In Dnata Chiefdom, Kagarko LGA, Kaduna State, a Christian king reigns over a largely Fulani Muslim population. This is significant because the Fulani are nomadic herders known for attacks on Christian communities. Christians are understandably outraged by the murders and kidnappings, but preventing the situation from escalating into a religious war requires remembering that not every member of an ethnic or religious group thinks the same way or wants the same things.
At the palace of His Royal Highness Amb. Dr. Engr. Bitrus James Abwaminajeyi, American missionaries fromThe Palace Alliancewere told they were the first foreigners to meet with the Fulani Ardus (chiefs) and the first Christians to pray a Christian prayer with them. The king had been called away to a state meeting, so the prince represented him, saying the Ardus were grateful for the visit. “It makes them feel that they are loved and their concerns are being heard.”
That such a meeting could take place at all reflects a divide within the Fulani dating to 1804, when an internal jihad split the people into two groups. One amalgamated with the Hausa, integrating fully and holding positions of wealth and power. The other, the Bororo, or “Cow Fulani,” kept their pastoral way of life and did not intermarry extensively with other tribes, becoming the source of much of the contemporary conflict. The integration problem is not universal among all Fulani; it is concentrated among the nomadic subset.
The senior Ardu, named Bash, spoke English and began by thanking the king in absentia for organizing the meeting. He also expressed gratitude that foreigners had traveled so far to hear the Fulani side. “All the time it is we who are seen as the bad guys,” he said, adding that “the Fulanis are all in the bush. They don’t have a place of their own.”
As nomadic herders constantly moving with hundreds of cattle per family, their children rarely attend school. As a result,only 26%of Fulani males and 13% of females are literate.
“We desire for our children to go to school. We also desire a place where we can stay. We desire a place of our own as well.”
One of the other Ardus spoke up and, through a translator, said, “I have also gone to school, but as a shepherd.” The assembled crowd laughed.
He went on to say, “I have seen the whole of Nigeria. If there is a place in Nigeria where I have not taken my cows to graze, it would just be a handful. So, I was born and bred here, in this kingdom.”
He motioned toward Bash and said, “You see my friend here. He went to school and now he can speak a foreign language and communicate with foreign people.”
He concluded by saying that he wanted his children to go to school and have more opportunities in life.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
