It is wrong to equate cattle to human beings —Asemota

SOLOMON ADUN ASEMOTA, (SAN), Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, retired as a Superintendent of Police in 1970 to practise law and become a SAN in 1986. In this interview by SUYI AYODELE, the 83-year-old says it is the responsibility of the Fulani leadership to rein their brother cattle rearers over their excesses. Excerpts:

 

Let us trace the history of the migration of herdsmen from the North to the South and the reasons for the current tension over the activities of the herders. 

We thought that when General Yakubu Gowon, in 1967, created the 12-state structure that the North and South and the East invincible boundaries would have been erased. In fact, we thought that Gowon had succeeded with his stroke of pen to provide 12 states. But, it is clear and now very clear that the invincible boundary of the North and the South remains. And the reason for it: we must go back to why the annexation took place or what they call it, the unification or why the amalgamation took place in the first place. It took place because the North had no coast:  no coastline; no seaport, nothing. And Lugard wanted the South to cater for the North. This is responsible for the statement of Lord Harcourt in 1913, when he described the North as a ‘well-conducted youth’ and the South, as a ‘Lady of means.’ So, the Lady of means provided all the money for the housekeeping. But as usual with these matters, the well-conducted youth acquired a polygamous state. Instead of one wife, he now has, I don’t know, whether 26 or 27 wives. But one time when it was the North, South and East, they were three. When they want to defeat the Yoruba, they call the Igbo. When they want to defeat the Yoruba,  they call the Igbo. Now what they do is that they are co-opting Christians. You got the whole background? So, oil is drying up and minerals that have not been exploited are going to be the thing for the future. Therefore, the whole thing has to be recalibrated so that they have the dominant role. That is it.

What is happening now is that they don’t want to go into cattle ranching because of the number of items in the Exclusive Legislative List in the constitution. If they go into cattle ranching, and don’t have control over the whole of Nigeria, all the wealth that has been coming to them  throughout the country will be lost. These are the two major issues. Where there are no boundaries, they create artificial boundaries. There is no North; there is no South. But, they have created the North and the South and continue to insist on the divide.

Now, it is also our fault. They could not have dominated Nigeria as a whole the way they have done. Initially, it was the Igbo against the Yoruba, and later, the Yoruba against the Igbo and all of them against the minority of the oil-producing areas. So, this is colonialism indirectly. And the British government handed over to the Fulani the government of Nigeria. And they (British) did not teach them democracy. Britain taught them colonialism. What they are trying to do now is to start a war. When the Igbo were compelled to try for a new country as Biafra, the Ndigbo were resisted. But the Biafran war was fought by Christians. If you look at those, who handed over power and those who took over power, they were all Christians. So, where were the Muslims? Ckukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was a Christian, Gowon is a Christian. But now, the Fulani appear to be felt strong; they have the funds of the country in their hands. They have all the offices. They are in control of everything; the security, most, if not all of them. And they believe that re-colonisation is possible. But I say it is not possible. When the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq was created, they were sure that they had arrived at  the Promised Land for Muslims. But today, the place has completely been decimated and it doesn’t exist as it was created. So, what we are afraid of is that Nigeria should not become a battleground. They will not win. And what we have succeeded over the years  to have, schools and highways, we don’t want all these to be destroyed. Therefore, we call on Arewa or all other people flexing muscles that it is easy to start a problem because no one knows how it will end.

The question of cattle rearing is not sufficient to take anybody to war. If you are rearing your cattle and I say I don’t want it, all you need to do is to say, ‘ok, when your own cattle comes to my own area, I will say no.’ But I think it is very wrong to equate cattle to human beings in terms of affection and so on. So, we have the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN), which was created in 2001 in anticipation that there will be an ideological war of democracy and Sharia. And the objective of the exercise was for Christians to reconcile the truth among themselves and also to understand what the truth in relation to Islam and Sharia. And having examined the two, it is very clear that they are incompatible. Truth cannot be subjective. Truth cannot be discriminative. And Truth cannot be anti-people.

 

But the North said…

There is no North. That is the misconception I want you to correct.  I was in Abuja last weekend. I met with the leaders of the Middle Belt people. In fact, I addressed them. So, which North are you talking about? We are saying we are the Christian Social Movement. We are registered. All the church heads of the five blocks approved and signed. But when you talk about the North, who? The point I am saying is that the North is no longer North and  we should not accord to it what it was when the East and West were introduced to it in 1937. Once you start to look at it from that point of view, you will realise and appreciate the problem. The North is not as big as being said. It is only a very few people. They have been in so much money. They have sold oil and everything, so they are scared. You have plenty of money; you have power. That is the problem.

 

If the ongoing disagreement results in crisis, what do we do?

First, I speak Hausa. Mo gbo Yoruba (I understand Yoruba). I speak Igbo. I grew up in Jos. I just came back. Even though I am 83 years old, I came back from Abuja on Saturday. There is nothing to fear. It is not going to happen. So, don’t look at it that way. You, the major newspapers, who are on the side of these very few wealthy Nigerians that are trying to give that impression.

 

Does freedom of movement  include animals?

No! Humans are not animals. I don’t think so (that freedom of movement involves cattle). Don’t forget that when the British were ruling, the Fulani were their sons. So, they created cattle routes for them and to make sure that they beome masters in the future, which unfortunately, we were so happy for independence that we did not query that. There is no way you can equate cattle routes to freedom of movement. No, it is not correct.

 

Is Governor Rotimi Akeredolu right in giving the directive that herders should leave the Ondo State-owned forest reserves and get registered?

Yes, of course. In fact, the directive as been made so clear: come and register so that I will know what you are doing. You cannot come to my place and say you don’t want me to know what you are doing, then you will have problem with me. In fact, the Fulani has the responsibility of checking the cattle rearers as the Muslim has the responsibility of checking Boko Haram. It is not a Christian’s job. If Boko Haram is giving Muslims a bad name, they (Muslims) should stop it. If the cattle rearers are giving the Fulani a bad name, they should stop it. Even the Sultan of Sokoto said that almost seven out of 10 cattle rearers are Fulani. So, the Fulani should stop it. It is his responsibility. They cannot sit down and be blowing hot and cold. They cannot be showing that they have power and at the same time, shirking their responsibility. If you see that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria is misbehaving, we will call him and put him in order. If you talk that a Benin man is misbehaving, we will call him, whoever he is, and say ‘listen, this is not worth it.’ If a Yoruba man is misbehaving, yes, we call the Yoruba to order. Why is it that when the Fulani man is misbehaving, they say we should tolerate him?  It doesn’t make sense.

 

Why is it difficult for the South to speak in unison?

The reason is very simple. Most people don’t understand what Sharia is all about. And that is what we are trying to say: ‘go and read the Quran.’

 

What is Sharia all about?

First, it gives the impression of the supremacy of Islam. I provides for Jihad; if a man does accept what you are doing, kill him; you will go to heaven. That is totalitarian. It reduces he woman to an inferior being. It is a male dominated world. And you can steal, provided it is in the interest of the people. All these and more, which is a direct opposite of what Christianity and democracy is all about. It is this mixture of the two that is creating our problem. The two cannot go together.

 

What is the way forward: true federalism/restructuring or regionalism?

First of all, let me say that we should go a little more than restructuring. We need to reinvent Nigeria. We need to say this is our home and say all that the Oyibo (British) did are completely irrelevant. We are now going to sit down and have our country. We go back to our parliamentary system; we go back to regional or whatever it is. But the most important is the local government, where the basic things and the characters and all the things are developed. Unfortunately, with colonialism, with Sharia, we cannot do all things correctly. So, I am saying that  we need to have a blind eye completely that we are a colonial subject of the British  and sit down as Black man in front of a Black man and we decide what we want as a Black people. Reinvent Nigeria completely and make sure that our colonial past is only for history. And out of this history, we have the best for the Black man in the world.

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