HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAPER:
- The Negro race has had to endure the indignity of organized slavery from the 15thuntil the 17thCentury when the Europeans sanctioned it. Even after it ended, the Arabs kept at it. The attitude and arrogance of slave traders is behind much of the acts of inconsideration and disrespect of the Fulanis in the 21st During the period of Amalgamation, Lugard was the “man on the spot” for the British Crown. After Independence in 1960, the Fulanis became the “man on the spot” representing British interest with the arrogance of a slave master.
- It is pertinent to refer to the history of Ilorin and Kabba boundary dispute and how it was resolved in favor of the Emir and the role played by Governor-General Macpherson to show that the British had a deliberate policy to ensure that the North remains a dominant Region with the South as its extension of the “North” whose Northern system must apply to the South. One can say without fear of contradiction that the British handed Nigeria at independence in 1960 to the Hamite Fulani and since then both the British and the Fulani have continued to see Nigeria as their colony.
- In September of 1949 the Western Regional Conference met in Ibadan to discuss the question of constitutional changes, and recommended that states should be formed within a Federal System on an ethnic or linguistic basis. As an example of what they meant by this, they referred to the Yorubas of Kabba and Ilorin and the Ibos of Asaba and Aboh, both of whom they considered should be united with the majority of their tribe.
- The Western House of Assembly towards the end of 1950 restated their views that a settlement of boundary disputes was an essential condition of any satisfactory constitution for Nigeria. In September of 1952, eighteen months later, the Governor, Sir John Macpherson, announced his decision, which was published as Extraordinary Gazette No. 46 of the 3rd September. All the British was interested in is to decide in favor of “man on the spot” (the Fulani) for future dominance after independence though, a minority. The result is what we now see in the Fulani “born to rule” mantra.
- Kwasi Kwarteng wrote “it is a mistake to think that (Colonial) administrators were motivated by liberal ideas of democracy. In many cases they chose careers in the empire precisely because they were not democrats. They were elitists … and had sought to wield power without having to go through the inconvenience of being elected.” [Ghosts of Empire pg. 5] From all that has been written about Lugard in addition to what he wrote, Lugard was definitely not motivated by liberal idea of Democracy.
- The Times of Nigeriain the middle of 1914 accused the British Government bluntly of subjugation, with a caption “The Hidden Meaning of Amalgamation”. The Amalgamation was synonymous with a sell-out of the South, part of which reads “The amalgamation of 1914 is broadly speaking, the conquest and subjugation of Southern Nigeria by Northern Nigeria …” [Lugard and the Amalgamation of Nigeria, AHM Kirk-Green pg. 24]. All that was intended was to destroy Western civilization nurtured over the years in the South for Islamic model - Sharia North.
- It is this subjugation that continued up to independence in 1960. Thereafter the subjugation continued by the Fulani to this date when the leader of the Miyetti Allah - Alhaji Bello Bodejo, an Association of which President Buhari is the patron, moved to say that North Central States of Nigeria belong to them - the Fulani, by conquest. This is complete falsehood. The facts show that the Fulani were immigrants to Nigeria in the 18thcentury and whatever claim to any land in Nigeria was extinguished by the British conquest of Northern Nigeria in 1900.
- Lugard in his book the “Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa”wrote: “… Moreover, a large part of Northern Nigeria had never been conquered by the Fulani, and was unconquered until it submitted to the British.” [pg. 228]
- It is surprising that until now, the Land and Native Rights Ordinance, which was born out of expediency, still remains the central pivot of land policy in Northern Nigeria. It is a matter of regret that this policy was subsequently introduced to the rest of Nigeria, in 1979, as the Land Use Decree. Thus the conception of trusteeship of all undeveloped land being vested in the Government of the country is causing much embarrassment and hardship to the people of the South who have always held their own land as owners under Native Law and Custom, and since the colonial era, as freehold owners in possession, in accordance with the English law adopted by Nigeria. Nigerians now have to discard their title-deeds and apply for a Certificate of Occupancy – a bizarre type of leasehold tenure. [Memoirs: H. O. Davies, QC, SAN, Chevalier de Courdre National du merito pgs.52 – 54]
- It is also very clear from the facts in this paper that Miyetti Allah, President Buhari and the Fulani are presently trying to “invade” Nigeria as a whole with the mantra of “born to rule” and Sharia, as the Fulani who are Hamites have no legitimate claim to an inch of land anywhere in Nigeria. The Fulani in Nigeria are still on jihad even in the 21st
- It is clear from available facts that the Fulani have no claim to Nigeria and one is not too sure whether they want to be Nigerians. If they do, there is no reason they have continued to wage jihads against Nigerians or trying to compel Nigerian natives and Christians to convert to Islam and to replace Democracy with Sharia.
- This writer and indeed most native Nigerians do not desire that Nigeria should go the way of Rwanda or Bosnia and the object of this essay is to challenge the leadership of Nigeria past and present to appreciate fully the reasons for Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen and now bandits that some Nigerians in authority have decided to continue where the British stopped after laying the foundation and complete indirect control of the Nation’s patrimony – oil and gas and not satisfied, want full control of minerals resources under the guise of Islamism.
- The most unfortunate and humiliating aspect of Fulani neo-colonialism is the fact that we pay the Fulani (Negroid) colonizers which earned us the appellation of “useful idiots”. We provide the funds from our oil and gas and the Negroids ride us like donkeys.
Elder Solomon Asemota, SAN
Chairman, Board of Governing Council
CSMN
July, 2020
MAIN PAPER
BORN TO RULE TO THE GRAVEYARD
Introduction
The black man has always been a ‘sufferhead’ since the 15th century when slavery was introduced and sanctioned by European countries in the 17th century. In between, slaves were transported to the Americas when slavery stopped it took some time before the practice was halted in Africa. The last race to accept that slavery was a crime against humanity was the Arabs but they continued in the trade until amalgamation. Lugard wrote “Slavery in Northern Provinces: I cannot here deal at any length with the subject of slavery, but the question of labor supply so intimately affects the development of Nigeria, that a few words regarding it will not be out of place. It was mentioned in paragraph 2 that in 1900 when the Administration of Northern Nigeria reverted from the Chartered Company to the Crown, large armies led by Fulani chiefs annually raided for slaves, and had depopulated the country. With the conquest of the Moslem States, these organized raids were put to an end. By the abolition of the ‘Legal Status’ of slavery, a slave had power to assert his freedom. It was not; however, illegal to possess a slave, but the status was a voluntary one. All children born after March 31st, 1901 were free at birth. The sudden abolition of the institution of domestic slavery would have produced social chaos, and the wholesale assertion of their freedom by slaves was therefore discouraged. A slave freed by redemption was, in native opinion and in his own eyes, truly a freeman, while one who was arbitrarily emancipated by Government (unless for good cause), or who asserted his freedom by desertion, was not. Redemption with the co-operation of the native courts was encouraged.” [Lugard and the Amalgamation of Nigeria AHM Kirk-Greene pg. 120] We hope that the Fulani do not now regard other Nigerians as voluntary slaves.
It would appear that our British colonial masters because they were few decided to use local materials in this case, the Fulani as partners under indirect rule. Margery Perham wrote about Islam thus “the many centuries of unopposed opportunity which it had enjoyed, Islam has made singularly little progress in Africa except among the Hamite and Negroid tribes and, generally speaking, has not been adopted by the Negro race. It is therefore unconscionable that the Caliphate will try, in the 19th century to convert native tribes in Nigeria, with fund as proved from its mineral resources.” [Dual Mandate pg. 77] Hamite is the name formerly used for North African people by European anthropologists in the context of a now outdated model of dividing humanity into different races favored by supremacists. It has now become very clear that racism still exist in the world and it is only a racist that would treat other Nigerians the way Fulanis treat other Nigerians in the 21st century aided by the British men on the spot in Nigeria before and after independence. The Hamite, as can be seen in this essay, is the eye of the British man on the spot left to complete what they began before the interruption of the British - conquerors of the Negros in Nigeria. The land dispute concerning Ilorin is a good point to begin.
British Solution to Boundary Disputes involving the Fulani Emirate
It is pertinent to refer to the history of the Ilorin and Kabba boundary dispute and how it was resolved in favor of the Emir and the role played by Governor-General Macpherson to show that the British had a deliberate policy to ensure that the North remains a dominant Region with the South as its extension. One can say without fear of contradiction that the British handed Nigeria at independence in 1960 to the Hamite Fulani and both the British and the Fulani have continued to see Nigeria as their colony. Today, in the 21st century, we have Fulani influx from all Africa as Nigeria has become a promised land administered by the Fulani. The Ilorin and Kabba boundary dispute shows a premeditated plan to use Democracy - game of number to ensure Fulani dominance until such a time that it becomes impossible for the Fulani to continue the migration. It is time we the native Negros make it impossible for the continuation of Fulani colonialism especially as it is being practiced by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It was very clear that Ilorin land dispute was not part of Willink’s terms of reference. The Commission had to take refuge under paragraph 71 of the Report of the Constitutional Conference of 1957. The whole aim, was to ensure that the North will maintain dominance in land mass than the South.
The ‘broad facts’ is that there was no dispute as to the historic fact that Ilorin Province, today’s Kwara State is Yoruba speaking as Edo State. It is also not in dispute that “the people of Ilorin division are of Yoruba origin and that the whole division was part of the territory of the Alafin of Oyo whose headquarters was then at old Oyo Igbolo of today. His representative in Ilorin at the end of the 18th century was a certain Afonja. The Report continued that a tendency among the Yoruba Chiefs at the time was to split and revolt against central authority. Early in the 19th century, Afonja was in a revolt against the Alafin and by 1817, he had called to his help mercenary troops from the North (Fulani and Hausa) headed by Alimi a Fulani from Sokoto. Alimi’s son Abdulsalami, killed Afonja and took his place as the Chief of Ilorin.
Two issues for resolution whether:
- it was a foreign intervention in the affairs of Yoruba kingdom; or
- was it a palace rebellion in which Yoruba as well as Fulani took part.
There should be no problem in resolving the above contentions especially when the Commission itself found out that “the Emirate as a whole took its name from the town of Ilorin, the Northern two-third of the territory within Ilorin in the middle of a Yoruba speaking town.” The Southern one-third had Igbolos, Igbominas and Ekiti (all Yoruba) yet the Commission had difficulty in holding that Ilorin was part of Yoruba land with a Fulani Emir. Rather the Commission decided to regard the Yoruba area as “convenient raiding grounds for slaves and cattle” of the Emir and the Fulani. This explains the British sense of racial justice which persists till this day on racial issue. In 1837, the Alafin tried to restore his control but the Commission found that in a hard fought battle, the Emir of Ilorin with the help of troops from Gwandu defeated the Yorubas which the Commission described “Southern tribes. The Commission found that “frequent raids with occasional battles continued during the 19th century, but eventually the situation settled down with the two “war camps” facing each other across the present boundary, which marked the point beyond which the mail-clad Northern cavalry could make no decisive contribution. Offa was the war camp of Ilorin; a few miles to the South, Inisa was lbadan’s outpost against the North.” The Commission continued that “this stalemate between Ilorin and Ibadan was the situation which confronted the first representatives of British power. The Governor of Lagos, Sir Gilbert Carter who was invited by the Emir in 1893 to fix a boundary between the Ilorins and the Ibadans; commissioned Captain R. L. Bower to execute the order and he was posted at Ibadan to ensure that the terms of the settlement were observed. In the following year, Captain Lugard of the Royal Niger Company and Captain Bower on behalf of the Colony Government at Lagos demarcated a further large section of the boundary and confirmed the sections which had been fixed by Sir Gilbert Carter. Ilorin and the North lay within the sphere of influence of the Company, Ibadan and the South within that of the Colony. There can be no serious doubt that this boundary represented, as was then possible, the position between the warring factions though, sometime afterwards, the Ilorins endeavored to establish claims further south and renew the war. With the establishment of British rule, memories of warfare died down. Ilorin was occupied in 1897; by the British as a protectorate was proclaimed over Northern Nigeria in 1900. No doubt the border tribes, who had suffered from raids from either side quickly, changed their outlook when peace was established; by 1904 there was a request that the boundary should be revised in the Ekiti area; this was refused by Sir Frederick Lugard on the grounds that the boundary had “received the sanction of time and usage”.
“Requests of this kind continued until 1917 when Sir Fredrick Lugard now Governor-General of the Colony and Protectorate, agreed to appoint a Boundary Commission to enquire into one section of the boundary, in the Ekiti area near Otun. This Commission recommended that no change should be made and the Governor accepted their views. However the question was re-examined in 1936 when the Resident and the District Officer “interviewed all the Ekiti village councils and principal householders,” and it was then decided that Otun should be transferred from the North to the Ondo Province of what is now the Western Region. The rest of the Ekiti villages were then judged to have preferred staying with the North and the Governor at the time, Sir Bernard Bourdillon, expressed the view that they should be debarred from putting forward a claim to be moved later.” [Report of the Commission appointed to enquiry into the fears of Minorities and the means of allying them, paras. 5 - 7, pgs. 75 - 76] It is fair to conclude that the British, as a deliberate policy, were on the side of the Emir of Ilorin and the North.
The Macpherson Award
“Thus, until the Second World War, it is true in general terms to say that though there had been some dissatisfaction as to the actual line of the border and changing opinions on this question, the broad principle that the Ilorin Division was Northern had been accepted. With the approach of independence and the general heightening of sectional feeling, to which we have already referred more than once, it was to be expected that the return of the Yoruba people of Ilorin and Kabba to the Western Region should be raised, and, as independence drew closer, the interest taken by the Yoruba people in the area which they had lost so long ago was bound to grow. In September of 1949, the Western Regional Conference met in Ibadan to discuss the question of constitutional changes, and recommended that states should be formed within a Federal System on an ethnic or linguistic basis. As an example of what they meant by this, they referred to the Yoruba of Kabba and Ilorin and the Ibos of Asaba and Aboh, both of whom they considered should be united with the majority of their tribe. On 9th January 1950,, a conference of representatives from the whole of Nigeria met at Ibadan, and here a difference of opinion was revealed, the Northern delegates being particularly opposed to any change. In the end, it was agreed by 26 votes to 18 that these boundary disputes should be left to His Excellency the Governor, who was asked “to examine and make arrangements for their settlement as early as possible.
The Western House of Assembly towards the end of the same year, 1950, restated their views that a settlement of boundary disputes was an essential condition of any satisfactory constitution for Nigeria. On 1st March 1951, the Governor, Sir John Macpherson, gave an assurance that he would personally examine the boundary question and reach a decision when the new constitution had come into force. In September of 1952, eighteen months later, the Governor announced his decision, which was published as Extraordinary Gazette No. 46 of the 3rd September. For our purpose, this may be summarized. In Sir John’s opinion “the Ilorins, who constitute more than half the population of the Emirate, have made the Northern pattern of administration their own and have shown virtually no desire to amalgamate with the West.” This disposed of the metropolitan area of the old Emirate. In the southern fringe, however, Sir John judged that there was “a body of opinion dissatisfied with the traditional Native Authority system of local government and desirous of transfer to the Western Region”. He went on:- “Amongst the Igbolos, who number 28,000 in all, there is an appreciable body of this opinion in Offa town but not in the surrounding villages; amongst the Igbominas (there are 130,000 of them), the body of dissident opinion in my view is not insignificant but is still a comparatively small minority; the minority in favor of transfer amongst the Ekitis, who number in all 24,000, I judge to be smaller”. He judged that the most “vociferous opinion in favor of change undoubtedly comes from people outside Ilorin Province”, and finally decided that there should be no change in the inter-regional boundary.
In conclusion, Sir John Macpherson asked those concerned to remember that the boundary in question was not a boundary between two foreign states but between two Regions which are integral parts of a single country, and hoped that there would be no further controversial discussion of this matter. He had previously asked that the subject of boundary revision should not be discussed at public meetings pending his decision. This request had been conveyed to the Native Authority in Ilorin by the Regional Government and in consequence, the practice of the Native Authority was to forbid the discussion of this subject at public meetings. This prevented the expression of feeling in Ilorin itself but it was clear that the Western Region had not accepted the award as finally binding.” [Report of the Commission appointed to enquiry into the fears of Minorities and the means of allying them, paras. 8 - 10, pgs. 76 - 77] It is also fair to conclude that the British had a deliberate policy to side with the Fulani Emirs and the North, Kwara State was created in 1976 and later part of Ondo State was carved out as Ekiti in 1991 in the South and Kwara in the North.
It is clear that this Commission suggests a continuation of the Berlin Conference when Africa was partitioned without regard to tribal and, geographic boundaries such as rivers, the Niger and Benue in Nigeria, etc. All the British was interested in is to decide in favor of the Fulani for future dominance though a minority after independence. The result we now see in the Fulani “born to rule”, mantra.
British Admiration for Fulani Rule
Willink in his Report, wrote that Nigeria “was a Federation of an unusual composition, in that one of the three constituent elements was slightly larger in population than the other two put together, while in each of the three Regions it was possible to distinguish between a majority group of about two-thirds of the population and minority groups amounting to about one-third”, yet the British could not establish six regions. They were determined to make the Fulani Emir in a very large North, the rulers of Nigeria as enunciated in Lugard’s “The Dual Mandate in the British Tropical Africa” and as Kwasi Kwarteng wrote “it is a mistake to think that administrators were motivated by liberal ideas of democracy. In many cases, they chose careers in the empire precisely because they were not democrats. They were elitists, men who could write Latin and Greek epigrams and had sought to wield power without having to go through the inconvenience of being elected.” [Ghosts of Empire pg. 5] From all that has been written about Lugard in addition to what he wrote, Lugard was definitely not motivated by liberal idea of Democracy. One cannot but agree with Kirk-Green who wrote concerning the creation of 12 states in 1967, “By this stroke of the pen, General Gowon not only established twelve states instead of four in Nigeria; but has also brought to an end a way of administrative, political and fiscal life that had endured since 1900, received confirmation in 1914, and had, despite the political tremors of the 1950s caused by hopes of fission and refusion, remained apparently sacrosanct in the vocabulary of both colonial and independent Nigerian administrative thought.” [Lugard and the Amalgamation of Nigeria AHM Kirk-Greene pg. 33] Unfortunately, this was not the case as the Fulani Berbers with vested interest in conjunction with the British continued “colonization” of Nigeria.
Subjugation of Southern Nigeria
The Times of Nigeria in the middle of 1914 accused the British Government bluntly of subjugation, with a caption “The Hidden Meaning of Amalgamation was synonymous with a sell-out of the South, part of which reads “The amalgamation of 1914 is broadly speaking, the conquest and subjugation of Southern Nigeria by Northern Nigeria. Northern Nigeria system Northern Nigerian, Northern Nigerian land laws, Northern Nigerian administration must be made to supersede every system in Southern Nigeria”. [Lugard and the Amalgamation of Nigeria AHM Kirk-Green pg. 24] All action was intended to destroy Western civilization nurtured over the years in the South for Islamic model - Sharia.
It is this subjugation that continued up to independence in 1960 and has remained till date when the leader of the Miyetti Allah - Alhaji Bello Bodejo, an Association of which President Buhari is the patron said emphatically that the North Central States of Nigeria belong to them - the Fulani by conquest. This is complete falsehood. As a Berber, he must have been under the delusion of Islamic supremacy. “Islamic Supremacism: belief that Islam is superior to every other culture, faith, government, and society and that it is ordained by Allah to conquer and dominate them: “And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers. (Q 3:85).” Otherwise, the facts show that the Fulani were immigrants to Nigeria in the 18th century and whatever claim to any land in Nigeria was extinguished by the British conquest of Northern Nigeria in 1900.
Lugard in his book the Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa wrote: “it has been laid down as “a principle from which no civilized government would think of departing, that in countries acquired by conquest or cession, private property, whether of individuals or communities, existing at the time of cession or conquest, is respected.” In that portion therefore - even though the people admitted our (British) right to deal with their lands and their lives as we should see fit - we are, as a civilized nation, precluded from assuming such “dominion and control” over the land as would interfere with the communal or private rights of the conquered people. Moreover, a large part of Northern Nigeria had never been conquered by the Fulani, and was unconquered until it submitted to the British.” [pg. 228]
Chief H.O. Davies’ Memoirs
Chief H.O. Davies in his book titled Memoirs expanded on this, when he wrote concerning Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in Northern Nigeria part of which reads “the Chief Secretary, Northern Provinces during my time was Mr. H. Hale Middleton, a self-conscious and arrogant officer. He was revered by his several assistants, each in charge of different sections of the secretariat. His assistant, at the head of my section, was Mr. Bellman, who at the beginning thought I was rather nosy, but later tempered his attitude and we became very friendly. There were a few other Europeans in the Secretariat but I had little to do with them. Mr. P.G. da Silva, a middle aged gentleman from Lagos, occupied the position of assistant secretary, and was the only Nigerian to hold what was popularly regarded by Africans as a European post. His counterpart in Lagos in those days was Mr. J.P. McEwen. Mr. Silva used to send for me frequently, to come to his office whenever he was less busy, and we used to chat extensively about contemporary affairs.
A series of pamphlets, which particularly interested me, were those relating to the War of Jihad, and its effect on the system of land tenure in the Northern Provinces. It was revealed that the people, who formerly lived in northern Nigeria, were not only Hausas and Fulanis but also Yorubas, Tapas, and others, who were mostly Pagans or Christians. Dan Fodio led the Fulanis and Arabs in the War of Jihad against the unbelievers in Islam. These unbelievers had to choose between the Koran and the sword. Many of the victims of Jihad were killed, but a large number fled to the neighboring and distant villages including Plateau, Bida, Ilorin, Benue and Bende. Such religious fanaticism was then without precedent.
The Governor of the Northern Provinces, Mr. H. R. Palmer, was himself a prolific writer. In a pamphlet, he explained the origin, significance and consequences of the Certificate of Occupancy. According to him, several landlords confronted with the Jihad War ran away to seek refuge elsewhere. Land and buildings (mostly mud huts) were abandoned, and remained so, until the advent of the British in 1914. Later, the protectorate in the North was promulgated. The Government soon wanted land for public purposes, like offices, hospitals, railway stations and post offices, and asked the Emirs to certify who were the lawful owners to whom compensation should be paid under the public Lands Acquisition Ordinance. It was an inviolate rule to the British system of Government, that no land should be acquired for public purposes without just compensation being paid to the owners. It turned out that the owners of the land required by the British Administration, had fled the towns and villages and were refugees in unknown parts of the country. So it was left to the ingenuity of the British official to work out a compromise that led to the idea of “Use and Occupation.” This meant that the land could not be bought or leased in the absence of the owners, even though it was simply because such owners could not be found or identified. So the British dubbed the paramount rulers in each area the trustees for the asset owners or landlords. Token payments were made to them in exchange for the right to “use and occupy” such land only. To that effect, the Land and Native Rights Ordinance were claimed in 1916. Certificate of Occupancy was then issued by the residents to the users and occupiers. By this process, the land remained the property of the absentee owners or landlords, who were entitled to collect the token fees, if and when they returned and regained possession of their lands. This was merely a temporary expedient by the Government who thought that the refugees would soon return. But as the refugees never returned, the land became perpetual trust, and indeed the law persists up to today as the Land and Native Rights Ordinance 1916. There was a clause in that ordinance: if anyone could establish satisfactorily that the land which was occupied belonged to him or his ancestors, he would be given a freehold conveyance.
At the end of the First World War, all German colonial territories were seized by the victorious allies and were distributed among themselves. Our neighbour, the Cameroons was split between England and France; the half adjacent to Nigeria was allotted to the British, while the other half went to France. Thus Nigeria was enlarged, and the Nigerian Government took over the administration of the additional territory. The northern portion of our moiety was administered by the Government of the Northern Provinces. A law was enacted to bring the newly acquired territory within the scope to the Land and Native Rights Ordinance 1916. Again, there was the saving clause that anyone, who could establish his title to any parcel of land was permitted to possess it as absolute owner under Native Law and Custom. It is surprising that until now, the Land and Native Rights Ordinance, which was born out of expediency, still remains the central pivot of land policy in Northern Nigeria. It is a matter of regret that this policy was subsequently introduced to the rest of Nigeria, in 1979, as the Land Use Decree. Thus the conception of trusteeship of all undeveloped land being vested in the Government of the country is causing much embarrassment and hardship to the people of the South who have always held their own land as owners under Native Law and Custom, and since the colonial era, as freehold owners in possession, in accordance with the English law adopted by Nigeria. Nigerians now have to discard their title-deeds and apply for a Certificate of Occupancy – a bizarre type of leasehold tenure.” [Memoirs: H. O. Davies, QC, SAN, Chevalier de Courdre National du merito pgs. 52 – 54]
It is very clear, in the circumstance, that the British colonial masters for other reasons chose the Fulani as successors. Lugard continued “there is one other principle in dealing with conquered lands to which there can be no dissent. It is that, whatever may be the intention of the conqueror in regard to the land, it must be declared as soon as possible after the conquest is completed. The government of Northern Nigeria recognized this obligation. Each Emir on appointment or reinstatement, received a letter which was publicly read, stating clearly that whatever rights in the land that had belonged to the Fulani would now inure to the government - rights which may be said to follow as a matter of course on the right to depose or appoint chiefs. No attempt at the time was made to define those rights, for we had not the necessary information, and it requires careful study to discriminate between the rights claimed by native conquerors over the inhabitants as distinguished from right over land.” [Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa pg. 289]
It is also very clear from the above, that Miyetti Allah, President Buhari and the Fulani are presently trying to “invade” Nigeria as a whole with the mantra of “born to rule” and Sharia, as the Fulani who are Hamites have no legitimate claim to an inch of land anywhere in Nigeria. The Fulani in Nigeria are still on jihad even in the 21st century.
Negros and the Man on the Spot - Lugard
In the book The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, Lugard wrote concerning us the African Negro thus “The African Negro is not naturally cruel, though his own insensibility to pain, and in disregard for life - whether his own or another’s - cause him to appear callous to suffering. He sacrifices life freely under the influence of superstition, or in the lust and excitement of battle, or for ceremonial display. --- He lacks power of organization, and is conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of men or of business. He loves the display of power but fail to realize its responsibility. --- He is by no means lacking in industry and will work hard with a less incentive than most races. --- For the ability to involve and organize system we may point to the Baganda, the Benin, and the Yoruba, no less than to the Abyssinians and the Fulani; for indigenous art to the bronzes and the wood carving of the Benins, the cloths and the leather-works of the Uganda; for natural religion to the ancestor-worship of the Bantus and other tribes; and so on. But speaking generally, the characteristics of the predominantly Negro races are, I think, as I have described them. --- Perhaps the two traits which have impressed me as those most characteristic of the African native are his lack of apprehension and inability to visualize the future and the steadfastness of his loyalty and affection.” [Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa pgs. 69 - 70]
Fulani
With respect to the Fulani he wrote “in West Africa the Fulani, supposed to be descended from the Berbers. All have been modified to a greater or less degree admixture with Negro blood, which has produced racial types differing from each other, and widely different from the Negro type. They vary in their mental and physical characteristics according to the amount of Negro blood in their veins, which has shown itself extremely potent in assimilating alien strains to its own type.” [pg. 67] It is very clear that the Fulani have racial types different from each other. It is this difference or differences that must be identified, reconciled, if both the Negro and Negroid Fulani can live in harmony in one Nigeria. Lugard continued “There were indeed many who, with the picture of Fulani misrule fresh in their memory, regarded this system when it was first inaugurated with much misgiving, and believed that the hostility of the rulers to the British might be concealed, and their vices disguised, neither could be eradicated, and they would always remain hostile at heart. They thought that the Fulani as an alien race of conquerors, who had, in turn, been conquered, had not the same claims for consideration as those whom they had displaced, even though they had become so identified with the people that they could no longer be called aliens. [pgs. 209 - 210] It is established here that (1) the Fulani are an alien race to native Nigerians; (2) they conquered some part of Nigeria and were themselves conquered along with the natives by the British while the Fulani ruled parts of Northern Nigeria before the British conquest, the British described the rule as follows, as can be seen from the footnote “Soon after the establishment of British rule in Northern Nigeria more than one Mahdi, arose and obtained a fanatic following but, in every case, the Fulani Emir actively assisted in suppressing the disturbance.” The evidence today, 2020, is that the Fulani are yet to identify with the natives of Nigeria and still act as aliens.
Lugard continued “The Fulani of Northern Nigeria, as I have said are more capable of rule than the indigenous races, but in proportion as we consider them and alien race, we are denying self-government to the people over whom they rule, and supporting an alien caste - albeit closer and more akin to the native races than a European can be. Yet capable as they are, each requires the ceaseless vigilance of the British staff to maintain a high standard of administrative integrity, and to prevent oppression of the peasantry. We are dealing with the same generation and, in many cases, with identical rulers, who very were responsible for the misrule and tyranny which we found in 1902. The subject races near the capital where then serfs, were the victims of constant extortion. Those dwelling at a distance were raided for slaves, and could not count their women, their cattle, or crops as their own. Punishments were most barbarous, and included impalement, mutilation, and buried alive. [pgs. 198 - 199] What Lugard planned for and did was for the British to hand over Nigeria at independence to an alien race. This was what precisely they did, but continued to insist on administrative integrity after handing over so that the Fulani do not return to their rule as typified by the dungeon of Kano. He then continued: “The dungeon at Kano is described: A small doorway 2 ft. 6 in. by 18 in. gives access into it; the interior is divided by a thick mud wall (with a similar hole in it into two compartments each 17 ft. by 7 ft and 11 ft high this wall was pierced with holes at its base through which the legs of those sentenced to death where thrust up into the thigh and they were left to be trodden on by the mass of other prisoners till they die of taste and starvation the place is entirely airtight and unventilated, except for one small doorway or rather hole-in-the-wall to which you creep. The total space inside is 2618 cub feet. And at the time we took Kano 135 human beings were confined here each night, been let out during the day to cook their food & etc, in a small adjoining area recently as many as 200 have been interned at one time as the superficial ground area was only 238 square feet there was not, of course, even standing room. Victims were crushed to death every night their corpses were hauled out each morning the stench I am told inside the place when Col Morland visited it was intolerable though it was empty and when I myself went inside three weeks later the effluvium was unbearable for more than a few seconds. A putrid corpse even then lay near the doorway.” Northern Nigeria Annual Report 1902 p. 29]
It is clear from the above that the Fulani have no claim to Nigeria and one is not too sure whether they want to be Nigerians. If they do, there is no reason they have continued to wage jihads against Nigerians or trying to compel Nigerian natives and Christians to convert to Islam as well as replace Democracy with Sharia.
No Rwanda in Nigeria
This writer and indeed most native Nigerians do not desire that Nigeria should go the way of Rwanda and the object of this essay is to challenge the leadership of Nigeria (past and present) to appreciate fully the reasons for Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen and now bandits. It is clear that some Nigerians in authority have decided to continue where the British stopped after laying the foundation and complete indirect control of the Nation’s patrimony – oil and gas and not satisfied, want full control of minerals resources under the guise of Islamism.
There is nothing wrong for people to dream of paradise on earth. Nigeria cannot replace Democracy with Sharia Negros and Negroids have some fundamental difference which was very clear even to Lugard.
The Influence of Islam as per Dual Mandate
Muslim rule while enforcing the social regulations of the Quran has generally incorporated whatever indigenous systems were worthy of survival. The system of government, of dress, and of social observance thus obtained a hold upon the people which the more alien habits and dress of Europe - ill-adapted to a tropical country could not achieve. Islam looks for its language, literature, and culture to Arabic and to the East. As a religion, it does not evoke in the pure Negro the ardent zeal which it excites in the races of alien or of mixed blood and there is often little to differentiate the peasant or laborer who calls himself a Mohammedan from his pagan brother. Islam as a militant creed which teaches contempt for those who are not votaries panders to the weakness of the African character of self-conceit and vanity. Centuries of lawless strife have made the African a worshipper of force and he had been quick to adapt the creed of the conqueror chiefly for the prestige it brought. It’s very excesses, the capture of women as slaves and concubines and the looting of villages, though hateful enough when he is himself the victim, fulfills his desires if he can be the aggressor; it is the law of might to which he is habituated and there is much in it which appeals to the African trait in the religion of Mahomet. It sanctions polygamy, which is natural to the tropics. “Islam has made singularly little progress in Africa except among Hamite and Negroid tribes and, generally speaking, has not been adopted by the Negro races.” [pgs. 77 - 78] The most unfortunate and humiliating aspect of Fulani neo-colonialism is the fact that we pay the Fulani (Negroid) colonizers which earned us the appellation of “useful idiots”. We provide the funds from our oil and gas and the Negroids ride us like donkeys.
This essay will not be complete without referring to the following;
- NIGERIA IS NOT A MISTAKE: IT REQUIRES RE-INVENTING
- NIGERIA: UNFOLDING GENOCIDE? An Inquiry by the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief.
- ‘YOUR LAND OR YOUR BLOOD’ The escalating persecution and displacement of Christians in Northern and Central Nigeria
- FULANI MILITIAS’ TERROR: COMPILATION OF NEWS (2017 - 2020) and where they could be sourced on the internet for better understanding of the Extremist ideology on why and who developed in Nigeria.
These show that non-Islamist Nigerians have friends abroad. Any sustained jihad (stealth and conventional), will end up as ISIS of Iraq and Syria did. The jihad was obliterated and, today it is no more in the world map leaving behind the graveyard.
Elder Solomon Asemota, SAN
Chairman, Board of Governing Council
CSMN
July, 2020
Registered Trustees: Rc. No 14075
Prelate Emeritus (Dr.) S. C. Mbang; Cardinal John Onaiyekan; Bishop (Dr.) Mike Okonkwo; Archbishop Emeritus (Dr.) Patrick Ekpu; Archbishop (Dr.) Anthony Obinna; Solomon Asemota Esq., SAN; Rev. Jesse Adamu; Professor J.M. Otubu; Mrs I. H. Ize-Iyamu