By George Onmonya Daniel
The Chief Security Advisor to President Tinubu, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, in an interview with Radio Deutsche Welle Hausa, told journalists that the Fulani terrorists (The Nigerian Government prefer to call the Bandits) are our brothers and he preferred to resolve the problem as a family problem than through using the military to tackle the issue. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a Fulani with an ambition to becoming president after Tinubu, and other Fulani politicians and the Emirs of Northern Nigeria who control Hausa land, all of them Fulani people, Fulani religious leaders who almost control Islam in the North, have the same viewpoint on how to deal with the terrorists. They all share Nuhu Ribadu’s view. The Emirs being tactically have kept mute, refusing to talk much about the mass death of citizens, kidnapping for ransom, rape, and the general menace caused by the herdsmen.
Fulani organisations like Miyetti Allah have also continued to support the bandits, harassing any individual or group that talks against them, even their own people, shielding them to continue the menace.
Other Fulani politicians have been mute, even the likes of Atiku Abubakar who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), preferring to circumvent the issue and generally refer it to insecurity instead of address the problem directly and seek solutions.
These Fulani elites have made it almost impossible for the Nigerian government to take the war to the terror herdsmen because of the politics they play behind the scene pertaining the whole crisis.
President Muhammadu Buhari clearly wanted to settle these bandits all over Nigeria in the name of getting them out of the bush and setting up ranches for them in different states. He thought that was the solution. He denied they were terrorists. He saw it as communal crisis between communities and the Fulani terrorists. It was not the case. These Fulani elites concocted the story that whole crisis has been as a result of marginalisation of the Fulani people by the government. They made excuses that they are not educated and that has been why they behave as they do. For eight years, whatever Buhari did was wrapped around giving his people advantage by doing whatever they want. He condone the mass killings, kidnapping for ransoms, armed robberies, sacking of communities, rape, and all. In the midst of the menace, General TY Danjuma warned Nigerians to arm themselves and defend themselves as Buhari isn’t serious about tackling the problem. It turned out to be true.
After Buhari, Tinubu came to power. He appointed Nuhu Ribadu as his Chief Security Officer, one of the most important position that would advise him on security. Mallam Ribadu who many saw as a progressive quickly turned to an ethnic champion, preferring dialogue and giving money to the terrorists in the name of amnesty to military intervention. The bandits are not interested in peace. Their activities also pave way for different Islamic terror groups to have easy access to spaces that they use to launch attacks on villages, killing hundreds in the name of Jihad.
The government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not willing tackle the problem head on because of fear that Northern Nigeria may not happy. Southerners are sold the that story that the bandits are victims of cattle rustling, and some of them, especially the people in Tinubu’s government believe it. Because the killings are in the North and the Middle Belt and not in the South, it is not worth losing an election by going against the Fulani elites that Tinubu sees as having enough power to influence Northern Nigerian election result.
This politics is why the problem has persisted and continued to get worse. In fact, the Fulani silence has outraged Hausa people, some who have formed an organisation of Hausa people alone called Hausa Zalla, with the purpose of defending Hausa people since they said the Fulani Emirs in Hausa land, rulers of Arewa, do not care about Hausa people or any group but their people alone. With such a group not having power to influence election as politicians are thinking, they have so far been ignored by politicians from the South all courting favour from Fulani elites.
Fulani herdsmen who were referred to as the fourth most dangerous terrorist groups in the World as far back as 2015, killing farmers in Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic before making Nigeria the headquarters of their operation are strictly in the business of terror because they know they have backing of some Fulani people in government who have made them believe they can do whatever and get away with it. Evidence that Senator Buba, a gubernatorial aspirant was involved in dealings with these terrorists was everywhere, how he became the Senator in charge of security remain a mystery but it is quite obvious.
Another problem why these problems have persisted is also Senator and Member of House of Representatives in both South and Middle Belt being intimidated to silence by Fulani elites who have backing of northern Muslim mobs behind them until recently that Hausa Zalla movement are now questioning the Fulani leadership of Hausa land as Fulani terror continues to ravage Hausa land arrogantly without apology, care, and respect for human dignity as their leaders continue to defend and protect them,
