ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
Home National

MUCH ADO ABOUT FULANI ETHNIC PROFILING

10th February 2021
in National
1
THE BOKO HARAM WAR WITHOUT END
0
SHARES
55
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

From the recent “vacate-forest-reserves’’ order handed down to Fulani herdsmen by the Ondo State government to some communities across southern Nigeria giving them notice to quit, once again allegations of ethnicization of crimes in Nigeria have surfaced, resulting in hateful resentment and attacks on herder settlements by their host communities.


The media has been particularly accused of stoking ethnic tensions that are beginning to boil over in places like Igangan in Oyo State and Isikwuato in Abia State, where Fulani herder settlements have been sacked by elements from the host communities as a strategy aimed at combating heightened insecurity.
However, more than any other group [media] or groups of persons [non-Fulani Nigerians] that are most responsible for the ethnicization of criminal activities of killer Fulani herdsmen are the very group of persons complaining loudly about the criminal profiling of their ethnic group: Fulani political elite/intellectuals and the pan-Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria [MACBAN].
In December 2016, a little over a year after he became the governor of Kaduna State in May 2015, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai revealed the identities of those carrying out killings in the southern part of his state to be Fulani herdsmen and their motive as revenge killings for similar treatment meted out to them by the indigenous community in the 2011 post-election violence that rocked the state. According to El-Rufai, “Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards Middle Belt and southern Nigeria. The moment the rain starts around March, April, they start moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries.
“Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them. Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle. So many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge’.’
And his solution to the problem as the chief security officer of the state was not to mobilize security agencies to defend the people of Southern Kaduna against killer Fulani herdsmen by enforcing law and order across the troubled area, rather, El-Rufai chose the path of appeasement by using his shared Fulani ethnicity with the killers as a bargaining tool: “We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger Republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensation for lives lost and he is begging them to stop killing.
“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, and we paid some. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger Republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they hold every year with a message from me.”
In effect, Governor El-Rufai, a leading member of the political elite and intellectual community, actually set the tone for the ethnicization of the criminal activities of killer Fulani herdsmen. But because appeasement is usually interpreted by criminals as a sign of weakness, which actually emboldens, rather than restrains, them, killer Fulani herdsmen became unhinged and went on a killing spree, sacking farming communities and destroying farmlands to make way for unrestrained cattle grazing in central and southern Nigeria.
And when Nigerians were rattled by the massacre of over 70 people in a single attack in Benue State by killer Fulani herdsmen, the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the headship of President Muhammadu Buhari, an ethnic Fulani, came to the aid of the killers with a convenient alibi. The minister of defence at the time, Brig. Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali, a Fulani from the north-western state of Zamfara, while branding the killings as farmer-herders’ clashes, justified the carnage thus: “Whatever crisis that happened at any time, there has to be remote and immediate causes. What are the remote causes of this farmers-herders’ crisis? Since Independence, we know there used to be a route whereby these cattle rearers use.
“Cattle rearers are all over the nation, you go to Bayelsa, you see them, you go to Ogun, you see them. If those routes are blocked, what happens? These people are Nigerians, it’s just like you going to block river or shoreline, does that make sense to you? These are the remote causes. But what are the immediate causes? It is the grazing law. These people are Nigerians, we must learn to live together with each other, that is basic. Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave, finish!”
By attributing the killings to the blockage of grazing routes and the anti-open grazing law of Benue State, Minister Mansur Dan-Ali effectively tied the murderous activities of killer Fulani herdsmen to the noble cultural occupation of cattle breeding of Nigeria’s Fulani people and hence appropriating the crimes of a few on behalf of the overwhelming majority.
Emboldened by government’s law and order enforcement inertia, killer Fulani herdsmen have become unhinged and in their enormous numbers have invaded Nigeria, coveting it as a thoroughfare of a very lucrative criminal franchise that makes no distinction between their Nigerian Fulani brethren and other Nigerians. Described by the Global Terrorism Index as the fourth most deadly armed group in the world, killer Fulani herdsmen have now become unhinged, operating from forests across the country.
They have laid siege on Nigerian villages, towns and major highways, relentlessly killing, maiming, raping, plundering, kidnapping and robbing unprotected and defenceless Nigerians. Wielding sophisticated weapons, killer Fulani herdsmen often invade people’s farmlands, chase away the farm owners before feeding their herds of cattle with the available food crops. Fulani home states like Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna and Sokoto have come under serious attacks from killer herdsmen, where they rustle herds belonging to the Fulani cattle breeder, destroy farms, rob, kidnap and kill people in their homes in villages and towns.
The constituted authorities in these states have practically lost control of swaths of territories to heavily armed killer Fulani herdsmen who now impose levies and taxes on farmers before they can plant or harvest from their farmlands. In each of these cases, Miyetti Allah, when not tacitly claiming responsibility for the carnage in Benue or elsewhere, is fully involved in hostage negotiations with bandits on behalf of government, actions that have given a cover of legitimacy to the atrocities of killer herdsmen.
Despite the widespread atrocious activities of killer herdsmen, not all Fulani people are killers and, contrary to the allegation of criminal profiling of the Fulani ethnic group in Nigeria, Nigerians do not consider every Fulani person a criminal. The Ondo State government did not issue a statewide eviction order to Fulani farmers, traders, artisans, currency traders, civil servants, etcetera, living in towns and villages of the state. It only asked herdsmen occupying forest reserves to leave.
That the Ondo State government issued further directives outlawing night grazing and herding by underage children and outlined a new operational guideline to Fulani herders is an indication that the business of cattle breeding is not banned in the state but should be done in compliance with the laws of the state.
Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar III of Sokoto, in his reaction to the recent happenings in the country, expressed concerns about the fact that seven out 10 kidnappers arrested by security agencies in Nigeria in recent times were Fulani, just as he rightly stated that not all Fulani people were criminals.
While this high number of criminal elements represents a very low percentage of the population of the Fulani people of Nigeria, it nevertheless has given a serious image problem to the entire ethnic group as it will seem as though banditry is replacing cattle breeding as the cultural occupation of Nigeria’s Fulani.
It is this tendency, away from cattle breeding towards banditry, that should concern every Nigerian Fulani and less about the amplification of the profile of their criminal kinsmen. Too much ado about the ethnic profiling of criminal herdsmen is unhelpful and smacks of living in denial of an existential threat to Nigeria’s national security and stability.

Cyril

Cyril

Related Posts

Buhari locks down Lagos, Abuja, Ogun as coronavirus spreads
Cover

Buhari gives bandits red card, rules out amnesty

26th February 2021
15 feared killed in Edo cult war
National

Cultists in shooting spree, kill 2, injure 5 in Balyesa

26th February 2021
Court sentences Mongolian ex-PM to 6 years imprisonment for abuse of power
National

Court summons Shell, top executives over alleged theft of 16m barrels of crude oil

26th February 2021
Next Post
Gunmen abduct Adamawa perm sec

Gunmen Abduct aide to Taraba Deputy Governor

Lil Frosh docked, remanded at Ikoyi prison

Lil Frosh docked, remanded at Ikoyi prison

The coup in Myanmar

The coup in Myanmar

Comments 1

  1. Avatar Dr Uche Kalu says:
    2 weeks ago

    Chief Majeed Dahiru in his above Assay on Much Ado About Fulani
    Ethnic Profiling,didn’t do a thorough homework before he embarked
    on his a bove trial.
    Nonetheless,in his trial he sought to exonerate the Fulani Leaders;
    Political and Religious alike,in the ongoing ”Futahat” Campaign of
    daily banditries, kidnappings, pogroms and ethnic cleansings of
    native Nigerians from their ancestral lands by the Fulani Killer
    Herdsmen.
    But the bottomline here is that,there have long been these systematic
    pogroms and ethnic cleansings of native Nigerains going in the Middle
    Belt of Nigeria for over 20 years now.
    The following ethnic groups, namely; the Afizeres,Anagutas,Beroms,
    Eggons,Idomas,Igalas,Kofyars,Jukuns,Iyem et al,have consistently
    borne the very brunts of it all.
    Panels and Commissions like the Prince Ajibola, Niki Tobi Panels and
    Chief Fiberesima Commission did finger and indicted the following
    Miyetti Allah Sheikhs for orchestrating the endemic and sporadic
    mayhems of pogroms and attempts at ethnic cleansings of native
    Nigerians by the alien Fulani cattle drivers.
    They are;Alhaji Ibrahim Nasiru Mantip,Mallam Sani Yahya,Alhaji
    Ibrahim Dasuki Nakkanda, Alhaji Saleh Al-Hassan, Sheikh Jangre Danladi
    Pasali and Alhaji Nasif Mohammed.
    All attempts to bring the above MACBAN Chieftains to court did fail
    because thy are Fulanis and muslims too,who are therefore answerable
    only to Allah not to their fellow men and Infidels.
    They are all sacred cows.Lol!
    One of them,Alhaji Saleh Al-Hassan,who is the current National Secretary
    General of MACBAN,in 2017 did openly thus enthuse ,quote, ” The land of
    all Nigeria belong to the Fulanis.
    And we ask all Fulnis living in West Africa to come and help us conquer
    Nigeria.We have accumulated large amounts of money and wepons for
    the war etc,etc – – – unquote.
    Just last month the National President of MACBAN, Mallam Abdullahi
    Bello Bodejo did declare that the Fulanis own all the lands of Nigeria.
    Those uncouth affronts and unbridled threats from Mallam Abdullahi
    Bello Bodejo and his National Secretary of MACBAN ought not be
    tolerated in this country.
    It is on record that the Fulani Killer Squad Herdsmen did kill more innocent
    Nigerians in 2018 nand 2019 than the Jihadist Killer Squads,the Boko
    Haram and ISWAP did togethter in the same period and yet they have not
    been designated as a Terrorist Group,which they really are.
    The painful irony and indeed the very wicked paradox here is that the
    so called Fulanis are nomore Nigerians than the Afrikaans (Boers) are
    South Africans.
    Apartheid is nomore in South Africa today.
    Isn’t it about time the Leaders of Nigeria; Political,Religious and Traditional
    alike,did come together and prevailed upon our nomadic Fulani catlle
    driver compatiots to respect the sedentary culture of their Kwa/Bantu
    Host Communities?
    Enough is enough ojare.
    Nigeria We Hail Thee.Lol!
    No to the status quo ante bellum!!
    Down with Hausa/Fulani Islamic Hegemony!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights

Liverpool goalkeeper’s dad drowns in Brazil

Okoro elected Captain of Ikoyi Club Golf Section

FC ROBO Queens attack: Falconets coach tasks Sanwo-Olu on the team

Ujiri vows to fight for being wrongly accused

Fury: I’m not ready for Joshua fight now

Woods won’t face criminal charges

Trending

Buhari locks down Lagos, Abuja, Ogun as coronavirus spreads
Cover

Buhari gives bandits red card, rules out amnesty

26th February 2021
0

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna   President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, restated that his administration would continue to deal...

Coach Izilien demands N10.9m unpaid bonuses from NFF

Coach Izilien demands N10.9m unpaid bonuses from NFF

26th February 2021
Hennessy becomes NBA’s  first global spirits partner

Hennessy becomes NBA’s first global spirits partner

26th February 2021
2 siblings drown in lake in Benue

Liverpool goalkeeper’s dad drowns in Brazil

26th February 2021
Okoro elected Captain  of Ikoyi Club Golf Section

Okoro elected Captain of Ikoyi Club Golf Section

26th February 2021

Follow us on social media:

Categories

  • Abuja Metro
  • Arts
  • Broken Tongues
  • Business
  • Business Week
  • Cartoons
  • Citizen Joe
  • Columns
  • Cover
  • Culture
  • Duro Onabule
  • Editorial
  • Education Review
  • Effect
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Features
  • Femi Adesina
  • Food & Drinks
  • Frank Talk
  • Funke Egbemode
  • Gallery
  • Global Square by Kenneth Okonkwo
  • Health
  • Insights
  • Kalu Leadership Series
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Letters
  • Lifeline
  • Lifestyle
  • Literary Review
  • Marketing Matters
  • Muiz Banire
  • National
  • News
  • Offside Musings
  • Opinion
  • oriental news
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • PressClips
  • Public Sphere
  • Ralph Egbu
  • Shola Oshunkeye
  • Sideview
  • South-west Magazine
  • Sponsored Post
  • Sporting Sun
  • Sports
  • Sun Girl
  • Tea Time
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
  • The Sun Awards Live
  • The Sun TV
  • Thoughts & Talks
  • Time Out
  • Today's cover
  • Tola Adeniyi
  • Travel
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Trending
  • TSWeekend
  • Turf Game
  • Uncategorized
  • Updates
  • Views from Abroad
  • Voices
  • World
  • World News
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist