The Illusion of the Suspension of Ruga and the Real Deal of Cattle Rearing in Nigeria

Chika J. B. Gabriel Okpalike

In serious discourses, words are not bandied arbitrarily; the legal and socio-political implications of words deployed in a communication are analyzed before those words are crafted. Apart from the other antiques deployed in the document emanating from the presidency for the suspension of Ruga which boarders on denials and escape clauses, more interest in the implications and consequences of ‘Suspension’ is here exercised. In the first paragraph of that document, it is written: “Mr President has directed the immediate suspension of the current unilateral implementation of the Ruga Model Settlement Program by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as it is not in accordance with the designs approved by: a) the National Economic Council (NEC), b) the National Food Security Council (NFSC) and c) the Federal Executive Council (FEC),”

In the first place, if it was suspended, to suspend it means to postpone its implementation. In other words, the presidency had nothing against the Ruga program, it is not ready to dash it. The presidency is neither understanding nor buying into the popular narrative of the real deal about Ruga which is that it is roundly and squarely the Islamization and Fulanization of Nigeria. If the Ruga Settlement Program is not a done deal, the president could have used the phrase “immediate cessation”. “Immediate cancellation”, “immediate termination” and so forth. In the second place, the Ruga program was not suspended, it is the implementation of the Ruga not in tandem with the approved design that is suspended. In other words, those ones that are in accordance with the approved design is going on in various parts of the country as we speak, even in the states of the south – Ebonyi State is near completion.

The African Arabs known as the Fulani has very long memories; they do not give up on anything they set their minds on. The Islamic religion does not encourage free reasoning and dialogue. These two principal characters are what Nigeria is actually battling with. The politics of the world has been polarized by two civilizations, one bought into the Jewish (Isaac) narrative and the other bought into Arab (Ishmaelite) narrative. These two sons of Abraham are in a perpetual warfare that only the extinction of one may abate. The Jews expanded their frontiers with Christianity which bought their narrative wholesale. Europeanized Christianity aided this expansion into Asia and Africa. This war has been raging since Mohammed struck the cord of Arabian sensibilities. They, like the Christians, but in their turn through violence, population and politics have also expanded the frontiers of their civilization to Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. In this age, they are well positioned to conquer the world. What we see in Nigeria, is the West African version of the same things going on in the Middle East, parts of Western and Eastern Europe. Nigerians should not go to sleep in the respite that they have succeeded to cow the presidency. They have just smartly removed the discussion from the public domain while the implementation is going on.

The other side of the complication is: Why are our politicians, especially from the Southeast extraction, not speaking up on this matter? It is the Igbo entrepreneurial spirit which is playing against the Igbo this time. We need a total turnaround on the way we think. Many Igbo politicians discovered rearing cow as both alternative to the Nigerian oil and a means of accessing the Nigerian political power which is clearly vested in the hands of the Fulani. We know that the real owners of these cows are somewhere in the comfort of their houses and are working through chains of agents. The herders in the field are merely farm workers who are trained enough to take instructions from their immediate bosses. The real owners of the cows are given account of his or her property managed by field experts whose duty it is to employ and manage the herders. These managers simply need money to begin their own chain, they are fine doing the agent’s job all their lives and given the feudalist mentality, they do not bargain for more. Many of our Igbo brothers, including former governors, governors, ministers, senators, house of Rep members and their aides are in the business of cattle rearing, providing funds to empowers these agents. Another way of saying that those we are hoping to speak for us are the real owners of the cows. Being in the business, they know that most of the herders are employed from outside Nigeria, but what does the Igbo care when the center of morality has been shattered? Therefore before Boko Haram Insurgence our kits and kin were already in the business of cattle rearing and well knew that their employees were illegal immigrants from Sudan, Chad and Mali. Many of them are into politics through their Fulani allies and sponsors. Through our own brothers these people are armed. The elites among the Fulani through whom these our brothers access power in turn hold our brothers in blackmail; give them more business and more power. When the sponsors of Boko Haram armed the Almajiris to disrupt Jonathan’s move to redefine and restructure Nigeria, they did not know that with the gun, the possibility of controlling them has been compromised. So also the lure of protecting their property has inadvertently empowered the herders through our own brothers who have also lost control of them. The Fulani elites are now using them as militia for their long term goals and our brothers are caught in between.

The Fulani never forgot that their ancestor, Usman Dan Fodio, had set his mind on the conquest of the vast valleys of the Middle Belt extending to the Atlantic Ocean when he met with the British forces already doing business and protecting the south. They never forgot that Nigeria is a negotiated territory between the British and Usman Dan Fodio’s established Sokoto Caliphate. In so many ways they never forgot that the independence of Nigeria heralded their moment of finishing up the program of Usman Dan Fodio. The most benign Fulani knows this, including Shehu Shagari and Musa Yar’Adua. What we are witnessing is the difference in the style of Muhammadu Buhari; the purpose and intent of Fulani government in Nigeria has always been the same. We have had the likes of Buhari in Ahmadu Bello and Murtala Mohammed, while Tafawa Balewa, Shehu Shagari and Yar’Adua are of a class, but all pursued one agenda. I know that an Igbo freethinker might doubt this. Note well: They do not forget.

The only obstacle on the way of the Fulani is Ndiigbo personified in the man called Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. His interpretation of the Nigerian history and projections of the Nigerian destiny overwhelmed the caliphate and dazzled he monarchy of Britain. Ojukwu’s move is a historical breach of contract and they fought it with any kind of ammunition the world could afford or invent at that time, caring nothing even about women and children. Today the Fulani see the Igbo as believers in Ojukwu’s creed. Regrettably, very many of us have reneged on that creed and our enemies know the easiest way of penetrating our entrails. The amorphous formation of the Igbo population at home and in diaspora is also a huge hindrance but the attachment of the Igbo to their homeland is a clue as to how to hurt them the most. In doing business with us, they are still doing the war while we are poised to make the money.

In our business with them we, unlike them forgot. We forgot that our homeland is the reason of our being. We forgot that those who aid our business are our sworn-enemies. We forgot that our heroes shed their blood to protect this land and our children died in the struggle. We forgot that as long as we are in Nigeria, the way it is constituted, we remain their slaves. We forgot that we have never been slaves to anyone and that we always went back in every attempt made to enslave us.

Because we forgot, our politicians meddle with them, doing business and making money in their minds, while they, within the same bargain gun for territorial expansion and domination. Our politicians get garbed in their robe for the lure of connection and increased capital; they initiate them as weak links to the coveted south. Our politicians robe them with our prestigious garments and caps adorning them with our hard-earned titles because they think that word is bond, but they take these on knowing that they are their armour and shield from Ojukwu-bucket, all because we forgot.

Usman Dan Fodio failed to conquer our ancestors with the swift horse, but his descendants are conquering us with the mulish cow. Very shameful for the descendants of the elephants (Enyimba). We are dealing with a complex situation and need to make a difference between the business of rearing cows and the battle for the occupation of a land and the domination of a people. For the Fulani one is the means and the other is the end; for us we lost sight of one or forgot, thinking the other as the end. Many have advocated for the Igbo going into cattle business without knowing they are already doing it wrongly and with the wrong guys. Some advocated for jettisoning beef, the possibility of which is there to be seen in the present arrangement. Mine is: press the reset button of your mind and souls, O Igbo compatriots, that thy attitude towards these imminent threats to our lives may change, not just about Ruga, but about anything Nigeria. Even in your Ụmụnna politics shun everything that give them access including APC or the ordinary chant of its faithfuls.