I will begin this piece this way: if this Lugardian contraption called Nigeria cannot work, then let us go our separate, peaceful ways; or, at the very least, have a confederation with express provisos for exit. Continuing to maintain a country where some people claim the right to permanently lord it over others is not only illogical, it is self-defeating. If what I have seen in my few years is anything to go by, this country was never programmed to prosper. I am not a politician or supporter of politicians: I detest the ‘nationalist” outlook that causes one to ignore pernicious practices in an attempt to ingratiate oneself to the self-constituted owners of Nigeria. I am not a separatist, human rights activist, or anything of the sort: I just happen to have a bit of commonsense.
The way some leaders from the northern part of the country talk, it is as if they own the land and anyone who does not subscribe to their worldview should simply perish. You would not doubt this submission if you listened to the senator representing Kebbi Central, Adamu Aliero, on Arise TV this week. Justifying his opposition to the well thought out bid by some senators to outlaw open grazing, Aliero robed his herder brothers in imperial garments, completely ignoring the context of the call for ranching. Hear him: “It’s not only ranching that we are talking about here. We are talking about business generally. Some people are selling spare parts all over Nigeria and nobody is restricting them. They move from one place to another. If you impose restrictions on them, then you are acting against the freedom of movement of people. We are talking about pastoralists who are herders; they have to go with their cows because that is their merchandise. You cannot separate the herders from their cows when you are talking about freedom of movement. Any attempt to separate them will not be possible.”
This is, of course, a demonic point of view, but it is only typical. Aliero is speaking for his fellow elite who are “born to rule” others to their ruination. Implicitly asserting the fundamental right of herders to other people’s wealth, including lands, Aliero purveys a supremacist view that ignores the rules of logic and science, and the submissions of global statistical agencies on the threat constituted by Fulani herdsmen who are listed conspicuously on the Global Terrorism Index. Using a false equivalence, Aliero places “spare parts dealers”, apparently a pejorative designation for Igbos, on the same scale as the herders who leave a trail of sorrow and anguish anywhere they go in this country. To cite just one example out of a billion, residents of Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State were thrown into turmoil recently following the killing of a farmer identified as Emma Nnadi. Hear the lamentations of a community leader, Agu Chineme: “The 13-year-old girl, a primary school leaver, was mercilessly raped by two armed herders while working on her family’s farm…The gruesome attack claimed the life of Emma Nnadi, a brave farmer who attempted to intervene and protect the young girl from the clutches of the ruthless herders. The herders showed no remorse as they took turns raping the girl, even as Emma lay dead from gunshot wounds.” Can Aliero point to a single incident in which a “spare parts dealer” was accused of such horrendous crimes?
In his mischievous submission, Aliero limited northerners to herders, suggesting that ranching was a ploy to restrict northern movement down South. Is Aliero saying that the thousands of northern farmers and agripreneurs daily bringing yams, beans, tomatoes, groundnuts, potatoes, ginger, onions, etc, to the South, and who are enthusiastically welcomed anywhere they go in the South, aren’t northerners because they are probably not Fulani? That is a reductionist view that confirms Aliero’s intellectual dishonesty. In carrying out their businesses, spare parts dealers, including Nigerians of various ethnic subscriptions, rent shops and restrict themselves to their well defined spaces. They do not displace people from ancestral lands; they do not kill, rape or torture fellow citizens with Luciferic relish. Just how can Aliero and his co-travellers expect fellow Nigerians to permanently feed cows accompanied by Ak47-wielding killers, then have to buy those same cows? Are spare parts dealers on the Global Terrorism Index? For how long is the rest of Nigeria supposed to endure the spectacle of the Fulani nomad as king of the forest enjoying roast meat, liquor and the bodies of other people’s wives and daughters pounced upon as they labour on their farms?
If, as Aliero proclaims, the Fulani man cannot be separated from his cows, why doesn’t he carry out this intercourse on his own land? Or is he a landless rover? The Fulani man acquired his cows from his father just like the Yoruba man acquired his cocoa from his own father: no partridge is taller than another. That the Fulani man considers his cows to be superior to other Nigerians is not only egregious, it is a destructive philosophy. So far as I can tell, cows were made by the Almighty God, not the Fulani, and any glorification of cows has to be underlined by thick mental darkness. Strangely, after justifying such ungodly activities, these rogues pour billions into holy pilgrimage, rushing to Mecca like Usain Bolt, and confirming that their piety is worse than a forged certificate.
One day, the Almighty will ask serious questions from those who place animals above human lives, rationalizing terrorism under the rubric of culture and purveying illegal mythology with demonic candour. Those who shed blood at will are entitled to total annihilation. Their daughters will die at childbirth and their sons will be run over by trains, every bone crushed with ferocity. Their wives will become other men’s property and their young men consumed with a stroke before they can consummate a marriage. They will not even enjoy the funeral of a dog. May God Almighty make a speedy end of cruel leaders who support bloodshed. What a filthy bunch of nihilistic clowns lacking the brains of a cow and the morals of a whore! Errand boys of Lucifer!
ALSO READ: What you should know about recent cholera outbreak in Nigeria
