TRAVAILS OF THE PLATEAU FULANI

‘Peace is when nobody is shooting. A “just peace” is when your side gets what it wants.’ Bill Mauldin

I am writing this column two days before you read it. The past few days have been full of stories, many of them contradicting each other, on developments in and around the camps to which Fulani villagers have been relocated so that the military can conduct operations against terrorists. Some reports say the military authorities have allowed some of the villagers to relocate back to all but one of the villages. There is virtually no media coverage on the fate of Berom villagers, and the impression one gets is that only Fulani villagers have been involved in these traumatic movements in and out of the villages they inherited from ancestors. It is also unclear what measures are being put in place to police the relationships between the Fulani, the Berom and the STF. The latter has been accused by both sides on numerous occasions of aiding the other party in killings or aiding escape. The question begging for answer is what will happen to Fulani-Berom relations when the military withdraw after their operations. Will attacks on Berom villages cease? Will the Berom sheath their sword against Fulani villagers who they accuse of importing “mercenaries” to attack them at night? Will Governor Jang tone down his own rhetoric and posture which fuels the crisis in Plateau State?

Before the reports that some Fulani are being allowed to return to some of their villages started coming in, indications emerged that many of them were insisting on abandoning the camps in which they had lived for about a week, for their villages. They had been complaining of being virtually abandoned in camps that lacked basic essentials such as good water, food and medical facilities. With the commencement of the Ramadan fast, the pressure to stock-up was mounting, and many had quietly voted with their feet and returned home. On the whole, the life of these villagers in the past few days has been, to say the least, unenviable. Tossed between uncertainly and insecurity, they had become a symbol of a deep crisis over the manner the Nigerian State treats its citizens. It is very unlikely that these Fulani villagers will find peace in the near future, whether they are in camps or in their villages. In that respect, they are not unlike almost every citizen in Plateau State, no thanks to a State Government policy which has very rigid and hierarchical order of rights and privileges of communities and citizens based on tribes and religions.

If these Fulani villagers had abandoned the camps they only moved into reluctantly and with profound suspicions, they would have confronted the security agencies with difficult choices. They had been moved out ostensibly on the grounds that the military operation planned to eliminate terrorists near or around their villages will require about 48 hours to complete, but they may have to stay away for at least two weeks to guarantee that they stayed completely out of harm’s way. If the military insists that it is still involved in flushing out terrorists in their villages, any presence will endanger the Fulani villagers. It is very likely that the military will warn them to stay away, in camps or anywhere else that is not their villages. Any casualties registered among the villagers will be blamed on their stubbornness, and some people may even accuse them of sabotaging the efforts of the military to expose the terrorists hiding in or near the villagers. If the villagers relocate in large numbers and frustrate operations, the military may place their villages under prolonged siege and operations which will place them at great risk.

Although periods have been mentioned by the military for the operation and possible return dates, the Fulani villagers who have been relocated have no say on when it will be concluded, or when they can return to their villages. It is now entirely up to the military authorities to say when it is safe. So if the villagers heed the warning of the military to stay put in their camps, they may be in for a long haul. A long stay in squalid and unsafe environment will be even more difficult to bear during the month of Ramadan. If any thing happens to their villages to make it difficult for all of them to return, they will become permanent refugees. The longer they stay away, the more difficult it will be for them to return. Other communities on the list of “settlers” will read their fate in the travails these villagers.

Still it made sense to advise the Fulani from the villages of Mahanga, Kakuruk, Kuzen, Maseh and Shong to stay in the camps while the military operation goes on. Common sense will dictate that the seeming certainty by the military that there is terrorist presence near their villages, and the steely determination that they must be flushed out should be taken seriously. If indeed, non-local terrorists exist which have been responsible for the mass murders in Berom villages these past few weeks and months, then it is eminently in the interest of these Fulani villagers to facilitate or cooperate in their removal. They are in as much danger of violent criminals who attack Berom villagers as the Beroms themselves. There is also the imperative of the Fulani showing transparent respect of security, law and order, and complying with instructions which enhance their security and those of their neighbours. Finally, non-resistance may persuade the authorities to adopt a more conciliatory stance towards the longer-term welfare of the Fulani villagers, who are, in any case, almost entirely powerless in these circumstances.

But those who encouraged the Fulani to accept all the conditions laid down by the military and suffer the inconveniences will be well advised to recognize some of their important concerns. The Fulani villagers are already substantially guilty by association in the eyes of the security agents and Plateau State Government. The suspected terrorists who kill Berom are related to the Fulani in official and popular perception, because they do not kill Fulani. The heavy hand of the state will most likely be felt by these Fulani villagers, and the slightest expression of grievance will be interpreted as obstruction or complicity.

Second, the Fulani villagers have no faith in the capacity of Plateau State Government to be even-handed or compassionate where it becomes involved in their welfare or plans over their location or relocation. They are already condemned as settlers, even though many of the villages have had Fulani in them for over a century. The military in the locality were reminded of the very deep distrust of the villagers when they initially refused to accept the relief items which got to them on the second day of their relocation. The Plateau State Government will be entirely happier if these Fulani villagers do not relocate back to their villages at all. The government will see this as a solution to a seemingly endemic conflict in which villagers are shot, hacked or burnt mostly while asleep, and their murderers melt into the night. Berom villagers do not trust the Fulani villagers. The reverse is also the case. At least the Berom have a Governor who is unabashedly Berom and Christian. The Fulani have only a poor reputation as settlers who attack indigenes at will, or import “mercenaries” to do it for them. Now they join the Hausa indigenes of the State from Jos, many of whose fellow indigenes would also love to relocate permanently. In Plateau State, you have no citizens, only settlers and indigenes.

The Fulani villagers who are now caught between the hostility of the state and other communities; and the instinct to stay put because they have no safe alternative, must be protected by other Nigerians. They must be protected because they alone are powerless to resist the onslaught of a Nigerian state which sees this operation as an important exercise that will show its seriousness and capacity to tackle terrorism. They must be protected because they represent every citizen or community whose basic rights may be abridged by illegal and arbitrarily actions of those in power, who think our tongue or faith can be evaluated and ranked by them. They must be protected because they represent the tipping point in an emerging disaster being triggered by the Plateau State Government, which will attack the very soul of a plural nation such as ours. The Fulani villagers should not be used to appease the incompetence and arrogance which have brought danger to every citizen of Plateau State. Those villagers are us. They must be protected where they are, and be allowed to relocate as early the imperatives of national security demand.