As an Igbo adage would say, a person whose father had sent to an errand always uses his two legs to break a door.
That is why an errant, power-drunk organization, known as Miyetti Allah can boast that the Fulani ethnic group owns Nigeria, will rule the country forever, and nobody will rebuke them.
The National President of Miyetti Allah Kuatal Hore, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, in an interview with the Sun Newspapers, allegedly boasted that the Fulani did not need anybody’s permission to settle in any part of Nigeria, because they owned the country.
According to him, plans had been concluded to flag off a Miyetti Allah “vigilante group with 100,000 members, which will be deployed in every state in Nigeria”, and that unlike the Amotekun security outfit that needed the backing of the law to function, their own security outfit does not need any law to back it.
Bodejo said his group had been meeting, “anytime from now, we make our plans public. We will first start with 5,000 personnel. It is going to be across the country, because there is no any angle you cannot find the Fulani in this country”.
The Fulani has the right “to go and settle in any bush in this country without asking anybody for permission”, he was reported to have said.
Even though Bodejo has made some feeble attempts to now deny the story, but we can hardly be persuaded that the leader of Fulani cattlerearers did not actually make those reckless statements since what was reported is actually in tandem with previous utterances of the group.
What however is irritating and disturbing is that each time Miyetti Allah or similar other Fulani group will blow hot, and threaten to pull down the country unless everything comes their own way, President Muhammadu Buhari and all his attack dogs will go mute.
They will not say anything. They will look the other way and pretend as if they did not hear anything. They will not caution the group(s), which will embolden them to continue with their nihilistic action.
For many years, all the elements that make up Nigeria have been managing to put up with one another, until very recently, when the Miyetti Allah, believing that one of their own is on the throne, encouraged their military wing, the Fulani herdsmen, to drop their usual sticks and arrows which they were using to shepherd their cattle, to now pick up AK47 rifles in their stead.
Then, hell was let loose, and the Fulani herdsmen went on rampage, terrorizing and sacking various towns and villages in different parts of the country. They burned down houses and farmlands, while hundreds of people were either maimed, raped, or killed.
Paradoxically, we did not see much effort by both the federal government and the security agencies to stop the terror attacks, or to protect the life and property of these hapless citizens. They would not even utter any word to condemn the attacks. Very often, they would looked the other way while the bandits enjoyed the field day.
Till date, we have not seen any Fulani herdsman standing trial in any of the law courts on account of the orgy of violence visited on many people in the country. This, no doubt, has given them assurance that some powerful people were behind them, as they continued with their terrorist attacks.
So, if Bodejo, the President of Miyetti Allah Kuatal Hore, said that the Fulani owned Nigeria and that they would rule the country for ever, we would not be surprised. Both the actions and languages of the present administration in the country have been pointing towards that direction. The only thing, however, is that while man will always propose, God is there to dispose.
Perhaps, it may be necessary to remind Miyetti Allah and other Fulani groups, that no ethnic group in the country owns the monopoly of violence. That every other group has been keeping quiet does not mean that they are all weaklings or can not equally take up arms. It is only a tree that would be told that it is about to be cut down that will remain where it is, and will not move.
So, when the chips are down, both those who are currently rehearsing various war songs and their godfathers or sponsors will come to realize that you can always kill the tortoise with hot water.
Dr. Dons Eze
