Malam Ahmad Usman Bello, the national chairman of the Fulani Development Association of Nigeria has asserted the dominance of the ethnic group over all other ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with Tribune newspaper, Bello said there was no ethnic group in Nigeria that could fight the fulani’s face-to-face.
“Take it or not, Fulanis have remained unbeatable; no ethnic group can fight us face to face. Any ethnic group that fights us will learn a bitter lesson,” the leader of the apex Fulani association in the country said.
Bello said, however, that it is in the interest of the fulani for there to be peace in Nigeria.
“It is in our own interest that the country lives in peace [and for the country] to be united. If anything happens in Nigeria, we are the ones to lose because we have more people than any other ethnic groups.
When you have more people, if any war occurred, certainly we Fulanis would have more dead people to record. And we are not beggars as we are equally blessed with wealth,” Bello said.
Bello said the Fulani had no plans to take over the land of Benue indigenes and stated that if they had wanted to do so, they could have easily done it when the indigenes did not know how to wear clothes.
Fulanis cannot fight open war without in and external support, only rely on herds terrorism on soft spots where they are tolerated. Let us break nigeria so that Fulani will prove their might openly via your unrealizable Islamic conquest not hiding at the back of peaceful Hausa’s and other ethnic nationalities in nigeria who join force together to suppress Biafra after 3 years of war. If fulani really think that they cannot be defeated let us break nigeria and thereafter let Fulani’s provoke only the Igbo’s to war, so that we can put ourselves to test.
Nigerian Fulani’s are Nigerians like other tribes and they are all we supposed to be brothers and sisters with other Nigerians, so this should be born in mind. However, this fracas should be put in perspective.
If herdsmen who happen to be Fulani comes into your unfenced farm in Edo state, and not only eats all the corn but tramples the farm, and, in the scuffle that ensues, kill your guard, how would you feel about the Fulani herdsmen?. Now this is a true story that happened to someone in Edo state. Bearing in mind that the herdsmen migrate from their states and carry out these attrocities in another mans backyard, this has been playing out across Nigeria for some time now.
Sentiments aside, the question i would pose to this so called Fulani national leader is this: picture yourself on the receiving end as the Edo farmer. how would you feel ?
The reality is that only by considering how the farmer on the receiving end would feel, can we begin to appreciate the anger and resentment brewing in Nigeria at the momment against the Fulani herdsmen, especially as the federal government appears not to be vociferous in their condemnation. Isn’t it ironic that the military was sent into eastern Nigeria to dance a proverbial crocodile dance when the IPOB were demonstrating and making statements, but there is complete silence when it comes to the activities of these so called Fulani herdmen terrorists. instead of sending DSS to arrest pastors, the government and the so called Fulani national leaders should be seriously considering and proffering solutions that include dealing with these terrorists masquerading as so called herdmen, if this menace is to be curtailed… This inaction and tacit collusion has the potential to cause serious problems if left unchecked….
I would therefore urge this so called National leader to either think carefully before uttering dumb speaches that will not add value to any meaningfull discourse that could bring enduring solutions to this problem…. In laymans terms, what one is simply saying is: Please shut up if you don’t have anything constructive to add !!!
Yes “authetic” Nigerian Fulanis are full fledged Nigerians like any other Nigerian ethnic groups and under the Nigerian constitution must be accorded the full rights enjoy by others. However, the “Nigerian Fulani ethnic group” needs to see themselves first and foremost as Nigerians before considering their relationship with their kinsmen from other sub regional countries of West Africa(who are of other nationalities)for the peace,unity and development they crave for to be entrenched in Nigeria for the mutual benefit of all Nigerians without exception. The spirit of good neighbourliness,live and let live with mutual respect is ever reciprocal and is the only factor than can engender peaceful coexistence in a multi ethnic country like Nigeria.