Crimson Dividend

As painful as it may sometimesseem, I believe that everything that happens to a person, happens to them for their own good. Nature is very efficient according to the rigid laws set by God within which it operates. For instance, it is well known that nature does not allow a vacuum.The Law of Occupation holds that when you vacate a position, others will take your place.

It is also well known that nature conserves mass and energy.The Law of Recycling holds that nothing ever goes to total waste. Every single atom must be accounted for.They may be transformed in chemical reactions. They may decay and be converted into energy, but they must be accounted for and eventually, sometimes over millennia, recycled. In other words, nature does not permit permanent waste.

Yet another natural law is the Law of Transience also known as “no condition is permanent”. The Law of Transience holdsthat what goes up, must eventually come down. What goes in, must come out. What becomes hot, will eventually become cold. What is born will eventually die.

Throughout history, temporarilyapart from Prophet Elijah, I believe, nobody once bornof woman has ever escaped death. Our Lord Jesus Christ died but he rose on the third day. His Mother Mary died, but she was taken body and soul to heaven. The Prophet Elijah did not die before he was taken up to heaven, but he came back again as John the Baptist to die with his head cut off at the prompting of a certain Mrs. Herod.

There is the Law of Consequences which holds that where you find yourself today is the result of the choices you made or others made for you in the past. Where you will find yourself tomorrow will depend on the choices you make or others make for you today.

This winding preamble leads us to the gruesome situation in Nigeria today. I have questioned God in my mind as to what good can possibly arise from the omnibus tragedy that is the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration. Having racked my feeble brain sufficiently, I believe God may have given me a worthy answer.

The answer is that the Buhari Administration’s ghastly incompetence and hideous cruelty is the disgraceful comeuppance of those who without any rational justification whatsoever, arrogate to themselves the “divine right” to govern others in Nigeria. It is the cross on which future attempts by “divine righters” to browbeat the nation into accommodating their selfish “born to rule” pretensions and aspirations will be hung.

But who are these “divine righters”? In an opinion piece titled “Nations Also Die” which was written and published in July 2014, this writer identified three major cancers plaguing Nigeria. Representing the contributions of the three major ethnic groupings in Nigeria, these cancers were listed as Hausa-Fulani Expansionism, Igbo Materialism, and Yoruba Particularism.

Of the three “‘isms”, Yoruba particularism appears to be in remission. The Yoruba have drastically toned down their self-adulation and self-admiration. They appear ready to become good Nigerians without sacrificing their distinct cultural identity. This is a very healthy development. Whether this is solely because the current Vice President of Nigeria is Yoruba is yet to be seen.

For their part, Igbo materialism appears to be in stagnation. It has shown neither growth nor diminution. Whether this is simply because the Igbo have been pre-occupied with a quest for Biafra is yet to be seen.

Note that the Igbo agitation for Biafra is not considered by this writer to be a cancer for the simple reason that it is a reaction or an antibodyif you will. It is an immune system defensive posture triggered by the substantial injustices, hindrances and obstacles systematically placed in the path to Igbo progress and self -actualization by the present and past political administrations in Nigeria. The extant Igbo penchant for self-reaffirmation is another symptom of this defensive posture.

The attempts by the Buhari Administration to label the agitation for Biafra as the major threat faced by Nigeria and to label Nnamdi Kanu’sIndigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) organization as terrorists are blatant lies spewed from the pits of hell, and devised by “divine righters” (read Fulani expansionists) to deflect popular attention from their dangerous, treasonable and bloody subversion of the Nigerian State. We shall return to this shortly.

This writer remains absolutely convinced that if all the artificial impediments and hidden obstacles placed by the fearful Nigerian State on the path to progress, development and self-actualization of the Igbo ethnicity are dismantled, the agitation for Biafra will die a natural death.

It is a sad testimony to the gullibility of not a few Nigerians that many otherwise intelligent people(a.k.a. intelligent idiots) hysterically bought these lies and applauded the Buhari Administration for restoring “normalcy” when it brutally and most barbarically unleashed the once respected, now notoriously reviled and cowardly Nigerian Army on innocent even if over-enthusiastic IPOB demonstrators exercising their fundamental human rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.

Returning to the three isms, if Yoruba particularism is in remission and Igbo materialism is in stagnation, Hausa-Fulani or more precisely Fulani expansionism is in proliferation. Indeed, what we are witnessing under the Buhari Administration, is turbo-charged Fulani hegemonic expansionism-on-steroids. But rest assured that this turbo-charged virulent proliferation is not a mark of strength, it is rather a mark of desperation. All things being equal, we are seeing the last kicks of a dying horse.

At this point it bears reiterating that not all Fulani are expansionists. But all expansionists in Nigeria are Fulani. There are many Fulani, confident in their own skin and natural abilities, who like other Nigerians are appalled by the destabilizing conduct, unpatriotic sabotage and viciously selfish attitude of Fulani hegemonic expansionists.

We salute the courage, foresight, wisdom and patriotism of the Fulani people who have publicly voiced their abhorrence and distaste of the hegemonic expansionist tendencies of their brethren. God and man shall respectively reward them for their forthrightness, sincerity and good-will towards their fellow men at the Final Judgement in the heavens and when the dust raised by unbridled hegemonic expansionism in Nigeria settles on earth.

The seeds of Fulani hegemonic expansionism may well have pre-colonial historical undertones, but they were fueled and encouraged by the British. For selfish and manipulative reasons, the British colonialists over-pampered the Fulani nobility and elite, and gave them generous concessions in the bureaucracy, in the military, and in the educational sector not extended to other less fortunate Fulani, the Hausa, and the non-Fulani tribes of Nigeria.

Indeed, to one Lt. Col. Beddington in 1934 is attributed the following insightful statement (the bold emphasis is mine): “We feel that the Fulani and the English races have much in common. Both have had a long experience and special aptitude for administering their own and other people’s affairs.” (ref: ‘Democratization and Islamic Law: The Sharia Conflict in Nigeria’ by Johannes Harnischfeger 2008, Campus Verlag; cf. Omolewa, M. Colonial Legacy p11; cf. Turaki, Y. Colonial Legacy pp. 186 -190).

Most other Nigerians and non-expansionist Fulani it must be said, largely secured their advancement up the socio-economic ladder by acute perspiration and genuine self-application within various trades, professions and callings. The British discriminatory attitude in favor of the Fulani nobility and elite over-pampered them, promoted them into administrative positions where they were not the most qualified, eroded their ability to compete and inculcated in them a perception that the nation owes them a living if not gratitude.

At independence when the British departed, the politically empowered Fulani nobility and elites, continued from where the British stopped and promoted their kith and kin into positions of authority where they were not the most qualified. This further eroded their ability to compete and denied them of the incentive to excel, thereby creating a vicious cycle of incapacity. The Buhari Administration by treading the path of nepotism is repeating the same mistake today. The Law of Consequences shall apply in future.

Further, the Fulani nobility and elitesinculcated in the downtrodden Fulani, particularly the cattle Fulani or herdsmen, the impression and attitude that all lands in Nigeria are at their disposition to traverse and occupy at will. Thus, was sown the seed of the hegemonic expansionism which threatens to extinguish Nigeria as a political entity today.

The hegemonic expansionist Fulanis well accustomed to being carried “on the shoulders of others” and reaping where they have not commensurately sown are truly terrified by the prospect of having their “feeding bottle” withdrawn from them. It must again be re-stressed that this does not apply to all Fulani, as there are many competent Fulani well able and ready to hold their own grounds competitively in all fields of human endeavor including cattle herding.

The frightful prospectof losing their feeding bottle is the reason why expansionist Fulaniand their erstwhile British Patrons are so resolutely sold on the concept of “One Nigeria.” This is the real reason why they consider Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB as terrorists. Literally speaking, the expansionist Fulani are truly terrorized by IPOB’s peaceful Biafra antics.

They as well as other Nigerians know that once Biafra goes, the other parts of Nigeria will leave the unionin short order and the Hausa together with the Fulani will be left alone to stand on their own feet. That is if the Hausa do not embark on an uprising to reclaim their sovereignty and chase the Fulani back to “whence they came.”

The expansionist Fulani have used armed Fulani herdsmen as foot soldiers to terrorize, and subdue other ethnicities into submission. Indeed, they mythically paint their foot soldiers as redoubtable warriors.

The truth is that without the active support and hitherto covert but now glaringly overt collusion of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Police, Security and Intelligence Services, the Fulani have no special claims to valor over and beyond other Nigerian ethnicities if the latter so wish to engage them in violent armed combat.

There are two ways to interpret the overt support the terrorist Fulani Herdsmen currently receive from the Nigerian Armed and Security Forces. It is either that their hegemonic expansionist sponsors in high places believe that they have so much subdued other Nigerian ethnicities to the point where their dominance can no longer be effectively challenged and there is no need to mask their true intentions, or because they have become so desperate and fearful that time and chance is slipping away from them and they must now put “all hands to the pump” and subdue the non-Fulani by open terror. I believe it is the latter.

This is the reason why having failed so woefully in providing security to all Nigerians, the Buhari Administration should stand condemned by all right-thinking individuals for permitting and encouraging the arming of the Fulani herdsmen while embarking on the disarming of other Nigerians intent on preventing terrorist Fulani herdsmen from forcefully seizing their ethnic lands. Indeed, in a modern state, any law or directive which does not apply to all without discrimination or exception, technically applies to none.

There are many similarities and parallels between the Fulani thirst for settlements outside their traditional ethnic strongholds and the Orthodox Jews thirst for settlements in areas now regarded as Palestine territory.

For instance, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) defend and protect forcefully acquired Jewish Settlements on internationally recognized Palestinian lands.For their part, the Nigerian Armed Forces, Police, and Security Forces under the Buhari Administration, defend and protect forcefully acquired Fulani Settlements in various parts of Nigeria which are not Fulani territory.

There is one major difference however between the IDF and the Nigerian Armed and Security Forces. As reprehensible as it may seem, all the areas which the Orthodox Jews have forcefully taken over from the Palestinians were once Jewish territories in Biblical times. All the areas in Nigeria where the Fulani expansionists and their armed terrorist foot soldiers are slaughtering the rightful owners, seizing and occupying in Nigeria under the protection of the Nigerian Armed and Security Forces were never in History part of Fulani Land wherever that might be.

It is true that legally, Nigerians are at liberty to move about freely and settle anywhere they like within Nigeria. But that right to free movement and settlement has circumscribing limits. Even if you are my biological twin brother, you cannot barge into my house or landed property and occupy it without my express consent. That is willful trespass, forceful seizure and criminal conversion.

In exercising your right to free movement and settlement, you must recognize and acknowledge the existing customary rights to ownership of land and property. Any settler whether exogenous or endogenous must first negotiate and strike a rental agreement with the current lawful owner of a land or property and become a lawful tenant before taking possession of the land or property within the terms of the rental agreement.

It is within this context that the ongoing killings of Nigerian citizens in the name of herdsmen – indigenes conflict must be recognized as an act of terrorism perpetuated by exogenous elements who want to forcefully divest indigenous people of their cultural and ethnic heritage.

The Benue State Government and State Governments in other places where these mindless carnages fester, are encouraged to continue erecting monuments in honor of the memories of their citizens who have lost or will lose their lives to the Federal Government’s complicity in and unwillingness to decisively arrest the on-going carnage and defend the rights of non-Fulanis over their own landed properties.

Without question the day of reckoning is coming. The monuments being erected today apart from being permanent testimonials of the failure of Government in Nigeria, will one day serve as a warning to future generations on the need to vigilantly defend their liberty and human dignity even in the face of abuse from the government of the day.

Further all Nigerian state governments who have not yet done so may be well advised for the sake of the future safety of their citizens to carefully consider and possibly enact their own version of the Anti-Open Grazing Law in line with modern realities. Even if the security services now pick and choose which laws to enforce, prudence still dictates that such Anti-Open Grazing Laws be passed.

Since according to the Natural Law of Transience, no condition is permanent, those who today deploy themselves as useful idiots in the hands of hegemonic expansionists will not remain in the same position forever. But the need to install sanity vis-à-vis grazing rights will remain.

For its part, with its omnibus failure on all key fronts including security (horrible), economy (terrible), anti-corruption (hypocritical) and integrity (a scam), it appears that the sole dividend Nigerians are reaping for investing the ghastly Buhari Administration with political authority is crimson in color, gruesome in appearance and terminal in nature. It is a dividend of violent death either for themselves or for their loved ones.

Anthony Chuka Konwea, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, MNSE, FNIStructE, MNICE.