By Clem Aguiyi
I have been told we must live side by side with evil; that we can’t speak against the evils around us neither can we write against the evils we detest; I am told to endure because this is their time;
I am told things have changed; that we risk being framed and charged with treason because our freedom after speech is no longer guaranteed and I am neither shocked nor surprised because I know that it will eventually come to this sorry state. The worst thing to fear in life is fear itself.
I am not scared neither are am I afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot destroy the soul. The truth as we know it must be spoken not for the love of self but for the greater interest of the country and humanity. I insist on the right of every citizen to be treated equally and fairly.
I insist on a better Nigeria for the common good of all. All over the world national interest is defined in terms of the quality of life, security and comfort enjoyed by citizens but not in terms of the wellbeing of cows and cattle. The problem is not the cattle because cattle do not bear arms and do not commit mass murder.
The herdsmen whom the Inspector General of Police said are not Nigerians but foreigners from Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Niger are the problem and we must do something about them.
Between 2015 to 2016 the herdsmen have killed thousands of citizens including women and children, pretentiously to make way for their cattle to eat fodder and drink water.
The US classified the Fulani herdsmen as the World’s 4th most deadly terrorist organization due to the ferocity of their killings yet not a single herdsman has been arranged in court for murder and terrorism but 76 South Easterners who resisted their invasion were quickly rounded up by soldiers and charged to court.
If indeed the herdsmen are foreigners why is the Federal Government protecting them over fellow citizens? Who permitted the herdsmen to enter into the country with military assault rifles, including AK 47? Why is the mainstream media silent on the atrocities of the herdsmen? Whose interests are the police and the military serving?
Mr. President your silence in the face of all this is no more golden. You should speak out against the violence of the herdsmen and if possible resign your membership and patron-ship of the association at least in protest against their turning Nigeria into a killing field. You must show that the lives of the people matter more than the lives of Fulani cattle.
Last time I checked on why you were elected president, my understanding is that you were not elected president to serve one party, one religion , one tribe or the herdsmen but to serve one nation that includes the Igbo, Tiv, Igala, Igbira koto and Igbira Okene, Bassa, Agatu, Igede, Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa, Tangale, Taruk, Birom. Angas, Afor, Doma, Gbagi, Bini, Izon, Uhrobo, Efik, Annang, Ibibio, Kanuri, Kaje, Bokkos, Ishan, Afemai, Itsekri. Jukun, Kataf, Chiboki, Mada, Obi, Gwandara, Idoma, Kanuri, Bachama etc. and others who inhabit the Sahel savannah and the rain Forrest regions of Nigeria. General Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria is the president of every single Nigerian of every religion, association or tribe.
The same way you are ruthless against Boko Haram and determined to give the Boko Haram treatment to IPOB and pipeline vandals I expect you to crush the Fulani herdsmen now for the peace, safety and security of Nigeria.
In the national interest, crush them now because they are terrorists, infact the 4th deadliest terrorist group in the world. What I ever say here cannot be put better than what our common sense Senator, Mr. Ben Bruce has said and I will quote him profusely: ‘Nigeria is not the only country where nomadic pastoralists’ herdsmen come and go.
In Kenya, they have the Maasai herdsmen who have been herding cattle around the River Nile Valley area from the days of Joseph in ancient Egypt. Other nations have their own form of pastoralists too. But never in the history of the 20th and 21st Century has the world encountered a scenario such as that which stares Nigeria in the face, whereby Fulani pastoral herdsmen simultaneously and nationally and almost systematically are wiping out indigenous Nigerians for the benefit of their cattle.
I challenge the people to take the time to do a Google search and collate the number of reported casualties from unprovoked Fulani attacks on innocent, unarmed Nigerians in 2016 alone.
The results will shock you! I will not throw out a number in order not to give my political foes fodder to use against me in a case of incitement, but please carry out even a cursory research on the matter. And what has been the response of the Nigerian Government?
I was shocked to read the reaction of Nigeria’s minister of Internal Affairs, retired Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau, who blamed Social Media users for exacerbating these attacks! I mean really? So what are we to do when we become aware that Fulani herdsmen are accused of killing, raping and maiming Nigerians Are we to keep quiet in the national interest?
Excuse me, but I thought the national interest was the interest of human beings rather than the interest of cattle! And then President Buhari from faraway China, rightly goes ahead to issue a lethal warning to pipeline vandals: desist from your actions or else be dealt with as I dealt with Boko Haram! Yet this same tough talking President does not have similar words for Fulani herdsmen?
Mr President, how many Nigerians have to die before you give Fulani herdsmen the ‘Boko Haram’ treatment? Buhari must be willing to suspend the fact that he is himself a Fulani by ethnicity and remember what he has been preaching to us since he first forced his way into our national consciousness after his coup against President Shehu Shagari in 1983.
I can never forget when the then military head of state, Major General Muhammad Buhari said “This generation of Nigerians and indeed the future generation have no country other than Nigeria, we shall stay and salvage it together. Indeed, the President must remember that he wanted us to stay and salvage Nigeria together and not stay and be savaged in Nigeria by Fulani herdsmen!
And the absolute worst part of this story is the attempt by some Legislators to add salt to injury and injustice by floating a so called National Grazing Commission Bill to compulsorily acquire large swathes of Nigerian land and give them to the Commission for the benefit of Fulani herdsmen!
In fact, it makes better sense to establish a Victim Support Commission for the many thousands of victims of Fulani herdsmen than it does to set up a National Grazing Commission! Honestly, I do not understand the idea behind this Bill.’’ I align myself completely with Ben Bruce.
He said all I needed to say including condemning the proposed Grazing Bill as evil and lacking in common sense. What we need to do is to encourage the herdsmen to see agriculture as a business that demands considerable investment and responsibility. They should take a page from the poultry industry by acquiring ranches.
That will even stimulate the economy, create more jobs and opportunities, we must not allow the private business interests of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), a trade association with membership in the civil service, politics and other Fulani investors clash against and undermine national security and corporate well-being of Nigeria.
