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
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,
nationally and quite systematically are wiping out indigenous Nigerians for the
benefit of their cattle.
I challenge readers 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 is the interests of human beings rather
than those of cattle!
And then President Muhammadu 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 have 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?
President
Muhammadu Buhari must be willing to suspend the fact that he is himself a
Fulani by ethnicity and remember what he has been preaching since he first
forced his way into our national consciousness after the coup against President
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 absolutely 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. The legislators sponsoring the Bill are asking Nigeria to
change her land tenure system to fit nomads who may or may not be Nigerian
citizens. Has the world gone mad?!!
Nigeria
should not change to fit Fulani herdsmen, instead it is Fulani herdsmen that
should change to fit Nigeria!
The Grazing Commission Bill is an
insult to all the victims of the herdsmen. Peace can only be achieved if those
who want to herd cattle set up ranches as is done everywhere else in the world!
The cattle herding business is a
private enterprise. It should not be the business of the government to use
public land and funds to promote the group interest of Fulani herdsmen.
Let me assure federal legislators who
are foolhardy enough to support this Bill to forget their reelection into the
national legislature in communities where Fulani herdsmen have killed innocent
Nigerians.
In fact, they should be
ashamed of themselves for sitting in a National Assembly where the
Lagos-Calabar rail was not provided for in the 2016 Budget and watched as the
#GrazingCommissionBill got to second reading!
Instead
of passing laws to protect victims of genocide, they want to pass laws to
protect those who commit genocide! Talk about Stockholm syndrome!
I am tempted to ask if this is a
Federal Republic of Nigeria or a Federal Republic of Fulani Herdsmen, with
Nigerians as second class citizens? Hardworking, tax paying Nigerian citizens
do not have land to build houses yet the backers of this repugnant Bill want to
give free land to Fulani herdsmen?
But should I or anybody reading this
really blame the sponsors of this Bill? Shouldn’t the blame rightly be on all
of us collectively when we keep silent while our brothers die due to political
ambition and the fear of persecution!
Jesus says in Matthew 10:28, “And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
I am Reno Omokri, if anybody likes let
them come and arrest me for saying the truth. I would rather live the rest of
my life in a dungeon than fold my hands and do nothing while fellow Nigerians
are being killed so that cattle may live!
Reno
Omokri is the host of “Transformation With Reno Omokri”, founder of the Mind of
Christ Christian Center in California and author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept.
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