At the height of recent crisis between Hausa and Yoruba traders in Shasha food market in Ibadan, Oyo State, and the consequent blockade of food items from the North to the South, coupled with the various attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen on farmers and travellers in the South West, the United States Mission in Nigeria met with the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos and chairman of the Association of Fulani Chiefs in South West Nigeria, Alhaji Mohammed Bambado.
The meeting, however, caused an uproar, particularly among a section of the Yoruba and Igbo populace. They questioned the morality and justification for the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, paying a visit to Sarkin Fulani and holding what was seen as a security meeting with him, and not the Oba of Lagos, who is a paramount ruler in the state.
Saturday Tribune’s TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE sought the reactions of both the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos, Alhaji Ali Garba Kabiru and the Sarkin Fulani, Mohammed Bambado, on the controversies surrounding the high-profile meeting, the food blockade, their relationship with the Oba of Lagos, and their efforts, if any, towards sustenance of peace and harmony in Lagos and, by extension, the South West.
Efforts by Saturday Tribune to have audience with the Sarkin Hausawa, through several phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages yielded no result. He also refused to respond to the questionnaire he requested be sent him and didn’t honour an earlier promise to grant the proposed interview.
Moments after the questionnaire was electronically delivered to him, he ceased all communication with Saturday Tribune.
The Sarkin Fulani, at the initial stage, also wanted out of the interview on the premise that he would not want people to misinterprete his views. Much later, he obliged to the request on the basis of, according to him, setting the record straight on various issues, including his relationship with the Oba of Lagos.
Could you give an insight into your meeting with the US diplomats recently?
It is true that I had a meeting with them, the US Ambassador, Mary Beth Leonard and Consul-General, Claire Pierangelo. We had the meeting at the consul-general’s official residence in Lagos.
But some people believe they were the ones who visited you.
That is not true. They invited me to the Consul-General’s residence. The background of the venue with the US flag is enough evidence. Our meeting was simply on the issue of Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the South West.
But some are saying that the diplomats should have gone to the Oba of Lagos and not to you.
I think they are in a better position to speak on that. But then, I believe that they invited me as a leader of a particular group of people, the Fulani. I think they also had discussions with some other groups that same week and nobody is saying anything about those. So, it is because I am a Fulani man. But I did not go there to tell them that I was the Oba of Lagos and neither did I talk about issues concerning the people of Lagos. I went there in my capacity as the leader of Fulani in Lagos State and chairman of Fulani chiefs in the South West. It has nothing to do with they having the meeting with the Oba of Lagos instead. Our discussion was purely about Fulani herders and farmers in the South West. We talked about how to douse the tension and bring permanent peace and harmony among farmers and herders in the region and nothing more.
I believe they made the move because they have the capacity in their own little way to wade in. And it would be difficult for them to go into the bush and begin to ask the Fulani herders about their problems. I think they can only do that through Fulani leaders in the region, who understand their language and culture. The belief is that it is only in an atmosphere of peace that meaningful progress can take place in any part of the country. I am sure that almost every Yoruba or Igbo person has one or two relations living in the North, just as many Northerners also live in the South. So, our unity and peaceful coexistence should be paramount.
But what about the issue of bandits and kidnappers?
The bandits are everywhere, and they don’t want to know whether you are Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani or Igbo before they carry out their attacks. They attack people indiscriminately. Their major victims are even the Fulani because they are the ones living in the bush. They steal their cows and money, kill them and rape their wives. So, that does not mean we should tag every Fulani person a bandit. Doing so would be unfair. If a Yoruba man, for example, cheated me over something or cause evil somewhere, will I then conclude that every Yoruba man is a criminal? No, life is not like that. That is ethnic profiling.
So, what do you think should be done?
We all must come together and fight the common enemy. Every sane person and lover of peace will be worried at the turn of things in the country. No place is safe again. So, I am not happy with the situation. We should join forces together to fight bandits and kidnappers so that we can all live peacefully in the country. The fact is that there are many Fulani families who have stayed in the South West for more than 100 years, including my lineage. We have had lots of inter-marriages. We go to the same schools, the same mosques and do many other things together. Even my late father married a Yoruba woman. So, I have half brothers whose mother is Yoruba. So, we shouldn’t have spent these long years in Lagos and not be able to accommodate or trust one another. It is when you trust somebody that you get married to such a person. So, we, Hausa-Fulani, see Yoruba and other non-Yorubas in the South West as loving people.
How deep is this tribal integration?
Go to Iseyin and many other places in Oyo State, for instance, many Fulani have been there for so many years. They don’t understand any other language than Yoruba and Fulfude. They are already part and parcel of those communities. That is where their life’s investments are. That is where they feed themselves and their families. Where would people like that go? People should know that we are all going to meet God at the end of our sojourn on this earth to give account. Truly, there could be bad eggs among the Fulani, just as there could be in every other tribe and even in every family. So, if somebody perpetrates a crime, such a person, irrespective of tribe, should be treated as criminal. But it is not fair to now tag everyone around that person as criminal. It is wrong.
How?
There is tension already and some people are just waiting to read a different meaning to your good intention. For instance, there was a report in your newspaper wherein you quoted me as saying that my son and I could contest any political post in Lagos. The intention was for people to see me as part of the people of Lagos, given the fact that I have a long history in Lagos. I was not speaking from a political viewpoint per se. But some are now misinterpreting it for people to cast aspersion on my person. That is not fair. That is not how to preach peace and unity.
Why should some people politicise almost everything? If there is an issue, all there is to do is to sit round the table and discuss the way out and then we put the rest in the hand of God.
I am not in anyway supporting, and I will never support, any bandit or kidnapper anywhere in the country. I am ready to join hands with any group or persons to fight bandits. The normal Fulani man who is herder and doing his business legitimately is also ready to work with anybody or group of people and the government to flush out bad eggs from the South West.
What is your relationship with the Oba of Lagos?
It has been wonderful. The Oba of Lagos is my royal father. I work closely with him. I don’t have any problem with him. He is my Oba and he is our paramount ruler. If I need advice, I go to him and he attends to me like a son. If there is an issue with my people, we go to him and he listens to us and resolves the matter.
That is why I don’t even understand what some people are driving at about my office and the Oba of Lagos. I have never gone beyond my jurisdiction. You can’t see me parading outside my office. I am the Sarkin Fulani, and that is my title. This means that I am the traditional leader over all Fulani people in Lagos State and I coordinate the affairs of all Fulani chiefs in the South West. Nothing more. That is how it is for all tribes in every society. It is like that in Kano, Sokoto and other places in the North. In those places, you also have leaders of Yoruba communities. With that, there is a leader of every ethnic group to relate with on issues that concern them. It is as simple as that. If there is a problem concerning the Fulani, the Oba of Lagos knows who to call. The same thing goes for the Oba of Yoruba in Kano. If there is a problem that involves the Yoruba community there, the Emir of Kano knows who to call or hold responsible. The system and structure have been there for a long time. It is a tradition that is passed on from generation to generation.
So, why the criticism?
Well, I don’t abuse the office. I don’t go beyond my boundary. It is just that some people are being biased about the whole thing, because there is a problem. That is why I will say all this is political. Why is it now that people are talking about Sarkin Fulani and Oba of Lagos? The Sarkin Fulani of Lagos title had been there long before independence and the history is there.
I never called myself what I am not. Am I claiming to be the Oba of Lagos? Why would I do that? I am not a Yoruba man but a Fulani man. Everything I am doing is within my jurisdiction. People should understand that there is also Sarkin Hausawa and that of Kanuri and so on here in Lagos. We are all under the Oba of Lagos. So, every tribe has its own leader. We have palaces just for our people to feel at home whenever they come around. That is how the Yoruba also have palaces in the North. Their palaces are as beautiful as some of the palaces here in the South West. You can investigate that of Sokoto to confirm my claim. The man is from Aguda-Surulere, Lagos, here.
So, Sarkin Fulani is now an issue because the president of the country is a Fulani man, and that he wants to Fulanise Nigeria, a theory which somebody like me does not subscribe to. Nigeria with diverse ethnic groups and languages is too big for that.
What I don’t understand again is that even the intellectuals are also buying into all these thoughts. We should rather join hands together to fight our common enemies who are troubling the peace and unity of our dear country. Bandits, kidnappers, terrorists and all other criminal elements are our common enemies as they attack people, not minding their tribes.
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