THE BLAME GAME

I'm sorry if I sound insensitive and if I don't buy into this FULANI HERDSMEN drama. The Fulani tribe in Nigeria cannot be said to be widely loved simply because history doesn't favor them. Many atrocities over the years have had them involved and more than a few other prominent tribes have remained eternally scarred by those times.

It has become fashionable to mention Fulani herdsmen in any discussion at the moment but I sense a conspiracy playing out and many in the media are helping to propagate the plot by not wanting to be left out of breaking news.

Just about every scene of violence in Nigeria now is attributed to Fulani herdsmen. From Agatu to Ondo and from Taraba to Enugu. One begins to wonder how herdsmen in search of pasture would leave their livestock safely at a distant site and then proceed in their hundreds to inflict mortal damage on mere farmers who denied them grazing.

The latest story today is from Enugu and it appears social media was saturated with rumors of an impending attack just a day before it allegedly happened. It seems those who pushed the news were hoping and praying for an attack on Enugu to validate their rumour that 500 herdsmen mostly from Nassarawa state were going to storm Enugu.

Within hours, an Enugu town was set ablaze with inhabitants scampering for safety in neighbouring towns. More than 20 were slain and security forces overpowered. Most of the prominent newspapers that carried the story on their social media platforms had similarly worded scripts and none seem to have quoted government officials or spokespersons of security agencies.

The usual anti-incumbent forces were tweeting and re tweeting screaming Islamization or ethnic cleansing depending on the effect they wanted to generate. A Biafra related handle even tagged Fulani herdsmen as Buhari's forces. Reno Omokri and Fayose's spokesman were not left out in having a go at the president and his team. Some were able to exhibit some restraint by searching for news on respected stations such as channels television but it didn't seem to come when they waited.

Some doubting Thomases demanded for proof and they got links to blog sites and several images of dead humans either stacked up in a truck or on the ground. Most of the images used on social media platforms including the more popular outfits had cattle herdsmen carrying assault rifles and these images were mostly captioned as Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria. The problem with most of these photos is that it has been proven that they were sourced from unrelated events in the past from countries such as South Sudan, Congo and possible Chad. It is not unusual that the Fulani tribe extends well beyond northern Nigeria and the history and culture of the region have encouraged herdsmen to diffuse across highly permeable borders to ensure survival of their main source of livelihood.

One of the images posted tonight of dead people was guaranteed to be from Enugu and father Mbaka was called out for not backing Goodluck Jonathan. That image was sourced from September 28 2009 when a massacre claimed many lives in Guinea. Some people are not content with Nigeria facing economic challenges so they want to set fire on what is still left of the country. They are portraying the incumbent government as insensitive and accommodating terrorists. They are convinced beyond every doubt that the Muslim and northern president wants to wipe them out of existence so they are encouraging people to take up arms and defend themselves. One fellow said it is better to die fighting than to die running.

I really do not know how those who claim that kidnappers of a man in Delta and those who raided farmlands in Benue are one and the same people. At a time, unknown gunmen were the major culprits but now every case of kidnap, arson, murder and terrorism is the handiwork of a Fulani herdsman. If indeed there is an agenda on the part of this largely uneducated group, should they be wrecking havoc in Enugu and overlook Lagos where they could potentially do more damage?

I will always call for restraint and patience with respect to the citizens of Nigeria many of whom possess itchy fingers ready to push unsubstantiated news and rumor especially on social media. Inciting people to engage in hostilities even for a justifiable and credible reason is surely not the way to go. We all end up becoming arsonist and will have all our roofs blown off when we could all have helped to put out the fire by uninstalling our default ethnic and religious sentiments.

I was on a medical mission to Taraba once in 2009 and our team members had to attend to a man allegedly attacked by herdsmen. Before then, I had to attend to a man with multiple lacerations and puncture wounds to his face and head when I was in Abuja in 2008. The man survived an attack related to cattle rearing; I don't recollect if he was a Fulani herdsman or not. The violence related to cattle in Nigeria didn't start in June 2015. The solution won't arrive today but will require time. Quite a few Nigerian communities have been notorious and violent towards their neighbours over the years. Families destroy property belong to other families just to get ahead, I do not believe that every evil meted out in Nigeria emanates from Fulani herdsmen. They seem to be the available group to target and a tool to label the president as destructive.

Should we round up every cattle herdsman along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and along the rail track at the Agege area of Lagos because they have now been labeled terrorist? Should these events not be investigated to properly identify the real actors causing unrest in our nation instead of trusting solely eye witness accounts? If these events have all happened exactly as they have been described; should we not properly categorise them and raise our security alertness?

It all seems convenient and too easy to label Fulani herdsmen as the source of our current insecurity. I am weary about the authenticity of news in Nigeria and would rather urge Nigerians to be more cautious about what they permit to spread. Nigeria shall survive every falsehood come what may.

April 26, 2016.