Fulani Herdsmen And Drumbeat Of War

By Linus Obogo

“Miyetti Allah to governors: Provide Modern Grazing Areas For Herders If You Want Peace”

Compare the above quoted threat, mortal in content and outlook, with IPOB’s impotent sit-at-home order to its non-arm bearing, ragtag members.

Nigeria may soon be engulfed in an unremitting orgy of violence in the light of the latest warning threat from the leadership of herders association.

 As if to reinforce the boldness of their murderous carnage against other Nigerians across the country, Fulani herdsmen, under the umbrella of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore socio-cultural organisation, has warned state governors that only the proper settlement of herders will guarantee peace in their states.

In a statement issued on Saturday, November 2 by the National President of the organisation, Abdullahi Bodejo, the association said the only solution to the herdsmen’s problem is to provide them grazing areas equipped with modern facilities.

Nothing can be more treasonable than the audacious threat by the herders to unleash violence and cause instability in the country.

With the open declaration of mayhem and the conspiracy of silence from the country’s political and security leadership, we definitely have a harvest of deaths on our hands.

For long, the Fulani herdsmen have carried on with so much braggadocio and a swagger of militancy with abject response from the president, offering vent to claims that they are under the protective canopy of the federal government.

Sadly, bumper harvest of deaths arising from the activities of the Fulani extremist group, since the inception of the current APC junta, according to statistics from the Global Terrorism Index hover around 4000 to 5000 from 2015 to 2018, with 2018 alone accounting for 1800 deaths, six times more than that perpetrated by Boko Haram.

While the herders’ threat must be deplored in its entirety, there is the general belief and perhaps, rightly so too, that the herders have consistently found their mojo to inflict deadly attacks on defenseless Nigerians owing largely to the fiddling tactic of the national leadership and the Nigerian military, whose service chiefs are mainly pooled from one regional enclave.

Viewed alongside a non-arm bearing group, like the proscribed and branded as terrorist, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the heavy handedness brought to bear on the group by the Nigeria Army, there’s a clear pointer to the fact that the Fulani extremist group enjoy an olive branch of exclusive immunity from the government at the centre.

The narrative of exclusive immunity has not changed and it’s looking unlikely to change anytime soon.

What is even more agitating or worrying is, had the threat come from any other group other than the Fulani herdsmen, wouldn’t the python be dancing to strike its victims or Crocodile be smiling that it has found its potential prey?

Twenty four hours have lapsed since the spewing of the threat, yet there has been no response or condemnation from the presidency or the security agencies, fueling suppressed feelings that Miyetti Allah group is not acting alone, but with script being written and directed from high government quarters.

Indeed, no country can realize its potential or development agenda in the face of institutionally choreographed disorder such as we witness today.

The threat by the herders is grave and insidious, with the potentiality to further accentuate the already existing fault lines.

For too long, we have collaterized our unity with too much bloodshed, often with premium paid lopsidedly to retain and sustain the rickety bond of unity.

It is against this backdrop that a further demand for more blood as it is  being bayed by the herders, should be resisted by all, no matter what it takes.

Sadly, despite the planned reign of terror, Why are our security agencies, and especially the Nigeria army which is currently embroiled in a scandalous attempt to usurp the role of the immigration service in the operation show your ID, seemingly defanged in the face of obviously grave threat from the Fulani herdsmen?

For an administration that insists on the indissolubility of the country and yet plays the ostrich while its unity continues to wobble and jerk woozily on the precipice, stands complicit in the festering sore as defined by the menace of Fulani herdsmen and the possible growth of similar militia elsewhere.

How long will the rest of the country bear with the fiefdom and colonizing structure currently being forged by a small pastoral tribe?

The way I see it, the proverbial goat will attempt to bite while it continues to be pushed further to the wall.

Taken together, Saturday’s threat to peace across the country by the leadership of Miyetti Allah can only be viewed as a sure recipe for anarchy and a definite call to arms by the rest of other tribes in Nigeria.

Obogo, is a Journalist/Public Affairs Commentator