The Fulani Crisis

Years back, a respected friend of mine sent me a long list of why sane people should never go to war with the Fulani. The forwarded text reminded those contemplating a feud with the Fulani to know what they were getting into. They are nomads accustomed to long and tortuous journeys through terrains that could […]

Years back, a respected friend of mine sent me a long list of why sane people should never go to war with the Fulani. The forwarded text reminded those contemplating a feud with the Fulani to know what they were getting into. They are nomads accustomed to long and tortuous journeys through terrains that could make even the valiant among us weak in the knees. They live in tents and are primed to move at a moment’s notice. They battle natural elements that toughen their willpower. They have kinsfolks scattered across the entire West and parts of North Africa that means when the Fulani calls for help, he gets it beyond his natural borders.
For years now, we’ve been battling a national emergency – except that we have not called it that. But for the laughable statement credited to Audu Ogbeh advancing reasons to move from importing Brazilian hair for our ladies to getting Brazilian grass for our cattle, nothing has been said about reported attacks by herdsmen beginning all over the land.
Entire races live in constant dread of being marauded by alleged Fulani herdsmen.
While I am totally against unverified racial profiling, the pattern of attack is the same. A cattle destroys people’s farmland – the owners confront them and are wounded or die in the process. The story gets to town, leading to reprisal attacks followed by a calm before the real storm. Then a nocturnal attack occurs in which the attackers use heavy assault weapons sparing no-one – men, women, children, the infirmed – it is operation of no mercy! The wounded are displaced and lose their means of livelihood for at least a year. Beyond the initial headlines nothing is heard – an unfolding national tragedy is buried!
Without concrete proof, it is my considered view that it is wrong to tag any skirmish as the work of an ethnic militia. But survivors have argued with me on social media that these indeed are the handiwork of ethnic militia. What began as a Middle Belt crisis is now snowballing into a national catastrophe. Initial doubts are cleared with the release of a sickening video now circulating on social media. In the poorly produced video apparently shot from a low-quality mobile phone, a gangling middle-aged man on a motorcycle displays an array of assault weapons, claims responsibility for pogroms from Zamfara through Benue, Plateau and the southern parts of the country. He boasts of superior arms in the armoury, including he says surface-to-air missiles.
This character, speaking in Fulani-intoned Hausa warned that no one was safe who harmed cattle or killed the Fulani anywhere. He boasts of the exploits of his men and swears of a huge support base of informants both in government and in the security forces.
Certainly this is a national catastrophe calling for the declaration of a state of national emergency. National security is lax and available personnel are spread thin. Intelligence gathering is either totally lacking or grossly undervalued or both. People no longer trust the state to protect them and their rights, and have resorted to vigilante justice for real or imagined wrong. We dismiss this as the palpitations of a failed state, but the problem remains unsolved and may consume us if ethnic groups turn against each other in a nation with over 300 ethnic nationalities.
That we are a country and not a nation is daily exacerbated in the crises that daily engulf various parts of the country. Traditional values are eroded and sociopathic behaviour is lionized. Without intelligence and with law enforcement officers sworn to parochial interests, the fabric of our nation is falling to pieces. The inability of the state to successfully prosecute those who, in the past resorted to vigilante justice in solving issues means anyone could wake up any day and start a militia.
No nation or society survives fighting wars on all fronts, least of all in an era of global economic uncertainty. Only last week, ethnic clashes sparked up in metropolitan Lagos a land known as home to all. The week before, it was Agatuland in Benue state. There was the Tiv/Jukun crisis, the Nasarawa Eggon crisis, the Plateau wars, Boko Haram and of course people are asked to live daily with armed robbery day and night. Money that should be channeled to communal development is apparently being funneled into into arms acquisition and militia training. We need a national dialogue. We need an amnesty programme for those with unlicensed arms who voluntarily surrender them. We need to build the fabrics of justice and equity from the ground up. We need to lay its foundations – NOW, not tomorrow.
We need to strengthen the justice system, establishing or strengthening traditional ways of settling crises. This government needs to get its act together and be proactive. It must examine the root cause of these crises, punish the guilty no matter how highly placed and find lasting solutions. The citizenry needs to wake up to their responsibilities of helping security agencies with credible information but then they need assurances that their information would not be used against them. This would not be an easy task, but we’re doomed if we fail to start – NOW.