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1. About 2 years ago, the FG proposed a RUGA solution to herders farmers conflict and some Nigerians blackmailed the conversation with some of the most disgusting ethnocentric bile you would ever see.
The monstrous gang up weakened people like me, who wanted a lasting solution.
The monstrous gang up weakened people like me, who wanted a lasting solution.
2. Some people even went as far as saying the FG shouldn't invest Nigeria's money to pastoralists advantage. I was stunned at such amount of bile. When you point out that other farmers were equally collecting grants, they started comparing the amounts of grants looking for bias.
3. It was shocking that a problem which predated the amalgamation of Nigeria was reduced in space and time to become the agenda of a Fulani President who wanted to "Fulanise," Nigeria of 2010s and 2020s. Apart from it being socially impossible it is also bizarre to think such.
4. Hypocrites of all shapes and sizes crept out of their holes, spinning conspiracy theories that would have made the writer, Dan Brown green. In one breath, you hear, "ranching is the solution," in another you hear, "don't use my father's land for ranching."
5. At the end of the day, we're neither here nor there. The forced stalemate of that RUGA conversation of 2019, is morphing into a bigger problem for Nigeria's unity in 2021. Every right thinking Nigerian know we have to sieve out the criminals from the Fulani pastoralists.
6. If we claim the problem is from Fulani normads, why are we now targeting Fulani settlers? It doesn't make sense to me. Ranching is the ONLY solution to the herders farmers clash in Nigeria and we can't pretend that Fulanis aren't also victims of these violence.
7. The FG didn't do well with how it handled RUGA issue at all. The way we woke up to hear about RUGA from the biased Nigerian media helped to sustain mutual suspicions. How the FG would allow others control the narratives the FG should own is very disappointing.
8. I have said it before and will say it again. Every problem of Nigeria you see today is a deferment from yesterday. The herder\\farmers crises won't just disappear when we have southern president. In fact, with climate change, it will only increase poverty and insecurity.
9. If you Google farmer\\herder crisis in Nigeria, you will be amazed with the many academic papers to that effect. The theoretical solutions seems to be there in abundance but the politics is keeping its practice away.
@MBuhari and @ProfOsinbajo should now wake up.
@MBuhari and @ProfOsinbajo should now wake up.
11. There is no need to play to the gallery or throw money at the problems from a distance. We need to begin an aggressive education and sensitisation on ranching by adopting a multi-cultural approach to the matter. We need to listen more to our affected communities.
11. I will never forget the conversation I had with a fellow Yoruba man on this matter. He went ballistic with all sort conspiracies and roped every speculations you could think of into reasons why RUGA shouldn't be allowed.
12. At about 12 noon, my pal ordered pounded yam and white soup with about 8 to 10 pieces of moderately cut pieces of meat. I smiled and asked him if his luxurious meat eating lifestyle wouldn't be affected by his antagonistic position on the RUGA matter?
He avoided me for days.
He avoided me for days.
13. This is where we don't seem to ever learn. We blanket and condemn only on a wholesale fashion. We close our eyes when wronged and destroy ties through words and actions. And when the dust settles, we want things to automatically jump back to where it were.
14. This was what we did with EndSARS too. We labelled every police officer as bad and forgot they were useful to us at some point. When the dusts settled, we became frenetic looking for police as criminals innundated us.
This attitude must change going forward.
This attitude must change going forward.
