THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN IGBO AND FULANI BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
The more things look different, the higher the chances of finding similarities if we look closely. Those at the opposite end of the spectrum are mirror images. If we move too quickly, we are subjected to the parallax effect, where everything is moving except us. In this scenario, we are not the cause but the effect.
I have lived with the Igbo and Fulani people. As a student of behavioural science, I don’t see any difference in these groups. They may hate and admire each other, but they have a mirror effect on each other.
The Fulani people are fatalistic, while the Igbo are nihilistic. A keen observer can predict these groups in any given situation. The level of narcissism between these groups is superlative. The Fulani trust no one outside their conclave.
In the last election, the South-East gave 99% of the votes to Mr. Peter Obi. At what point does self-love become injurious to the group? This is the question we can answer if we can calibrate the interactions. That might be injurious to people who are not members of the group.
Igbo and the Fulani may differ in temperament, but their worldview is the same. Both groups want the same results, but their methods are different. The Fulani people use religious manipulation, while the Igbo people use manipulated commerce. At the end of the day, the objective is the same. They want to be in charge. The Fulani will boast of their piety, while the Igbo people will brag about their wealth. The Fulani man tells us he is closer to God, so he should be the head, while the Igbo people will tell us God has blessed them with so much wealth, so he should be the leader.
It is the failure to understand this mirror effect that has made some promoters of the Fulani and Igbo agendas jump to conclusions with emotional fervour.
The Igbo and the Fulani people were in alliance in the First Republic. Due to the oversized egos of these ethnic groups, Nigeria suffered a mortal injury. They were in Alliance in the First Republic, and that Republic fell apart because they could not control each other, and they could not control their basic instincts.
From this ancient grudge are the seeds of the new mutiny. The first person who told Nigerians that God bequeathed Nigeria to the Igbo people for proper stewardship was Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. Ahmadu Bello heard the speech and rephrased it and made it abundantly clear that Nigeria was the estate of his grandfather. The alliance between Igbo and Fulani was a marriage of convenience. Ahmadu Bello saw it as an opportunity to keep the Igbo close so that he could put a check on their behaviour. Nnamdi Azikiwe saw it as an opportunity to plant the Igbo people in every federal position to fulfil the manifest destiny of the Igbo as ordained by God.
As soon as the alliance was formed, things fell apart, and the nation was no longer at ease. The friction within this alliance was so bad that Ahmadu Bello had to remind Zik that it is the Prime Minister who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and he was the only one who could give a directive to the Army. When the name of Aguyi Ironsi was submitted to be the next Chief of Army staff, Ahmadu Bello vetoed it three times. Tafawa Balewa made a personal trip to Kaduna to accede on behalf of Ironsi. Ahmadu Bello reluctantly agreed and told Balewa that he was surrounded by Igbo, and he feared he would not be able to extricate himself from Lagos. He told him that the Igbo people in the cabinet are conducting themselves as if they were the senior partners in the alliance.
His worries came to pass, and the rest is history. Our democracy was derailed, and war ensued. When Ojukwu declared secession, he sent a message to David Ejoor, who was the Governor of the Midwest Region, that he was going to invade the Midwest region. David Ejoor pleaded with him that the Midwest region was neutral in the quarrel between Igbo and Fulani. Ojukwu ignored his plea and invaded the Midwest Region. Ejoor barely escaped with his life. Ojukwu appointed Colonel Okonkwo as Governor, and the Mid-west region became hell on earth. It was murder, rape and forcible conscription of the youth into the Biafran Army. Banks were looted and public institutions were vandalized. Nothing was sacrosanct.
Why kill us if you ask us to be in the same country as Biafra with you? What would we be if Biafra had prevailed? We could have been prisoners of war. If the Fulani people did this to us, the Igbo people would call it a Jihad. Nigeria has had an uneasy peace since the end of the war. There were some ill feelings between the Igbo and the Fulani, but it was not this palpable.
During the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, the Igbo people were a majority in his cabinet. The Fulani people were on edge. There was no Biafran agitation. Then Buhari came in, and there was a sudden effervescence of bitterness and animosity. Why? The Igbo, like the Fulani people, have become uneasy because Buhari‘s compass only pointed North. His family was his cabinet. Suddenly, Nigeria became a zoo because the Igbo man was no longer in charge.
You can now see clearly the mirror effect. When the Fulani ran the North, all the important positions were occupied by the Fulani. When the Igbo ran the East, all the important positions were occupied by the Igbo. The minority in the North suffered, and the minority in the East suffered. It was the oppression by the Igbo that drove Southern Cameroon out of Nigeria. The minority in the East is uncomfortable with the Igbo, and the minority in the North is uncomfortable with the Fulani. You can now see the similarities clearly.
The Fulani don’t see themselves as Nigerians because they colonized the North, and no local force has been able to force them out. The administrative system of the whole North was put in place by the Fulani.
What is happening in the North is akin to apartheid. In their shrewdness, they tell the Hausa people that they are superior because they are Muslims. Igbo people regale others with their prowess as the richest people God created, and the minorities of the East are very lazy. This propensity to be crude and vulgar is no different from the Fulani who call someone an infidel and want the person to submit to their authority. The Fulani people have a sword, and the Igbo people have a machete.
Promoters of the Igbo agenda take offence to this comparison because, in their worldview, they place themselves higher than the Fulani because of education. Education and civilization are not synonymous. Education makes you haughty. Civilization gives you the ability to adapt. They took offence because of this observation. Their offence is not about the observation. They take offence because one ascribes everything negative to the Fulani, and they see this observation as pejorative. That is on them for failing to see the kaleidoscopic mirage that has blinded them to see how they can forge a relationship that is not based on animus.
In our present Nigeria, we have to find a way to work together without distrust. The Fulani man sees himself as a colonial master. This leads to arrogance and aloofness that is offensive to others. On the other hand, the Igbo are the only tribe in Nigeria that has never had any form of monarchy in their history. This led to a culture of individualism that could be injurious to group cohesion. This is why someone who calls himself an Igbo king does not understand the lack of etiquette in forming a kingdom under another kingdom. In the past, that was considered an act of war because you had to conquer the kingdom before you could set up your Royal lineage. This lack of awareness can only be celebrated by those who trivialize the culture of others. This is similar to the Sultan of Sokoto in telling Nigerians that Islam trumps our culture. The more things look different, the more they look the same. Be observant. The two regions that are very restive in Nigeria today are the North and the East. They are ready to destroy the edifice if their group is not in charge. Can you see the similarities now? The umbrage in the response by a promoter of the agenda of the two groups will be the same if a Fulani had replied. You feel you are superior, and the Fulani feels the same. This egotistic behavior blinds them from seeing the ripples of their actions. This lack of self-reflection is the reason Nigeria is in a vicious cycle today. The Fulani people want Nigeria to be Arewa, while the Igbo people want Biafra. This syndrome of atomization is the cumulative resultant forces unleashed by these ethnic groups.
We will never resolve this state of our entropy as long as these groups think the only way forward is to subjugate each other and the rest of us.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN IGBO AND FULANI BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
