“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).
No comments:
Post a Comment