THE INVASION AND SCOURGE OF FULANI HERDSMEN IN OUR LANDS

Hausa-Fulani Herdsmen

The unabated and unbridled terror been perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen has heightened since the assumption of office of President Muhammadu Buhari. Their heinous crimes in our lands has crossed the limit and a handshake taken too far.
The Federal Government has failed in its duty to protect hapless and defenceless innocent citizens especially in rural communities all over the country. They stood by while criminals wielding dangerous weapons like AK 47 assault rifles and automatic pistols not only lead their cattle to destroy farmlands but also invade, sack and seize lands belonging to communities. They also kill, rob, rape our women and kidnap both the high and low in the society, with impunity.

The most celebrated case was the abduction of Afenifere chieftain and a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae. Even after that, hardly will a day pass without such ugly incidents being reported.
The Fulani herdsmen have been invading farmlands and creating sorrows in their host communities.
Before now, their violent activities used to be within the confines of the Middle-belt region and some Northern states but they have since spread their carnage to the Southern part of the country particularly in Nsukka, Eziagu, and other communities in Enugu and Anambra States where their inhumane activities have been recorded.

For decades in the Middle-belt particularly the Idoma people of Benue state, the nomadic Fulani and farmers have lived in a symbiotic relationship, albeit with occasional clashes over farm crops. Recently, however, the Fulani have morphed into a violent ethnic group, eroding the long decade of peaceful co-existence they once shared with the indigenous populations during their seasonal North-South nomadic migration. They have traded the herding stick for the machine gun and have killed and maimed the indigenous peoples of the Middle-belt and other regions of the country.

Furthermore, they have allied with their Fulani kins from neighbouring countries so that, together, they can drive indigenous farmers from their lands.
They are at this moment, committing these acts with impunity and brutality. Their atrocities are so gruesome and grisly that only a savage mind could bear to imagine them. they go to the limit of putting to test, the tolerance of ethnic groups whose ancestral lands are at stake, depriving and dispossessing them of their lands.

Just recently, the Idoma people of Agatu Local Government Area of Benue state lamented and protested at the National Assembly complex at Abuja over the senseless killings of their people by the murderous and parasitic Fulani herdsmen who had invaded their communities. According to Paul Ede: the Coordinator of the coalition of civil society groups in the state, the Hausa Fulani had laid siege for weeks in their lands, perpetrating wanton destruction of lives and properties. He stated that about 400 persons had since lost their lives to the Fulani Herdsmen.
The Fulani activities are not only aimed at cleansing fertile lands of their ethnic owners, but at instilling islamization. We believe islamization is the reason the Boko Haram power structure has been aiding the Fulani. It also stands to reason, why their acts of terrorism are receiving the Janus condemnation from the Northern establishment.

Agatu Community Protesting The Ongoing Genocide 

The Fulani herdsmen under Buhari are sacred cows, and not only that, the most privileged and pampered ethnic group. There is a special education for them; Nomadic Education, where schools have been built for them along their nomadic routes. There are ill-conceived and misguided bills in both houses of the National Assembly to create a new bureaucratic and money-siphoning structure called National Reserves and Grazing Routes. These special treatments for the Fulani herdsmen will not solve the nomadic Fulani question.It is not only the Boko Haram insurgency that is the scourge of violence in the country, but also the nomadic Fulani who have been infiltrated by elements of Boko Haram, and Al-Queda from Mali, Niger and Chad.

 The truth about the Fulani nomads is that their number is very few, perhaps just a few million, but yet, they have in recent times, caused more death and destruction than any ethnic group.
It is not surprising that the Fulani herdsmen were hardly arrested despite their many acts of violence and destruction. Buhari who is very much sympathetic towards Fulani herdsmen just like he is to Boko Haram had in the past referred to them as 'my people'. We recall how, he had led a strong delegation of northern leaders to visit the then Governor of Oyo state, Lam Adeshina, after a violent clash between Fulani herdsmen and some Yoruba farmers in 2000 in the state. Buhari on arrival had asked the Governor; "Why are your people killing my people?". Governor Adeshina, apparently shocked with disbelief responded that he was rather surprised that a former Head of State would refer to one ethnic group as his people and another as someone else's. He stated that this was especially so, given the fact that people were killed on both sides of the divide in the sad and unfortunate conflict.

Related Article: Over 200 Killed As Suspected Fulani Herdsmen Raid Benue Community

The upper north has space and is fertile enough for science to convert the barren desert and semi-desert parts into arable fertile grazing reserves where they can become semi-nomadic and the meat basket of the country. It is disheartening for nomadism to be politicized by Nigerian politicians, such as in the case with the Fulani nomads in the country. There is no doubt that there exists an agenda behind the Fulani ethnic group continuing their nomadic lifestyle. They are been used as a smokescreen for the internal colonization of our lands.

The Fulani herdsmen with links to Boko Haram are of a major security threat to any community they occupy because they can easily erupt crisis having populated the entire space under the ingenious guise of selling cattle. They are truly from Hell just like Femi Fani-Kayode rightly asserted; "These herdsmen have become the pests of our nation. They are like the East African tsetse-fly; wherever they go, they suck the life blood out of their hosts and like leeches; they indulge in a parasitic mode of nutrition and they suck the blood of the carcass until their victim is left dead".
"They are only known for the most hideous things. This includes terror, intimidation, theft, rape, abduction, mutilation, the violation of the rights of others, the destruction of our lands and crops of farmers and their properties".

Since the Federal Government have continued to fail to act and protect the citizens from these armed bandits who had become our greatest nightmare, communities should not be blamed if they organise reprisal attacks or resort to pick up arms to protect their lands, communities and their people from these scavengers and intruders who only seek to despoil their heritage.

ESE ORURU'S ABDUCTION SAGA.

Ese Oruru And her Abductor Yinusa

It is said that throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better and the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
The case of Ese Rita Oruru; a 14 year old girl from Opolo, Bayelsa state, was that of the act of pedophilia, child abduction, child trafficking, rape and abuse, slavery impunity, wickedness, and on the part of the Police and the Nigerian security agents, ineptitude, inconsistency and lackadaisical approach to the plight of Ese.

Ese Oruru who was abducted since August 12, 2015 in her mother's shop in Bayelsa state by one Yunusa Dahiru; the subject of the Emir of Kano; Emir Muhammadu Sanusi, was whisked away to the Emir's palace where she was forcefully islamized, renamed to Aisha Chuwas and married off to the extent of getting her(a minor for that matter) pregnant against her wish and the consent of her parents.
Ese has undergone physical and mental torture, she has been traumatized and has suffered since her abduction when she was just a 13 year old teenage girl by the Fulani men. She has been subjected through execrable situation since her abduction. Ese was confirmed 5 months pregnant after conducting a medical check-up on her at the Medical Department of the Nigerian Police Force in Abuja after securing her release from the hands of men of impunity.

It is very shameful and disgusting that up till this moment, this matter has not been holistically investigated by the country's security forces as according to the narration given by Ese Oruru's mother on AIT; "those who abducted her daughter admitted that the Emir of Kano himself; Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria's immediate past Apex Bank Governor, ordered for the abduction of Ese and was brought to his palace for his pleasure. If this piece of information is anything to go by, then the Emir as a complicit in Ese's abduction is not only culpable of a crime, but has proved that he is also a pedophile, girl-child molester and a child trafficker.

Related Article: Ese Oruru the 13-year-old girl, They converted me forcefully to Islam and named me Aisha

The Emir of Kano, Sanusi, surely has a case to answer in the ill-conceived abduction of Ese. It therefore behooves on him to come out from the closet and tell the public what he did with Ese and the role he played in the abduction of the minor, otherwise we are entitled to assume that what Ese's mother said is the truth. But lets look at the other part of the cover-up explanation he has given so far. Sanusi had rather blamed the Police, saying that: "The Police are those behind this delay. I have done my best for her and even directed for action, it's unfortunate that the Police are delaying this matter". He claimed that he had settled the matter over the last six months, stating that he had directed that the district head of Kura, Sharia Commission and Hisbah(Islamic Police) to investigate the allegation Ese raised over threat to her life by her parents. He said that he further directed the Sharia Commission to liaise with the Assistant Inspector General of Police to repatriate the girl back to her family.

The Emir Of Kano Lamido Sanusi

It is crystal clear that Emir Sanusi is shamefully trying to save face with this disjointed press release. His statements, makes nonsense of his exposure and level of education and at the same times, makes mockery of Nigeria's institutions.
Considering that at the time, Ese was a 13 year old girl, does the Police require anyone's permission to send her back to her parents or the Ministry for Women Affairs?. Why is the Emir now usurping the roles and functions of the law enforcement agencies and that of the Judiciary? Why is it that it took the Emir up to this moment to make such matter public and if at all he had instructed the Police to act on this when he discovered that she was abducted and kept in her palace, why not just tell them to return or hand over the child to her parents instead of referring the matter to the Sharia Court when Ese herself is a Christian? What has Sharia got to do with a Christian and when did the Sharia Court supersede the civil Nigerian Courts? Is the Emir the Chief Security Officer in Kano as to give security orders to the police?.
Rather than trying to cover up or blaming the Police, the Emir should release a more suitable statement to provide a counter explanation or we will be forced to believe Ese's mother.

Related Article:Emir of Kano Sanusi Over Ese’s Abduction, Forced Marriage and Islamization

The fact still remains that the girl was kidnapped and held in his palace for six months and he is responsible for anything that happens in the palace. If one of the employees in the White House kidnapped and housed someone(not to talk of a minor) in the White House, I bet the President of the United States will make a quick statement and will accept some responsibility.
More importantly, it was not even enough that he ordered that the issue gets resolved, since last year, he should have made sure that this was followed through properly.

In conclusion, based on the facts reported, Ese was kidnapped and housed in the Emir's palace, the Emir was aware of it and made a ruling on August 26, 2015. Somehow, they did not follow through or made sure that the girl was rightfully returned home to her parents. The media broke the story a week ago, this was six months after the Emir found out about her abduction and suddenly, the girl was released within the week.
This speaks volume into the issue. The Emir should at least be ashamed of himself that he housed a criminal and his victim. Clearly his order(if at all he gave one) was undermined if people did not take proper action after six months of instructing them to. It is either he does not have the clout or will to govern or he complicitly and deliberately wanted to keep Ese in his palace and prevent her from reuniting with her family. There is more to this than met the eyes.

This has been the same with another girl from Benue state named Patience Paul who was allegedly abducted and hidden at the Sultan's palace in Sokoto. It was reported that when her family went there to look for her, they brought out at least three different Christian teenage girls including the one from Igbo origin who has also been abducted to be later converted to Muslims. The Nigerian security agencies should mop-up security and ransack all the Northern Emir and Sultan palaces to rescue innocent Christian girls been abused everyday by these evil and moronic Fulani men who pedophilia tendencies are insatiable.

If it were to be in a country that largely works, Emir Sanusi would be a prime suspect where they deal seriously with pedophiles and child sex offenders but alas, this is Nigeria; a strange country where evil by the high and powerful triumph and are been swept into the carpet and often times, rather than admitting the truth, it is been justified and covered up. Nigeria is a country where those who expose such evil abomination and corrupt practices of its leaders are been demonized, despised, persecuted, hunted down or been threatened with violence, intimidation, arrests and spurious or unfounded criminal investigations targeted at suppressing the establishment of truth by evasion. That is the sad and sorry state of Nigeria and the reason why she can never move forward.

It is only in the South and on the powerless and less privileged that the rule of law exists and is applied to the fullest but in the North, Mallams make, amend and use the law as they so wishes, thereby dragging everyone else back. That is the nature of the country they want Biafrans to continue to stay in.
If not for the wide reportage accorded to the travails of Ese in the hands of those Fulani savages, she would not have regained her freedom and reunited with her family today. Instead she would still be into slavery, captivity and all manner of abuse at the Emir's palace.

 Though she has been freed but the trauma, segregation and the stigmatization she will face in the society is something that will stand the test of time.
If the masterminds, abductors and the accomplices of these heinous crimes against humanity are not arrested, convicted and prosecuted, if actually that Nigeria is truly a country and not an animal kingdom as people had tagged it to be, then the Security agencies should have conducted a thorough investigation, inviting the so-called Emir for serious questioning into the matter and possibly detain him to extract the raw truth from him, so that the case of Ese would be granted good justice and that will serve as a deterrent to other unruly Fulanis whose penchant for pedophilia has crossed beyond incurable limit. Otherwise, Nigeria would be going deep into a precipitous slide.

Written by Ucheagu Chukwuemeka C.
Published By Nwosu C.S
For Biafra Writers.