“Fulanization” of the North by the South

By Farooq A. Kperogi

Fears of “Fulani domination” have endured since Nigeria’s founding but, more than ever before, there is now an insanely unhealthy obsession with the Fulani in Nigeria’s South. The Fulani are not just routinely reviled with genocidal rhetorical venom, all manner of devious, supernormal political power is ascribed to them.

In the service of the reigning monomania about the Fulani, Northern Muslims, irrespective of their ethnicity, are now labeled “Fulani.” It’s worse if they are also beneficiaries of “juicy” political appointments in the Buhari regime.

Former Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai, for example, was habitually called “Fulani” even though he is Babur from southern Borno, a good portion of whom are Christians. The late Abba Kyari was called “Fulani” even though he was Shuwa (but linguistically and culturally Kanuri) from Borno.

When Muhammad Mamman Nami replaced Babatunde Fowler as the boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), many people in the South said Nami was “Fulani.” But Nami is Nupe from Niger State, and Nupe people are linguistically, historically, and geographically closer to Yoruba people than they are to Fulani or Hausa people.

There is a list doing the rounds on social media of supposed “Fulani” people who are holding strategic positions in Buhari’s government, but most of the people on the list are merely northern Muslims who are neither ethnically nor culturally Fulani. Take Nigeria Customs Service boss Hammed Ali, for example, who appears on the list. He is neither Fulani nor even Hausa. He is from the Jarawa ethnic group from Dass in Bauchi State.

Nigerian Television Authority's boss, Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, is also on the list of “Fulani” appointees of strategic government agencies, but he is ethnically Jukun from Taraba State who grew up in Plateau State.

NNPC boss Mele Kyari has also been assigned a “Fulani” ethnicity even though he is a straight-up Kanuri man from Borno.

The only linguistically and culturally Fulani people on the list are FCT minister Mohammed Musa Bello and UBEC boss Hammed Bobboyi who are both from Adamawa State.

A reporter from the South recently interviewed me for a personality profile, and although one of the issues we discussed during the interview was the robust diversity of northern identities and how people mistake me for Fulani, Hausa, “Hausa-Fulani” or Nupe even though I am actually Baatonu from Kwara State, he still went ahead and described me as “Fulani” in his story. This shows how our preconceptions can sometimes distort our perceptions.

I corrected his unintentional mischaracterization of my ethnicity because he was kind enough to let me have a pre-publication readback of his story.

In other words, the South is relentlessly rhetorically Fulanizing the North, particularly the Muslim North, just to fertilize and sustain a simplistic narrative of superhuman Fulani domination. One of my Fulani friends from Adamawa by the name of Idirisu Alkali tells me he is often simultaneously amused and flattered by the prodigious capacities that southerners endue on his people.

The Fulani are now lionized in the South as the lifeblood of the North and the sole designers of all that is ill with Nigeria. But at the core of this sociologically impoverished monomaniacal fixation with the Fulani is a deep-seated but unacknowledged inferiority complex, which is fully realized in the tendency to describe as “Fulani slave” anyone who expresses opinions that depart from the forced and false consensus of the Fulaniphobes in the South.

Since only “masters” can have “slaves,” people who call others “Fulani slaves” have clearly accepted the Fulani as “masters,” indicating that they have also internalized their own inferiority before the Fulani.

But the truth is that the Fulani are just as human as anyone else. They are not a stagnant, undifferentiated, unthinking human monolith with no dissensions. They have the same fears, anxieties, and pains as anybody else. They have both good and bad people like other groups. There’s no conspirative conclave where Fulani people meet and plot to dominate everyone else. They battle disunity within their ranks like all ethnic groups. In fact, like the Igbo, they agonize over the progressive erosion of their language and culture in much of Northern Nigeria.

Muhammadu Buhari on whose account the Fulani are ceaselessly dehumanized and vituperated is, in fact, not culturally or linguistically Fulani. In other words, although he traces patrilineal descent from the Fulani, he doesn’t understand or speak Fulfulde (as the language of the Fulani is called) and has no experience with Fulani culture.

Buhari’s father, Adamu Bafallaje, who was an ardo (as Fulani community elders are called), died in his real hometown of Dumurkul in the Daura Emirate of Katsina State when Buhari wasn’t old enough to know him, so Buhari was brought up by his maternal relatives in Daura. His maternal relatives are ethnically Kanuri people who are nonetheless culturally and linguistically Hausa.

As Mamman Daura’s daughter, Fatima Daura, wrote on the occasion of her father’s 80th birthday, Mamman Daura is Kanuri. The family’s forebears migrated from Borno to a town in what is now Niger Republic and finally to Daura. Note that Mamman Daura’s father, Dauda Daura, shares the same mother (but different fathers) with Buhari. So Buhari’s mother, Hajia Zulaiha, was Kanuri.

Not having grown up with his father and knowing next to nothing about the Fulani, Buhari idealized not just his absent Fulani father but the Fulani people. This is a well-known psychological phenomenon that is encapsulated in the folk wisdom that says, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Barack Obama, for instance, idealized his absent Kenyan father—and his Luo people— with an intensity he would never have had if he’d grown up with him.

Buhari’s idealization of his absent Fulani father inspires an exaggerated identification with the Fulani in ways that alienate others and expose innocent Fulani people to unjustified animosity. That’s why I called him the “single greatest threat to the Fulani” in a July 6, 2019 column.

I also pointed out in a January 12, 2019 column titled "Miyetti Allah, Presidential Endorsement and Politics of Fulani Identity" that “People who are on the edge of an identity tend to be more exaggeratedly aggressive in their assertion of the identity than those who are—or see themselves as being—in the mainstream of the identity.

“For instance, when there was a butcherly communal turmoil that pitted Bororo Fulani cattle herders against Yoruba farmers in the Oke-Ogun area of northern Oyo State in October 2000, Buhari led a group of ‘Fulani’ northerners to Ibadan to meet with the late Governor Lam Adesina where he told Adesina, among other things, ‘your people are killing my people.’ A Fulani person from the northeast is unlikely to say that.”

Nothing in what I’ve said is intended to mitigate the injustice of Buhari’s preferentialist style of governance. I started calling out what I called the “undisguised Arewacentricity” in Buhari’s appointment since 2015 when most people were scared to criticize the regime (read, for instance, my September 5, 2015 column titled “Buhari is Losing the Symbolic War”), but to put the entire moral weight of his wrongheaded choices on the Fulani and proceed to demonize them without let is both reprehensible and unconscionable.

There’s no denying that northern Muslim elites have benefitted disproportionately in choice appointments in this regime, but “northern Muslim elite” isn’t synonymous with “Fulani.”

An honest, empathetic role play would probably help. Imagine being from an ethnic group that’s perpetually slandered, maligned, reviled, and vilified as a national pastime because you share ethnic identity with someone—or some people—whose boneheaded policies smolder you like they do your traducers. How would you feel?

Demonizing people based on invariable attributes that are incidental to their humanity, such as their ethnicity or race, is akin to condemning them even before they were born. Malcolm X once called that the worst crime that can ever be committed. Let the toxic, hateful ignorance stop already!

Ok

Insightful

Reasonable take..

But the fact is that all of them in the far north are gladly enjoying the "war booty" that one Buhari brings home. They're happy with the lopsided appointments, happy with buharis violent conducts in "opposition" areas and basically do not criticize the man when his actions rub others the wrong way. That's called 'solidarity'' .. Cultural identification here should go beyond tribal, linguistic or religious affinity as a result!

It should include solidarity/alliances in the pursuit of raw power, in the sectional acquisition of government patronages and ofcourse, in the political subjugation of others. Essentially, the tag "fulani" here can be compared to a name given to a cult group or the name of a criminal gang, a drug mafia etc... To that extent, the funny northerners that always gleefully enjoy his loot but frown at the anger visited at them by the rest of us as a result, are as guilty as charged! Simple!

I didn't bother with the read .

As jungle don dey mature na to dey separate from Fulani be that.

When the going was good it was Hausa/Fulani.

Farooq, this is a poor article, it paints all Southerners as monolithic in their outlook..........but Fulani dominates the political landscape in the North.

The Fulani domination is feudal in orientation and directly linked to the Sokoto and Adamawa empire of the 1800s, all Emirs are of Fulani descent, the Sokoto Sultanate has always been ruled by a Fulani, majority of the Governors are Fulani and Nigeria has had 3 Fulani president and 1 Fulani prime minister no other ethnic group in the North can compete with Fulani political domination.

The most ardent supporters don't have to speak fulfulde to be Fulani Nationalist.

Though they were skilled warriors, they obtained dominance over the resident Hutu through a slow and largely peaceful infiltration. The Tutsi established a feudal relationship with the Hutu, gaining dominance due to their possession of cattle and their more advanced knowledge of warfare.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tutsi

sulaak:
Farooq, this is a poor article, it paints all Southerners as monolithic in their outlook..........but Fulani dominates the political landscape in the North.

The Fulani domination is feudal in orientation and directly linked to the Sokoto and Adamawa empire of the 1800s, all Emirs are of Fulani descent, the Sokoto Sultanate has always been ruled by a Fulani, majority of the Governors are Fulani and Nigeria has had 3 Fulani president and 1 Fulani prime minister no other ethnic group in the North can compete with Fulani political domination.

The most ardent supporters don't have to speak fulfulde to be Fulani Nationalist.

Tafawa Balewa was not Fulani. The 3 fulani presidents emerged through elections i.e Sagari, Yar'adua and Buhari. That is no fault of theirs.

Akanbiedu:


Tafawa Balewa was not Fulani. The 3 fulani presidents emerged through elections i.e Sagari, Yar'adua and Buhari. That is no fault of theirs.

Buhari first emerged through a coup, that was how he became a national figure..
That said, Obasanjo is the reason the fulanis are the main subject of distraction in Nigerian politics today. He rigged elections two times to foist the fulanis on Nigeria and totally eliminated middle belt officers in the army after Dimkas coup.
He most probably thought he was dealing with some vulnerable people that he can manipulate from outside the government house. That backfired..

Akanbiedu:


Tafawa Balewa was not Fulani. The 3 fulani presidents emerged through elections i.e Sagari, Yar'adua and Buhari. That is no fault of theirs.

Tafawa was part Fulani.

The three Fulani presidents were elected, confirming my point of Fulani domination of the Northern Nigeria political landscape. Can you name me one ethnic Hausa president, Emir, Sultan or Governor?

sulaak:


Tafawa was part Fulani.

The three Fulani presidents were elected, confirming my point of Fulani domination of the Northern Nigeria political landscape. Can you name me one ethnic Hausa president, Emir, Sultan or Governor?

I just do not agree it is their fault. Consider Buhari, he contested elections four times before he was able to win. Why do we want to blame such person for dominating?

Take for example. Why is it that Christian's in the North don't make serious effort like this to run for election? Abi they can not lobby and cajole Christian's in the south?

The problem is people don't want to do the work of networking, and sacrificing their immediate enjoyment for long term agenda. This is the kind of argument women make when they want a position to be given to them.

Other people that want to dominate will have to do the dirty work too. Have a course, stay the course even when losing.

People should put in the work and do politics. Not envy Fulani success.

FULANI HERDSMEN ARE TERRORISTS AND BUHARI IS BEHIND THEM-BY CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR-CNN.

LET BUHARI AS PRESIDENT OF THIS CONTRAPTION CALLED NIGERIA

DISBAN MACBAN AND FUNAM

SCRAP RIFA-RUGA ISLAMISATION FULANISATION AND ANARCHY POLICY HE IS RUNNING

JOIN NASS AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATES ASSEMBLIES TO REVIEW THE 1999 MARSHALL CONSTITUTION OFFERED TO NIGERIANS BUT NOT YET CONSIDERED AND ACCEPTED BY NIGERIANS

AND GIVE NIGERIANS FULL AUTONOMOUS POLICING, RESOURCING AND ELECTIONEERING SELF CONTROL TO OUR 36 CONSTITUTIONAL STATES WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY.

FULANI HERDSMEN ARE TERRORISTS AND BUHARI IS BEHIND THEM-BY CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR-CNN.

LET BUHARI AS PRESIDENT OF THIS CONTRAPTION CALLED NIGERIA

DISBAN MACBAN AND FUNAM. AREWA, AFENIFERE, OHANAEZE PANDEF MIDDLE BELT GROUPS REMAIN.

SCRAP RIFA-RUGA ISLAMISATION FULANISATION AND ANARCHY POLICY HE IS RUNNING

JOIN NASS AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATES ASSEMBLIES TO REVIEW THE 1999 MARSHALL CONSTITUTION OFFERED TO NIGERIANS BUT NOT YET CONSIDERED AND ACCEPTED BY NIGERIANS

AND GIVE NIGERIANS FULL AUTONOMOUS POLICING, RESOURCING AND ELECTIONEERING SELF CONTROL TO OUR 36 CONSTITUTIONAL STATES WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY.

Akanbiedu:


I just do not agree it is their fault. Consider Buhari, he contested elections four times before he was able to win. Why do we want to blame such person for dominating?

Take for example. Why is it that Christian's in the North don't make serious effort like this to run for election? Abi they can not lobby and cajole Christian's in the south?

The problem is people don't want to do the work of networking, and sacrificing their immediate enjoyment for long term agenda. This is the kind of argument women make when they want a position to be given to them.

Other people that want to dominate will have to do the dirty work too. Have a course, stay the course even when losing.

I think you are missing the point, my argument was that Fulani dominates the Northern political landscape as against Farooq misleading article.


On the subject of envying Fulani political and feudal power, that is far from the truth. I am a victim of Fulani's feudal domination not because it's improving my community in the south but because Fulani's political domination has created an atmosphere of extreme poverty and instability in Northern Nigeria due to their policies of the introduction of political Shariah law, Aljamiri education, Quotas systems, Fulani herdsmen and other policies that have created an impoverished and uneducated society.

The North is placing tremendous economic, environmental pressure on the South especially with the ongoing Fulani herdsmen and militant insurgency, I doubt any Southerner is envious of the Fulani's consider their newfound status as killer herdsmen.