The Fulani are the problem of Nigeria. They got to this preeminent position by subjugating the Hausa that they colonized. The Fulani are colonizers. They did what every colonizer did. They torture and subjugate the indigenous people and teach them to hate themselves and their neighbors. They dominate by killing the Hausa kings and forcing them to adopt the Fulani way of life which is Islam.
This is the violent process that is part of the colonizing culture. Violence is always needed for colonization. The British used this method efficiently in their colonies. The case of the Fulani in Nigeria is similar to apartheid South Africa because the White minority like the Fulani never left. Since everyone is black in Northern Nigeria, the apartheid there is invisible and additionally hidden by the cloak of religious gobbledygook.
As a stealth move, they did not impose their language on the indigenous population. Conflict avoided. They solidified the North with the Hausa language and their religion while stamping out the indigenous culture.
Violence is always the weapon of the colonizers, and they have no scruples when killing in the name of their God. None of the gains and dominance of the Fulani was achieved in a peaceful democratic manner.
Democracy is antithetical to a colonialist instinct. This is why the Fulani continue to use violence as a tool of politics in Nigeria. They are the colonialists, and they don’t see themselves having anything in common with the indigenous people of Nigeria. They use the indigenous population as canon folders. Until they are countered, they will always use violence as a means of statecraft.
They see themselves as the law and have the right to use violence, chaos and insecurity to their advantage. They always use proxies as the vanguard of their campaign.
When the First Republic was toppled, they regretted not doing it first. After that, no one will beat them to it. Since then, they have used the military to achieve their ends in Nigeria. They seized those moments of calamity and turned it back to their advantage.
They used Yakubu Gowon. After opposing the unitary system imposed by Aguyi Ironsi, they accepted it and perfected it to their advantage and created more confusion by creating more states and more centralization of power which they were in control of.
When Murtala Mohammed was eliminated, they settled for Olusegun Obasanjo. He has been a gift to the Fulani.
Under him, a Land Use decree which was a prelude to RUGA was passed. This decree made Fulani who are non-indigenous Nigerians to seize land from Hausa and other indigenous people of the North.
They did this through the suppression of the indigenous people with executive lawlessness and brigandage which is still going on in the North.
Under this decree they acquired lands that have precious metals in the North and started mining these metals privately. They used the monies gained here to start militias in the North of the country. It is these militias that later metamorphosed into various terrorist groups in the North and other parts of the Sahel.
The Fulani have a large war chest to prosecute low intensity insecurity when government policies are not in their favour. They also used money for the propagation of Islam in order to make their struggle international.
The Fulani are not really a religious people. They use religion for their political advancement. Through their Emirate System, their tentacles spread so far down South as Kwara State. There is no history of a non-Fulani who is an Emir. It is a closed system. To be an Emir, you have to be a Fulani and a Muslim and speak their language which is not Hausa. They are closely linked. They intermarry. They are one big family by blood. Throughout the reign of Buhari, Atiku never altered any word because he is family. People accuse Buhari of filling every position with Fulani. They are wrong. Buhari filled every government position with his family members.
They have the secrecy code of an organized criminal syndicate. Their nomadic instincts make them thrive advantageously in periods of national strife and chaos.
None of the advancement and wealth that they have accumulated was achieved in times of democratic harmony or peace. From the aforesaid, it can be assumed that it is not in their interest to foster peace and unity. They have come to understand that the rest of Nigeria especially the South have qualms about shedding innocent blood and they seize on this weakness to sow fear.
When we lament the death of Deborah Samson, they celebrate it because it is a warning that they could go further. They directly tell us that they will do anything to maintain their preeminent position in Nigeria. The various military coups and regimes in Nigeria were orchestrated by the Fulani and they benefited from them immensely. With an avalanche of oil money, they can use it to buy government officials who are non-Fulani and propagate their brand of Wahhabi Islam. Under the military, they dragged Nigeria to be a member of OIC. Under the military, they added Sharia to the Constitution of a multiethnic and multi religious country.
Under the military, they produced a Constitution that has “No Go areas “called exclusive, legislative list. This list contains everything necessary for human development. Under General Obasanjo, they declared Sharia in their states because they know Obasanjo does not have the gumption to point out this unconstitutionality.
Now they are emboldened to push Sharia further south. Their impunity is overwhelming. They are taking small incremental steps in turning Nigeria from a secular state to an Islamic state without the consent of the citizens. This is why they have been sponsoring low intensity conflict within Nigeria.
The insecurity that abounds is nurtured by them so Nigerians can flee their homes, and their governments will reassign the land to them. The insecurity is also used to scare Southern youths and intellectuals to embark on the Japa train perpetually. This will weaken the South as those who will oppose them will find it easier to Japa and cede the land to the Fulani.
Don’t be surprised if you hear that the Fulani are lobbying for easy visa protocols for educated Southerners especially the Biafrans who will gladly jettison the idea of Biafra land. They have the means, and they have the reach.
When you hear that an Emefiele stole billions, the question is how much was stolen by the Fulani accomplice? That is always a secret. They are very organized in their criminality and their stolen money flows through the chain of command. They are not loud like Southern money miss road people. They may not change their cars, and they may not change their abode. You won’t see them throw lavish parties. Fulani don’t see themselves as citizens. They see themselves as colonizers. This is the root of their pride and a weakness because when Nigerians realize that they are dealing with colonizers, they will go the way of colonizers. It will be worse because they have no superior technology to counter an avalanche of angry Nigerians. It is this day they fear most because they have been ruthless with their power and the anxiety in their ranks is feverish when they or their surrogates are not in power. How do you bell the cat?
The North is not a monolith as the Southerners have it in their imagination. The North is a Tower of Babel that was cobbled together by the Fulani jihadist. They used Islam to blind fold them. The instrumentality of coercion was so brutal and barbaric beyond the scope of the discussion here. We can still see some relics in their present-day agitation for Sharia by the Fulani. We in the South have agitated a lot but we don’t know who the foe is. We are haughty and prideful of our western education that we can sell our birthright cheaply. This is one of their greatest arsenals.
The Fulani have the money and the wherewithal to purchase the loudest Southerner of any tribe. We should subsume our arrogance and learn who the Fulani in Nigeria are. This is the key to render void any of their medieval advancement and primitive acquisitions.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
