Nigeria is not the only country
where nomadic pastoralists herdsmen come and go. In Kenya, they have the Maasai
herdsmen who have been herding cattle around the Nile Valley area from the days
of Joseph in ancient Egypt. Other nations have their own form of pastoralists
too. But never in the history of the 20th and 21st Century has the world
encountered a scenario such as that which stares Nigeria in the face, whereby
Fulani pastoral Herdsmen simultaneously and nationally and almost
systematically are wiping out indigenous Nigerians for the benefit of their
cattle.
I challenge my readers to take the
time to do a Google search and collate the number of reported casualties from
unprovoked Fulani attacks on innocent, unarmed Nigerians in 2016 alone. The
results will shock you! I will not throw out a number in order not to give my
political foes fodder to use against me in a case of incitement, but please
carry out even a cursory research on the matter.
And what has been the response of
the Nigerian Government? I was shocked to read the reaction of Nigeria’s
minister of Internal Affairs, retired Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau, who
blamed Social Media users for exacerbating these attacks!
I mean really? So what are we to do
when we become aware that Fulani herdsmen are accused of killing, raping and
maiming Nigerians? Are we to keep quiet in the national interest? Excuse me,
but I thought the national interest was the interests of human beings rather
than the interest of cattle!
And then President Muhammadu Buhari
from faraway China, rightly goes ahead to issue a lethal warning to pipeline
vandals: desist from your actions or else be dealt with as I dealt with Boko
Haram!
Yet this same tough talking
President does not have similar words for Fulani herdsmen? Mr. President, how
many Nigerians have to die before you give Fulani herdsmen the ‘Boko Haram’
treatment?
President Muhammadu Buhari must be
willing to suspend the fact that he is himself a Fulani by ethnicity and
remember what he has been preaching to us since he first forced his way into
our national consciousness after his coup against President Shagari in 1983.
I can never forget when the then
military head of state, Major General Muhammad Buhari said “This generation of
Nigerians and indeed the future generation have no country other than Nigeria,
we shall stay and salvage it together.”
Indeed, the President must remember
that he wanted us to stay and salvage Nigeria together and not stay and be
savaged in Nigeria by Fulani herdsmen!
And the absolute worst part of this
story is the attempt by some Legislators to add salt to injury and injustice by
floating a so called National Grazing Commission Bill to compulsorily acquire
large swathes of Nigerian land and give them to the Commission for the benefit
of Fulani herdsmen!
In fact, it makes better sense to
establish a Victim Support Commission for the many thousands of victims of
Fulani herdsmen than it does to set up a National Grazing Commission!
Honestly, I do not understand the
idea behind this Bill. The legislators sponsoring this Bill are asking Nigeria
to change her land tenure system to fit nomads who may or may not be Nigerian
citizens. Has the world gone mad???
Nigeria should not change to fit
Fulani herdsmen, instead it is Fulani herdsmen that should change to fit
Nigeria!
The Grazing Commission Bill is an
insult to all the victims of the herdsmen. Peace can only be achieved if those
who want to herd cattle set up ranches as is done everywhere else in the world!
The cattle herding business is a
private enterprise. It should not be the business of the government to use
public land and public funds to promote the group interest of Fulani herdsmen.
Let me assure any federal legislator
that is foolhardy enough to support this Bill that Senators and Representatives
from states where Fulani herdsmen have killed innocent Nigerians should forget
their reelection if they support the Grazing Commission Bill!
In fact, they should be ashamed of
themselves that they sat in a National Assembly where the Lagos-Calabar rail
was not provided for and watched as the #GrazingCommissionBill got to second
reading!
Instead of passing laws to protect
victims of genocide they want to pass laws to protect those who commit
genocide! Talk about Stockholm syndrome!
I am tempted to ask if this the
Federal Republic of Nigeria or the Federal Republic of Fulani Herdsmen with
Nigerians as second class citizens? Hardworking, tax paying Nigerian citizens
do not have land to build houses yet the backers of this repugnant Bill want to
give free land to Fulani herdsmen?
But should I or anybody reading this
really blame the sponsors of this Bill? Shouldn’t the blame rightly be on all
of us collectively when we keep silent while our brothers die because of
political ambition and fear of persecution!
What did Jesus say again in Matthew
10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
My name is Reno Omokri, if anybody
likes let them come and arrest me for saying the truth. I would rather live the
rest of my life in a dungeon than fold my hands and do nothing while my fellow
Nigerians are being killed so that cattle may live!
Reno Omokri is the host of
Transformation With Reno Omokri, founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center
in California and author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept.
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/grazing-commission-bill-men-die-cattle-may-live/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/grazing-commission-bill-men-die-cattle-may-live/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/buharis-critics-heads-examined-oyegun/
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