old Texas….The victims – dead and alive of the ongoing conflict the warring factions are all Nigerians.
No. I do not believe that all the banditry and other crimes committed in Nigeria are committed by "Fulani Herdsmen!"
--On Fri, 26 Feb 2021 at 15:22, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:Thanks, Cornelius, for sharing your views.The problem is that these views keep oscillating between"Fulani herdsmen are terrorising Nigerians" and "Fulani herdsmen are an endangered species who are justified in carrying AK-47s across Nigeria".Don't you owe yourself a careful analysis that would enable your views to demonstrate coherence, even coherence that projects the logic of moving from one stage of thought to another?I don't need to reiterate my views right now because the reality I have described even before 2015 is now clear to everyone, not through my arguments but through the unfolding of events, culminating in the self unmasking of the people whose destructive orientations I have long described.Toyin--On Fri, Feb 26, 2021, 00:19 Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
"Change" in my "reasoning"? That happens all the time., but not like Mulla Nasrrudin ( His friend asked him How old are you Mulla Nasrrudin? He replied, " I'm fifty ( 50) years old !" But that's what you said five years ago! - Yes," asserted the Mulla, " You see, I'm consistent !!"
The way I see it, John Lennon and Bala Mohammed (in his capacity as Governor of Bauchi State, and as Prof Gundu so aptly describes him, "a ranking spokesperson for the Fulani of the whole world."), that Lennon and our Bauchi State Governor are clearly two distinct and unique persons.
The CIA, the conservatives and conservationists really never felt threatened by the pacifist, "All you need is love", pot-shmoking John Lennon's song "Revolution" or the Beatles Album "Revolver"
Brother Bala Mohammed is on a completely different wavelength. I'm sure that you can't imagine Bala Mohammed growing his hair long and singing any of these songs or any of the John and Yoko songs, or indeed any of the Beatles' Paul McCartney/ George Harrison/ Ringo Star songs.
As I pointed out previously John Lennon, Julius Malema and Bala Mohammed have this one thing in common: A world without borders.
Prof Gundu writes rather glibly – and only in passing as it were, about The Bauchi State Governor "justifying the Fulani substitution of the shepherd stick with the AK-47" but does not delve into any details about the Governor's reasoning and the reasons undergirding his justification. Independently, dear Adepoju, in the name of self-preservation / self-defence you and all the eminent logicians in this forum will readily agree that common sense alone from your point of view and certainly from mine too should justify "the Fulani substitution of shepherd stick with the AK-47". Do we need to go into details? You that it's not fun being a sitting duck for someone else's lethal target practise, or being a Fulani Herdman armed with only a shepherd's stick when facing Goliath or cattle rustlers. Especially now that Fulani Herdsmen have been demonised to the extent that local vigilantes are now on the lookout for Fulani Herdsmen, determined to murder them, In cold blood.
The alternative to the bloody mess would be for either the Federal of State Governments to provide military escorts for the Fulani Herdsmen during their long trek to the abattoirs and from there the Fulani cattle to the market place on the way to their penultimate destination to the Southern dinner tables of the hungry meat eaters and from there to the cemeteries that your vegetarian Brother George Bernard Shaw spoke of, and from there to you know where
You say that you are "not expressing an opinion on the issues." - but your position on many of the issues arising, are well known and I don't expect some "change in your reasoning " - but one can never tell. I'm oddly reminded of these lines, which I don't imagine apply to you at all:
"The change in the day that makes them rant and rave
Black Power! Black Power!
And the change that comes over them at night, as they sigh and moan:
White thighs, ooh, white thighs"
--On Thu, 25 Feb 2021 at 18:19, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:Cornelius,i simply asked you to explain the reason for the change in your reasoning.i am not expressing an opinion on the issues.toyin--On Thu, 25 Feb 2021 at 14:01, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin Vinccent Adepoju,
Do you recall that John Lennon once boasted that they (The Beatles) were "more popular than Jesus"?
It looks like your problem is that you can't see any redeeming features in Governor Bala Mohammed. I for one believe that the Bauchi Governor is a better Muslim than John Lennon ever was.
So, by their nomadic mode of existence these past several hundred years, the way that Governor Mohammed puts it, you may feel that he is claiming some exclusive special privileges for the Fulani, no respecter of colonial borders etc. - they brought Islam to Sierra Leone for example, as Herdsmen and itinerant preachers, and as you know, I sincerely believe that Usman Dan Fodio of blessed memory, is the greatest Nigerian that ever lived.
Professor Zacharys Anger Gundu is reasonable, argues his case is forcefully. It's difficult to follow Governor Balla Mohammed into " justifying the Fulani substitution of the shepherd stick with the AK-47" less so his, in the meantime "also justifying the Fulani colonization of the Nigerian forest wherever it is found for grazing his animals." - until the matter is settled – non-violently of course. I don't think that anybody is going to Jannah after he finishes exterminating everybody with his AK-47.
Professor Zacharys Anger Gundu's last paragraph is devastating. Our best bet is getting the besieged governor to wrestle with "Muhammad Bello's policy of settling nomads, and his belief that nomadic herding was un-Islamic"
Assuming that the professor is reporting the Governor's words accurately, it's not clear, exactly what is meant here:"The Governor had also argued on the programme that whatever monies Nigeria would spend to 'settle' the Fulani in one place would have to cover those in Nigeria and those in other countries."Charity surely begins at home. If such a policy were to be adopted/ implemented, I suppose your main objection would be that it could be putting an unwelcome strain on Nigeria's cash-strapped economy, but I admire the way that the Governor wants to stand up for his people – his brothers keepers mentality - it is you who are not generous enough to want to extend your sense of responsibility / Brotherhood and love to the Fulani Brethren outside of Nigeria in the same way that I'm sure you would like the Nigerian Edo people's Diaspora to - to some extent be the responsibility of the Nigerian Government - especially in trying to reverse some of the brain drain by embarking on some kind of resettlement programmes for some of the lost sheep of Nigeria currently domiciled in the United States and Diaspora both those struggling to make ends meet and those who are succeeding beautifully in "making it "developing the overseas countries.
Don't you have a Minister of Diaspora Affairs?
"Imagine all the people sharing all the world "
This is exactly where John Lennon and Julius Malema and Bala Mohammed meet, in their humanistic idealism
Balla et ses Balladins; Bambo
--On Wed, 24 Feb 2021 at 18:49, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:Cornelius,It would be helpful to know how you moved from characterizing Bala Muhammed's views as ''crudely expressed'' disregard for 'the legality of landmarks, fences, borders, marks of demarcation that are supposed to separate [ Fulani herdsmen] and their cows from trespassing on other people's private property, trampling, all over other people's private property, dropping their dung on other people's farms and eating up all their crops''to understanding those views as visionary, comparable with John Lennon's utopian humanism.If I misread your earlier posts, please let me know.thankstoyin--On Wed, 24 Feb 2021 at 14:47, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Amended :
First of all, I want to apologise because I said that Maiduguri is the seat and epicentre of the insurgency, when in fact "the eye of the insurgency" would be more accurate, since, as we can all see, on a daily basis the insurgency is being waged on many fronts simultaneously. in the general absence /collapse of law and order.
Secondly, we ought not overlook Professor John Edward Phillips' posting which throws significant light on these discussions about the future of Fulani Herdsmen, concerning "Muhammad Bello's policy of settling nomads, and his belief that nomadic herding was un-Islamic": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvnlqcYM58
In the mode of a wannabe Buckingham Palace professor of modern journalism / eye witness testimony, I could have said that I received a phone call from a great oga at headquarters, telling me that I am ill-advised to meddle in Nigeria's Fulani affairs, but I'm not going to reveal my sources (to give my vermin self that extra aura of importance) - however, I just happen to be another concerned humble Joe, another shuffering and crying citizen y, writing in the poor man's English, infinitely more anonymous than the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who was was pierced for our iniquities, listening to that still quiet voice prompting me to offer (not proffer or profess) some regret for expressing misgivings about Fulani exceptionalism as proposed by the Governor of Bauchi State, about the nomadic Fulani being an exception to the rule about respecting borders, boundaries, fences, in the 21st century still living in the good old days as if times have not changed since the good old days of contiguous Islamic Empire and Brotherhood, when the Faithful presumptive future inhabitants of Paradise did not need a visa to Mecca and could undulate on camelback from Futa Jallon through Timbuktu and by dhow, across the Red Sea to Islam's holiest city...
You must admit that the Governor's concept of Africa without borders is currently a futuristic dream, it is where the continuum of the present continuous that a few minutes ago we referred to as the past, meets the future, and God willing we will get there, sooner than later. The Pan-African visionary Julius Malema is a serious advocate for an Africa without borders - a borderless Africa "with one President and one Federal Government!" - as visionary as John Lennon's Imagine
"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for todayImagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, youYou may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as oneImagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, youYou may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one "
--On Wednesday, 24 February 2021 at 04:56:08 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:Corrected ( somewhat):"Senate President's attack on Yoruba governors By Lasisi Olagunju" and the comments in that thread plus the latest contentious posting "The Fulani Burden in Governor Bala Mohammed's Discourse By Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu" makes for very sad reading. I say contentious, the first sentence of the long diatribe is itself contentious, invites controversy, denial, rejection as incorrect some of what is being said, the embattled Bauchi Governor being tarred and feathered as a First Class Fulani chauvinist/ internationalist/ Extremist, bigot :
"Governor Bala Mohammed is a ranking spokesperson for the Fulani of the whole world…He argued that the Fulani have no respect for land borders"
And by extension, following Mallam Bala Mohammed's trajectory so crudely expressed, he would like us all to believe that he is speaking on behalf of all Fulani, when he says that the Fulani people, including the Fulani Herdsmen "have no respect" or regard for Nigerian Law or Islamic Sharia, no respect or regard for the legality of landmarks, fences, borders, marks of demarcation that are supposed to separate themselves and their cows from trespassing on other people's private property, trampling, all over other people's private property, dropping their dung on other people's farms and eating up all their crops.
One could extend that train of thought to the privacy that is covered / bordered by the hijab and other private properties of female citizens that should not be violated. Of course, the good Muslim should expect that not even the Great Governor of Bauchi would go that far. ( Ah Malcolm, assassinated on 21st February1965, barely 39 years old, and this was one of his more Islamized statements: "There is nothing in our book, the Qur'an, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone lays a hand on you, send him to the cemetery."
I know that "All is vanity"
but is there any truth
to this old Harold Smith story
the genesis of "Northern Hegemony"?
Genuine Historians, also have their unique biases, their well documented points of view about how happily or unhappily Lord Lugard welded everybody together in 1914, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part etc., as per the Nigerian Constitution, and that up to this day, due to the religious dimension to the tensions, among the proponents of dissolution of the secular union there are those that are inveigling against the Federal arrangement, quoting Saint Paul: "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers" while yet others bring up the cud with this well known preamble "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them…"
No National Conference convened by the stakeholders can have as its agenda any discussion about the peaceful dissolution of Nigeria, although of late, the cautious, diplomatic euphemism is "restructuring" which has still not produced any clear or final vision or plan of what a restructured Nigeria would look like, not even under a Federal Umbrella. The lack of finality of vision or plan confirms that if it (restructuring) happens, it will be a process that will take time and not a one-time accomplishment.
Such a national conference could serve to devolve some of the mounting tensions and avert the momentum towards implosion that still has Maiduguri as the seat and epicentre of the insurgency...
On Wednesday, 24 February 2021 at 03:29:52 UTC+1 toyin....@gmail.com wrote:The Fulani Burden in Governor Bala Mohammed's Discourse--By Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu18 February 2021Governor Bala Mohammed is a ranking spokesperson for the Fulani of the whole world. He was the one who reminded us on a national television programme that the Fulani is a 'global citizen'. This reminder was borne out of the fact that the Fulani are in several African countries in West and Central Africa. He argued that the Fulani have no respect for land borders. His nationality is 'just a Fulani man' and when there is need for reprisal attacks, in a country like Nigeria, it's not the Fulani man within Nigeria that takes responsibility but the Fulani man outside the country. Reprisals in Fulani tradition according to Governor Bala Mohammed are predicated on the culture of vengeance. The Governor had also argued on the programme that whatever monies Nigeria would spend to 'settle' the Fulani in one place would have to cover those in Nigeria and those in other countries. That could only mean that the Fulani of the whole world are targeting to choke the country as a second home if they are to come out of nomadism.In that television appearance, Governor Bala Mohammmed had thrown up three explosive issues on the Fulani burden. The first issue was the idea of the Fulani as a global citizen, blind to boundaries between countries and states. The second was the Fulani penchant for vengeance and self-help while the third was the idea that any 'settlement' of the Fulani of Nigeria is necessarily a 'settlement' of the Fulani of the whole world.Even though each of these issues is loaded and complicates the Fulani burden on the country, Governor Bala Mohammed last week in his remarks at the closing ceremony of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) amplified his earlier position by not only justifying the Fulani substitution of the shepherd stick with the AK-47 but by also justifying the Fulani colonization of the Nigerian forest wherever it is found for grazing his animals. In these remarks, Governor Mohammed went further to argue that Government has failed to protect the Fulani culture of nomadic pastoralism and insofar as the Fulani traditional livelihood is threatened, the Fulani is justified to abandon his shepherd stick for the AK-47 with which he can better defend himself. The Governor also said the Fulani has the constitutional right to use any forest in the country to graze his cattle. Hear him, 'No person owns any forest, the forest is owned by Nigeria'.It is quite clear to any discerning patriotic Nigerian that the country is carrying a disproportionate Fulani burden whose logic is difficult to unbundle. Nigeria is a modern state in the 21st century. In a modern state, the concept of a 'global citizen' that encompasses an entire ethnic nationality is high nonsense. It is a cocktail of confusion and a canopy for mischief. Even the 'global citizen' moving across borders with high value intellect and knowledge, carries a passport and appropriate travel documents to enable him move through legal routes. The 'global citizen' no matter the arrogant pedestal he stands on recognizes national and other boundaries. He also recognizes personal property and cannot indiscriminately appropriate land and other resources for use in the name of 'global citizenship'. No country in the 21st century can throw its borders open to 'global citizens' whose only trade is nomadic pastoralism spiced with blood? Which other African country is readily accepting the 'global citizenship' of the Fulani? Can the Arab move with impunity between countries of the Middle East and North Africa just because he perceives himself as a global citizen? Can the Bantus of Southern and Eastern Africa crisscross the countries of Southern and Eastern Africa at will just because they are Bantus and global citizens? Will they be allowed to organize their self-help predicated on vengeance and impunity, oblivious of the laws and security systems of their host countries? Governor Bala Mohammed is wrong on this issue and that he keeps repeating it may mean that he is laboring to undermine the foundation of the nation state.Bala Mohammed is also wrong on the issue of the Fulani culture of vengeance and self-help. This is an issue which other Fulani intelligentsia like Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State have gleefully pontificated on. Nasir El Rufai had actually warned the army in Jos to be mindful of the Fulani because they never forget nor forgive an injury. According to him, even if it takes one hundred years, the Fulani will return for their pound of flesh. If the Fulani are that mean, how can they conceivably have a place in a nation state that draws its strength from its plurality? Allowing everyone to drink from the poisonous pot of vengeance to settle scores will defeat the concept of the rule of law which foregrounds the nation state. It is also for the same reason, that no country would allow its citizens to organize their security oblivious of the state. If everyone were to carry military grade weapons in the name of self-defense and for the reason that the Government and people have failed to protect him, what will become of our country? There is no justification for any citizen, including the foreigner, carrying prohibited weapons in the country purportedly for self-defense. Such a justification would be a call to anarchy and the lowest point in our national life especially when it is coming from a Governor who ought to know the implication of carrying such weapons.Governor Bala Mohammed is also wrong on the issue of 'settling' the Fulani. While 'settling' the Fulani of Nigeria as a way of discouraging them from the nomadic lifestyle should be a priority, it should be clear that Nigeria is not under obligation to 'settle' the Fulani of the whole world. We may owe the Nigerian Fulani a place of abode to settle and stop moving from place to place in the name of the cow but as a nation state committed to the citizenry; we have no obligation to the Fulani of other countries. If the Fulani of Nigeria nudged by their kith and kin from other countries are under the impression that they can cleverly stake violent claims to swathes of land across the country for citizens of other countries, we must see their actions as high treason. Why are the Fulani resisting ranching when ranching can strive in all parts of Northern Nigeria including the Sahel areas south of the Sahara? Which modern state can compromise the comfort and security of its citizens to allow the influx of foreigners whose past time is vengeance and who are ready to spill blood to support an obsolete way of life?Bala Mohammed is also wrong on the issue of the Nigerian forest. His position that no one owns the Nigerian forest except the Federal Government is patently false. Under all our constitutions since 1951, forests have been on the concurrent list. In the First Republic, the Northern Regional Government enacted the Forest Reserve Law that prohibited residency and animal grazing in the forest reserves. No state in the North has amended the First Republic Forest Reserve Law to allow for citizens to settle in their forests and graze in them. The situation is the same in Southern Nigeria and it is only impunity that would make anyone to suggest that the Fulani herdsman can take over the forests of the country for settlement and grazing.Time has come to regulate nomadic pastoralism and upgrade it for the sake of the livestock industry, the Fulani herdsman and the crop farmer. Ranching is a more productive template for livestock production. They're several ranching templates that can take care of the small or large cattle owners. If the Fulani herdsman settles down to ranch, his children will go to school and several amenities that are hitherto not accessible to him will become available. At the moment, open and violent grazing is at the expense of the crop farmer whose farm has been destroyed and whose ancestral lands have been annexed for grazing. The position of several Fulani umbrella groups whose members are steeped in nomadic pastoralism that the Fulani would need time to buy into ranching and that Northern Nigeria is not suitable for ranching is not tenable. If the Fulani herdsman has transmuted from a pastoral nomad to a bandit in a matter of years, I am not sure how a transition to ranching with its many benefits will need so much time. Ranches can also be established anywhere including harsh climatic niches like deserts. There are ranches even in Saudi Arabia and there is nowhere in Nigeria that ranches cannot flourish.This is the time for patriots to speak up and relieve the country of the Fulani burden. It is not a necessary burden except if the agenda is a forceful takeover of the country for the Fulani of the whole world. If that is the case, it is difficult to see how it will fly, even with the amount of blood letting across the country. It must also be emphasized that opposition against the Fulani burden in the country is not part of ethnic profiling, a point made by Governor Bala Mohammed and others. No one is profiling anyone in the discourse on the Fulani burden. The facts speak for themselves. The Fulani militia, by 2014 was listed as the 4th deadliest terror group in the world active in Nigeria and parts of Central African Republic. Leading Fulani umbrella bodies including the 'twin brothers' of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore as well as GAN Allah Fulani Development Association have variously claimed responsibility for massacres across the country. Nasir El Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State had also a few years back paid ransom to the Fulani of the whole world to stop them from attacking Southern Kaduna. The Sultan of Sokoto himself has admitted that out of every 10 bandits operating in the country, 8 or so are people of Fulani extraction. The Fulani are not only steeped into banditry, they are also accomplished cattle rustlers, arsonists and rapists. Yes there are Fulani who are not all of these, but on the whole, the Fulani are at war with the whole country and are gradually coalescing as insurgents and making it difficult for anyone to avoid looking at them as a burden in the country. We are invited to see through the Fulani camouflage.The author is a Prof of Archeology at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Chairman of Council of Benue State University, Makurdi
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