This is a Draft of a Submission by Church Arise! to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief coming up sometime in June 2019. The final version will be submitted in a coalition with some other Organizations for more effectiveness.
Joshua Ojo
10th June, 2019
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1. What are the principal drivers of the violence?
The principal driver
of the violence is the conviction of the Fulani leadership that Nigeria is
“Allah’s gift” to the Fulani race to rule and subdue; and the consequent pursuit
of a vision of establishing in Nigeria a territory where the Fulani people of
West Africa could thrive, akin to the Nazis’ vision of a Lebenstraum for the Germans of Eastern Europe.
Islam religion is
the principal tool for pushing this vision. Previous attempts to actualize the vision,
under the war-cry of “dipping the koran into the Atlantic ocean” (ref 1) had
been checkmated. In recent times, having
obtained a more favourable political configuration, these ethnic supremacists are
making, as it were, a final desperate push to actualize their vision. The current principal battlegrounds of Benue-Plateau
region (and flashes in Osun-Kwara region) are precisely where the last attempt
was stalled and thwarted. (Ref 2 and 3).
The current violence is therefore clearly a more determined resumption
of this long-planned and adequately advertised Fulanization agenda.
The following
very well-known quotes corroborate the above position and speak eloquently for
themselves:
“Allah has bestowed on me and my
people the historic duty to spread the holy faith of the Prophet throughout the
Caliphate and convert these pagans. If they refuse to accept Allah and his
Prophet we will wash the earth, the forests, the mountains, the rivers and the
streams with their pagan blood. Ours is a holy and righteous calling. We are
doing the work of Allah”.
(Usman dan Fodio, the father
of Fulanis in present day Nigeria. cited in https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/nigeria-free-nation-conquered-vassal-state/
)
"The new
nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather Othman Dan
Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in
the north as willing tools and the south as a conquered territory and never
allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their
future." – Sir Ahmadu Bello, leader of the North at Nigeria’s Independence. Parrot Newspaper October 12, 1960. Republished on November 13, 2002,
by the tribune Newspaper, Ibadan).
The current President
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari is a prominent Fulani who has
been described as the third Mahdi in the line of Uthman dan Fodio, and Ahmadu
Bello (Ref 4). On numerous
occasions he has publicly declared his total commitment to the Fulanization agenda
of his predecessors and mentors. For
instance, as military Head of State in 1985, he not only cast Nigeria’s vote
against a Nigerian candidate, the frontrunner in the contest for the office of
Secretary General of the then Organization for African Unity, he actively
campaigned for the rival Fulani candidate from Niger republic, and openly
celebrated his eventual victory (Ref 5).
Likewise in his second-coming as President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari
pointedly told a disconcerted World Bank that all development efforts meant for
Nigeria should be concentrated into the Northern East section of the country (Ref
6). One of his infamous speeches
declared his “total commitment to the Sharia movement” in Nigeria in the
following words:
“I will
continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia
movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria” . . . “God willing, we will not
stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country”
After three
consecutive losses at the presidential polls, Mohammadu Buhari vowed to quit
partisan politics. He was however
persuaded to rescind the decision by the Fulani cabal who eventually installed
him (Ref 7); and now is ruthlessly directing affairs of the country - as the first
lady herself complained (Ref 8). The blatant
appointment of Fulani moslems to occupy every strategic sector in the nation is
simply unprecedented, and is a clear indication of the pursuit of a sinister ethno-religious
agenda. (Please see some catalogue by the Yoruba Council of Elders, Europe and
America, addressed to the United Nations on June 1, 2019 in Ref 9).
All these are
the principal drivers of the herdsmen-farmers violence which is only a contrived
cover in the pursuit of the real Fulanization agenda.
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2. What role does religion play? Is there evidence that violence is occurring
for religious reasons? Is there evidence that violence is occurring for other
reasons but manifesting along religious lines?
The secondary
driver of the violence is the Islamic religion. Religion is being used to bait, to divide and
rule, or at least blackmail various players (both co-religionists and
opponents) involved in the conflict.
Islam is being used to suppress a national outrage as people, groups,
and organizations that ordinarily would not condone ongoing atrocities were
either wary of being labeled Islamophobic -if they are Christians(see Refs
1,2); or they are reluctant to criticize fellow muslims for actions attributed
(even if only cosmetically) to Islam.
Others understand that a rash response to an issue overtly portrayed as
religious would only play into the hand of the Fulani supremacists, and
escalate issues along religious lines.
Ref 3
Furthermore, many
die-hard jihadists cash on the Fulanization agenda to push their own private
religious goals by perpetuating secondary violence against Christians (ref 4). On
the other hand, moslems who refuse to buy the religious false narrative,
particularly from the southern Nigeria, are being viciously and ruthlessly persecuted.
Ref 5.
In short,
religion has been an effective cover to prosecute the Fulanization agenda which
is the principal driver of the herdsmen-farmer violence.
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3. Is there evidence of the existence of organized,
coordinated movements on either side which are attacking the other religious
group for religious reasons? If so, have
these movements occupied any territory and who is leading them?
It is not the
typical herdsmen that are involved in the attacks. By standard operation, there are protective security
personnel that trail groups of herdsmen on the field. In the current situation, well-trained mobile
militias are being deployed to mingle with these formal security units. Most of
the atrocities that have earned the Fulani Hersdmen terror group the unenviable
status of the world’s fourth most deadly terror group are actually carried out
by this well-organized and well-coordinated militia.
According to first-hand
reports collated by the US-based Chinua Achebe Centre for Leadership and Development
(CACLD), members of the Fulani striking force at a particular location are
actually assembled from several sources, including the nation’s official
security forces. This explains their
ability to operate sophisticated military hardware, as well as “disappear” into thin air after their dastard
operations. Furthermore, there have been
reports of arms being airlifted into geographical areas where herdsmen strike
was imminent (Ref 1).
CACLD
researchers described a typical Fulani herdsmen attack. It begins with complaints brought in from
herdsmen on the field, being passed to the top Fulani bourgeois leadership
(which include governors and top national security chiefs), who decides whether
or not an attack should take place. If sanctioned, “modalities will be mapped
out and a date will be chosen for the attack. Most times, Fulani herdsmen in
the military and police are notified and everyone sends a representative. Neighbouring settlements send out
representatives and arms cache are opened and arms are distributed to the
participants” The Report went further
on: “During an attack, every Fulani
person in the area knows there will be an attack and all will contribute to
make sure it goes on successfully. Fulanis in the higher levels of the military
will ensure all commands under them stand down, and the top Fulani police
officers will do the same. The road is then clear for the Fulani herdsmen to
carry their attacks.” (ref 2)
As submitted
previously, religion is only smokescreen for these attacks. Members of the hardcore Fulani militia have
indeed been described as non-religious: they do not observe the regular Islamic
prayers, and they subsist on alcohol and hard-drugs. Not only Christian farmers, but even
Christians in their churches are the prime targets of the Fulani militia cum herdsmen. The obvious purpose of the attacks is to
intimidate, terrorize, and eventually cause them to vacate their ancestral
lands which are then taken over and populated with Fulanis imported from all
across West Africa.
In January 2018, former Secretary to the Federal
Government, Chief Olu Falae, described his gory experience in the hands of
Fulani herdsmen in the southern state of Ondo; and averred that their clear
mission was to “to take
over the land permanently” (Ref 3). In a news report in 2018, a national
newspaper listed names of over 54 communities in Plateau state that have been
taken over and renamed by Fulanis (Ref 4).
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4. What evidence is there that attacks by members of
organized criminal or terrorist groups have been attributed to groups of either
herdsmen or farmers, or that they are arming/supporting herders or farmers to
commit attacks?
The
herdsmen-farmer conflicts narrative provides an extremely attractive cover to
prosecute the Fulanization agenda. As
submitted in earlier statements above, evidences abound that organized
terrorist groups are actually parading themselves as herdsmen. In 2016, the
governor of Kaduna state, a prominent Fulani strategist, admitted that he paid
undisclosed hefty sums of money to non-Nigerian “herdsmen” operating in Nigeria
to cease their terror activities (Ref 1).
Obviously these funds only went to strengthening these terror cells and
procurement of more arms.
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5. Are the victims of the violence disproportionately
of a particular religion? If so, why? Is there any evidence that casualties
from either group are significantly underreported or over-reported?
As well-clearly
established, the aggressors in the “herdsmen-farmers violence” are Fulani herdsmen,
who are predominantly Moslem. The
farmers on the receiving end are predominantly Christian. Since these are deliberate organized terror
strikes to displace the farmers from their ancestral land to accommodate
Fulanis from “all over the world”, the victims necessarily have been disproportionately
Christian.
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6. How have
poor rural communities financed the acquisition of sophisticated weapons like
AK-47s? Are both groups utilizing these
types of weapons? If not, why?
Only one group,
the Fulani herdsmen have access to sophisticated weapons. That is why the ongoing
violence is more of a pogrom, with state protection.
There are simply
too many corruption cases involving humongous sums, linked to key Fulani
personalities reported in the open media, for one to make any attempt to list
them. The impunity with which these
cases are quashed by the Fulani-dominated federal government (e.g. Ref 1 for a
recent case), clearly suggests that significant amount of proceeds from such
deals would evidently end up as “donations” to the Fulanization agenda, thus
funding the militia. Apart from such
conjectures, government is known to be discussing an incredible N100 billion
grant to the Organization (Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria) which is
the de facto official spokesmen for
the herdsmen. As mentioned in question 4
above, the Governor of Kaduna state admitted he paid undisclosed sums to
non-Nigerian herdsmen to placate them and get them reduce their
activities. These funds are obviously
used to procure more sophisticated arms.
It has been observed
that the cost of the weapons carried by the herdsmen security units far exceed
the economic value of the cattle investment they are purportedly protecting.
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7. What evidence is there of collusion between
Government armed forces and either group?
First, there is
no known single arrest or prosecution of the militiamen in the years they have
been operating. On the other hand, those
who organize defences against the militia herdsmen are swiftly and efficiently
arrested, and where truly culpable, prosecuted with uncustomary alacrity. For example, three herdsmen were attacked,
and one of them killed at Kadamun village in Adamawa state on June 1, 2017. Barely 12 months later (June 11, 2018), 5
locals had been arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to death for the killing (Ref 1). This is a chilling confirmation of the warning by Kaduna State
governor that “Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani” under any
circumstances whatsoever has procured a “loan repayable one day no matter how
long it takes” (Ref 2)
On March 24,
2018, highly-respected General
Theophilus Danjuma (retired), in an extempore speech at a University function
in Taraba state counselled the various ethnic groups in Nigeria to resort to
self-defence as the nation’s security forces have been compromised, and are
definitely colluding with Fulani herdsmen.(Ref 3). Nobody could doubt that the
former Minister of Defence had incontrovertible evidences at his disposal
before making such weighty statement. At the subsequent Probe panel set up by
the military to investigate General Danjuma’s allegation, the chairman
of Taraba State Council of Chiefs and
Aku Uka of Wukari, Dr. Shekarau Angyu Masa Ibi, proceeded to list several cases
buttressing the claim of collusion between the Nigerian military and the killer
herdsmen (Ref 4).
Please see also the
response to Question 3 above, describing direct involvement of members of
government security forces in either participating in militia operations; or
units of government forces getting out of way precisely when the militia are
about to strike.
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8. What actions
or initiatives have been taken by the Nigerian Federal or State Governments, or
civil society, to prevent further conflict?
Have any of these actions been successful? Have any of these actions negatively impacted
the violence?
Some states,
particularly those not controlled by the political party at the national level,
have promulgated laws banning open-cattle grazing. These include Ekiti and Benue states. These measures have produced very positive
outcomes. Even though the law at Benue
state was violently resisted by the herdsmen association as well as the
nation’s minister of defence (Ref 1), the Benue people have stoutly defended
the law. In Osun State, which is
governed by the same political party as the federal government, a Committee to
which local farmers report invasion of farms by cattle seems to be able to
douse tension to a large extent, though its activities and modus operandi are
not given much publicity. Kaduna state,
also controlled by the government at the centre has recently passed a hotly-contested
law regulating formal religious activities as a means of addressing the
conflicts.
On its part, the
federal government has kept referring to the violence as “community clashes” and advising the victims to go learn to live
with their “neighbours” - even when
these so-called neighbours are declared to be non-Nigerians! (Ref 2) The federal government’s position is that
government-built Cattle Colony and grazing routes must be provided all over the
nation to accommodate traditional open-grazing;(Ref 3) and more lately, that a
radio station transmitting solely in the Fulfude language of the Fulanis should
be operated by the federal government to ramp up appeal to them to desist from
criminal actions! (Ref 4). These
measures are understandably not well-received by the non-Fulani nationalities
in the country, and they appear to be further clear confirmations of the Fulanization
agenda.
In the meantime, several civil and cultural societies are warning state
governments not to give land for any cattle colony in their “ancestral land”. Many
local militias are threatening to mobilize not only against the Fulani
herdsmen, but also against any state government that collaborates with them in
this regard. (Refs 5-7)
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9. What
tangible, practical steps can be taken in the short and long run by the
Nigerian and UK Governments, as well as the wider international community, to
prevent further conflict?
The UK
government with its vast intelligence facility, is obviously well-informed
about all these incidents and their drivers.
The UK government could significantly contribute to resolving the crisis
if it could be bold enough to discount short-term economic benefits from the
current Fulani leadership in Nigeria and tell them the home truth, about the futility
of their pipe-dream of subduing other ethnic nationalities in modern
Nigeria. The Fulani leadership may thus
rethink their policy and perhaps look for more viable and peaceful alternatives
to protect their strategic interests in a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria.
This would be
akin to the Trump approach to the long-standing Middle-East conflict, which is
apparently producing some positive results.
More tangibly,
the UK government could make it very clear to the Nigerian government that
ongoing systematic killings are indeed grievous, and are totally unacceptable
to important international partners such as the UK. Key individual actors implicated should be
appropriately threatened with sanctions including visa ban and freezing of bank
accounts – measures that have proved effective in the past.
Other ideas that
would obviously positively impact the situation, even if clearly unattractive
to the federal government currently in office, include the establishment of
State police, promotion of private-funded cattle ranches by those who have
commercial interests in the business; removal of Sharia from the nation’s
constitution; and issuance of ID cards to clearly distinguish between Nigerians
and the “Fulanis of the world”
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10. Has the
spread of fake news and misinformation impacted the conflict? What tangible, practical steps can be taken
to address this issue?
Fake news and
misinformation have not significantly impacted the situation. Usually the situations have been too grievous
to be further exaggerated by fake news. Fake news have been used both by Fulani
agents, especially to test the waters ahead of policies; and also by the
opponents, trying to provoke mass reactions against government. Traditional media tend to deliberately play
safe by whittling down casualty figures.
Overall, in my opinion, the impact of fake news has been minimal on the
humongous problem at hand.
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11. Do the religious communities in Nigeria view
the conflict as being primarily religiously motivated? If so, what impact does this perception have
on tensions between these communities?
What steps can be taken to improve relations between communities?
Religious
communities realize that the conflict is NOT primarily religiously
motivated. However they are acutely
aware of the intense efforts to bring in religion as a major factor.
This reality
makes religious communities that perceive the crisis as opportunity to push
their religion (mostly, Moslems) to embrace the campaign. Christians on the other hand understand the
potential negative impact. This has
inevitably led to tension and distrust.
For instance,
the new law passed by the Kaduna State legislature regulating the practice of
religions as a mean of dousing herdsmen-farmers clash was heartily endorsed by
several prominent Islamic groups, while Christians have largely rejected it and
have taken the matter to court (Ref 1).
Prominent and
respected Christian groups and denominations have repeatedly issued statements
describing the herdsmen-farmer conflict as religion-related . The Nigeria Christian Elders Forum has indeed
made a submission to the UK-All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom
of Religion or Belief in the ongoing exercise.
It is difficult
prescribing a uniform set of solution for the herdsmen-farmer conflict all over
Nigeria, as the expressions often vary from one community to another. In all cases, it is instructive to note that
it is the same Fulani herdsmen slugging it out with the other different ethnic
nationalities all over the country.
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