Nigeria: Herdsmen and Our Collective Helplessness

31 August 2017
opinion

In this article I am arguing that as willing as President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Nasir El-Rufai and all security personnel may be in stopping the menace of the Fulani herdsmen, they cannot, because it is a racial attitude that goes beyond their authority, their individual preferences and socialisation.

I recall that each time I visited my village and had to attend the age grade meeting, it was a forum that automatically 'equalised' no matter your status. It is simply a cultural thing that you drop whatever you are when you come into that age grade circle, and mates are going to talk to you as mates, with all sarcasm and playful insult. My point is that, some cultural ethos are just the way they are no matter how influential one may try to be as a change agent. Within that set up, even one's political status cannot be an instrument for change. A story is told of a United States President in the 19th Century who as a member of a fraternity was ordered by a felon to exercise prerogative of mercy because the felon was higher up in ranking in the fraternity. Sometimes no matter how much one tries one may not run against certain currents because of the inherent cultural and anthropological restraining factors. The nomadic Fulani do not seem to recognise any state nor any structure aside from their Ruga, family, lineage, clan and ethnic group. More so religion is such an important factor in defining who they are that if one is not of the same religion he or she may not be considered as valuable. The indoctrination that goes into the spiritual formation of children generally implants in their minds a deep sense of cultural identity and religion. The Fulani just seem to go where literally the green pasture is, and where the flock could be watered and do not feel bound by geography or property rights.

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