Fulani herdsmen will kill our leaders if they know the truth

I agree with Mallam El-rufai’s position against negotiating and giving amnesty to banditry. He was right in his logic and assumption. In Nasir’s word, an average herdsman will never be satisfied with returning to N100,000 per annum and abandon the urge to collect millions in ransom for kidnapping people.

Also, giving amnesty for criminality is wrong logical thinking. Amnesty should be granted when a noble cause in involved. When people are agitating for what they have been deprived of. The Niger Delta region’s case is different from Boko Haram and the banditry ravaging the North of Nigeria.

The South-west and Sunday Igoho’s responses are long overdue. No one will allow what happened in Benue to happen again since there was no justice and neither was there any effort to punish offenders. In 2016 scores of Agatu communities in Benue State were massacred by suspected Fulani herdsmen. The victims included harmless children and women. There was no arrest or punishment. The president only begged for people to tolerate their killers. In 2018, 73 people were killed in Guma and Logo local governments of Benue State, and nothing happened. There have been scores of killings around the country by the ‘above the law’ herdsmen and bandits. Hence, you cannot blame the Southeast and the Southwest for preparing in advance. Their responses so far are civil and should not be misinterpreted or taken for granted. Unlike the past, no one part of the country has a license for violence. Therefore, we should be mindful of the effects of politicizing people’s right to life and to the ownership of their land. The various ethnic nations were in existence before Nigeria was formed and will remain in existence as no group or tribe is superior to others.

I am an unapologetic believer in a big Nigeria where no one is above the law. The dream of a united Nigeria might be an illusion if we continue this way. People cannot be oppressed forever. Also, I am an unrepentant believer that Nigeria’s problems are Nigerians. Our leaders are the greatest enemy of this country. Their self-centeredness and penchant for amassing wealth at the detriment of the enormous uncatered population are significant. We do not have noble and robust institutions to checks the excesses of our political businessmen and women.

The suffering of the Fulani Herdsmen and women are uncalled for in this age and time. If the herdsmen’s leaders dare to visit the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania, they will return to Nigeria to declare war on our leaders. The Maasai tribe live by herding cattle and goats like our Fulani brothers. However, the Maasai tribe embraced ranching ages ago. They have saved themselves the stress of moving dangerously in the forest and placing more value on cattle than on human lives. They have lived peacefully and developed into the new age and time of the current reality.

Unlike the Maasai tribe, the Nigerian Fulani herdsmen are suffering more than required in this time and age. Would an average herdsman not want to be in Aso Rock or send his children to schools abroad? The problem is not the massive population of the uneducated herdsmen but the visionless leaders blinded by their desire to remain in power and relevant politically for life. Nigeria lacks quality leadership with its diversity. We had created a lopsided structure that favour, not the truth but deception and gimmicks. I will take Abubakar Atiku as an example.

Atiku Abubakar qualifies to be a President of a diversified entity like Nigeria. He appears to have the capacity to reform Nigeria and benefits the average man on the streets. He had run businesses, detribalized, married wives across the country, and should make decisions that will bring justice and unity to Nigerians. Unlike, the current president before coming to office, Atiku is with a bag of corruption allegations. Yet, still preferred by some who believe his capacity will be good for Nigerians while his assumed low integrity will haunt him along the process. If you are to choose capacity above integrity, Atiku will be a better president. Is he the type of leader to change Nigeria? I do not see him as someone who can make institutional changes to the existing political structure to avert future calamity. If you follow him on social media, you will appreciate his vastness and contributions in some economic and selected social issues. Still, when it comes to sensitive matters like killing innocent people, Oga will go silent and instead be greeting or bereaving with people of his class or super average achiever who had against all odds achieve success in a challenging environment. Anything that will pent Atiku against the northern power elites or the North’s belief is afforded even if it is the truth. Baba Atiku understands the politics of the carrots in Nigeria, so I do not blame him.

We need leaders who will be firm, truthful, fair to all and revolutionary if Nigeria survives the current division among herself. I do not care where the expected transformational leader comes from, what is needed is his or her fearlessness to do what is right in a country as diverse as Nigeria. It is better if we have such a leader from the North where the power resides otherwise and where the mindset shifts to build a united entity is most required. The fear of going against the northern votes will make nonsense of any desire to bring equity and justice required for civil and diverse society to Nigeria.

The blood in the herdsmen’s hands is caused by their and our leaders who had failed them. They were helpless because the money for their education and that of the next generation is stalked in someone’s bank account. They are primitive nomadic because their leaders prefer them to be that. They are becoming criminals and enemies of their neighbour because no one had provided the right structure and incentive for their business to evolve with time and technology. Who is to be blamed for the Nigeria of today? Our leaders and no one should expect magic, except we transform our leadership selection process and make all the political office holders accountable for their deeds and misdeeds.