Fulani herdsmen and the rest of us

FULANI people constitute one of the major ethnic groups that make up a heterogeneous nation known as Nigeria today. Historians trace the origin of the Fulani to Senegal River valley. In other words, like many others in the olden days, the Fulanis are migrants. The cultural imperialism imposed through the jihad of one of their prominent personalities, Usman dan Fodio, between 1804 and 1830, effectively brought them into limelight within the Nigerian political and cultural landscape.

In other words, in pre-colonial Nigeria before Usman dan Fodio staged his holy war, the major dominant powers in the Hausaland or what is known today as the North, were not the Fulanis, but the original Hausa people; the original Katsina people; the old Zamfara people who conquered Kano, another major power in 1700; and the original people of Borno. Following the subjugation of most people, especially in the North, through the instrumentality of their jihad, the Fulani started occupying dominant positions politically in addition to religious imposition and domination. In fact, political scientists see cultural imperialism as the worst and most effective way of subjugating one group of people by another.

The Fulani’s prominence, which they tried to maintain even under British colonial rule, was carried to both pre and post-independent Nigeria. This is reflected in their hegemonic tendencies even in today’s national politics. That there have been hues and cries about the people referred to as Fulani herdsmen’s impunity is therefore not without foundation.

Reports of the killings of innocent Nigerians by the so-called Fulani herdsmen have become a recurrent issue in about the last two years. Almost on a daily basis, the so-called Fulani herdsmen are in the news negatively for blood-letting and the massacre of innocent and hapless Nigerians. And the killers appear to be operating with unreserved impunity. None of them has been brought to book on their dastardly activities. They are operating as if the laws of the nation have nothing to do with them and their heinous activities. No wonder, many Nigerians are now accusing President Muhammadu Buhari (himself a Fulani man) of unwarranted inaction on the restive issue.

Many Nigerians found it difficult to understand the deafening and suggestive silence of Mr President and the inaction of his security forces on the galling issue, which could be seen as a time bomb capable of affecting the nation’s fragile nature negatively. Many believe that this has continued to equip the Fulani killers with boldness in their wanton destruction of innocent lives and properties on daily basis. The very important and pertinent question here is: are these Fulani killers really herdsmen in the true sense of the profession? A rational view will doubt if such killers can be regarded as herdsmen for some obvious reasons.

The apparent truth is that the killer Fulani men being reported almost on a daily basis and whose murderous activities are prevalent in the Middle Belt and Southern parts of Nigeria cannot in any way be genuine herdsmen. Rather, they are people on a mission different from feeding cows.  After all, are they the first herdsmen to operate in Nigeria? Is this the first time we would have shepherds in the country? We have known herdsmen in the country even before the band of murderers were born. They were people who practised their profession peacefully without harming or molesting anyone.

The fact that the new so-called Fulani herdsmen are armed with sophisticated weapons shows that they are not genuine herdsmen. If we must ask, what are the AK47 riffles and other sophisticated weapons they carry meant for? To defend themselves against who or what? Are there lions, tigers and other dangerous animals on their gracing routes to warrant the sophisticated weapons they carry? Even in the Sambisa Forest, such dangerous animals no more exist. So there is no tenable reason for the so-called herdsmen to be carrying such dangerous weapons. If we may even ask, how did they get such weapons? How are they keeping such weapons that the nation’s security forces are unable to see them?

All genuine herdsmen need not carry dangerous weapons. Those who do, have ulterior motive. The so-called Fulani herdsmen resemble the modern day jihadists in their mode of operations. Their delight is in wasting innocent lives. The kind of God they claim to serve appear to be interested in innocent blood they shed, hence they rejoice when they massacre innocent and defenseless people in places of worship, market places, motor garages and other soft spots.

The activities of the so-called Fulani herdsmen, especially in the Middle Belt and the southern parts of the country so far resemble those of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Al Shabab in East Africa, Boko Haram in North Eastern Nigeria and Taliban in Afghanistan. The areas when the so-called herdsmen carry out their heinous activities in Nigeria are the areas the jihadists will normally classify as the territories of the infidels and therefore, natural targets of jihadists.

Therefore, if the Fulani killers call themselves herdsmen, the rest of us must disagree with them. They are not herdsmen but rather, camouflaged terrorists or jihadists. If their sponsors and collaborators see them as herdsmen, the rest of us must tell them that they are not herdsmen. They are terrorists in the real sense of it. We must stop referring to them as herdsmen because they are not. They are either terrorists or jihadists and possibly both. The more they are referred to as herdsmen the more the solution to the problem they created would be elusive.

It is possible that their veiled aim is to carry on the unfinished task of the jihadists of 1804-1830. This will be extremely dangerous or even calamitous. The disaster unleashed and the ruins on the trails of Boko Haram; ISIS, Taliban and Alshabab activities should provide enough evidence of a misadventure of such jihadists at this time in the country.

The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are not as dangerous and murderous as the Fulani killers, yet they were labeled terrorists by the Federal Government of Nigeria to justify their proscription. This is not justifying the centrifugal force in our federation and the divisive activities of IPOB but to emphasize glaring double standard of the nation’s power wielders.

Battalions of soldiers were deployed to the South-East and South-South to combat IPOB and the Niger-Delta militants who were not killing and raping innocent citizens as the so-called Fulani herdsmen. Yet, the Fulani terrorists are tactically being shielded to carry on their heinous activities unhindered. Does this not speak of a case of double standard or insincerity on the part of the federal government of Nigeria and its security forces who are possibly relying on remote control on what to do and what to ignore?

If the Fulani herdsmen should insist in carrying on their murderous activities under the guise of providing meat for Nigerians, the rest of us can conveniently afford not to eat cow meat again. After all there are lots of alternatives to cow meat. The day people stop calling the Fulani murderers herdsmen, genuine solution to the problem would begin.

• Adesua is a former Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Tribune.