Threat of war by SOKAPU

THE FULANI MARAUDERS AND THE MARAUDERS OF SOUTHERN ZARIA....THE WAY OUT.

It said that Fulanis originated from Misra, Egypt. They were living within the vicinity of the Mount Sinai (Thuri sinin) in the present day Egypt before their migration to different parts of the world in the pursuit of livelihood. From Egypt to Morocco to Senegal to Niger and Nigeria and other parts of the world. This is just one version of historical background of their origination and migration. There are other versions too.

They are scattered across the African countries like Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Guinea, Chad, Cameroon and beyond. Some of them, like us, have since settled in towns and cities, abandoned their tradition of living in the bushes rearing their animals. They are now called Hausa/Fulani due to the long interaction and intermarriage with Hausas. Even before the advent of colonialists, Fulani were well organised and advanced with a civilised system of administration after the jihad of Sheikh Usmanu Danfodio in the 17th century.

In Nigeria and Niger, there are different sects of Fulanis, namely Toronkawa, Alibawa, Sullubawa etc as mentioned above. Shehu Usman Danfodio was from the Toronkawa dynasty. I am a direct descendent of Alibawa, now living around the axis of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina states. In my state, they are now in Moriki, Bukura, Zurmi, Kaura, Maradun, Bungudu among others. They were among the Fulanis, who assisted Sheikh Usman Danfodio when he waged his Jihad against the Hausa kingdom in 17th century. In general, those sects of Fulanis, apart from Toronkawa who assisted him, are called Muhajir. I believe the name was derived from those who accompanied/followed the holy prophet of Allah, Muhammad (SAW) when he migrated from Makka to Madina. I am very proud to be a Fulani.

Fulanis are known to be nomadic, moving from one place to another in search of means of livelihood for themselves and their herds. They never bother to settle in towns or cities. They sacrifice everything, including their lives, for the sake of their herds. But one thing for sure, they are very peaceful and friendly to their neighbours. And they can live with anyone peacefully irrespective of his religious or ethnic inclination so long their herds would not be harmed. A tribe in Kaduna and Niger states called Gwari or Gbagi can testify to this.

They have been in where Nigeria is today for a very longtime, doing what they know best, rearing of animals and farming. They never enjoy anything governmental, and never, for once, complain of marginalisation and negligence from the government, despite paying taxes and other additional levies, either lawful or illegal. All they want, is to have where their herds would lie and enjoy the gift of nature. No tap, electricity, telephones schools for their children, hospitals or any other social amenity. Thank God our own parents ran away from the bushes and settled in the cities. That's why we are here today writing this.

In the recent times, they have undergone many atrocities from their so called neighbours, from the farmers to non farmers, accusing them for either encroaching farmlands or even destroying farm produce to feed their herds. This gave many people opportunities to unleash terror on them, killings, maiming and stealing their wealth.

They have nowhere to air their problems, because they are not as civilised as their opponents. This led to the establishment of cultural association called 'miyetti Allah' to carter and defend the interests of Fulani. Unfortunately, this association was not able to live up to expectation. This deteriorated the already hardship being faced by the fulanis and have nowhere to forward their complaints except to defend themselves. Apart from being introvert in terms of civilisation, they have no one to channel their complaints to, as mentioned above. Even if they have, no means or social ability to do so, and on the other hand, the governments had closed ears and eyes to what was going on in their domain, despite their contributions to the development of this country.

Hausa/Fulani have been in Southern Zaria before anyone else. All the major cities/towns in Southern Zaria like Jama'a, Kachia, Zangon Kataf were established by Hausa/Fulani. For example, Jama'a city is an Arabic or Hausa name means people. The kingdom is one of the many cities/towns in Africa that are graced to receive the flag of Sheikh Usman Danfodio during his jihad to establish Islamic empire. Zango means transit in Hausa, where Hausa/Fulani traders from Kano, Sokoto zamfara etc transit before they moved to places like Ilorin, Nupe etc. The original name was Zangon Katambari, later after the coming of the colonialists, the town became commercially boosted, and the name was shorten to Zangon Kataf by the Hausa people. Kafancan was also a Hausa name. When the Europeans came to Nigeria and wanted to construct railways, the Hausa people asked the Europeans to move from where they wanted it to a little distance, they told them to move where Kafanchan is located now (KAFA CAN), meaning 'construct it there'. From there we got the name, Kafanchan. Apart from Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri, most of the tribes living there were settlers, who either came from Plateau or Gombe and met Hausa/Fulani there. Many were slaves, who were dumped there from Kano, Zaria and other Hausa states after the abolishment of slave trade by the colonialists.

In spite of all these historical documentation and evidences, these people, Southern Zaria people as popularly called want the original occupants of the place to vacate, simply because many of them had left the place for other places and left few of them permanently settled, thereby constituting the minority in the zone. Tenants want to eject the landlord because the tenants outnumbered the landlords. It happened in Kafanchan in 1987, Zangon Kataf 1992, Zankuwa in 2000s. Many innocent people were killed, especially in Zangon Kataf d  General Zamani Lekwot, all in a bid to eliminate the whole Hausa/Fulani in the area. A very well and calculative genocide plan. This made Hausa/Fulani in the area to reorganise and reposition themselves to meet up with the challenges and threat being faced from the tribes in the environs. This is why they are still there up to today.

This hatred was translated to nomadic Fulanis, who are living in the bushes grazing after realising the Hausa/Fulani in the towns are now prepared and ever ready against any external aggression from their neighbours. These Fulanis were killed, maimed, robbed and carted away their herds and other belongings. To some extent, their wives and children were seized and shared as slaves.

But nomadic Fulanis, unlike Hausas, are very hostile, never forget nor forgive whatever harm done to them or their herds. They can come for reprisal attacks even if it takes them 100 years to do so. They specialised in gorilla war, (Plateau, Taraba, Benue, Zamfara, Katsina, Nasarawa and even Enugu states can testify to this). They are very united and cooperative among themselves. They are very good in coalition when it comes to war against their enemies. It is said that Fulanis can extent invitation to many countries as long as their kinsmen live there to come to their rescue.

Now that the Southern Kaduna people have waged a war that they cannot afford to continue with the people who are ready to go with it from now to 100 years, the only thing left for them is to follow what the  Government initiated, which is all hands must be on deck, to reconcile with the warring parties as done in the other states.
We need to live in peace as Nigerians and brothers/sisters not in pieces.

ZAMA LAFIYA YAFI ZAMA DAN SARKI KUMA WANDA BAIJI BARI BA, TO YAJI HOHO!

-SalisMoriki