Buhari and the Fulani Settlers. Berom Yakubu Gowon people, blame British

A lot of things bothered me about Buhari. That is why I did not support his bid for election as most of you know. I did not believe that anything is better than GEJ; from my little experience of 30something years on this earth, I know for sure that if you think that things can’t get any worse then you are very wrong. The lows of life have several bottoms and it is a long way down the abyss.

I am not analysing his few months in office. Time will tell. It is just that something is hurting me and as each day goes by, it gets worse. Who can talk to him for me? He must know about it, but I wonder which side of the story he is listening to. The blogs rarely report this. Its voice is muted on TV and radio.

But for us that are affected, this voice is loud. Sometimes it is a shout, sometimes it is a cry, sometimes it is a prayer, sometimes it is just a hollow empty sound. Berom people “ Yakubu Gowon people” are being wiped out one family at a time. It started 14years ago and has intensified since May 29. Our men, our women, our children are being murdered on the streets, on their farms, in their sleep, on the way to school and sometimes still in the womb.

The culprits are called Unknown gunmen. They are unknown to the security agencies, unknown to the bloggers, unknown to TV, Radio and Newspapers. They are most terrifyingly unknown to the presidency. Funny thing is if you ask a 3 year old Berom boy who they are, he will tell you.

About a month after Buhari was sworn in, I heard a statement from the FG vowing to deal with cattle rustlers and to protect cattle rearers. I almost choked in my saliva. The Fulanis that carry AK47s alongside their sticks? So who will protect the farmers? Who will protect their families from the cattle rearers? My mother’s village is practically empty. The women and children are squatting in town. The men form bands, like vigilantes knowing that they cannot turn their backs away from their ancestral lands or they will be lost forever.

That is the plan. Shey you all know. It is a war to claim territory. We make their villages unsafe, they run away and we can roam and graze freely. 100years from now, no one will dispute it is ours. It is a long term plan but one family a night, in a year thousands are killed year in year out and the plan is taking shape.

A chemical explosion at British America in Lamingo area in Jos and Buhari orders an investigation. Families are being snuffed out, not a word. He is chasing money for people that are dying. When (if) he gets this money, how many will be alive to benefit from it? I am speaking about my people, who are IDPs all over plateau state. In my family house in Jos, we cook with a huge pot outside. I cannot tell you how much it costs. We will bear the cost, if only we knew when Buhari will finish securing the lives of the cows of Fulani people and remember our lives.

The rest of Nigeria is looking at the North East, but they have hope. Who is looking at the North Central? We are looking at ourselves. When people from Benue speak, we understand only

too well. Someone asked what the security agencies are doing, we are asking the same. I remember when the soldiers in Vom were pursued by women baring their breasts. They were camping in the midst of Vom people and still families were being killed.

I understand America’s unwillingness to give up their guns. Too many crazy people. If the Berom people decided to bear arms, who in honesty will blame them? How do you look at the corpses of children with their milky bloody brains on the floor next to their severed heads and not burn with murderous rage? How do you look at young pretty girls wearing tights in the Jos morning cold strewn on the floor in awkward positions on half harvested potatoe farms and not want vengeance? How do you wrap the bodies of your 65 year old uncle, his younger brother, his wife and two children in wrappers and lay them side by side in a large dug out red dirt ditch and still feel human? How does a mother stop being a mother when her breasts are still leaking with milk for a baby hacked to death with a cutlass? She would hug the older children for comfort, only they were killed too. And O ye kinsmen of Fulani, that jump into every thread and talk about how much cattle the Fulani have lost. Can you help us do a body count? Count your cattle and victims and we will count just our bodies. If ours is higher, will you stop? Will your thirsty god finally be appeased? I am equating the lives of my people to your cows. I am to understand they are precious to you. You have killed our old, young and the babies. You have spared no one.

I call on Buhari because he said he is for us all. Not just the cattle rearers. Buhari, Plateau state voted almost 50%, hear our cries. Lastly, no one should mention graze reserves. You cannot soak a land with the blood of its indigenes and then hand it over to their killers. Your cows will be eating blood grass. Ya Yesu Adagwi, see our tears. Save our children.

By Prince Dave