Written by Femi Fani-Kayode...Read below..
I am saddened that the former Governor of Kano
state, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso, a man whom I
have always considered a friend and one whom I
have always respected could insult our revered
Yoruba elders. Yesterday, during a function in
Ibadan, it was widely reported in the media that
he asserted that the recent demand by the Yoruba
elders that all Fulani herdsmen ought to be
banned from the south west as a consequence of
the hideous atrocities that they have been
committing against our people is somehow
inappropriate and misguided.
Instead of stopping there he went further by attempting
to give us an unsolicited lecture about his Fulani
heritage and pedigree and about the benefits of having a
good education: imagine that coming from one of them.
He concluded by telling the Yoruba elders to just ''shut
up''. Such impudence is rarely seen and this final insult
may represent a defining moment in the history of the
relationship between the Yoruba and the Fulani in our
country.
Worse still, this comes barely a few weeks after Chief
Olu Falae, a much-loved 77 year old Yoruba elder, was
abducted, incarcerated, stripped naked, beaten, cut with
matchetes, maimed, frog-marched, humiliated and
kidnapped by a group of Fulani herdsmen. Unlike many
others Chief Falae was lucky to escape with his life
because both before and since his abduction many other
victims of the Fulani cattle rearers did not. These aliens
are herdsmen and cattlerearers by the day and
terrorists, murderers, vagabonds and rapists by the
night.
They have become a terror and an affliction to our
people. That is what we have to live with in the south
west and many other parts of southern Nigeria
today.The Yoruba are still hurting from the
abductions,murders, raids and consistent violence being
meted out to them by these creatures from hell yet no-
one seems to care. Many Yoruba farmers are still living
in trepidation of being attacked and butchered by the
vagabonds and many have had to sit by helplessly as
the heartless beasts raped and slaughtered their wives
and daughters before their very eyes.
Instead of attempting to calm our nerves and allay our
fears by reaching out to us with an olive branch and
condemning the criminal actions of his Fulani kith and
kin, Rabiu Kwakawnso has instead indulged in his
provocative and dangerous diatribe. It is a manifestation
of the crass arrogance that some Fulani leaders have
cultivated over the years that they feel that they can
insult us in this way and get away with it.
Worse still they seek to defend, rationalise and condone
the activities of their barbaric and murderous herdsmen
who have murdered, raped and pillaged thousands of
our people and forcefully taken our lands and crops over
the last few years. I will leave it to Afenifere, the Yoruba
Council of Elders, the OPC and others to respond to
Kwakwanso and those he represents because these are
the groups and people that speak for the Yoruba nation.
The only thing that I will say is that Kwakwanso's thesis
and theory about education being the answer to the
menace and criminal activities of the Fulani herdsmen in
the south west does not make sense. It has no basis in
logic, rationality or reason. In any case if the herdsmen
are not properly educated and do not know how to
behave in a lawful and civilised manner when they are
in the territory of others whose fault is that? Is it not the
fault of Kwakwanso and the other Fulani leaders who
have refused to enlighten and educate their people over
the last 50 years? That is the bitter truth. You cannot
stop those herdsmen that have chosen to be murderers,
vagabonds and rapists by simply educating them
because what they do is inherent within them. Those
that have chosen the path of criminality and violence
are suffering from a sociopathic and psychotic
disposition.
Simply put they have an insatiable bloodlust and an
irresistible desire to hurt others and to steal, maim, rape
and kill. When I say this I am not referring to all Fulanis
but only to those Fulani herdsmen who insist on
indulging in violent and deviant behavior in our land.
The only thing you can do to stop such people is to
make them face the full wrath of the law for the crimes
they have consistently committed and ban them from
entering our territory. It has nothing to do with
education. We do not want these herdsmen amongst us
anymore because they are like a plague.
All they do is kill, steal and destroy. They have done it
throughout the Middle Belt for the last 50 years and now
they are doing it in the south and particularly in
Yorubaland. Do Kwakwanso and the other Fulani leaders
expect us to keep quiet whilst their people are
terrorising, slaughtering and robbing ours? If so they are
in for a big shock. We will not only not keep quiet but
we will also continue to insist that they must get out of
our land.
And if the government refuses to protect us from them
we shall take strong measures to protect and defend
ourselves and our people. There is no crime in self
defense. The days of talking down to us, treating us
with contempt and treating us like slaves are long over.
Kwakwanso and those he represents should not test our
will or underestimate our resolve. We want peace but it
cannot be at the expense of our lives and the liberty and
safety of our people.
The Yoruba cannot be butchered at will or treated like
sacrificial lambs to the slaughter by anyone or any
group of people. Senator Kwakwanso's insult on the
Yoruba elders will not go unanswered. Education is not
the solution to the problem of the murderous Fulani
herdsmen. Expulsion is.
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