A Professor of Islamic Political Thoughts, Prof. Umar Ladbo, has said that violent traits noticed in some Fulani herdsmen were a result of years of provocation.
In an interview published by Sunday Sun, the don lamented cattle rustling, banditry and other ills that have befallen the Fulani in recent times.
Ladbo said that Fulani people have always been peaceful and shy people until circumstances forced them to defend themselves following years of constant threats to their lives and livelihood.
The eminent professor, who is versed in Islamic and Fulani history, said:
The Fulani are known to be very peaceful people, very shy, introverts; people who mainly keep to themselves and their businesses. That is how Fulani were known in the 70s, 80s and before then. But now with the situation they found themselves in, they are changing. Sometimes change is imposed on people.
A Fulani who does not know anything in this world except the cow – the cow is the beginning and the end of his life , now you dispossess him of that cow, what do you think he would do? He didn’t have land to farm, he didn’t have education to seek for employment, he didn’t have company, he only has cows and now it has been taken away from him. So he would be mad, he would run crazy and he would do things unthinkable that he himself would never have imagined or dreamed of doing. You know survival, you know what survival is? That is how I see these things. The Fulani has been pushed to the wall and now they are reacting.
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Asked how the situation could be curtailed and prevented from getting worse than it already is, the don said:
This one is also a challenge because they always lack voice. So, it is hard to know what is in their minds.
The Federal Government considers Miyetti Allah as the only voice of the Fulani and I think that this is wrong. There are many other organizations, which some of them are even closer to the ones in the bush than this elites in Miyetti Allah.
Miyetti Allah has many elites and when we mention elites in the Nigerian context you begin to perceive corruption is there, selfishness is there and greed and so on. I will venture to say that some of the members of Miyetti Allah are not working in the interests of the Fulani. The Federal Government should not be working with only Miyetti Allah, they should bring in other Fulani groups and organizations.
They should aggregate the general views and then regard the summary as the views of the
F ulani. That way, they would come to understand what is going on in the minds of the Fulani, how they view these problems and what they think would improve their lives. Once they do that , the way would be clear.
Ranching and making Hay
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Any targetted, or genocidal, maltreatment of any group, including the Fula, is unacceptable.
While there are recorded cases of attacks on Fula settlements resulting in loss of human lives and livestock, there are also numerous reports of Fula herdsmen encroaching on farmlands all over Nigeria with the attendant killing, stealing and destruction.
The long- term solution is for the Fula to establish cattle ranches and buy cattle fodder from the farming communities.
This win- win arrangement will encourage commerce between the ranchers and their neighbours, who will gain from selling grass and waste products of harvesting to the ranchers.
Mr akhabue that’s true what you said but the thing is they can’t afford to form ranches even some already had ranches they can’t get it without subsidies from governments it’s needs knowledge and power.
This fulani is their business a government business? Is cow now a sos of income to the federal government? Is there any tribe in Nigeria that land is been given freely, what is there tax to the government? How many employment have they provided to Nigerian youths, Igbos are busy developing and building Nigeria with there wealth but are not been recognized, while people who have nothing to bring to the table are hearing talking about been push to the wall, fulani is just a parasite
Prof. Ladbo who pushed the wall. Is it southerners, Easterners Westerners or who. Did these people push them to the wall by buying their cows from them. I blame the Eastern governors for prohibiting eating of cow in their zone like taking of alcohol is prohibited in the North. After all before the invention of rice we weren’t eating gravel. Enough is enough Prof, if buying the cow is pushing them to the wall, please we don’t want to buy them again. Our fathers never bought cow from them.
Dey will bomb all of u and ur stupid COW… Worst cum to worst… Try us and thirst d bitter side of Nigerian youths ..