Femi Fani-Kayode writes a series of article on the subject of the dangerous jihad and violent expansionist ideology prevalent in Northern Nigeria. This essay is the first part of the series.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his essay will not be released to or published in the mainstream Nigerian media because it will be considered as being “too hot”. Yet its message is far too important for it not to be written or for it to be ignored.
I would urge those that have thin skins, that are easily excitable, that have an aversion to truth or that are unduly sensitive to criticism and the ugly realities that we are faced with in Nigeria today to stop reading now and drop the essay because they will not be able to cope with its contents.
I am a historian and my intention for writing it is simply to enlighten, educate and inform rather than to create rancour, tension, strife, division or stress. I do not seek to incite anyone and neither do I believe in or advocate violence in any shape or form.
I have also proffered a solution to what I consider to be the problem that some of our northern compatriots pose at the end of the essay.
It is a long contribution so I have broken it into two parts. Each part is well worth reading and it is my prayer that you stay with me till the end. Here we go.
A few weeks ago one Mr. Adamu Mohammed wrote an essay on Facebook titled, Your Land Or Your Blood.
The write-up was widely-published in Nigeria and it was well circulated in the social media. It has indeed been the subject of much interest and a heated debate.
Permit me to share its contents here. He wrote as follows and kindly overlook the bad grammar and colorful language:
Ever since President Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of leadership of this great country Nigeria, we (Hausa-Fulanis) have come under severe media attack from enemies of progress.
Just because they are educated than us, they stereotype us with negativity. Just because they own and control the media, they use the media against us.
But let me make something clear to you stupid fellows hating us, whether you love us or hate us, it doesn’t change anything.
We are who we are and we will continue to remain like that. We hate you even more and we can never love you because you are all infidels.
I pity those of you who keep deluding yourselves that we can love and trust you simply because you worked against your people to our own advantage, never!
I heard that the stupid Governor of Oyo State, Ajimobi said that they won’t accept the proposed Grazing Bill.
But my message to the filthy Yoruba pig is that, if you don’t want to give us your cursed land, we will rear our cattle not only on your farmlands but in your churches.
And if you try to stop us, we would killed your chicken hearted men like rabbits then turn your mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to our sex slaves like we have always done.
It is either you give the whole of South to us to use as grazing reserve or we soak it with your blood.
And what you would do like you always do is noise on Facebook and Twitter. You cannot be united against us because there would always be the likes of Tinubu, Amaechi and Okorocha in your midst who will divide you for selfishness and love of money.
Such treacherous characters can’t survive in our midst because we burn them and their families.
I so much detest Southern Christians because they are the problem of this country. If I have my way, there won’t be any functional church in this country, especially in the North.
That’s why I am so much happy with Governor El-rufai who is living up to the expectations of Allah in Kaduna State.
We are not really pleased with President Muhammadu Buhari who is too slow to implement everything we asked him to implement in this country for us, he has not even done 20% of the Northern/Islam agenda, what he is waiting for I don’t know.
We will make life unbearable for Igbos like they are in Hell, and yet we won’t let them have their useless Biafra because the whole of South is a conquered territory.
We can never see Yorubas as allies no matter how hard they try to please or serve us because they are born traitors and infidels.
Those slaves in the Middle Belt would continue to be willing tools in our hands, and the day they attempt to raise their heads, we will cut off their heads like weeds.
I lack words to tell the inconsequential and always crying Niger Delta because what we are waiting for is for President Buhari to declare state of emergency in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, then we will show them how to use power.
We are at war with you people but we won’t allow the country to breakup because, natural resources found in any part of the country is our heritage and birthright.
We will continue killing you in large numbers until you are truly submissive to us as your slave masters. We won’t stop killing you until we fully take-over your land as a conquered territory.
This is not the time to mince words, this is not the time to sugarcoat things, and this is not the time to be economical with the truth, this is nothing but the truth, ignore it at your own peril.”
As repugnant as they are and as despicable as he is we must thank Mr. Mohammed for his honesty and for speaking his mind. His views and intent are self-evident and need no further analysis or explanation.
The point that needs to be grasped and fully appreciated though is that his is not the view of a minority or some inconsequential lunatic fringe in the core north.
His words represent the thinking of many in the north even though most of them would rather hide it or mask it rather than voice it out.
Mrs. Mary Ekeh captured the situation very well when she offered the following counsel about the Grazing Reserve Bill after she read Mohammed’s essay. She wrote:
Please continue to pass this leaked information until every Yoruba, Igbo, all tribes and all Christian parts of Nigeria gets alerted.
This was planned many years by Fulanis as a strategic way to Islamization of Nigeria.
That was why Buhari continued running for presidency even at his old age because they knew he is the most possible mean to achieve their goal.
In 1804 – 1808. Fulanis came in from Guinea to the Northern part of Nigeria, led by Usman Dan fodio .He lead in jihad against the Hausa kingdoms of the northern Nigeria.
The forces of Usman dan Fodio slowly took over more and more of the Hausa kingdoms through war. By 1810, Fulanis had already conquered all hausas.
They formed boko haram sect solely for the process, waiting for Buhari or any of their Fulani brother to come in power but, unfortunately, Goodluck Jonathan came into power and they became annoyed.
They started their violence to distract him and whether it was Yoruba or Igbo that was on the seat during President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime.
The same thing could’ve still happened about Boko Haram. Now their dream has been achieved having their brother on top.
Here is their plan. They started herdsmen war believing that they have the chance to control all parts of the country since they are in power and forces.
If Grazing Reserve Bill is passed and achieved, it means that Fulanis will have a place mapped out for them in all 36 states of Nigeria.
The next thing is that they will start bringing in their wives and children and take over your land.
Mrs. Ekeh’s analysis is superlative and her admonitions are timely and appropriate.
Permit me to share another contribution from yet another northern voice who has employed the same colorful language as Mr. Adamu Mohammed and who suffers from the same hateful disposition.
His name is Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo and in 2014 he wrote an essay titled, It Is Either The Koran Or The Sword. Like Mr. Mohammed’s which came two years later, his piece was also widely circulated and it also generated a heated debate. He wrote as follows:
When I say that the Presidency must come to the north next year I am referring to the Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern christian or muslim minority tribe.
The Christians in the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma and all the others are nothing and the muslim minorities in the north, including the Kanuri, the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur and all the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.
They can grumble, moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for.
Some of them are even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one nights sport and pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Usman Dan Fodio.
We also captured Ilorin, killed their local King and installed our Fulani Emir. We took that ancient town away from the barbarian yoruba and their filthy pagan gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing islam on them by force.
It was either the Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the good works of our forefathers Allah, through the British, gave us Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please. Since 1960 we have been doing that and we intend to continue.
No Goodluck or anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africa’s biggest war zone and refugee camp if they try it.
Many say we are behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and they want to take even that from us.
We must fight and we will fight back in order to keep it. They have brought in the infidels from America and the pigs from Israel to help them but they will fail. The war has just begun, the Mujahadeen are more than ready and by Allah we shall win.
If they don’t want an ISIS in Nigeria then they must give us back the Presidency and our political power. Their soldiers are killing our warriors and our people every day but mark this: even if it takes one hundred years we will have our revenge.
Every Fulani man that they kill is a debt that will be repaid even if it takes 100 years. The Fulani have very long memories.”
Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo, like Mr. Adamu Mohammed that came after him, has expressed a point of view which, though utterly reprehensible and barbaric, reflects the thinking of many in the core Muslim north.
These sentiments are regrettable and unacceptable yet no matter how much we complain about such views or pretend that they are not representative of the thinking of the majority in the core Muslim north, we must learn to live with them or deal with them.
We must also adopt all necessary measures to enlighten our people about the dangers and challenges that such sentiments present and we must be ready to do all that is in our power to defend and protect them.
That is what leaders are meant to do. Indeed that is the challenge and burden that every southern and Middle Belt leader in our nation is faced with and carries today.
Femi Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from @realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
