Nations that wants to develop keep looking for ways to improve on old practices, find ways to sustainably produce things they need, in Nigeria, because we have a president that is not so educated and enlightened, we want to continue the practices of ancient time and then use that avenue to annex land across the nation for the president's tribal kins. President Buhari wants to destroy Nigeria by his actions and inactions on a very sensitive issue that he has refused to be objective about.
We learned way back in secondary school that nomadic cattle rearing is the most unproductive way to rear cattle for milk or meat - the animal burns as much energy as they consume while walking tens of thousands of kilometer. This old practice by Fulani has caused chaos in the past that has now escalated into a national crisis. Fulani herdsmen drive their cows across the length and breadth of the nation, and many times had encroached on planted farmlands, destroying properties in the millions of naira - how can one destroy the others good in an attempt to build one's own? Many times, erring Fulani herdsmen go unpunished by the laws of the land - because it is difficult to identify who commits this malicious destruction of property. Where identification is possible, it is next to impossible to arrest them because they are always armed to the teeth and also, their kinsmen in Agbada and Babariga will always come to their aid - Buhari had visited many places in the South West on behalf of his Fulani kinsmen before he became the president - case in point was the visit he made to Oke-Ogun during Governor Lam Adesina's tenure as the governor of Oyo state, on the frivolous claim that Fulanis were killed.
Fulani herdsmen problem escalated in the wake of Buhari's ascension to the presidency in 2015. The Fulanis saw the opportunity of their kinsman in power to start to inflict serious damage on whoever stands in their way. True to their guess, President Buhari was silent on many occasion. In 2016, over 800 people were slaughtered in Southern Kaduna on Christmas eve by these criminal elements called Miyeitti Allah - Buhari did not address the issue, rather his spokesperson said it is a state affair - how can genocide of that nature be a state affair? Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State then came out to tell the whole world that his government had paid the aggrieved Fulani. This beats my common sense - how do you pay criminal elements - doing so encourages more mayhem and impunity. This is what birth kidnapping - impunity encouraged by the government elected to uphold and enforce the law.
The President Buhari came here to the US, and right before President Trump, he LIED to the whole world that Fulanis do not carry AK47 but stick - we all know that President Buhari is complicit and has soft spot for his kinsmen. This alludes to the fact that Buhari is unfit to lead Nigeria because he is first a Fulani man before he is a Nigerian - it should be the other way round. His failure to use the opportunity to condemn the criminal acts of bandits inflicting pains on the rest of us was seen by the whole world, yet Nigerians re-elected him. Would not say we deserve what we are getting under Buhari, don't we?
Because no one is brought to book, the Fulanis felt empowered and their activities that were just destruction of farmland escalated to kidnapping - mostly in the North, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, etc. It got to an epidemic proportion early this year when some Fulani from all over West Africa saw the criminal enterprise that leads to quick money - they moved to Nigeria en mass and started kidnapping all and sundry, taking just about anybody for ransom. Many innocent people have been taken, raped, killed and fleeced of their money, while government at every level seem to be none-existence and over-powered. Now they have moved to the South West (SW) - the only part of Nigeria that has been relatively peaceful with all the chaos in other parts. I use to boast to my colleagues here in the US that SW Nigeria is the only place in Nigeria I know they are safe - I can no longer say that.
Vice President Osinbajo came to the US a few weeks ago, and before an international audience downplayed the severity of the Fulani herdsmen saga. He lied to the whole world just as his boss did. Perhaps, because no one in his family has been kidnapped yet. If one Nigerian is kidnapped - it should be an issue for reasonable and forward-thinking leaders - it should not be trivialized.
Is RUGA the solution to Fulani herdsmen killing? What is the guarantee that the Fulani will stay in one place after lands have been annexed for them? What is the assurance that they will stop kidnapping, a quick way to make a stupendous amount of money? What is the guarantee that they will stop grazing their cow on people's crops? Is this not an avenue for legalizing forceful land takeover for Fulani to use at will across the nation while in actual fact, they have no intention to stay in one place? Why can't RUGA be localized in their own ancestral lands in Northern Nigeria if truly we want to settle them, why take land from across the nation for a people that will not change an unsustainable practice?
Buhari's government watch while Miyetti Allah spokesperson threatened violence and nobody is arrested, whereas they are running after Nnamdi Kanu for asking for their right as Igbos within Nigeria where they feel marginalized by successive governments in Nigeria for almost 50 years after the civil war. Buhari crushed and killed IPOB leaders and followers but he has not done the same to some of the criminal Fulani who threatens violence publicly. Nigerians are not idiots not to know that the president is complicit. I have said this many times, what we have is a Fulani leading Nigeria, not a Nigerian. A good leader will first be a Nigerian before he is a tribal man.
Here is my fear - if our government does not engage in pragmatic steps to deal with crimes and insecurity in the nation, especially the Fulani kidnapping issue, jobless youth of every descent may take over this business enterprise as an easy way to make ends meet. The economic impact of insecurity is unquantifiable - many investors, scientists, tourists, are afraid to come to Nigeria because they are afraid of what might happen to them. Tourists will not come if kidnapping becomes a business everywhere. Locals will be afraid to travel within their own country for business or pleasure because of fear of this armed bandits - this is a recipe for poverty and complete disintegration of the nation as we know it. Pragmatic steps devoid of ethnic sentiment is needed to address the Fulani crisis - a word is enough for the wise.
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