REJOINDER: 'THE FULANIS WILL NOT LEAVE'. A COMMENTARY ON ALIYU TILDE'S PROPAGANDA
I just finished reading a ridiculous and absurd article by the avowed Fulani Pan-Nationalist Dr Aliyu Tilde titled, “the Fulanis will not leave”.
That false article was written mainly with the sole purpose of giving the deliberately false and misleading impression that Fulanis were being evacuated from their “Ancestral Homes” in Plateau State.
He quoted the following statement purportedly from the Special task force in Plateau State.
1. This is to inform the people residing in Barikin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas that a military operation is ongoing in the area. The inhabitants of Mahanga, Kakuruk, Kuzen, Maseh and Shong 2 are to evacuate immediately with their property within the next 48hrs.
2. Meanwhile, residents of Kura Falls, Kuzuk and Sharuk Rim of Gashish and Bachit districts respectively are enjoined not to panic and to be careful of their movement within the area and avoid places of military operation until further notice. People are enjoined to report any suspicious movement and activities in their areas.
3. You are please requested to use your medium to disseminate this information to the general pubic. It is to be announced routinely throughout the period of the operation in order to avoid any hazard to human lives and property.
Salisu Mustapha (Captain)
Media Information Officer
While I cannot match Dr Tilde’s eloquence, I will will use several clear points to dismiss this cheap propaganda and also to paint a picture of what the Fulanis intend to achieve by this most recent “exercise”.
Firstly, Mahanga, Kakuruk, Kuzen, Maseh and Shong 2 are all Berom Names. So are Kura Falls, Kuzuk and Sharuk Rim of Gashish and Bachit. Yet Aliyu Tilde calls those towns “Fulani dominated” – perhaps he can explain to us how come Fulani dominated areas bear Berom names?
Secondly, Everyone knows that some of those Berom villages are the very villages that have been attacked over the past few weeks and hundreds of Beroms killed. It was at the subsequent mass burial of the victims that Senator of Plateau North, Dalyop Dantong and the Majority leader of Plateau State House of Assembly lost their lives. Fulani ancestral homes indeed!
But why would Aliyu Tilde write such total falsehood? I have always maintained that the entire Hausa/Fulani elite has identified plateau state as the line of defence that needs to be subjugated at all costs. It is the resistance of the Plateau people that still gives the Middle-belt an identity and which the Hausas/Fulanis loathe considering that they have installed themselves above every other minority tribe north of the rivers Niger and Benue.
Those tasked with implementing the subjugation strategy cut across all facets of Nigerian life – each contributing his/her quota. They include, soldiers, Secret Service, Doctors, Lawyers, Journalists as well as those that organize the attacks on the ground. Aliyu Tilde is merely playing his part in the grand strategy.
What exactly is the Hausa Fulani strategy? Based on their past methods, I have attempted to outline what I believe is the overall strategy.
1. Attack the Beroms– they know that the hapless Berom people do not have any access to media and the Berom genocide will go relatively under-reported. The STF, which is under the control of and has been indicted for aiding the Fulani in their killing raids on the Berom will keep silent and allow the mercenaries to terrorize the Berom.
2. Evacuate Beroms under the guise of securing the area – which the Berom will welcome as a respite from their woes. At the same time instigate a co-ordinated propaganda claiming that the areas are Fulani-dominated in order to set the stage for what will come next.
3. The key stage in the plan will be to import and install Fulanis into the area saying that they were there all along – and thereby ensuring that the Beroms cannot come back to their ancestral homes.
4. Politically capture the area and declare it an autonomous area for the Fulanis. Then expand to subjugate other ethnic groups and areas after the Berom have been expelled from their land.
This will sound strange to some but those of us in Plateau have seen countless cases where the attacked have been labeled the aggressors due to the disparity in political, physical, economic and media strength in this “war”.
The Beroms are an ethnic group that covers several local government areas all in Plateau state while the Fulanis control several states in Nigeria and freely roam about the entire west and central African savanna. Also the Hausa/Fulanis by some careful strategy influence greatly the Nigerian media reports as well as the reports sent out by key foreign media houses such as BBC, Aljazeerah and even CNN.
May God save the Berom and other tribes on the Plateau!
Written By Alero John Ola
[email protected]