By: Lady Zakari LDM
Mahatma Gandhi said that,
Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” While Nelson Mandela said that, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”
I make no excuses for the crimes committed by any criminal Fulani person anywhere, just like the Igbos does not apologise for the crimes of some of the Igbos, who have succeded in smearing the name of Nigeria and Nigerians with the crimes of yahoo yahoo, 419, Arm robbery and ritualism. As well as not expecting an apology from the Yorubas for the crimes of some Yoruba people who commits frauds, forgery, back stabbing and betrayals in trust, that have also smeared the good name of Nigeria.
Any Fulani person like any other person from any ethnic group or any race who have done anything wrong, should face the full wrath of the law, afterall only fairness and Justice can make a society civil and can make uncouth people refined.
But, this hate and profiling from the media, whatever is the reason for it and whosoever is behind it, I reject this profiling on myself and on any law abiding Fulani person. If anybody feels that, hatred from the media, full wrath of the media as well as media harassment is going to make me or any law abiding Fulani person duck our head in shame, “YOU CAN GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AND THINK AGAIN “.
I am and we are proudly Fulani. Yes, we are ashamed that we have neglected a lot of Fulani people without any good social warfare, to be at the mercy of every criminal to harass them, to kill their animals, to exploit their daughters and turned some of their sons into criminals. This is our crime, the crime of “NEGLECT” and selfishness. Yes, we don’t have any defense for this, in as much as it is the responsibility of the Nigerian Government to take care of all Nigerians, in the cities or in the forests.
Truly, the anger and the hate against some of the criminal Fulanis is real because the kidnappings hurts and affects a lot of people, including the elite Fulanis.
But, assessing the full wrath of the media profiling and the critical analysis of the hate speech as well as the ongoing venomous conversation, it can be candidly infer that, the majority innocent and vulnerable Fulanis are paying a price for the “resentment” some ethnic hate mongers harbours for the elite Fulanis.
I challenge the sponsors of this sinister acts of creating unnecessary tension and violence in the country, to come all out, own up, man up and face the elite Fulanis they are angry at, IF THEY CAN.
It is truly painful, that we have not only failed to integrate the vulnerable Fulanis which consequently leads to a lot of complexities of continuous attacks on the Fulanis, the killings of their Animals, refusal to acknowledge their plight and the lack of compensation to the lost of properties and livelihood of many Fulanis. We have also made the vulnerable Fulanis paid with their lives “the resentment” towards us, the elite Fulanis..
Certainly, we have hurt ourselves, a crime too many .
I leave us with this quote from Dalai Lama to reflect upon, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
