The
butchers from the North are better known as the Fulani militants and
herdsmen. They have unleashed horror and levied war against the people
of Nigeria over the last one year.
The saints are the Christians that they have slaughtered all over the country in that same period of time.
I consider every single saint that they
have killed as a martyr because they died for their faith. I honor them
with this essay and I dedicate it to their memory.
On 24th August 2016 Mr. Phil Smart wrote the following on Facebook:
“Catholic seminarian butchered, pregnant woman’s stomach cut open….as Fulani herdsmen continue killing in Enugu”.
Warning: The images at the links are of a graphic nature. Viewer discretion is advised.
The words were accompanied by a picture of a Catholic priest whose body had been shredded into pieces like fresh mincemeat or a Japanese sirloin steak. There was another of a pregnant woman whose stomach had been slit open right
down the middle and whose unborn foetus and guts were hanging out for
all to see. Clearly she had been carefully and clinically gutted.
Many other bodies were strewn all over
the burnt out fields and compounds of the village and some were so badly
mutilated and chopped up that it would have been difficult to convince
anyone that they once belonged to human beings. Not even babies were
spared.
In truth this was not the work of men
but rather of demon-possessed hybrid entities that the famous British
conspiracy-theorist Mr. David Icke describes as “shape-shifting
reptilians” and sociopathic beasts.
Worse still this was the second time in a
matter of weeks that the relative tranquility of Enugu was desecrated
by the presence of these nomadic beasts and murdering bastards.
On the previous occasion they caused as
much havoc, slaughtered as many people and engendered as much
consternation and outrage as the succeeding one.
Yet, it doesn’t stop there. On the very
same day that the latest attack in Enugu was going on other Nigerians
were being attacked and “burnt alive” by people of the same radical Islamist bent and spirit in far away Zamfara for “blaspheming against Islam”.
Other similar attacks by the same fanatics and jihadists took place on
that day in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Niger, Ondo, Plateau, Delta and
various other parts of the country.
If the truth be told this carnage and
butchery has now become a daily occurrence in our country and it is
always the same people, namely the butchers from the North, that
perpetrate them.
The worst aspect of it all is that
no-one has ever been arrested, prosecuted, or brought to justice by the
government for these hideous crimes mainly because President Buhari,
himself, is a Fulani and consequently the authorities seem to have
cultivated a soft-spot for them.
Indeed, General Buhari is actually the
Life Patron and “protector-in-chief” of the umbrella organisation of all
the Fulani Herdsmen in Nigeria which is known as Miyetti Allah.
There is, of course, another view, which
is that the herdsmen are actually a tool of conquest who are being
carefully cultivated, co-ordinated, controlled, organised, armed, and
funded by a sinister and dark hidden hand: that they are something akin
to a Fulani “death squad” or armed militia.
Those that share that view, and yours truly is amongst them, often refer to the butchers from the North as Nigeria’s “Janjaweed”,
after the ruthless camel-riding Arab Muslim militia which Sudanese
President Al Bashir commissioned, armed, and employed to decimate,
slaughter and commit genocide against over one million defenceless black
African Sudanese Christians in the vast region of Darfur for many
years.
It is also why the U.S.-based Global Terror Index describes them as the “Fulani Militants” and has designated them as the “fourth most deadly terrorist organisation” in the world.
Whatever one chooses to call them,
whoever is behind them and whatever their motives may be one thing is
clear: their actions are outrageous and barbaric and such behaviour has
no place in a civilised society.
I feel a deep sense of anger and outrage
on the one hand and utter shame and frustration on the other about what
is going on in our country today and what these butchers from the North
are doing to our people.
Theirs is a scorched earth policy and
they take no prisoners. They rape, kill, abduct, kidnap, and terrorise
people and they rob, burn down, destroy, and pillage their homes,
churches, and farmlands at will. Worse still they commit these
atrocities with total impunity and without any fear of the law
enforcement agencies or security forces.
And all this is done in the name and under the guise of herding cows and looking for grazing land for their cattle.
I feel a deep sense of anger and outrage
towards President Buhari and his government, because they seem to
believe that the constant spilling and shedding of innocent Christian
blood is something that brings them good fortune. It also appears to
give them immense pleasure and joy otherwise they would have put a stop
to it long ago.
I feel shame and frustration because the
Nigerian people themselves seem wholly incapable of standing up to that
which is nothing less than pure evil. They seem incapable of protesting
against anything, no matter how bestial and barbaric that thing may be.
I wonder who has bewitched us? Is this
the work of the “mai chanji” sweeping broom brew? Have the Nigerian
people been charmed? Are we under a spell? Are we like the Biblical
Galatians who the Apostle Paul says were “bewitched”?
Our people appear to be wholly incapable
of resisting and facing down those that have enthroned sadism and
wickedness in their hearts and that take pleasure in indulging in mass
murder, genocide and ethnic cleansing in our land.
It is not only the government that has
failed but the political leaders from all the opposition parties, the
traditional rulers, the clerics, the religious leaders, the media
practitioners, the publishers, the columnists, the writers, the human
rights activists, the editorial boards of newspapers, the bloggers, the
intellectuals, the businessmen, the teachers, the students, the writers,
the elites, the middle class, the workers, the unions and the ordinary
people themselves have all failed too.
They have all been gripped by the spirit
of fear. They have been bullied, intimidated, brow-beaten, and shocked
into pitiful submission and a sickening and cowardly timidity.
They have all failed to defend and speak up for the defenceless, the weak, and the vulnerable in our midst.
They have failed to protect and shield
the thousands that are hacked to pieces and burnt alive on a regular
basis by the rabid islamist beasts and terrorists in our midst for no
just cause other than the fact that they are perceived as being nothing
but Christian, Middle Belt and southern slaves.
I am going to say some hard things and
speak some home truths in this contribution and frankly I do not care
who takes offence, whose ox is gored or who feels hurt by it.
People are being killed by the demons in
flesh, the tsetse flies, and the religious and ethnic bigots in our
land every day. Buhari’s Nigeria is awash with blood and most of it is
Christian blood that is being shed by his misguided and dark-hearted
Fulani kinsmen.
It is time to speak the truth no matter
how ugly that truth may be and no matter how politically incorrect it
may be to speak it.
It is time to stand up to the evil in
the land, to damn the consequences and to bear the threats and insults
that always come for speaking and exposing the truth in what has
essentially become a police state.
It is time to coin that famous Ghanaian
phrase that says “all die be die” and to remember Shakespeare’s words
when he wrote, “Even though the heavens fall, let the truth be told and
let justice be done”.
And that truth is that the evil that has
seized our land has two columns, two heads and two primary sources of
motivation. The first is the forceful and bloody quest for Fulani
supremacy, ethnic hegemony and racial domination.
The second is the morbid obsession by
the radical Muslims of core northern Nigeria to shed innocent blood, to
take life in the name of their god, to effect Jihad against those that
do not share their world view, to wipe out Christianity, to enslave our
people and to islamise our country.
The truth is that every single CORE
northern Muslim leader that has ever ruled this country has either died
on the throne or been removed from power in a military coup. Not one of
them ended well.
Whether the second coming of Buhari will
end any differently remains to be seen. One thing that is clear to me
though is that the whole thing is spiritual. It is being orchestrated
and effected by the finger of God and not by any man.
It is God’s way of saying that they were
never meant to rule and be there in the first place and that He has
rejected them. It is the work of the Ancient of Days and the Lord God of
Hosts.
They believe that they were “born to rule” but in actual fact they have been rejected by the Living God.
Those that employ mass murder, ethnic
cleansing, and genocide as a tool of conquest and a legitimate weapon of
war, that consider their fellow Nigerians to be sub-human and that
believe that those fellow Nigerians are nothing but chattel and serfs
that are destined to be ruled over by some distant caliph are in grave
error: they have not fully understood God’s plan and purpose for this
country. They cannot comprehend or understand what is slowly unfolding.
They do not appreciate the fact that no matter how much evil they visit
on the rest of us that God is at work and His counsel alone will stand
over our people and in the affairs of our nation.
The truth is that the Lord regards them
as nothing more than unbelieving slaves and they are far below us. They
are of the darkness and we are of the light.
The bible describes it is a “great evil
under the sun” when “the children of slaves ride on horseback” whilst
“the sons of Kings walk around barefoot”.
That is what has been happening in
Nigeria since 1960. The children of the “bonded woman” have been riding
on horseback whilst the children “of promise” have been walking around
barefoot.
This is indeed “a great evil under the
sun”. It is a spiritual affliction. It is witchcraft. It is an
abomination. It is unacceptable.
It is a total reversal of the way things
ought to be. It is a rejection, usurpation and total corruption of
God’s original plan. It is ungodly and it is anti-Christ.
I blame no-one but the leadership of the body of Christ in Nigeria for this mess.
There are a few good ones amongst them
who stood firm and spoke out when it mattered the most but sadly there
are others who are more interested in collecting tiny crumbs from the
President’s table and buying fine clothes, expensive jewelry, fast cars
and private jets than they are in standing up for their flock and
effecting God’s purpose and plan for Nigeria.
Worst still there is also a small
handful, like that short and vocal Rev. Father from Enugu, who have
chosen to sell their souls to the devil, collaborate with the enemies of
Christ and serve as the principal cheerleaders to the tyrant.
If our men and women of God were bold
and courageous and if they were doing their job properly the radical
Muslims could not have turned Christians in Nigeria into second class
citizens and toilet paper and a sharia-loving, Muslim-fundamentalist,
closet- jihadist and Fulani supremacist like Buhari would never have
been in power today.
The bottom line is this: if you are not
ready to die for Christ or to lose your life or liberty for defending
and protecting the gospel, God’s children or the faith then you are not
worthy of being called a Christian.
We must help the Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN) to stand firm and strengthen their collective resolve
but we must not leave it at that.
We must also organise ourselves as well,
not only in the political arena, but also by setting up strong
Christian militias and defence squads to protect our churches and our
people from the terrorists and butchers.
We must aspire to emulate the Christian
Phalange militia in Lebanon which was formed just before the Lebanese
civil war broke out in the ’70’s and 80’s.
They were disciplined, well organised,
gallant and courageous and they defended the lives of their people and
the honor of their faith. The truth is that had it not been for the
Phalange the Christians of Lebanon would have been wiped out by the
Muslims in that war.
I abhore violence and neither do I advocate its use. However we must accept the fact that,
whether we like it or not, ultimately this matter will be settled not just by prayers, politics, long essays and press statements but also with guns and bullets.
whether we like it or not, ultimately this matter will be settled not just by prayers, politics, long essays and press statements but also with guns and bullets.
This is because violence is the only
language that the butchers from the north appreciate and can comprehend.
If the state is either incapable or refuses to protect the Christian
community in Nigeria we will be left with no choice but to defend
ourselves and protect our own.
Permit me to conclude this contribution with the following.
I would urge all those that still love
and support this government to take a long hard look at the pictures
that are strewn all over the internet of their fellow Nigerians that
have been mutilated and carved up like Christmas turkeys and sallah
goats. This is the work of Buhari’s kinsmen, the Fulani militias and
herdsmen.
He has refused to arrest any of them let
alone bring them to justice. Instead he has ruined our economy,
impoverished and destroyed the lives of our people and aborted their
God-given destiny, divided our nation on religious and ethnic lines,
demonised us before the international community and labelled every
Nigerian, apart from himself, as being incompetent and corrupt.
This is a man that spends his time
pontificating about corruption with long and boring speeches and
pointing fingers at others. This is a man that told Mr. Shinzo Abe, the
Prime Minister of Japan at the Tokyo summit in Nairobi just yesterday,
that Nigeria’s “business environment is not friendly to investors” and
that consistently tells other world leaders how supposedly “corrupt” his
own people are.
He has conveniently refused to tell
those same world leaders how his presidential campaign was funded, how
much money those that ran his campaign paid Mr. David Axelrod, President
Obama’s campaign advisor and publicist, and how many cars and how much
“allowance” he collected from Col. Sambo Dasuki, President Goodluck
Jonathan’s National Security Advisor, before being “elected” President.
The Bible says “let he who is free of
sin cast the first stone”. Nigerians may not know the truth today but
God does and He cannot be mocked. Let Him judge between us.
Yet the truth is that President Buhari’s
administration is not only essentially hypocritical but they also have
no shame. All those that continue to support them and cheer them on are
equally shameless.
Worst, still, their supporters are
cowards because they cannot find the courage to admit that they were
wrong in supporting a government that is manifestly divisive,
insensitive, incompetent, corrupt and intolerant of criticism and
dissent.
They are the ones that we must hold
responsible and accountable for what has happened to those unfortunate
people in all those pictures.
They are the ones that we must blame for
what has been happening to thousands of others at the hands of the
Fulani militants and herdsmen all over the country for the last one year
and three months.
I say this because they are the ones
that have encouraged the beast and cheered him on. They are the ones
that have fed his blood-lust and encouraged him in his morbid quest to
steal, kill and destroy. They are the ones that wanted, and still want,
“mai chanji”.
I say a pox on all their houses! Shame on them and shame on the beast and tyrant that they worship.
May the souls of all the saints,
believers, and Christian martyrs that were cut short by the butchers and
barbarians from the north rest in peace and may the Lord God of Hosts
avenge them speedily. Shalom.
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from @realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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