Nigerian elder statesman and famous constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze, has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari of using the proposed cattle colonies to achieve a ‘Fulani supremacy agenda’ started by the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello.
The legal icon cautioned that if established all over Nigeria, the cattle colonies would rather increase the herdsmen farmers’ crisis.
He spoke in a paper entitled, ‘President Buhari should not lure us into the deadly trap of establishing cattle colonies for Fulani herdsmen in every state of the federation,’ in Enugu on Tuesday.
Noting that the cattle colonies, as proposed by the Federal Government, were nothing other than ‘settlements’ of Fulani herdsmen in all parts of the country, Nwabueze warned of the religious, political and legal implications of the plan.
He argued that Buhari was only using the scheme to pursue a Fulani supremacy agenda.
Nwabueze said, “In considering the religious implications of establishing cattle colonies in every state of the federation, it is necessary to recall to mind what Sheikh Gumi wrote about Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto.
“According to Gumi, the Sardauna’s well-known agenda of consolidating and perpetuating the idea of Northern Nigeria as one united entity “was not borne out of political consideration only,” but was also conceived as “a personal mission” handed down to him by his forebear, Sheikh Dan Fodio.
“The agenda had an accompanying ideology whose object, as articulated by the Sardauna, is to maintain Northern Nigeria as a theocracy ruled by a Muslim claiming to be divinely directed, with utter disdain for democracy, and with the Sharia as the supreme governing law; the non-Muslim minority ethnic groups in the North are to be used as “willing tools” and the South is to be subjugated and reduced to “a conquered territory,” which is not to be allowed to “have control over their future.”
“The Sarduana had conceived a kind of jihad, for the pursuit and possible accomplishment of his agenda, an agenda which President Buhari has now vowed to carry on to a finish.”
Nwabueze further observed that Sardauna’s forebear, Usman dan Fodio, initiated the Fulani supremacy agenda when, between 1804 and 1808, he overran all the Hausa kingdoms and some other neighbouring communities, dethroned their rulers, installed Fulani emirs in their places, and imposed the Muslim religion on them.
“Thus was Hausaland together with other conquered lands, Islamised, and a caliphate established over Sokoto, with Dan Fodio as its Sultan. That was the price the Hausa paid for their hospitality in granting access to grazing land to the Fulani immigrant settlers,” Nwabueze noted.
Speaking of the legal and political implications of the plan, Nwabueze said, “The minister’s (Ogbeh’s) emphasis on the process of acquiring land for the colony is misdirected. The issue is not so much about the process for acquiring land, but about the ownership of the land after it is acquired and, more important, about the right to the exclusive use, the management and control of the land so acquired.
“Does the ownership of the land belong to the Federal Government, or to traditional communities, villages and families supposed to have been divested of it? Does the right to the exclusive use, management and control of the land belong to the Federal Government, the cattle owners or the herdsmen?
“Perhaps, more worrisome, is the issue of the relationship of the Fulani herdsmen settled on the land and the political authorities in the state – the state government, the local government authorities and the traditional authorities, the town unions, the community development associations, the civil defence and vigilante groups, etc.
“Will the Fulani herdsmen settled on the land, the cattle owners and their association, the Miyetti Allah, not constitute themselves a “state” within a state?”
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The legal icon cautioned that if established all over Nigeria, the cattle colonies would rather increase the herdsmen farmers’ crisis.
He spoke in a paper entitled, ‘President Buhari should not lure us into the deadly trap of establishing cattle colonies for Fulani herdsmen in every state of the federation,’ in Enugu on Tuesday.
Noting that the cattle colonies, as proposed by the Federal Government, were nothing other than ‘settlements’ of Fulani herdsmen in all parts of the country, Nwabueze warned of the religious, political and legal implications of the plan.
He argued that Buhari was only using the scheme to pursue a Fulani supremacy agenda.
Nwabueze said, “In considering the religious implications of establishing cattle colonies in every state of the federation, it is necessary to recall to mind what Sheikh Gumi wrote about Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto.
“According to Gumi, the Sardauna’s well-known agenda of consolidating and perpetuating the idea of Northern Nigeria as one united entity “was not borne out of political consideration only,” but was also conceived as “a personal mission” handed down to him by his forebear, Sheikh Dan Fodio.
“The agenda had an accompanying ideology whose object, as articulated by the Sardauna, is to maintain Northern Nigeria as a theocracy ruled by a Muslim claiming to be divinely directed, with utter disdain for democracy, and with the Sharia as the supreme governing law; the non-Muslim minority ethnic groups in the North are to be used as “willing tools” and the South is to be subjugated and reduced to “a conquered territory,” which is not to be allowed to “have control over their future.”
“The Sarduana had conceived a kind of jihad, for the pursuit and possible accomplishment of his agenda, an agenda which President Buhari has now vowed to carry on to a finish.”
Nwabueze further observed that Sardauna’s forebear, Usman dan Fodio, initiated the Fulani supremacy agenda when, between 1804 and 1808, he overran all the Hausa kingdoms and some other neighbouring communities, dethroned their rulers, installed Fulani emirs in their places, and imposed the Muslim religion on them.
“Thus was Hausaland together with other conquered lands, Islamised, and a caliphate established over Sokoto, with Dan Fodio as its Sultan. That was the price the Hausa paid for their hospitality in granting access to grazing land to the Fulani immigrant settlers,” Nwabueze noted.
Speaking of the legal and political implications of the plan, Nwabueze said, “The minister’s (Ogbeh’s) emphasis on the process of acquiring land for the colony is misdirected. The issue is not so much about the process for acquiring land, but about the ownership of the land after it is acquired and, more important, about the right to the exclusive use, the management and control of the land so acquired.
“Does the ownership of the land belong to the Federal Government, or to traditional communities, villages and families supposed to have been divested of it? Does the right to the exclusive use, management and control of the land belong to the Federal Government, the cattle owners or the herdsmen?
“Perhaps, more worrisome, is the issue of the relationship of the Fulani herdsmen settled on the land and the political authorities in the state – the state government, the local government authorities and the traditional authorities, the town unions, the community development associations, the civil defence and vigilante groups, etc.
“Will the Fulani herdsmen settled on the land, the cattle owners and their association, the Miyetti Allah, not constitute themselves a “state” within a state?”
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| Proposed Cattle Colonies: Prof Ben Nwabueze Reveals President Buhari's Real Intention |
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