By Dr George Nkwoji
It was as if I was talking to myself in 2016 when I stated that “it will be naive to think that the oppressed southern ethnic groups will fold their arms without finding solutions to defend and protect themselves” while discussing the portentousness of herdsmen invasions on this column. In that discussion, I pointed out that the criminal activities of herdsmen would unite the rest of Nigeria against Fulanis and that there was going to be proliferation of arms.
Five years after that publication, it is obvious that there is proliferation of arms with these prevalent attacks on security stations nationwide. It is equally evident that the rest of Nigerians are now united against Fulanis going by the ban on open grazing of cattle in Southern and Middle Belt parts of Nigeria. For the benefit of those who did not read it, that publication is being reproduced below devoid of alteration to prove that the unfolding anarchy in the country has long been foretold. Happy reading.
The migration of a large population of Fulani herdsmen from their communities in the North to the Middle Belts and Southern communities in recent years and the fact that they are armed with guns with which they invade natives killing and destroying properties is evidence that Nigeria is gradually heading to anarchy. The politics being played with this development where Nigerians from the North claim that it has to do with grazing fields while those from the Middle Belts and Southern Nigeria say that it borders on conquest is another evidence that the country is almost divided into ethnic groups and suspicion reigns supreme.
But irrespective of the angle from which the incessant Fulani herdsmen attacks may be viewed, one cannot fail to see them as harbingers of a disunited Nigeria which will result in proliferation of arms, contempt for Fulanis, xenophobia and ethnic genocide.
The manner Fulani nomads brandish arms is evidence that guns have entered into wrong hands and this is bound to trigger an upsurge in the proliferation of arms. The mere fact that sophisticated arms freely enter into this country without being detected and impounded clearly exposes Nigeria’s security lapses. Being prodded by the support they received from Northern Governors and the silence of the
federal government, it will be naïve to think that the oppressed Southern ethnic groups will fold their arms without finding solutions to defend and protect themselves. A majority of them have the capability to manufacture dangerous weapons and therefore would not have the need to cross our borders. As the federal government has not been able to disarm herdsmen and seems not interested to investigate how sophisticated guns got into the hands of illiterates is bound to embolden other tribes to prepare for the coming armageddon. Therefore there will be no telling the extent this state of affairs will get to
when the local manufacturing of guns resumes in the quest for personal protection and defense against external attacks.
The Fulanis, though a minority ethnic nationality which was made influential by our British colonialists unwittingly uses armed nomads to incite other ethnic groups against itself. The other ethnic nationalities who are bearing the brunt of unbridled invasions by their herdsmen are merely watching with trepidation. It is just natural that they would want to treat the situation with equanimity perhaps to see what the federal government which is headed by a Fulani will do. What is prevailing now is the suppression of bottled up anger and how long this will last depends on what the Buhari government does and those it will not do. Fulanis may be basking in the confidence that it controls the apparatus of federal authorities without caring about the feelings of others, but with the level of wanton destruction of Southern communities by herdsmen, the Fulanis should expect a rise in contempt for anything it stands for because it is natural for oppressed people to react in this way but the unfortunate aspect of it is that Fulanis are bringing this upon themselves for being expansionists.
It continues to frighten me whenever I imagine a Nigeria under the reign of tribalism with its concomitants of hatred, suspicion, etc coupled with proliferation of arms in the hands of angry and unemployed people. Though not their plan but Fulanis have used their rampaging nomads to unite the rest of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities and this unity will haunt them for a long time. It has suddenly dawned on all of them that Fulanis have no friends when it comes to their expansionist quest which means that every ethnic group is a potential enemy to Fulanis. With the awakening of hatred for herdsmen and the strident calls for them to leave Southern communities, it will just take some extremists to burst the bubble and by the time we know it,
Nigeria would have been enmeshed in xenophobia and genocide. Unfortunately Nigerians are not seeing any practical steps taken by the federal government to deal with this ugly development and this is creating feelings of neglect and insecurity. It amounts to paying lips service for President Buhari to issue orders to the military which are unheeded to and he keeps silent when not even a single culprit has been apprehended.
How does it feel when security agencies ignore Presidential orders and Mr. President thinks that all is going to be well? This state of affairs is like a double edged sword that cuts
with both sides. Fulani herdsmen who seem to enjoy federal government’s protection will lose on both sides when this brazen impunity eventually breaks the patience of Nigerians. Already there are rising demands from Southerners that herdsmen should leave with their cows. There are also mounting campaigns against the presence of cows in the region. Therefore it is incumbent upon the Buhari government to see rampaging armed herdsmen as harbingers of anarchy and since no government has survived a state of anarchy, these nomads are his enemies as what they are doing now may dethrone him. Attacks by herdsmen over grazing are full of Portentousness.
This article was first published May 10, 2016.
