I grew up as a child to see the Fulanis rear their cows around my community, most especially during the dry seasons. The fear then, was not the Fulani pastroralist themselves, but “mad cows”. As a child, we were told that there are cows that are mad and when they slip off the control of the cow rearers, could kill anyone around. While we enjoyed seeing the Fulanis cattle rearers passed by with their cows, as we will go out of the house to watch them, these was done with some level of preparedness to run should a mad cow go out of control. The fear like I said was not on the pastorialist themselves but the cows, how time flies. The pastorialists then were peaceful and would immediately jumped to control and hit very hard on any cow that strays into where they should not go, most especially on farmlands. They were Fulanis.

The recent escapade by some Fulanis in Nigeria brings to mind the level of decay in our society not just amongst the Fulanis alone, but with other tribes. The peaceful Fulani cattle rearers we use to see then with sticks and machetes are now moving around with AK47 and sub-machine guns and wherever they visit ,  leaves with them, killings  and brutality of the highest order.

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In a country of about 180million people, the Fulanis are just about 7million while the Hausas are about 25million as reported by Google and carried by the Gurdian Newspaper of Nigeria in February 2018. This seven million minority have proven to be very intelligent and smart in achieving whatever they want to achieve.  One of such great achievements is the conquering of the Hausa and other tribes in Northern Nigeria and their ability to introduce the Emirate style of traditional rulership in the north Where it has become important for every Emir to be of Fulani descend. The Second achievement which is the most important and was used to achieve the first, is the ability of the Fulanis to use religion to perpetually subdue the other tribes in the north. The introduction of the almajiri system nailed it all, as children of other tribes were encouraged not to go to school but become beggars  on the street while they the Fulanis sent their wards to school. Records have shown that most educated northerners today are Fulanis. The third achievement, is the subtle coined of the name Hausa/Fulani as a tribe, having known that they are a minute minority in Nigeria. This name “Hausa/Fulani” has been so adopted by the Hausas and other tribes in the north who are so proud to be known as Hausa/Fulani, relegating their tribes to the background. In these three achievements, the minority Fulanis conquered Northern Nigeria.

Though crime is not peculiar to any tribe in Nigeria, as kidnapping started in Niger Delta as a means of drawing government’s attention to the Niger Delta struggle then, and later for money ransom, it was later taken over by people of the South East Nigeria who saw it as business and means of making  money and now the Fulanis whose mode of kidnapping and operations leaves one to wonder,  what is the motive. In the South West, ritual killings and fraud (Yahoo Yahoo) has remained the order of the day.

The Fulanis should not be stereotyped  if their involvement in Kidnapping and other heinous crime going on in Nigeria today is seen from the angle of committing just crime. They should be arrested and punished just like any other offenders. But evidence have shown that the activities of Fulanis today in Nigeria whether herders or not, goes beyond committing just crime, but a deliberate policy to implement a deliberate plan to either conquer the rest of the country or at least, take more grounds. The silence or at best the pretence of the Nigerian federal government led by a Fulani man, Muhammadu Buhari, that she lacks the capacity to contain and curtail the activities of these Fulani murderers, tells a lot and could mean subtle support to get the act done. For example, while the South Eastern boys were into robbery and kidnapping, it was limited to the South East and when out of there, the only place that it was done again, was Lagos. The Yorubas have not taken their ritual killings and Yahoo business out of Yoruba land. The relocation of a lot of Fulanis and their weapons to both South West, South East and South South and their forceful creation of colonies in those areas should no more be seen as crime, but a deliberate attempt to conquer another tribe. Evidence have shown were the Fulanis have forcefully carved out areas in the bushes of these regions that have been mentioned and have turned them into training camps and kidnapping dens where people from these regions are brutally kidnapped and killed at slightest provocation. This is a call to war and if something is not done urgently, a violent war will erupt in Nigeria.

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For those who say we should not talk because crime bears no tribal name, I want to ask you this question, can the Yoruba and Igbo man take their Kidnapping and ritual killing to either Sokoto or Kano States where the Fulanis have substantial presence and their targets will be Fulanis? If these cannot happen, then, the Fulanis have no business taking their crime base to South South, South East and South West.

Who will stop the looming war?

Ekpenyong Isaiah,
Commander, Infantry Pen Battallion.
[email protected]