“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great
grandfather Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of
power. We use the minorities in the North as willing tools and the South
as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never
allow them to have control over their future”- Sir Ahmadu Bello, the
Saurdana of the Sokoto Caliphate and Premier of Northern Nigeria, Parrot
Newspaper, 12th October, 1960, recalled by Tribune, 13th November,
2002.
These are interesting words from the most reverred, prominent and
powerful Fulani leader in the history of modern Nigeria. The Saurdana's
world-view, vision and intentions are well-encapsulated here and they
are self-evident. They need no further explanation or analysis.
To add to the Saurdana's contribution and to butress his point, in
August 2001 President Muhammadu Buhari, a proud and ascetic Fulani man
whose mass appeal, popularity and following has reached cult-like
proportions amongst the working class Fulani population in Nigeria said
the following: "God-willing, we will not stop the agitation for the
total implementation of sharia throughout the federation".
Finally to emphasise the point, on January 27th 2013, Mujahedeen Ibrahim
Shekau, the young and brash leader of the most dreaded, most powerful
and most deadly islamist terrorist organisation on the African continent
called Boko Haram said "By Allah, we will not stop fighting until every
Nigerian is living by sharia law. If you don't abide we will kill
you".
When one hears and reads some of these things one can only look up to
heaven and say ''may the Lord deliver the people of Nigeria''.
Here you have a classic case of anything and everything, including
religion, being used to effect an ancient ethnic agenda of conquest and
subjugation. It is not even subtle: it is brazen and real. Worse still
most Nigerians are fully aware of it but they find it difficult to voice
it let alone resist it.
Yet despite our awe and trepiidation at least a few questions must be
asked such as the following. Who exactly are the Fulani? Where did they
come from? What is their story and what is their history? What is their
purpose and what are their intentions for the rest of Nigeria? I shall
attempt to answer some of these questions in this two-part essay.
Futa Jalon is an area made up of beautiful plateaus and breathtaking
mountains which is situated in modern-day Guinea. It is a confluence
that is known as the "bitter waters" and it is the location of the
Vulture mountain where, up until today, thousands of vultures gather. It
is also the source of no less than five major African rivers including
our very own River Niger.
The people that live in that area are known as the Fula Jalons and it is
from that ethnic stock that the Fulanis evolved. From there they
migrated to other parts of West Africa and settled down in what was
originally known as Sakkwato but what is now referred to as Sokoto in
northern Nigeria.
The Fulanis were actually the product of a beautiful racial mix and
generations of cross-breeding between the Arab-like and nomadic north
African Berbers and Tauregs on the one hand and the local black
indigenous Fula population of Futa Jalon on the other.
That explains their unusually light complexion, their well-chiseled and
refined visage, their height, their unusually slight frame, the soft
texture of their hair and their essentially non-negroid features. If the
truth be told, generally-speaking, they are a physically attractive
people. In terms of temperament they are proud, patient, calculating,
subtle, courageous and they have very long memories.
They are capable of masking their thoughts and emotions very well but
they will never forget a sleight. Most importantly, unlike most, they
are capable of recognising a common group cause and consequently they
are in a better position to further the political and economic interests
of their people more than any others. To the Fulani what is most
important is what is the interest of his people and their collective
cause than anything else.
It is interesting to note that the Tutsis of Central and East Africa
come from the same racial root as them and they share similar physical
features and characteristics. They are also both essentially nomadic in
nature and traditionally they both have an intense fascination and
interest in cattle and cattle-rearing. As a matter of fact the
old-fashioned way of establishing a Fulani mans wealth is to find out
how many cows he owns. The more cows he owns the richer he is considered
to be.
It was after their mass migration to our shores and after they
successfully infiltrated the Hausa kingdom of Gobir that Sheik Usman Dan
Fodio, the father of the Fulani Caliphate, unleashed his violent and
very bloody jihad, established the various emirates and conquered much
of what is now known as northern Nigeria in the name of his Islamic
faith. That is the history.
Permit me to enrich this contribution with the following words which I
keep hearing in my spirt and which I believe shall prove to be
prophetic.
"O ye sons of Futa Jalon and ye daughters of the Vulture mountain and
bitter waters: your princes and kings shall be exposed and brought to
heel, your yoke shall be broken and you shall pay a heavy price for your
wickedness and many sorceries".
Many have been killed in the most hideous manner or falsely implicated
and wrongly jailed in our country for sharing such knowledge and for
exposing what I am about to expose in this write-up but I have no fear
because I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that He shall stand with
me even in my day of trouble.
As long as Jesus lives I know that He will never forsake me and that,
until my work on earth is done, I cannot be cut short and neither can my
enemies overwhelm or destroy me. Please fasten your seat-belts and
consider the following.
On March 3rd 2016 there was a violent clash between Yoruba and
Hausa-Fulani youths in Orile, Lagos state. A number of people on both
sides of the divide together with some of our security agents were
killed. Homes, chattels, property and places of worship were burnt down
as the fighting raged.
This came just one day after a similar clash between the same two ethnic
groups took place in Ikorodu, Lagos state which also resulted in the
loss of life and destruction of property.
Again on 5th March in Ogere on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway yet another
clash took place between Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani youths which resulted
in even more casualties and a terrible bloodbath.
A number of days before then over 300 Idomas were killed by well-armed Fulani herdsmen in Agatu, Benue state.
At a so-called peace meeting, when asked why they did it, they told the
Inspector General of Police that it was because some of their cows had
been killed!
After the meeting instead of being arrested for genocide and ethnic
cleansing there and then they were allowed to go home quietly. Not even
their AK 47's were confiscated from them.
To make matters worse it was later suggested that those that perpetuated
the atrocity were not even Fulanis at all but rather aliens from Chad
and Niger Republic. The question must be asked: who is fooling who?
Sadly there are many other examples of mass murder, genocide, official
impunity and similar atrocities. Over the years the same thing has
happened in Jos, southern Kaduna, Zaria, Zangon Kataf, Kano, Bauchi and
many other places.
Throughout the country Fulani militias and herdsmen are wreaking havoc
and are slaughtering their compatriots for one reason or the other.
Worse of all is the fact that our Fulani-led Federal Government and
Fulani-led Armed Forces are killing thousands of young igbos in the east
simply because of their support for Nnamdi Kanu and their call for the
establishment of the independent sovereigh state of Biafra.
Again a few weeks ago the same Armed Forces killed over 1000 shia
muslims and shot and abducted their leader, Sheik El Zakzaky, who has
not been seen in public since.
As all this is going on our economy has ground to a halt, our people are
suffering untold hardship and difficult times and the war against Boko
Haram and islamist terror is still raging.
Today Nigeria has the dubious distinction of having within its borders
the first and the fourth "most deadly terrorist organisations" in the
world according to the Global Terror Index. According to the Index the
first is Boko Haram and the fourth are the AK 47- wielding Fulani
militias/herdsmen.
People are being slaughtered, abducted, pillaged, kidnapped and raped
all over the country on a daily basis by these heartless terrorists
simply because they believe that one of their own is now in power and
that they can get away with it. All this yet no-one appears to be
prepared to do anything about it or to call a spade a spade.
In the light of all these facts the question on everyone's lips is what
is to be done? We all hope and pray for peace and unity in our country
but judging by the way things are going perhaps the first question that
we have to address is whether we really have a country at all and, if we
agree that we do, whether it will or can remain united and as one for
much longer.
If we ever needed the elders and great men of wisdom and knowledge like
President Olusegun Obasanjo, General T.Y. Danjuma, General Yakubu Gowon
Alhaji Maitama Sule, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Chief Alex Ekweume to pull
us back from the brink and bring healing, peace and unity back to our
land it is now.
The rise of radical islam and the use of terror to achieve the
objectives of those who espouse and believe in it has changed the world
forever. Our country cannot be exempted or left out of this. We have
changed forever as well and things can never be the same in Nigeria
again.
Those that are in power in our country today appear to have a soft-spot
for the terrorists and for reasons best known to himself our President
has simply refused to condemn the murderous activities of the Fulani
herdsmen and militias.
This is probably because he is, and has been for many years, the Life
Patron of the Fulani Cattle Rearers Association: which is the umbrella
organisation of the Fulani herdsmen and militias. To make matters worse
our President told the world, as recently as 2014, that "an attack on
Boko Haram is an attack on the north". One wonders what purpose that was
designed to serve and why he had to say it.
Then came the sad and pitiful case of Ese Oruru in which the Fulani Emir
of Kano played an unspecified and unclear role in the abduction, forced
islamisation, rape, torture and kidnapping of a 14 year old southern
christian girl whilst our security agencies turned a blind eye to the
whole thing and refused to rescue her for months.
It has been alleged that the girl was kept against her will at the
Emir's palace and that one way or the other she was used as a sex slave
and she came out pregnant. Despite all this the police have refused to
pick him up and compel him to answer the necessary questions that could
have cleared the air.
All this because "his" people are in power and they believe that thay
can get away with anything and everything, including pedophilia, slavery
and, in many cases, murder.
Worse still there are hundreds of other cases, five of which have been
exposed by Miss Toyosie Ogunseye, the editor of Nigeria's Sunday
Punch Newspaper and her incredible team of investigative reporters and
one by the famous high society blogger Miss Linda Ikeji on her blog in
the last few days.
These cases are all similar to Ese Oruru's and they involve the
abduction, islamisation, rape, sodomy and enslavement of young southern
christian girls (some as young as 9) who ended up in royal palaces and
hareems all over the north.
In each of these cases those that carried out the abductions have
refused ro return the girls back to their families despite all pleas and
efforts and the police have been unable to do anything about it.
In one case in Bauchi in which the southern christian girl was just 12
years old and in which she was abducted whilst on her way to church, her
family was told that if they wanted her back they would have to
"negotiate with the Sharia Council"!
In another case in Zamfara state the family of a 14 year old christian
girl who was abducted as far back as 2009 were told by her abductors
that if they persisted in asking for the return of their daughter their
entire family would be killed and their home would be burnt down.
As a result of this threat the girl's father and his entire family had
to leave their home and flee from Zamfara for their lives. They were
compelled to leave their young daughter behind in the clutches of her
merciless abductors.
Nothing reflects the degeneration to which our country and our values have been reduced to better than this. (TO BE CONTINUED).
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