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By Femi Fani-Kayode

Mr. Gwnfor Evans MP, the great Welsh politician, lawyer and author and the leader of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, for no less than 36 years before he passed on in 2005, made the following historic and profound observation many years ago. He said,‘Britishness’ is a political synonym for ‘Englishness’ which extends the English culture over the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish”.

As a student of English and European history and one that was not only trained and educated by the British from the age of seven but that is also highly conversant with their system and their ways, I can confirm that Evans is absolutely right.

His words are relevant to our situation in Nigeria as well and, in many ways, has some application here.

I say this because what the English managed to do to the Scottish, the Irish and the Welsh, in the name and under the cover of establishing ‘Great Britain’, over a period of 500 years is what the Fulani is trying to do to the rest of us here in a much shorter space of time and in a more brazen, crude and aggressive manner.

To echo Evans’ words and place them in the Nigerian context, it is in the same way that “Nigerianess” is a political synonym for “Fulaniness” which seeks to extend the Fulani culture, and I daresay Islamic religious faith, over the Hausa, Igbo, the Yoruba, the Ijaw, the Tiv, the Berom and everyone else.

They have succeeded in doing that to the Hausa and this is a tragedy of monumental proprtions. A once proud people who had their own empire, their own culture and their own ways were conquered, reduced to nothing and compelled to accept Fulani traditional and political leadership and rulership by the force of arms and this remains the case till today.

Consequently Kano, a thriving, bubbling and wealthy commercial Hausa city which once served as the capital of the ancient Habe Empire that had flourished for hundreds of years before the Fulani got there was compelled to bend its knee to a Fulani Emir.

Very few Hausa people even know their own noble history and they have become so bound up, intrinsically linked and obsessed with the Fulani version and narrative of historical events that one can say that they have been utterly and completely Fulanised and have come to see themselves as, at best, second class citizens and, at worst, slaves to the Fulani. I repeat, this is tragic.

And the rest of us must resist this course and not allow ourselves to be Fulanised. We must remember who and what we are, we must never forget where we are coming from, we must promote our respective cultures, we must defend our faith, we must rever and honor our traditions and we must keep our respective identities.

We must also remember the words of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the erstwhile Leader of the Yoruba, when he wrote the following in his celebrated book titled ‘Paths To Nigerian Freedom’ in 1947.

He wrote, “Nigeria is not a nation but a mere geographical expression” and he went on to say that “there is as much difference between a Fulani man and an Igbo as there is between a Turk and a German”.

Can anyone dispute the veracity of these assertions? Are they not as true and as relevant today as they were in 1947 when Awolowo wrote them?

The attempt by the Fulani to rob us of our identities and conquer us by guile and assimilation in the name of one Nigeria shall fail.

They shall not succeed in doing it by double-speak, deceit and subtefuge and they shall not achieve it by the force of arms.

If Nigeria is to continue to exist and if some insist on her remaining as one nation then let her be restructured on regional lines so that every single one of her numerous ethnic nationalities and regions can preserve their identities, their religious faith and their culture and can develop at their own pace.

Failing that the only answer is for us to set into motion a peaceful dissolution of the union and enter into a non-acrimonious and mutually beneficial divorce.

That is the answer to our problem and not just for us to replace Buhari in 2019 with someone that is better.

The truth is whether we have a good President or a disaster like Buhari the nationality question still has to be answered and the fundamental issues of the nature of our union or indeed whether we wish to continue to remain as one nation or not has to be addressed.

Gone are the days when others will sit in a room somewhere and make those decisions for us. We have come of age and we deserve to make our own choices.

Let me share a little bit more with you about the perfidy of our former colonial masters when it comes to Nigeria.

Their atrocities are obvious and too numerous to list here but permit me to share the less obvious and something that many may not know.

If you really want to know the truth about why Nigeria remained one nation, who was behind it and what the reasons were for their decision please read the following.

I have done my research and I can confirm that everything that the writer has written is factual and historically accurate.

He wrote as follows:

“If you thought oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1959, you could pass your high school economics with that information. It was actually discovered 50 years earlier.

Did you know that oil from the territory was sold for almost 50 years before the approach of Independence in 1960 forced the disclosure of Oloibiri by Britain?

Even at that the quantities were concealed from the newly-Independent Nigerian Governments until the counter coup of July, 1966, when the north packed their baggage to head back north in the famous ARABA putsch.

The then British High Commissioner to Nigeria, of course on the promptings and direction of his home government, zoomed in upon Gowon halfway, and prevailed on him to reverse the decision of moving the north out of Nigeria, at a time Gowon already hoisted the Arewa Flag in a temporary Capital, Ilorin.

In the hurry to announce this reversal, Gowon’s speech, which was originally designed to take out the north, was poorly edited, leaving a portion that should have been expunged and so distorting the concluding part from the body of the speech.

That unexpunged portion is the celebrated Gowonian faux pas in which he in one breathe declared that “everything considered, the basis of Nigeria’s unity is no more”, yet going ahead in the next breathe to proclaim that “to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done”.

It was in the heat of the ARABA (northern secession) move that the British whispered into the ears of the fledgeling Gowon government, the huge quantities of oil that eastern Nigeria would have, if the North left, and so would become the poor neighbour of the south and particularly the Eastern Region.

In a series of dubious underhanded exchanges that followed rapidly, the British practically took over the handling of the crises all the way to when it became war in July 1967, from the poor school certificate-holder soldier, Yakubu Gowon (Gowon went for tertiary education only after he was overthrown in 1975 by his July 1966 comrade-in-crime, Murtala Mohammed).

In that dark period Gowon signed off the entire oil/gas reserves of Eastern Nigeria to the British for 50 years, more or less, contracting the war to Britain.

The British which held those concessions via Shell, had to parcel out substantial blocs of their holdings to the other world powers and Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.

Thus the entry of Gulf Oil and Mobil (US) Elf (France), Agip (Italy). Soviet Union had oil at home and so didnt need oil blocs. What Russia (USSR) got was an open order to supply the hardware for the war, including MIG Jet Fighters, Ilushyn Battle Tanks, AK 47 Riffles, all at double of the prevailing market prices.

This oil blocs bribe was the basis of the cooperation of the then world powers with Britain and its stooge, northern Nigeria, to kill 3.5 million easterners in a simple self-determination dispute, which was substantially resolved in Aburi, January 1967″.

It is clear from the foregoing that it was not God that put Nigeria together but rather the greed and mercantile interests of the Western powers led by the British.

And as it was in 1966 so it was in 1914 when Lord Lugard recommended the amaglamation of the northern and southern protectorates and his soon-to-be wife, Flora Shaw, gave us the name of Nigeria.

Even then it was just about satisfying the mercantile and pecuniary lusts of the British, or should I say the English, Empire.

Permit me to conclude with a short word about Nigeria’s reigning Fulani Caliph and the one who regards himself as the rightful successor and reincarnation of Sheik Uthman Dan Fodio and Sir Ahmadu Bello all rolled into one.

His name is President Muhammadu Buhari and he regards himself as nothing less than the Muslim north’s and Caliphate’s third and final Mahdi, even though he has no blue blood.

The Bible says “the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted”. (Psalm 12:8).

To the wicked, who exalt the vile beast in the Villa, I have the following to say.

Buhari is a genocidal maniac who believes in conquest and oppression and who has turned a blind eye whilst his subjects are butchered in their thousands by Fulani terrorists. He has brought nothing but carnage, division, destruction, death, poverty and evil to our nation.

On several occassions he has directed his security agencies and Armed Forces to kill thousands of his own citizens, whether they be Igbo youths that are members of IPOB or Shiite Muslims, after which they are buried in mass graves.

Those that are not killed are thrown into prisons or horrific detention cells all over the country where they are tortured and left to rot without any form of due process and against court orders to release them.

Buhari is a plague, a curse and an affliction. Getting him out of power is not just a sacred duty but it is also a religious obligation and a righteous crusade.

If we want Nigeria to live, to remain united, to survive and to be restructured we must get him out. He is an ancient dinosaur with analogue ideas who offers nothing but outdated, archaic and provincial solutions to complex modern challenges.

He is out of touch with reality, he is out of his depth and he is encumbered by a hateful spirit and a vengeful and bitter disposition which is fuelled and driven by what can only be described as an obsession to strengthen and empower his Fulani kinsmen and members of his islamic faith above all others.

To him the Fulani Muslims are supreme beings that were divinely ordained and born to rule whilst everyone else, including Christians and non-Fulani Muslims, are nothing but serfs, plebians, useful idiots and handy slaves.

He says he wants to take us to the next level. I say we should nail him to the stake and bury his ambitions by voting him out in 2019.

Enough innocent blood has been shed. It is time for this cold, insensitive, unfeeling and cow-loving mad man to go!

The Bible says “for the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy, now will I arise. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him”. (Psalm 12:5).

The Lord of Hosts and the Ancient of Days shall not forsake us. He shall honor His word and deliver us from these vile and evil men who seek to shed our blood and destroy our nation.

In Part 2 of this contribution I will shed further light on the Fulanisation agenda in Nigeria, the purpose and mission of the Fulani terrorists and herdsmen, the real intention of those behind the idea of cattle ranches and finally I will expose certain aspects of the history of the Fulani that few Nigerians are aware of.

I will also explain why it is that I call a spade a spade and why I do not hold back anything or show any form of restraint when writing about them, their atrocities or their leaders.

THE FULANISATION OF NIGERIA AND THE PERFIDY OF THE BRITISH (PART 2)

Perhaps the most insightful and concise contribution that I have read about the history of the Fulani and their inordinate ambition and insatiable thirst for domination and conquest was provided by Mr. Gbonkas Ebiri.

His research and analysis of this topic is as historically accurate as it is outstanding. Permit me to share his words.

“Kingdoms that accommodated Fulani herdsmen in the past were eventually overthrown by the Fulani. In all situations, these herdsmen took up arms and fought for a Fulani leader to overthrow the kingdoms that accommodated them and their cattle. Examples in history:

The first Fulani Jihad was at Futa Jallon. Fulani pastoralists migrated here in large numbers from North Africa in the 1600’s (they migrated in smaller factions earlier).

Futa Jallon was a mountainous rich agricultural land. Shortly after the Pastoralist migrations, Fulani clerics migrated as well. they were called Ulamas.

In 1726, the Fulani community elected one of their own by the name Ibrahim Musa as their leader and gave him the title of Al – Imam (Leader of the Muslim community). Shortly after his election he proclaimed a jihad against the local rulers of the region and enlisted the herdsmen as soldiers in his Jihad.

His successor after his death and new Al- Iman, Ibrahim Sori completed the Jihad in 1776. The new Fulani aristocracy drove out many of the natives. Those they did not drive out, they enslaved.

Slave trade thrived in the region after the Jihad, this was when the slave castle at Goree Island (Point of no return) was built. They captured mostly the people of the Mandika tribe (this was the tribe of Kunta Kinte).

Another region not far from Futa Jallon was Futa Toro. It was rich in Agriculture and the stretch of the Senegal river passed through it. By the banks of this river was fertile farmlands.

This region was of great important to the Fulani pastoralists who migrated to the region around the same time they migrated to Futa Jallon. They could have the cattle feed and drink by the banks of the river. Shortly after the herdsmen arrived, clerics migrated as well.

They formed the majority of the Torobde clerics. A Fulani cleric called Sulayman Bal was nominated by the clerics as the spiritual leader. in the year 1776, Sulayman Bal launched a Jihad against the Denyanke dynasty and enlisted herdsmen into his army of the faithful.

They were overthrown and replaced with a new aristocracy of Fulani leaders. He died while trying to expand the empire to the regions of Trarzas. His successor, Abd al- Qadir completed the expansion and expanded the empire Southeast.

In our own Nigeria, the Fulani migrated as herdsmen and lived in communities. As at the time Dan Fodio arrived, they had Fulani leaders in almost all the Hausa City states with a large concentration in Katsina and Kano.

These leaders included Moyijo at Kebbi, Mohammadu Namoda at Zamfara, Salihu and Mohamadu Dabo of Kano. Very much like the previous Jihads, Dan Fodio was recognized as the leading cleric and given the title of ‘Sarkin Musulmi.’ (Leader of the Faithful).

He formed a community after his confrontation with the authorities at Gobir and called on the faithfuls to join him, from the community he lauched his Jihad.

Majority of his soldiers were herdsmen and another faction natives that fell for his charismatic leadership. Dan Fodio would eventually give flags of leadership to the Fulani leaders of the various Hausa cities.

By far, the Dan Fodio’s Jihad was the most successful and all Fulani Jihads in West Africa. He would also replace the Hausa kings with Fulani aristocrats, and like the previous Fulbe leaders, the new empire was hostile to the natives.

Their lands were taken from them and they were relegated to second class citizens in their ancestral homeland. Many of them were forced into slavery under an oppressive feudal system and others sold to Arab slave traders.

At Ilorin, the shortsighted rebel Afonja made it so easy for the Fulani to get rid of him. Unlike the other kingdoms where they migrated on their free will and chose their spiritual leader, Afonja personally wooed the Fulani to his kingdom and appointed Alimi as the cleric of the province.

Both vital foundations for a fulani takeover was given on a platter of gold by warlord. very much as in all cases, the Fulani got rid of him and ensured the throne of Ilorin for their kinsman.

So far they have not been able to invade beyond Ilorin. The warriors at Ibadan fought them back as well as Benin warriors. To conquer the south, it is important to have Fulani herdsmen and clerics stationed in the land.

It is important to indoctrinate natives who profess same religion with them to trade ther ancestry for a religious theocracy of a divine cleric.

Among the Yoruba people, they will succeed as they did in the old Ilorin emirates when many natives of old Oyo empire enlisted in the army of Alimi’s descendants to invade villages under Oyo and capture their fellow kinsmen as slaves to be sold to the Portuguese.

All observations of history prove beyond doubt that giving colonies and settlements to Fulani people under the guise of land for grazing is very dangerous.

The Fulani is obsessed to conquer the South and take it from the ancestral owners like they did to the Hausas. The South owns the Ports and oil. It owns the best companies and rainforests. That is what they secretly want and not grazing land for cows.

With scattered Fulani settlements in the south, they will bring their clerics and launch a new phase of Jihads from our base…. Cattle colonies is a plan to conquer the South.

Herdsmen are foot soldiers of the Fulani empire and the demand for lands in the South is a first step in future to take over the ancestral lands of the Southern people”. (CONCLUDED).

I commend Mr. Ebiri for his courageous submission and I wholeheartedly concur with his conclusions and findings. He has said it all and there is very little left to say.

It is left for the Nigerian people to either resist the attempt to Fulanise their entire nation by learning from the lessons of history, increasing their depth of knowledge, creating awareness about the formidable challenges with which they are faced and rise to the occassion or they can sit back, act as if there is no danger or threat and be indoctrinated, stripped of all they have and all they are, conquered, dehumanised, enslaved and overwhelmed. The choice is ours.

And if anyone still doubts the assertion that we are in mortal danger I would urge them to read the words of Professor Ango Abdullahi, the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum and a leading member of the Fulani cabal, in a recent interview with the Sunday Vanguard Newspaper where he told us “why herdsmen must kill”, where he sought to defend, justify and rationalise the bestial and barbaric acts of mass murder, genocide and ethnic cleansing that the Fulani herdsmen and terrorists have unleashed on the people of the south and the Middle Belt and where he claimed that the British had “granted” what he described as “grazing routes” in the Middle Belt and the south to the Fulani terrorists and herdsmen as far back as 1914!

Never in the history of our country, other than during the civil war, has mass murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing, the slaughter of infants and babies, rape, destruction and the burning and pillaging and violent occupation of other peooles lands and homes been justified and defended in this way.

Professor Abdullahi has proved to the world that we are a nation of bloodthirsty barbarians and sociopaths where human life has no meaning and has no value.

His views reveal nothing but madness in its most brazen form and the truth is that this reckless and irresponsible elderly man is playing with fire and is courting nothing but disaster for his Fulani people. Simply put he is begging for war.

I am disgusted and appauled by his cold-blooded, blood-thirsty and blood-lusting mindset but I cannot say that I am surprised. That is their way and these are their thoughts!

In addition to Abdullahi’s absurd and provocative submissions the skeptics shoud also read Professor Umar Muhammed Labdo’s insulting assertions about Fulani supremacy and the Fulani being “born and destined to rule” over the whole of Nigeria.

If, after reading the contributions of these two supposedly “learned” Fulani men, some still do not understand what is going on or that we have a major challenge in this country, then such persons are indeed part of the problem and are in dire need of help.

Permit me to end the concluding part of this essay with the following.

To those who say that my words are too blunt, plain and harsh and that suggest that I should be more circumspect and temperate when discussing the powers that be in our country, the state of our nation, the Fulani invasion and our ruling Caliph, I say the following: I am the Servant of Truth and the Voice of the Voiceless.

If I do not speak up and say what others know but dare not say who will speak for the downtrodden, the enslaved, the weak, the oppressed, the slaughtered and the silent majority?

It is a calling and I cannot but do as I do and say as I say. I cannot but speak bluntly and plainly, calling a spade a spade.

In any case bullies, tyrants, conquering foreign hordes and alien invaders neither understand subtlety and restraint nor do they appreciate its nuances.

Worse still they misconstrue gentle words and a kind and generous disposition for weakness and this fuels and feeds their appetite for bestial acts and tyranny and encourages their naked aggression.

Unlike most I fear not the heathan hordes that seek to conquer and enslave our people nor the bloody sword or the mighty roar of the uncircumcised Philistines.

I fear not the armies of Rome nor the occultic Egyptians with their satanic covenants, ancient spells and powerful invocations.

And neither will I bow, quiver or tremble before the Chaldeans or the Amalekites that rule our land with their unelenting display of violence, barbarity and cruelty.

I am led by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and I trust in Him for all. He is my strength, my shield, my glory and the lifter of my head.

I am in the Lord’s power and hands and not in that of my adversaries or the enemies of my people. Most importantly I am persuaded that He will never leave me or forsake me.

I am also guided by the wise counsel of our very own Nobel Laureate and celebrated bard, Professor Wole Soyinka, who wrote the following historic and powerful words in his famous book titled, ‘The Man Died’ many years ago.

He wrote, “the man died in him who remained silent in the face of tyranny”.

Today I proclaim, may the man never die in any of us.

Again I am inspired by the compelling, beautiful and eternal words written by the great 19th century author and English sage, Thomas Babington Macauly, in his famous poem titled ‘Lays Of Ancient Rome’. He wrote,

“Then out spake brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate: to every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late.

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods.

And for the tender mother who dandled him to rest, And for the wife who nurses his baby at her breast.

And for the holy maidens who feed the eternal flame, to save them from false Sextus that wrought the deed of shame?

Haul down the bridge, Sir Consul, with all the speed ye may; I, with two more to help me, will hold the foe in play”.

Today I pray that we be like brave Horatius and hold the foe in play.

Finally I am strengthened and encouraged by the words of King David in Psalm 27 when he said,

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?

When evil doers assail me uttering slanders against me, my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall”.

They say courage is a virtue and the word of the Lord says “perfect love casts out fear”.

I therefore urge each and every one of us to cast out any and every fear of the enemy and of our collective adversaries, no matter what lies ahead or comes our way and, instead, stand firm and strong with heads held up high, giving thanks to God.

Finally we must always remember that it is not how long we live that matters but what we stood for during our soujourn on the earthly plain, no matter how short or brief that sojourn may be.

I would rather speak truth to power, live a short life and die as a free man on my feet than remain silent in the face of slavery, tyranny and evil, and live a long life on my knees.

To Mahdi Buhari and his Fulani terrorists and herdsmen I say this: southern Nigeria will never be Fulanised or conquered and neither will we be Islamised.

We are and shall remain a nation of freeborn men and women, who are proud of our history and heritage and who are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in defence of our freedom, our faith, our values, our plurality, our land, our resources and our people.

Any attempt to enslave or subjugate us by guile, deceit, subtefuge or insincere and false notions of intergration and assimilation and the force of arms shall be resisted and shall ultimately fail. Of this I have no doubt.

May the Living God guide and defend us and may He grant us peace and justice.