By
Emmanuel Onwubiko
The
FULANI ethnic nationality is a unique brand of people in the sense that they
are perpetually nomadic.
The nomadic nature of these people has made it impossible to
precisely pin them down to any specific geo-political locale but for purposes
of intellectual debate, the Fulani are Northerners of Northern Nigeria.
Fulani also share similarities with other nomadic populations in
some neighboring sub-regional political entities in West
Africa .
Lately, the Fulani have attracted a rash of commentaries around
the issues of banditry, terrorism and the violence some of them have
continuously unleashed on host communities whilst they are engaged in their
cattle rearing activities.
There have been reported incidences of vandalism of farms and
the killings of farmers caused by these Fulani herdsmen just as their dastardly
criminal acts of blood cuddling attacks of farming communities have assumed
frightening dimensions since one year ago when MAJOR GENERAL (RTD) MUHAMMADU
BUHARI of the ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS was inaugurated as the president of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Sadly, the current government has through its ineptitude and
conspirational silence attracted suspicions from across Nigeria who
have drawn a conclusion that the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration tacitly
endorsed these murderous campaigns of the Fulani herdsmen who are kinsmen of Mr
President.
In the last count, the Fulani herdsmen have been pointed at as
those who have engaged in the high profile kidnap of notable politicians,
military officers and clerics just as the two prominent incidents involved the
kidnap of an Enugu
State based catholic
priest, REV. FR. ANIAKOCELESTINE and the erstwhile secretary to the government
of the Federation, CHIEF OLU FALAE.
Between Abia/Enugu axis, Fulani herdsmen have also unleashed
considerable violence and some biased military commanders recently deployed
armed operatives to invade AWGU community in Enugu State whereby 76 Igbo youth
were arrested arbitrarily and dumped in UMUAHIA prison only because they
resisted attempt to take over their ancestral farm lands by the Fulani
herdsmen. The military operatives were deployed from the Enugu based Division of the Nigerian Army.
The extensive reach of the destructions unleashed by the Fulani
herdsmen is unbelievably apocalyptic spanning all the six geopolitical entity
of Nigeria .
In this piece therefore, we are inspired to ask the pertinent question of what the Fulani people have become between being described as terrorists as most other Nigerians have done or land grabbers.
In this piece therefore, we are inspired to ask the pertinent question of what the Fulani people have become between being described as terrorists as most other Nigerians have done or land grabbers.