Fiery Fulani don, Labdo dissects Amotekun, says why outfit may fail

By Femi Alabi Onikeku

Umar Muhammad Labdo. Remember him? The professor of Islamic Political Thought at Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano who once ruffled ethnic feathers by proclaiming in a facebook post that Benue State belongs to the Fulani by right of conquest…He has stirred the waters again in an exclusive interview with The Daily Times where he touched the controversial edges of relations among the entities that make up Nigeria.

   Labdo, who maintains he is “Fulani and very proud”, explained why Amotekun, the controversial security outfit set up by South West states, will fail. In a colourful ceremony, Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had on Tuesday inaugurated the organisation in Akure, the state capital. Also, despite the crisis in Southern Kaduna and allegations that the state government is complicit, the professor explained why Governor Nasir el-Rufai is the best thing the state could ever have as solution to the killings.

   Notwithstanding, the insecurity challenge in parts of the North, Professor Labdo said a research by him prove that the South is being depopulated as people migrate en masse to a North willing to receive them with open arms as against an antagonistic South that is busy expelling people.

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   In his now famous facebook post, Labdo said: “Benue State belongs to the Fulani people by right of conquest. This is because half of the state is part of the Bauchi Emirate and the other half is part of the Adamawa Emirate. Benue is therefore part and parcel of the Sokoto Caliphate. So no one has the right to expel the Fulani from Benue under any guise.

   “Second to the Arabs, perhaps the Fulani are the most benevolent and merciful conquerors in history. If they had applied the Nazi final solution to the natives, or if they had treated them the same way the European settlers treated Red Indians in North America or the Aborigines in Australia, the story would have been different toady. The Fulani are the largest single nation in West Africa and, perhaps, on the whole continent and they have remained unbeatable throughout their history.”

   He adds: “You can hate the Fulani, you can call them all sorts of names, you can blackmail their spineless political leaders, you can conspire to wipe out the entire Fulani leadership in a single day, you can stage a coup and “orkarize” (excise) the core Fulani states from Nigeria, you can hate them to hell, but you can never beat them.

   “Fulani’s main problem remains their meek, spineless, incompetent leaders that have lost all sense of responsibility and abandoned their people. But this problem, thank God, is not insurmountable. The Fulani are capable of changing their leaders: traditional, political, religious and cultural (I mean by cultural those so-called Fulani socio-cultural organizations that eat fat on the Fulani but cannot champion their cause or defend their rights). They have done this in the past and are capable of doing it again.”

     In this interview, asked if any parts of Plateau State or Southern Kaduna belong to the Fulani, Labdo replied: “Plateau State belongs to the people of Plateau and they include many Fulani. A lot of Fulani are citizens of Plateau State. Maybe you want me to repeat what I said about Benue in the past. What I said in respect of Benue that it belonged to the Fulani by right of conquest was in a context. That context is absent here. 

   “Southern Kaduna belongs to the people of Southern Kaduna and many Fulani are original inhabitants of that area and therefore part and parcel of Southern Kaduna people. I think the elites should stop playing politics with the lives of people. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is clear about citizens residing in any part of the country and no one has the right to expel anybody from any locality on the pretext that they are settlers.

   “The indigene/settler dichotomy is archaic and backward. It is unfortunate that in this 21st century and at this stage of our journey to nationhood we still have people who call fellow citizens settlers just because they have decided to take up permanent residency in an area other than their land of birth. Why don’t we hear about settlers in Kano, Gombe or Katsina, for instance, when we have thousands of non-indigenes living there? Why is it only in Southern Kaduna and parts of the Middle Belt that people are called settlers?”

   Asked if Benue State should have established its open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law, 2017, Professor Labdo answered: “So long as it is discriminatory to a section of Nigerians, the law is illegal and unconstitutional and therefore should not have been established in the first place. The Benue State anti-grazing law is anti-Fulani and discriminatory to them. You need to read the text of the law to know that. The law is meant to keep the Fulani out of Benue State. Many people know the title of the law only. Read the law and you will know what I mean.”

   Clashes between herders and farmers have been a painful and bloody experience, especially in the South. “The root cause of the conflict,” according to Professor Labdo, “is the farmers’ encroachment on the cattle routes of the herders.”

   He explained: “A few decades ago there were no conflicts between the two. Why? The reason is that the farmers had their farms while the herders had their routes. So there was no need for friction. Now the herders no longer have their routes. But they still need to move around with their cattle. So this is the problem.

   “These routes that have existed for centuries and which have been gazetted by the colonial administrations have now been taken over by development, by large scale farmers and by industry. And no alternative was provided for the herders. This is the problem. And to solve it, routs should be reopened or in the alternative, modern ranching arrangement which is just and affordable, like the Federal Government’s RUGA scheme for instance should be provided for the herders.” 

   Back to the Southern Kaduna crisis, The Daily Times asked the professor what he made of allegations that the Fulani are on a deliberate mission to take over communities in the region. Labdo asked: “Could you tell me why Southern Kaduna is so different from say Bauchi, Gusau, Huntua or even Lagos? Are the Igbo on a deliberate mission to take over Lagos? I think the issue of Southern Kaduna is being politicized and you the Press are not helping matters.

   “Why when people are killed in Sokoto, Zamfara or Katsina it is bandits killing villagers, but when people are killed in Southern Kaduna it is Fulani killing Christians? Why can’t people be honest? Why can’t politicians rule and eat their loot in peace without dividing the people?”

   Labdo said he doesn’t not agree that the Kaduna State government has been complicit in managing the crisis, contrary to widespread opinion. According to him, “What is there is that Kaduna today has a dynamic, progressive, forward looking and fearless Governor who can call a spade a spade and act appropriately as the situation demands.

   “And this is the way to solve any problem: call a spade a spade and do the right thing no matter whose ox is gored. Without speaking the truth, without being just and fair, leaders cannot solve the problems bedeviling their people, especially problems of the nature we are talking about.”

   He therefore advised the people of Southern Kaduna to “cooperate with their Governor to solve this problem once and for all.” He noted: “There should be open, sincere and constructive dialogue that will afford all parties to the conflict an opportunity to air their grievances and the government should be firm and not treat any party with kid gloves. Government should do justice to all concerned and should be seen to be doing justice to all. The key to solving problems and resolving conflicts and crisis is justice. Without justice there can be no peace.”

   Speaking on Amotekun, Professor Labdo insisted that if the outfit was put in place “to expel perceived outsiders from Yorubaland, then it will not succeed, because it would be injustice to others and injustice can only breed more violence and more clashes.

   “I wonder why Southern elites are so afraid of others. Or are they just mischievous? They are supposed to be highly educated and enlightened and educated people are always open to other people, new ideas and foreign cultures. In the case of the Southerners generally, this does not seem to be the case. Why are they keen to settle in other people’s land while they are so averse to others settling in their land? Are they not all over Northern Nigeria, in Europe, in the US, in Asia, and other places? Why are they afraid to let others stay in their land?

   “I often marvel at the situation that while Southern elites are busy expelling others from their land and inciting their people against them, Northerners are receiving people from all over Nigeria with open arms. A private investigation I carried out with the help of some of my students found out that nearly 35% of all Youth Corps participants from the South who serve in the North never return to their land of birth; they settle permanently in the North, especially in large urban areas such as Kano, Kaduna, Ilorin, and so on.

   “This is in addition to other categories of migrants who settle and find means of livelihood in the North in spite of the much talked about security situation in the region. The number is so alarming that the focus of my research now is the consequences of depopulating the South in the long run. Amotekun will not succeed and I think even the Yoruba leaders are changing their minds about it.” 

   The Fulani are viewed with suspicion especially in the South. Why should people think otherwise? Labdo replied: “Suspicion, why? Because they are stereotyped in the media? Because they are from another planet? Why are Yoruba and Igbo not viewed with suspicion in the North? It is time Southerners do away with this childish and laughable mentality. Everybody needs peace and so everybody must work for it.

   “Southerners should not view others with suspicion if they want to preserve their sanity. It is not healthy to be suspecting people all the time just because they look different from you, or they speak a different language from your own. There is something abnormal about this.”