The Bible says “knowledge is
power”. It also says “know the truth and it will set you free”.
This is made all the more
important given the fact that history is not taught in Nigerian schools.
Let us join hands and walk down
the beautiful path of knowledge, truth and history together. Our focus and
subject-matter for today is the Fulani tribe of northern Nigeria.
The Fulani are only partially
African and only partly negroid. They are the product of cross-breeding between
the Taurags, Berbers and Arabs of north Africa on the one hand and the local
black African women of Futa Jalon, Guinea in west Africa, on the other.
In those days Futa Jalon was a
popular trade route between north and west Africa. After hundreds of years of
cross-breeding the final product of this union was the Fulani race.
If you doubt this assertion I
challenge you to look at the texture of their hair, their thin lips, their slim
and pointed noses, their tall and slight build and their, more often than not,
light complexion and you will know that they are only partially African and
only partly negroid.
Like their Tutsi cousins (who
also originally came from Futa Jalon but who migrated to central and east
Africa over the centuries) they are primarily and in the main gypsy-like
wanderers and nomads who are deeply courageous and notoriously ruthless and
ferocious in battle yet who have a strange and inexplicable attachment to and
affinity and affection for their cattle and cows.
They betray little emotion, even
in the most difficult times and even when going through immense and the most
grueling form of hardship and they are focused, mentally-strong, disciplined,
patient, calculating, proud, ruthless, wise and totally unforgiving.
They have long memories: never
forgetting a friend or a favour and never forgiving an insult or a slight. Most
important of all is the fact that they overwhelm and conquer very slowly and
incrementally and they do so primarily by infiltration, assimilation and guile.
It is only when they are fully
entrenched and empowered and when they have totally won the confidence of their
host community and infiltrated them that the sword is brought out and the most
extreme forms of barbarity and violence are employed to achieve their
objective.
That is how they conquered the
Habe Kingdom, subjugated the Hausa and turned them into vassals and that is how
they took Ilorin from the Yoruba Aare Ona Kakanfo, Afonja. In both cases they
dethroned and murdered the sitting Kings that they had earlier befriended.
Some historians have argued that
they value the life of cows more than that of human-beings. This may be true of
the uneducated herdsmen and pastoralists amongst them but I do not believe it
is entirely true of their traditional rulers and their educated and political
elites.
Some have also argued that their
greatest desire is to establish a homeland for themselves by grabbing the land
of others because there is nowhere in Africa that they can call their own.
Even in Guinea where they
originally came from they constitute a tiny minority of the population, they
have never been trusted with political power and they are viewed with the
utmost suspicion.
They arrived in the shores of
what later became known as northern Nigeria in 1804 when they launched their
first jihad, under the leadership of Sheik Usman Dan Fodio, and conquered the
Habe (Hausa-speaking) Kingdom of Gobir.
That is how they got a foothold
in Nigeria and they have been here ever since, imposing their Emirs over the
local indigenous populations all over the north in the name of Islam and
turning the children of the conquered Hausa into almajiris.
They constitute only 7% to 10% of
the 200 million-strong Nigerian population yet they wield and control more
power and authority than any other tribe or ethnic nationality in the country.
This has been the case since
Nigerian independence in 1960 by either holding power directly or wielding it
through a series of spineless, cowardly, pliant, willing and loyal surrogates
who do their bidding out of ignorance, fear and a pitiful inferiority complex
and who consider them to be the “master race” that were ordained by God to lead
Nigeria and that were “born to rule”.
Through Islam they have conquered
most of the core north because the Emir is not just an ethnic overlord but he is
also the leader of the Islamic faithful in his domain.
This is a powerful and dangerous
mix of religion and ethnicity and it is one that the Fula’s have used very
effectively in their quest to dominate, conquer and subjugate the whole of
Nigeria and impose their will on the local indigenous tribes and populations
that have been there for thousands of years before they came.
Other than Usman Dan Fodio, two
other Fulani leaders stand out as the custodians and flagbearers of this
messianic mission. The first of the two is Sir Ahmadu Bello, the erstwhile
Saurdana of Sokoto and tye Premier of the old Northern Region and the second is
General Muhammadu Buhari, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is for this reason that Usman
Dan Fodio is often referred to as the First Mahdi of the north whilst Ahmadu
Bello and Muhammadu Buhari are referred to as the second and third Mahdi’s of
the north respectively.
You can say what you want about
the Fulani but one thing you cannot take from them is the fact that they fully
understand and appreciate the awesome power and beauty of ethnic and tribal
unity in a wider multi-ethic, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation like
Nigeria.
Despite all pretentions to the
contrary and rather like the English of the United Kingdom, the Fulani will
always put the Fulani interest before the Nigerian interest and this has served
their tribal purpose and vision very well.
That is a lesson that other
Nigerian tribes and ethnic nationalities would do well to learn.
Mr. Obadiah Mailafia, who is a
former Deputy Governor of Central Bank and a former Presidential candidate from
Southern Kaduna said the following on 25th August 2019,
“Loyalty, honour respect,
integrity are defining features of the Yoruba leadership tradition.
Fulani leadership traditions is
rooted in feudalism, pretence, hiding ones thoughts and taqquiya.
The game plan is to exploit to
the fullest the political and financial capital of Tinubu. They will keep him
onside until they’re able to destroy him.
To turn Nigeria into a Fulani
Caliphate they will happily sacrifice social progress for ambition. They
understand that hungry desperate people would be too broken to raise their
heads.
To assist they continue to allow
murderous and terrorist hordes from Central and Western Africa to take over
ancestral lands by force.
They are ruthlessly imposing
total control over culture, mass media, public administration and the economy.
They govern by fear and are
willing to plunge us into another civil war.”
I concur.
Obadiah is an old friend of mine.
He studied at Oxford University and he is one of the brightest stars and most
formidable intellectuals in Nigeria today.
Judging from his words he appears
to know the Fulani very well indeed. I do too. How? Because even though I am a
proud Yoruba man, my maternal great grandmother was a full-blooded Fulani woman
and consequently 1/8 of the blood that runs through my veins is Fulani.
I have never hidden this and I
never will. As a matter of fact I wear it as a badge of pride and honor because
it proves that I cannot possibly hate the Fulani because I cannot possibly hate
myself.
Criticism is different to hate.
The former is healthy whilst the latter is not. That is the point that many of
my Fulani brothers and sisters fail to appreciate and find it difficult to
comprehend.
In any case not all Fulanis are
bad and not all non-Fulanis are good. What I hate are not the Fulani people but
the callous, barbarous and unspeakable atrocities that the Fulani herdsmen and
terrorists are perpertrating in my country and the racist, hegemonist, ethnic
and religious agenda that the Fulani leaders are seeking to impose.
What is also clear to me is that
the history, the disposition and the ignoble intentions of the Fulani ruling
elite raises concern and has serious implications for the peace, welfare and
unity of Nigeria.
If the Fulani do not retrace
their steps, change their ways and moderate their actions and if they do not
reign in their vaulting ambition of conquering the Nigerian space and becoming
Nigeria’s “master race”, they can be rest assured of the fact that history,
posterity and the Nigerian people will be very harsh on them.
Worse still they may plunge our
nation into a second savage, barbaric and fratricidal civil war which would
make the first one look like child’s play and which would shatter the very
foundations of the West African sub-region and tear the African continent
apart. Let us pray that it never comes to that.
This is the end of today’s
history lesson. Thanks for finding the time to read and learn.
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