Afenifere’s Threat To Secede From Nigeria: Open Letter To Sultan of Sokoto
By Chinweizu
In his Inaugural Address, President Buhari mentioned some security issues that he would solve as part of his change agenda. Among them was “herdsmen/farmer clashes”:
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PRESIDENT Buhari’s silence and inaction on the issue of Fulani herdsmen seems
to have poured petrol on the long smoldering embers of the Fulani menace in
Nigeria. So there is a need to raise two questions: (a) Is Buhari’s inaction
part of his Caliphate hidden agenda? (b) Is the Sultan of Sokoto, as the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of MACBAN, the cattle breeders association,
not the Grand Patron of a criminal enterprise – an enterprise that uses, for
its economic gain, the crimes of trespassing, destruction of other people’s
property, kidnapping, arson, murder, ethnic cleansing etc.?
In his Inaugural Address, President Buhari mentioned some security issues that he would solve as part of his change agenda. Among them was “herdsmen/farmer clashes”:
“Boko Haram is not only the security issue bedeviling our country. The spate
of kidnappings, armed robberies, herdsmen/farmers clashes, cattle rustlings
all help to add to the general air of insecurity in our land. We are going to
erect and maintain an efficient, disciplined people–friendly and
well–compensated security forces within an over–all security architecture.”
—
President Buhari’s inaugural speech, on May 29, 2015
Though he didn’t give it the priority and emphasis he gave to Boko Haram,
these herdsmen/farmers clashes have quickly escalated into a security problem
of far greater countrywide menace than even Boko Haram.
Countrywide menace
Yet he has said nothing and done nothing visible to solve it. Perhaps his
change agenda does not include change in this long-established security
problem in Nigeria. If so why? As we shall see further down in this x-ray,
because of its territorial scope and its potential to ignite inter-ethnic war
in 5 of the 6 zones of Nigeria, this Fulani menace is by far a greater threat
to the lives of Nigerians and to the peace and territorial integrity of the
Nigerian state than Boko Haram. Yet President Buhari has thus far chosen to
leave it unaddressed. Why?
Reports of the criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen have captured the
headlines since May 29. And Afenifere, the apex socio-cultural organ of the
Yoruba nationality, stung by the exceptional provocation of the abduction of
Chief Olu Falae, a distinguished Nigerian, Yoruba grandee and one of
Afenifere’s leaders, reacted by renewing its threat of Yoruba secession from
Nigeria.
Under the pressure of bad publicity and the Afenifere threat, the Caliphate
has, among other measures, trotted out one of its Yoruba apologists to try to
douse the political fires. Femi Falana has tried to minimize the problem by
reducing it to one of effective law enforcement.
He condemns as “unfortunate” Afenifere’s escalating the matter to the
constitutional and political level that threatens the integrity of the
Nigerian territorial state. According to Femi Falana: “But the crisis of
insecurity of life and property in the region became exacerbated after the
2015 general elections . . . the kidnap of Chief Olu Falae, a former
secretary to the federal government in his farm in the outskirt of Akure, Ondo
state last month added a new dimension to the kidnap saga in the region. . . .
Chief Falae announced last week that his farm had been invaded . . . and taken
over by a group of Fulani nomads. In a classical display of impunity, the
Nigeria Police Force has failed to dislodge the lawless group.
Instead of calling on the security agencies to enforce the law by arresting
and prosecuting the group some Yoruba leaders threatened that the south-west
region would secede from Nigeria if Fulani nomads are not banned from entering
the region! It is unfortunate that the senior citizens who issued the threat
did not address the legal implications of their demand. It ought to be pointed
out that every Nigerian has a constitutional right not to be expelled from any
part of the country.
Criminal gang
Chief Falae is likely to be pained that the illegal occupation of his farm by
a criminal gang may degenerate to civil disturbances between Yoruba farmers
and Fulani nomads. More so, that Chief Falae was at the 2014 National
Conference where it was unanimously agreed by delegates that “In the long term
cattle routes and grazing reserves be phased out to lay emphasis on ranching”
and that states which have large livestock populations should “endeavor to
maintain grazing reserves.”
It was further resolved that “An integrated development and livelihoods
modernization program should be designed and implemented to address the issue
of settling nomadic herdsmen into settled communities based on established
cattle ranches with fodder development technologies, and including abattoirs,
processors and other businesses along the livestock value chain.”
The recommendations have been ignored by the Federal Government.
I will later return to the Confab aspect of Falana’s submission. But let me
start by quoting two newspaper reports that put the Falae matter in its
countrywide and historical context. First, a February 2014 report from Benue
State: Speaking with newsmen at the Government House yesterday, [Benue State
Gov.] Suswam lamented that the Fulani mercenaries have continued to wreck
havoc on his people despite several efforts by his administration to foster
peace with the herdsmen.
He noted that the average Fulani man now goes about with AK47, and that if the
situation is not quickly addressed, indigenes might be forced to defend
themselves. “Yesterday morning, Fulanis numbering over 700 attacked and
destroyed the Tor Tiv’s village house. For them to have targeted the Tor Tiv’s
house is an affront and totally unacceptable,” he said. “I have been trying
since yesterday to control the situation because emotions have risen.”
Tribal war
Consequently, “our people have congenially been displaced from their homes by
these Fulani herders on a daily basis. Some of our children have not been to
school in the last two years because they have been displaced. If the
situation is not quickly addressed, I fear that it may result into a tribal
war soon.”
— Fulani attacks in Benue, Fresh attacks on Borno
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php/news/national-news/150242-scores-killed-in-fresh-attacks-on-borno
Published Thursday, 20 February 2014
Here is a more comprehensive magazine article that casts light on the
constitutional and other aspects: On Monday, 24th February, 2014, Miyetti
Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN wrote what many Tiv
indigenes in Benue State, North Central Nigeria regarded as a highly
provocative letter to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Titled, Mr. President, Call Governor Suswam to Order Now Before It Is Too
Late, MACBAN argued that their movement with their cattle across the country
is covered by Section 41, Subsection 1 of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, which says that “every citizen is entitled to move freely
throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof and no citizen of Nigeria
shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereof or exit therefrom.”
The group also contended that the Constitution also expressly under Section
42, Sub-section (1) (a) forbids the imposition of any disabilities or
restrictions on any citizen by any executive or administrative action against
any citizen of any ‘community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or
political opinion…” MACBAN whose motto is Read, Rear and Farm insisted that
the herdsmen have lost hundreds of their lives and hundreds of thousands herds
of their ancestral and generational wealth of cattle to what they called
“criminal, genocidal marauding tribal and religious murderers who are calling
themselves indigenes, farmers and Christians.”
Causes of the crisis
The group also called on the federal government to investigate the remote and
immediate causes of the crisis between the herdsmen and farmers in the North
Central Zone. “When the committee is set up, the government would see beyond
the facade of wicked falsehood and propaganda,” MACBAN said. Before the letter
to the President, the Tiv also alleged that the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad
Abubakar said the “Fulani have been grazing on their traditional grazing land
in Tiv land.”
So, it is against this background that on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Governor
Gabriel Suswam of Benue state set out on inspection of Guma Local Government
Area of the State which had earlier been attacked by unknown Fulani herdsmen
numbering over 100. The attackers, not only burned down the entire village but
also killed more than 30 people.
The governor was probably warned by his security aides not to underestimate
the unknown killers, who during the invasion of the village were said to have
used sophisticated weapons. As a precaution, he took on his convoy a
detachment of soldiers from an army barracks in the state to strengthen his
security which also included men of the Nigerian Police and Department of
State Security, DSS.
But while approaching the besieged village, the soldiers suddenly stopped and
informed the governor that they were instructed to turn back by their
superiors whose names they never mentioned. The governor nonetheless proceeded
on the journey but a moment after, he came under heavy gunfire from yet to be
identified attackers, who laid siege at Tsekenyi where he stopped over to
inspect the level of damage done by the invaders.
In trying to repel the attackers, the governor’s security engaged them in gun
duel for almost an hour before they finally succeeded in whisking the governor
away in his vehicle.
The attack left in its wake, 40 people dead. It was learnt that the intention
of the attackers was to kill the state governor who has spared no words in his
trenchant condemnation of the activities of the Fulani herdsmen which have
increased in the past few weeks.
Describing the attack on his convoy, Suswam stated that the Fulani killers
have become more sophisticated and needed to be tamed quickly. He called on
the federal government to intervene before the crisis turns into a bloodbath.
But just few days after he gave this warning, the invaders attacked again.
This time the invaders slaughtered over 22 persons at Anyii and Ayilamo and
Logo villages where the governor hails from.
Sporadic attacks
Also, Guma where the supervising Minister of Aviation, Samuel Ortom hails from
has been under sporadic attacks from Fulani militias since the beginning of
this year. Before Suswam was attacked, The Fulani gunmen late February, killed
30 persons and razed over 14 villages, including the village of a former
member of the House of Representatives, Godwin Ikerave.
Also torched during the attack on Guma was the palace of the traditional ruler
of the Tivs, Tor Tiv Alfred Akawe Torkula and the surrouding villages which
have now been taken over by the invaders who the magazine learnt, have set up
settlement in the ‘conquered’ territories.
Prominent persons from Benue state are alleging a deliberate and systemic plan
to wipe out the Tiv and Beron people. They argued that the fact that the
wanton killings by Fulani herdsmen of their kinsmen has persisted for this
long indicates sinister motives. Senator Joseph Waku, whose village is among
those sacked by the attackers, accused the federal government of not doing
much to restrain the invaders. According to him, the fact that the Fulani
onslaught has been sustained, points to the bid of the invaders to completely
eliminate the Tiv race.
A former Commissioner of Police in Lagos state, Abubakar Tsav shares this
sentiment. He explained that the alleged support by uniform men for the Fulani
to carry out these attacks further proved that some interests have declared a
deliberate war to eliminate his people.
Since the violence started early this year, no fewer than 80,000 persons have
been displaced across the three states of Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau where
the recent violence took place. There are also fears that the same situation
could spread to other neighboring states where the Fulani have settled to
graze their animals.
Since the attacks tension has been rising over the activities of the Fulani
killers particularly in Benue state where people now live in perpetual fear.
To forestall further break-down of law and order, prominent Nigerians
particularly from the northern part of the country have called for calm. The
Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammdu Sa’ad Abubakar III, last week called for end to
bloodshed. He called for end to hostilities among the Fulani and their hosts,
the Tiv. Abubakar who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees of MACBAN
condemned the crisis which he said has resulted in unnecessary bloodshed on
both sides.
Recently, the President of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Ephraim
Goje, lamented that government and security agencies have proven unable to
protect the lives of the people of Southern Kaduna. According to Goje, the
Southern Senatorial Zone of Kaduna State has suffered 40 attacks since 2010.
Atakar and Marwa, bordering Plateau State are preferred destinations for the
Fulani herdsmen.
Fulani herdsmen
Goje promised that since the government and security agencies are unable to
defend them in the face of the unofficial jihad declared on Southern Kaduna,
they have no option but to defend themselves. A disturbing trend since the
attacks by the Fulani started in 2010 is the alleged role played by men in
uniform. In Dogo Nahawa in 2010, survivors alleged that Muslim soldiers aided
the butchering of over 500 persons.
Though some argued that the Fulanis and their neighbours in the Middle Belt
states of Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue have lived together in peace since the
cattle breeders in the quest to find green pastures for their animals migrated
to these areas, but investigations indicate that their arrival normally left
in its wake frequent bloodbaths, as has been witnessed in virtually all the
North Central states and places such as Oyo, Imo, Abia, Ogun, Enugu, Delta and
others.
Whenever they attack, they do so with stealth and considering the
sophisticated weapons in their possession, their host communities are usually
helpless during such attacks. Saki in Oyo state, Jos in Plateau state and
Sagamu, Ogun state have witnessed the most deadly attacks from the invaders,
who after bloody clashes with farmers left the communities desolate….the
vulnerable looking Fulani man with his cattle has powerful influential people
that support them, whose cows they are rearing; e.g Sultan of Sokoto,
governors, ministers, senior military and government officials.
—The Fulani Militia—The rise of new warlords and why they are killing
http://www.nationalaccordnewspaper.com/news/crime-news/1709-the-fulani-militia-the-rise-of-new-warlords-and-why-they-are-killing
(Accessed 22June 2014)
This long excerpt is from a much longer magazine piece that presents the many
issues and sides of the matter, including the sourcing of the weapons of the
Fulani Militia from Turkey and Libya; and the recruiting of Fulani mercenaries
from across West Africa.
Introduictory reading
It should be required introductory reading for all Nigerians who wish to
understand and solve this countrywide security problem. Among its disclosures
is that, in Benue state, these Fulani militia on taking over Tiv villages,
“set up settlement in the ‘conquered’ territories.” This would make them a
Nigerian equivalent of the ethnic-cleansing Janjaweed militia in Darfur. That
means that MACBAN is an organization that, for its economic gain, has resorted
not just to the crimes of trespassing, arson, kidnapping and mass murder, but
also to the ICC crime of ethnic cleansing. By the criteria of the RICO Act,
the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, of the United States,
MACBAN, would qualify as a syndicate, an association of gangsters, and would
be prosecuted for racketeering: engaging in criminal activity as a structured
group. The Sultan of Sokoto, as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of
MACBAN would be seen as the grand patron of a criminal racketeering
organization. All appropriate Nigerian and international prosecutors should
please take note.
The territorial scope of this security problem. What is the territorial
scope of this security problem? The Fulani militia has been reported active in
many states of the North Central zone including Plateau, Benue, Nassarawa; and
the southern parts of Kaduna state in the North West zone. The Fulani
herders’ crimes have been reported from many other states and zones including
Ondo, Kogi, Oyo, Imo, Abia, Ogun, Enugu, and Delta. So the problem, if
unresolved, could provoke ethnic and inter-communal wars in the SW and NC, as
well as SE and SS and NW—i.e. in 5 of Nigeria’s six zones.
Criminal herders
One must presume that Femi Falana, in seeking to reduce and minimize this
whole matter to a law-enforcement issue, isn’t aware that his MACBAN friends,
(or is it clients?) were the first to make it a political and constitutional
matter when they quoted the constitution to defend the alleged right of these
criminal herders to invade and destroy other people’s property everywhere in
Nigeria, on behalf of the cattle of the Caliphate grandees which they herd.
From the above excerpted account, it is MACBAN who first made this problem a
political and constitutional matter. Femi Falana, and all Nigerians, should
please take note that Afenifere has simply followed suit and upped the ante,
turned up the political heat and begun the pressure necessary to bring the
Caliphate to the table for a political solution. All the other nationalities
victimized by the twin menace of Fulani herdsmen and Fulani militia
should wake up from their passivity and join Afenifere on this issue and let
the Caliphate know that its criminal habit of murderous impunity shall no
longer be tolerated.
Source:
Vanguard
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