Stemming the anti-Fulbe hate

How did a British born Nigerian of Urhobo descent, who grew up in Zaria, Kaduna and Katsina, who did national service in Rano, Kano state,  become a lover of the Fulbe? The A B C of this is a whole book.But one thing happened at Daily Trust long before 2014 which drew me to the […]

How did a British born Nigerian of Urhobo descent, who grew up in Zaria, Kaduna and Katsina, who did national service in Rano, Kano state,  become a lover of the Fulbe? The A B C of this is a whole book.But one thing happened at Daily Trust long before 2014 which drew me to the Fulani.

I spent many happy years at Daily Trust investigating different stories while there, but one set of reports stood out, even if they occurred in the latter phase of my time at the paper.

It was there that my love for the Fulani began to unfold. My colleagues were impressed that an ‘Urhobo man’ from the Niger Delta with little or no grasp of Fulfulde, is busy going around the states, interviewing the nomads and exploring the crises in pastoral life. Staffs of NCNE Kaduna and MACBAN Executives were very kind and provided amazing contacts for the task.

The aim was to explore the human story behind the loss of cattle to rustlers. If the cows are stolen, the economy of the nomad collapses. He cannot pay medical bills, the school fees, and cannot go to Mecca on the Hajj. The loss of cows is a huge blow, and some nomads commit suicide if the cows are killed or stolen, and some get depressed.

They flee from their wives if the cows are stolen. He cannot bear the thought that he can no longer provide for his wife and family. He then  flees and his flight is connected with  Pulaaku. Many do not understand the nomads, but I do. Or rather, I am still learning. It began as a natural interest then.

I read books on pastoral life, and interacted with the nomads to learn about their beautiful culture, especially the uplifting code termed Pulaaku, a code of honour among  nomads. It explains why a woman will give birth and endure the pain quietly, and why a man will do the Sharo without exhibiting pain of any sort. Sharo is a test of strength, and a man can win a wife by enduring the whipping that goes on at a Sharo.

We sedentary folk  can learn so much from them, if we will look upon them with love, rather than hate.  I explored this and much, much more including threats to Fulfulde as a language, the slow disappearance of fura da nono, lives of nomads in Oyo etc.This took me to 15 states I think, including  Rugu forest in Katsina state where I encountered female herders who once fled from rustlers while pregnant. The power of  herbs helped to protect their  pregnancies, they told me.

There was a trip to Ladugga grazing reserve in Kaduna state, Nigeria’s largest grazing reserve, where I heard the national anthem expressed in Fulfulde by children.I was in  Birnin Gwari, and Yala in Cross River state where I experienced  a beautiful naming ceremony among the Fulani.There was Tuwon Shinkafa, Fura and Kindirmo and good conversation in abundance. In Enugu I was with Ardo Saidu Basso whose wives and daughters speak fluent Igbo.-They laughed at me because I couldn’t speak Igbo. Even now I can still hear their conversation in Igbo, spoken with little or no accent in a Ruga  located at a spot  near a dying river. The  elegant wife of Basso told me that her parents are from Zamfara, while she is from Enugu. She was born in Enugu.

In Oyo,I met a Fulani leader whose many cows were a sight to behold, as well as his brilliant articulate son who has an excellent grasp of both Fulfulde and English. In Birnin Gwari a nomad confessed that previously he never liked people from the Niger Delta, but that since I have so much love for his people by travelling right up to Birnin Gwari which was not even safe at that time, his attitude had changed.He then shook my hand with a glow in his eyes. It was there too (Birnin Gwari) that I sat in a long room with about 50 nomads on a Friday, going over  many burning issues affecting pastoral life.

At Itobe in Kogi, I came across kidnappers negotiating a ransom with some nomads. My guide advised that we leave the spot immediately. We did. All this was in 2014 when I spent 3 whole months with the nomads.

How do we bring healing to the land, and stem the tide of hate? Love is the way forward. I earlier referred to the nomad who confessed to not liking people from the Niger Delta, but when he met me in Birnin Gwari investigating the awesome  crises in pastoral life, I, who cannot yet speak a  complete sentence in Fulfulde, he confessed that he has now formed a new impression of people from the Niger Delta. He then shook my hand with a glow in his eyes. Love which I must have exhibited in the course of my activities, had an impact on the smiling nomad. Love is everything.

Tadaferua Ujorha wrote from [email protected]