Fulani Herdsmen: Terrorists For Or Land-Grabbers

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.