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OODUA GROUPS
WRITE SULTAN OF SOKOTO
Open letter
to the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Said and the Fulani leaders
August 08, 2019
The Sultan
of Sokoto and Fulani Leader
His Eminence
AlhajiAbubakarSa’ad
THE STATE OF
THE NATION
We write
this letter to you considering your importance as the head of the Fulani people
in Nigeria. You are also the head of Fulani Muslims in Nigeria.It is our hope
that you will be able to share the thoughts expressed here with the 7 million
Fulani people in Nigeria through your traditional means of communication.
We write to
honour you with this letter, given the floundering opportunities for a dialogue
on the future of Nigeria, which has eluded the various ethnic groups in Nigeria
and which may not enhance itself too soon.
Given the
drumbeats of armed violence and extremism perpetrated largely by your people,
and the fleeting prospects of a national dialogue, we hope this letter will not
be the last opportunity to constructively engage you and the Fulani nation.
We, on behalf of ApapoOoduaKoya, (AOKOYA), a
coalition of several Itsekiri, Edo and Yoruba groups write with our deepest feelings about the
Nigerian state and what appears to be the pitfalls that lay ahead, most of
which are oiled and orchestrated by your own people, the Fulani, albeit
consciously.
THE PAST
There was no
history of Fulani in today’s territory until 1804. This was 800 years after the
Yoruba Kingdoms had been established, about 600 years after the Hausa, Ijaw,
Tiv, Igala, Junkun Kingdoms had flourished. The Igbo Nation had existed for
centuries before your people wandered into this hemisphere.
We recall
that your forebears came to power through brutal and bloody conquest of
indigenous peoples in many parts of Northern Nigeria under the guise of Islam
eventhough Islam had taken firm roots in Yorubaland, Kano and Bornu Empires as
early as the 11th century.
Since your
sojourn in Nigeria, you have been very lucky.
A whole
country of over 300 ethnic groups, was handed over to you a foreigner, first
through conquest of some of its part, you, who never owned an inch of land
centuries earlier in this hemisphere.
You have
reaped the fruits which trees you did not plant and you knew not when they were
planted.
Moreso, you
were from a family of wonders and your emergence as Emir and traditional ruler
was unusual, having no royal blood in your veins ab initio.
No doubt,
You succeeded in taking over the land, the main means of production of these
innocent peoples whose main offence was that they were too caring, too gentle,
too subservient and accommodating of foreigners in their ancestral homeland,
Today, you seat on a throne soaked with the blood of millions of innocent souls
anguished with deafening ears to the agony of the spirit of millions of victims
of the horrendous killings by your men, who came from Fouta Jallon in Senegal,
only some 210 years ago.
The British
left in 1960 and you emerged as the main benefactor eventhough your people were
not known to have fought for independence. You were wise enough to plant your
people in the security institutions, a reflection of your preference for force and
brigandage instead of a knowledge-driven society.
Through
direct military intervention or subterfuge, sly plots, you have been ruling
Nigeria, or determining who rule Nigeria since 1960. This is a rare luck that
only courageous people can manage for some time, but needs wise, intelligent,
decent and conscientious people to manage for a millennium.
Under the
false, artificial creation called Nigeria, your people produce no oil, yet you
appropriate and decide how the resources should be expended.
You have no
access to the Ocean, yet you decide which goods should be imported and which
vessel should ply routes that indigenous owners of this God given oceans had
been using for centuries. All the military weapons were bought not by your
money, but you decide who should use them and who should be killed by the same
weapons. You have no richest scholarly tradition, yet your people sit on the
Nigerian Universities Commission, (NUC) and decide the faith of other
Nigerians. You located all the military institutions in your land, more out of
fear than out of love for justice and fairplay.
90 percent
of Nigerian resources are sourced from the South and Middle Belt, yet you
decide how the funds should be spent. Did you think this irresponsible way of
life will continue for ever? Did your people think we are foolish and even if
we are, did you think coming generations will accept this brazen exploitation?
We have called for dialogue on these issues, but you call it treason.
The truth is
that you have grossly mismanaged this opportunity. Your ruinous and destructive tradition has
robbed on all Nigerians. Your intuition for aggression has become a national
culture. Your disdain for debate and logical criticisms has been imbibed by
Nigerians who continue to gravitate towards
the custodians of political power, whose way of life must be imbibed for
recognition.
You have ruined and destroyed this whole
nation at your beckon due to your exclusive, narrow, primordial and savage
instincts driven only by your self interest and your brutal and non-negotiable
desire to conquer and subdue every nationality in Nigeria. This is a tall task
which you are hell bent in executing.
THE INVASION
OF YORUBALAND BY FULANI HERDSMEN
We like to
caution you on your latest antics to renew your grand 1804 design to conquer
the entire country, not through ideas but through the most savage tradition of
killings and maiming.
This to us
is at the bottom of the current Fulani kidnapping in Yorubaland. We wish to
inform you that we are aware of your grand plan to renew a project done half
way and put on mute mode since the defeat of your forces in 1840 by the Yoruba
Army.
We are
worried that you and your Fulani people have been suspiciously silent on the
kidnapping of Yoruba people, the killing of our young professionals including
the killing of the daughter of a prominent Yoruba leader.
We were not
surprised that you and the other Fulani leaders did not consider it necessary
to send condolence messages or even visit the family of the slain woman. This
can only mean your tacit approval or at least, a philosophy of cold compromise.
Please be
aware that in the past two years, records show that 689 Yoruba people have been
kidnapped by your people, Fulani, about 400 reported cases of rape, including
rape of toddlers. Out of this number of
the kidnapped, 356 were women, and out of that number, 250 were married
women.
In all, 112 people were killed by your Fulani
people either for resisting kidnap or for failing to pay ransom. This may mean
nothing to you, but to us, it means a lot.
We urge you
to imagine a group of armed Yoruba cocoa farmers storming forests in Kano,
Katsina and Sokoto, kidnapping Fulani people, raping their young girls and even
killing the daughter of an Emir or a prominent Fulani leader? Can you also
imagine the same heavily armed Yoruba
cocoa farmers occupying your forests, stopping your people from farming and
preventing your people from plying the highways in their ancestral homes?
To make the
matter worse, imagine the armed Yoruba cocoa farmers carry out these terrible
crimes under the banner of a Yoruba man as the Nigerian President. How will you
feel?
As it is,
your people, the Fulani are digging their hands down our throats. They are
entering our bedrooms and sleeping with our mothers and wives. These actions
are not only against Islam, they are against humanity.
These latest
actions plus our experiences in the past have combined to renew the energy of
millions of Yoruba people who want a country of their own. Either you like it
or not, this will happen. God, before whom you and your big crown are like but
a filthy rag, will make it happen. We urge you to prepare your self to dialogue
or if you chose the path of violence, there will be proportional response.
Having
Yoruba or Igbo Republics is something
you do not wish to hear, but which is imminent and inevitable. Please be aware
that the Yoruba do not begrudge your values and the ways of your living, all we
are saying is that we want to live our lives, design our political and cultural
architecture, live and die on our own terms. The forthcoming Yoruba Republic
will be glad to accommodate righteous Fulani people who respect our
civilisations and the laws of our fatherland.
We wish to
use this opportunity to advice you and your people to be aware that you have no
power to conquer Yoruba Nation. Your forebears tried and failed. Your military
and political surrogates tried, marked with killings, maiming and destruction
of our economy, yet they failed.
We ask you
to instruct your people, the armed Fulani herdsmen to withdraw from Yoruba
territories and on their own, mop up the cache of arms and ammunition stored in
Yoruba territories.
Sir, the
Yoruba people stand for peace and not war. We would prefer these issues to be
resolved amicably without firing any gun shot. But, we wish to say that if your
heart remains rebellious and your soul defiant, the Yoruba people are not
afraid to confront you once again the way we did some 175 years ago, this time
in the most ferocious manner you can ever imagine. It is necessary to let you
know this even though we are aware that you will not change the conquest
desires of your heart. We wish you a
happy Salah and Allah’s wisdom to know and do what is right
Yours
Sincerely,
Col
AbimbolaSowumi (rtd)
MallamSalau
Ahmed Akorede
For
ApapoOoduaKoya, (AOKOYA)
