Of Trust and the Making and Unmaking of the RUGA Dream.

Part One.

The Blueprint for a Cattle Colony in 2016.

Below are some excerpts from "The Agatu Siege and the Sins of Illiteracy: Balancing Cattle Rustling with Malicious Destruction of Commercial Farmlands by Cattle Herders," published on March 15, 2016, on my Blog. 

"Chief Olu Falae has a dam at his farm. And that is the attraction, according to the elder statesman. If we have two or three dams in each of the states in the federation, specifically set aside for ranches or grazing areas, it will go a long way to ensuring peaceful co-existence between the host communities and Cattle Herders."

"As a final thought, the Middle-Belt cannot be vanquished of the aborigines - the land is their ancestral land. In addition, the now docile Igbo women will dance naked, if the need be, to protect their farmlands and ensure the virginity of the meek in their midst. AK47 is not the answer. The law of vicarious liability is real and well in Nigeria. You cannot separate the principal merchants from the acts, omissions and the atrocities of their agents, the herders."

"In spite of everything, I will not be blinded by political correctness to deviate from the truth or close my eyes to disturbing realities. I believe in one great Nigeria of equal rights and justice where my Edo State has the right and power to define the use of her land and resources and a Nigeria where no Kwankwaso will invade my privacy or impugn the integrity of my elders. Yes, I believe in one true strong Nigeria where my right to serve my nation is not defined or circumscribed by my place of birth or the opinion I share on my blog or in social media."

"Yes, talk, I will talk and write, I will write about what ails us a nation-state, proffering practical and common-sense solutions as appropriate. I don't want my son and his generation to start all over again, discussing 1914 and the ills of amalgamation, true federalism and the barbaric exploits of some Fulani Herdsmen occupying or trespassing on his Father's land."

"Let's give grazing ranches a chance and I hope the Presidency will provide the Minister of Agriculture with all the human and material resources reasonably necessary to ensure that between now and mid-2019, each state in the federation has at least three ranches or grazing zones for cattle."

"The first step is to set up a Federal Task Force for Land/Sight Acquisition. Next, the Task Force, will among other things, collaborate with State Governors, Stakeholders in the industry, Financial Institutions, and Community Leaders with a view to securing suitable land and funding."

"We should be bold, Nigeria; we should be creative and daring in confronting daunting challenges appearing insurmountable. Just pause for a moment and take your mind off ranches or grazing zones, but think and reflect on the huge beef industry and factor in the massive employment opportunities."

The above comments are some excerpts from "The Agatu Siege and the Sins of Illiteracy: Balancing Cattle Rustling with Malicious Destruction of Commercial Farmlands by Cattle Herders" that I published on March 15, 2016, on this blog and on my Facebook.

Part Two

Developing the Narrative for the Rejection of RUGA or Cattle Colony in 2019.

The comments below are excerpts from "Demystifying the Upsurge of Foreign Cattle Herders in Nigeria," published on this blog on August 02, 2019.

"Governor El-Rufai is Right. And the President is right. The Killer-Herders are not the Fulani of Nigerian heritage. They are the hired and imported mobile warriors brought into Nigeria by faceless Nigerian Cattle owners. So, if by any error or omission, you surrender your land, you are doing so at your own peril. If these foreign Fulani Cattle Herders exhibit no sense of constraint in killing you, killing your harmless children and rapping your defenseless wives to death now (even as illegal immigrant workers) why would they be afraid to repeat the same if they are legally settled in your land by the Buhari's government? And why would they be afraid to depose your traditional ruler and impose one of their owns in his place? This is no fable or fairytale. It is fact-based. And it is happening now."

"Today, there is an unnoticeable dramatic shortage of Nigerian Fulanis willing and available to engage in cattle-herding the nomadic style reminiscent of the old. A majority of them of the modern era are highly educated and gainfully employed in government and in the private sectors. Some of them are money changers and commission agents. And the majority of the up and coming generations are western-educated. Some of them obtained their Ordinary Level and A-Level Diploma in the UK, while the majority of them obtained their bachelor and graduate degrees in the UK, Switzerland, and the United States of America."

"A few weeks ago, Professor Ango Abdulahi boasted that they have the West African Fulani Fighting Forces, they would not hesitate to unleash if push comes to shove. He is right. Some of them are the 500 unknown soldiers who invaded the Nimbo Village in Enugu State in the early morning of April 25, 2016, and hacked to death every human being insight and disappeared into the tin air. They came without notice and they disappeared without notice. If they had wanted to sack the traditional ruler of Nimbo Village and impose one of their own, they would have succeeded."

"Therefore, the earlier Miyetti Allah and their enabler cowards at the Ministry of Agriculture free their minds of a Cattle Colony in every nook and corner of Nigeria, the better for everyone. Senegalese, Guinean, Malian, Nigerien or Central African Fulani extractions are not welcome here. I love my Nigerian Fulani brothers. But the ones El-Rufai, President Buhari, and the unknown staffers of the Ministry of Agriculture are importing are enemy combatants. They are barbaric and they are heartless. I am not agitating the dismantling of Nigeria, but I will not stay silent when an administration that cannot even protect the citizens of the President's home state is about turning Nigeria into a war zone courtesy of killers without conscience. It won't work."

And the above comments are some excerpts from "Demystifying the Upsurge of Foreign Cattle Herders in Nigeria," which I published on August 02, 2019 and on my Facebook.

Part Three.

What Must Have Happened? 

The answer is betrayal, yes, betrayal.

Part one is what patriotic citizens are willing to do when a country is governed as one nation-state and everyone is treated as equal as the next guy, and where no religion or tribe is considered omnipotent in the allocations of power, positions, and resources. That's what citizens do when you are from Ghana, Ethiopia, Egypt, Rwanda, Kenya - the ability to think and develop sound public policy statements, whether or not you are in government. I am not a Northerner. I am not a Hausa/Fulani by tribal affiliation. And cattle herding is not my trade. I am an Esan man. But I am first a Nigerian, and I did not have any problem developing the ideas and principles that became the cornerstone of the RUGA Initiative. How I wish we are treated and govern as one country by Northern political leaders!

Part Two is what would happen when the opinion leaders and those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to make the country greater, are confronted with unhinged duplicity, bigotry, racism, and disconnect in the life and style of the leadership. Between 2016 and 2019, Miyetti-Allah became the most powerful voice in empty braggadocio and the most daring articulators of the colonization of the South. They boasted that the land belongs to them, cultivated or not. Their highly protected cattle herders unleashed brutal sex on defenseless women and girls, turning private cultivated land and school premises and highways into grazing fields. And no President Buhari was on sight to issue a cease and desist order on the lawless Cattle Owners Association Spokespersons and their armed herders. It was a reign of terror, a pre-Othman Dan Fodio unfolding in the twenty-first century. And that was the turning point. 

Solutions? 

In Nigeria of the moment, we are NOT the children of our Fathers. The historic dominance that is anchored on deceit and the manipulation, use, and abuse of the men and women of our armed forces is not sustainable. We are either one, or we are not. If you are ready, there are selfless Nigerians out there, innately blessed with rare visions and commonsense, willing and ready to make Nigeria great again with their ideas. The earlier the leadership comes to the realization that Nigeria of today is not the one of 2014, 1960, or of 2018, the better for every one of us. There are those who want to secede from the union, and there are those who want to remain in the union in a true federal sense and fighting the ills that are provoking some of the people to secede from the union. I belong to the latter group. And that is while I write.

Mr. Alex Aidaghese is a Lawyer and he is the author of the Almajiri Integrative Educational Model.