By Odoh Michael
“It is a misnomer to use the term ‘killer herdsmen of Fulani extraction’ or ‘killer Fulani herdsmen…The vast majority of Fulani people are peaceful and live in harmony with other ethnicities…When kidnappers kidnap, we do not identify them by their ethnicity. We identify them as kidnappers, pure and simple…There may be fringe elements with criminal tendencies. Some may be Fulani. Some may not even be. Let us identify them by their activities and not by their ethnicity.” – Atiku Abubakar, 11 March, 2018, Thisday Newspaper.
“Labelling the attackers as Fulani is wrong. Fulani people are peaceful and live in harmony with other ethnicities. To call the killer herdsmen Fulani is a misnomer. They are just criminals and not Fulani criminals.” – Fani Kayode quoting the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, 17 March, 2018.
In a reply to Fani Kayode on the above quote, bestselling author, Reno Omokri wrote “Dear @RealFFK, Read what you quote @Atiku as saying and read what @Atiku actually said. Note that they are 2 different statements. You misrepresented him. You twist his words. Your quote was dishonest. Quote Atiku. Don’t put your words in his mouth! You won’t like it done to you…Let us face the issue at hand instead of trying to divert it. You dishonestly misquoted @atiku and this is the proof. Be man enough to accept it and apologize. Would you like it if it’s done to you? I am rude, and you are polite? I am dishonest, and you are honest? Really? Again, I put up @atiku’s words and your misquote of his words and leave it to any sane individual to judge who between us is right and wrong.”
Fani Kayode is one person I respect a lot due to his doggedness and his out spoken nature on issues affecting Nigeria. But for sometime now, I have had reasons to disagree with his comments on various issues because of the lines his comments have taken.
As public figures and political analysts, when you begin to use religion as a basis to back your political argument instead of credible facts, you are no different from religious terrorists who want to compel everyone to follow their religion.
Fani Kayode has a right to speak freely about any issue but when such comments are meant to dent the image of another man, it becomes wrong. Just like Reno Omokri noted, Fani Kayode misquoted the statement of the former vice president, a man regarded as the most detribalized Nigerian politician among his peers, a man who has shown that his love for Nigeria is unrivaled. In the interview above, Atiku Abubakar noted that, “It is a misnomer to use the term ‘killer herdsmen of Fulani extraction’ or ‘killer Fulani herdsmen because the vast majority of Fulani people are peaceful and live in harmony with other ethnicities…When kidnappers kidnap, we do not identify them by their ethnicity. We identify them as kidnappers, pure and simple…There may be fringe elements with criminal tendencies. Some may be Fulani. Some may not even be. Let us identify them by their activities and not by their ethnicity,”.
The above statement above is totally different from the quote by Fani-Kayode that is been attributed to the former vice president, “Labelling the attackers as Fulani is wrong. Fulani people are peaceful and live in harmony with other ethnicities. To call the killer herdsmen Fulani is a misnomer. They are just criminals and not Fulani criminals”.
In his statement, the former Vice President noted that there are criminals among the Fulanis as we have with every ethnic group but when we start to label criminals and terrorists by their ethnic identity, the innocent ones among them who are larger in number suffer the repercussion. Atiku never said the Fulanis are not the herdsmen carrying out the attack, he said that those carrying out such attacks no matter their ethnicity must be called what they are according to law, criminals and terrorists and not tagging them to their ethnicity which is totally wrong because in every ethnic group, criminal elements exist but we do not tag them to their ethnicity.
In 2016, I came across a story about a Fulani boy that was knocked down by a vehicle and people passed by without helping because they noticed he was Fulani. This is a clear effect of the negative publicity on the Fulani ethnic group and this destroys our Nigerian spirit. When we say all killer herdsmen are Fulanis due to a few fringe elements is wrong, it is like saying all Kanuris are Boko Haram members or all kidnappers are Igbos because of the arrest of a kidnap kingpin known as Evans who is Igbo or like saying all pipeline vandals are from the Niger Delta because of the various agitations in the region.
But when a Nigerian does great outside, we do not tag them by their ethnicity, we say they are Nigerians. We must tag people by what they are and not where they are from so as to prevent a misconception in the narrative. The pogrom of 1966 against the Igbos in the northern part started as a result of a misconception in the media regarding the coup of January 1966. Those who have been killing innocent Nigerians are criminals and terrorists and must be brought to face the wrath of the law.
Finally, we would not find ourselves in this position if President Buhari carried out his basic responsibility of safeguarding the lives of Nigerians. Buhari has failed Nigerians and his failure to bring these criminals and terrorists to justice has brought this negative conception in the media. To all those who want to see this stop, we must join hands together in 2019 to vote out this clue-less government that is yet to achieve anything in 3 years and who has brought much pain to Nigerians and vote in a credible Nigerian who is detribalized and who has the needed experience to move this country forward no matter where the person is from.
Odoh Michael writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
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