Who are Fulani herdsmen? – Part 2

Bala: Last time we met you ended by saying that we should jawjaw instead of warwar. Who said it was better to warwar?
Ankpa: You haven’t said so; however, you could promote a warwar narrative by acts of omission or commission.

Bala: What do you mean? How do you mean?
Ankpa: Chief Olu Falae has suffered attacks twice from the herdsmen. He was kidnapped. Then they burnt his farm last week. The second time it happens again, the people of Ondo have threatened that there will be war!

Bala: War? Who will fight a war?
Ankpa: Look at your gworo mouth! Who will fight a war? That is how it starts. By taking the other party for granted. You are asking me who will fight a war?

Bala: My friend, don’t insult me oo. You keferi. I will pull out my dagger now!
Ankpa: Abegi just dagger your mouth joor! You are already talking about a dagger.

Bala: Why won’t I talk about my dagger when you call me gworo mouth?
Ankpa: Don’t you eat gworo?

Bala: Is that why you insult me with gworo mouth? Is it only gworo I eat?
Ankpa: May be you are herdsman too! I didn’t insult you. I only told you that your question has a smelly mouth. You want to know who will fight a war.

Bala: Yes. Who will fight a war with herdsmen?
Ankpa: Some wars don’t start formally. The inaction of the State could embolden scoundrels. When, for example, the Federal Government refuses to take action against the rampaging herdsmen, aren’t you calling for warwar? It’s so bad now that even a Special Adviser to the President, one Professor Sa-something advised Governor Ortom to stop crying to Abuja for help. He should simply arm his people in self-defence!

Bala: That’s not true. The President’s own appointee couldn’t have said that.
Ankpa: But he did.

Bala: If indeed he did then the man is loose cannon!
Ankpa: Is former President Obasanjo loose cannon too?

Bala: Why do you ask?
Ankpa: He has advised President Buhari to go and rest and stop being clannish!

Bala: I reserve my comments.
Ankpa: Why?

Bala: He should have gone to Aso rock for a private chat! May be Obj has been too busy to notice the monumental achievements of the President.
Ankpa: Do you know whether the General in Aso rock wanted no voice than the voices of herdsmen and the cabal?

Bala: That’s an uncharitable thing to say!
Ankpa: The General in Abeokuta accused the General in Aso Rock of ‘condonation of misdeeds,’ of clannishness and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality’

Bala: What has this got to do with Fulani herdsmen?
Ankpa: Everything! Everything my brother! It suggests that the President is being herded by close friends into the wrong lane.

Bala: So that’s another type of herdsmen eh? You people know how to twist language. From cattle rearers you are now bringing in human rearers!
Ankpa: We must do everything to keep Nigeria one. There should be justice, fair play and equality before the law!

Bala: We must keep the country as one. Open up colonies for us!
Ankpa: Don’t use that word, colony! DO you know what it means? You want to colonize us? We haven’t forgotten what the Jihads could have done to us.

Bala: We have passed that stage. Nobody is planning a jihad. The Sultan himself has assured everyone.
Ankpa: When did he do that? How? Was he not the one who defended the Miyetti people?

Bala: You see, because you are blinded by physical divide you are not ready to see or read anything positive from the other side!
Ankpa: You should try to see things from my side too. There is deep disappointment with the administration right now even from people close to the Number One Citizen!

Bala: That is worrying, particularly when I remember the First Lady’s outburst in the media last year and her husband’s reference to the ‘other room’
Ankpa: Is she loose cannon? Is Obj loose cannon too?

Bala: May be; anything that cannot be controlled is loose cannon!
Ankpa: If she is loose cannon and Chief Obasanjo is loose cannon then the nation needs plenty plenty loose cannons!

Bala: We must graze and feed our cattle fa!
Ankpa: That’s big business; big business. Buy land, and graze your cattle there.

Bala: Wallahi Tallahi! It’s big business; that’s why we need your support! Millions of naira business with which we feed the nation.
Ankpa: You are not asking for support; you are seizing our land and killing my people. Did you read the letter which a former Minister who is from Benue State wrote to Aso rock?

Bala: Is it the letter from America by Professor Hagher the Dance major?
Ankpa: That’s right. The herdsmen matter is a serious one. The people see it as a decoy to seize lands, settle down and proclaim an Emir before long.

Bala: Utter rubbish!
Ankpa: They see it as a threat to Islamize the country!

Bala: How could anybody read that into a simple economic activity?
Ankpa: Simple economic activity you call it? Do hundreds get killed in simple economic activity? Do farms get destroyed? Stop kidding my brother

Bala: There has to be a way. We cannot continue like this. The killings have to stop. The murderers have to be arrested and tried so that the dead may rest in peace. If that is not done, their blood will haunt the nation.
Ankpa: You are right. The killings must stop.

Bala: I will speak to the President. He must come out forcefully to condemn the killings and then ask the cattle owners to create ranches for their cattle; just like he has done in Daura!
Ankpa: I will tell my people too that once justice is carried out and the cattle rearers apply for land they should be given after they have paid for the land.

Bala: Wish it were that simple! We read that some of the killers are from Boko Haram or IS or something. It’s scary.
Ankpa: It could be that simple. When there is the will there will be a way! The situation must not be allowed to degenerate into anarchy and a filed for self-help. That would be the death of us!