WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-05-18 Time: 23:00:04 Posted By: Jan
By Andrew Agbese
Ahmed Mohammed – On Thursday, May 14, 2009, 48 Fulani people from different parts of Plateau State were summoned for a meeting with Governor Jonah Jang at Rayfield Government House in Jos, the Plateau State capital. The people were supposed to be elders of the Fulani ethnic group in the state, especially the leaders of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN in the 17 local government areas of the state as well as the Hardo who oversee Fulani-dominated wards in certain districts of the state.
But as the different vehicles conveying the Fulani elders were making their way into Jos for the meeting, it became clear that whatever resolution to be reached was not going to be binding on the entire Fulani population in the state as the horde of persons that alighted from the vehicles were not drawn from the Miyetti Allah Association. Weekly Trust was informed that the people were from the Hardo group who were indirectly under the control of the state government and also under the supervision of the district heads of their various local governments.
The Miyetti Allah group, quickly realising this, issued a statement to dissociate itself from the meeting, while pointing accusing fingers at the state governor for trying to decimate the population of the Fulani in the area. The state government had scheduled the meeting with the Fulani to explain to them the circumstances that led to the recent expulsion of the over 2,000 members of their kin from Bashar District of Wase Local Government Area.
Barely two weeks after the recent expulsion of the Fulani from Wase became public, there were apprehensions from many Fulani in Plateau State that the state government was planning to flush out the entire Fulani population, saying also that the recent expulsion marked the initial step in achieving the plan.
Governor Jang, according to sources in the meeting, which had in attendance the Emir of Wase, Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi and the Rekna of Bashar, Alhaji Idris Adamu, however, did not offer any fresh explanation over why the Fulani were expelled. He only echoed the earlier excuse given by the state Commissioner for Information, Gregory Yenlong, which is that the Fulani were not expelled as largely reported, but were only assisted to leave the area based on the concerns and reservations expressed by residents of neighbouring villages where they were residing.
But both the explanation and assurances given by the governor rather than assuage the fears of other Fulani in Plateau State only heightened them. This, according to the Fulani, is because of the manner in which the state government is going about the issue, which even though it has admitted was done in breach of their constitutional right, has not up till now offered any word of apology over the gaffe.
The leaders of the Miyetti Allah group which boycotted the Jos meeting, Alhaji Boro Husseini and Mallam Nuru Muhammad, said the few of their members that attended the meeting were hoodwinked into doing so as they were put into government vehicles and driven to Government House under duress. They also claimed that those at the meeting were not their true representatives. “We hereby dissociate our association and the entire Fulani of Plateau State from the outcome or decision of this coercive meeting held by the governor with the Ardo under an atmosphere of intimidation, deceit and manipulation in order to subvert the course of justice,” it stated.
They stressed that whatever resolution the state government may come out with at the meeting does not represent their views as the two co-chairs of the association as well as 15 out of the 17 chairmen of the association in the various local government areas were absent at the meeting. They insisted that no true Fulani would attend the meeting with the state governor knowing full well what the government had done to reduce the population of the ethnic group in the state. They alleged that the governor has never hidden his phobia for their presence and that his plan to reduce their population is also well-known.
But from the explanation given by the governor at the Thursday meeting, it appears that after initially denying knowledge of the exercise in which an estimated 2,000 Fulani, including women and children, were expelled from Wase, he has decided to hold on to the latter explanation, which is that it has no hand in the exercise and that it only provided assistance for the Fulani to move after having received complaints from other villagers there.
The Commissioner for Information, Yenlong, further explained that each of the groups that were shipped out in 14 trucks was assisted to relocate to “where they came from” and that they were then taken to different parts of some northern states in the country. Sources said the Bashar route has been a thriving grazing route for Fulani herdsmen for some years, and that in certain periods, the population of livestock in that area is particularly high given the influx of herdsmen looking for pasture for their flock.
Investigations also showed that these herdsmen had indeed sauntered into the Bashar area whenever they’re looking for greener pastures in batches, taking along with them their herds of cattle, wives, children and other family members.
Our correspondents gathered that it was the involvement of the family group of Fulani in the exercise that informed the decision of the state government to make the operation as discreet as possible so as not to incite other members of the ethnic group from the state. The accusation is coming at a time the state government is yet to clear itself of a similar one occasioned by the recent crisis in Jos North Local Government.
This time around, to prove it was not the mastermind of the expulsion, the government has since attributed the idea and execution of the project to the chairman of the local government, Mohammed Abubakar Badu, who accepted that he acted based on the complaints he received from other residents of the area concerning the Fulani population.
While trying to exonerate the state government, Badu claimed that since he is a Fulani man, he stands to gain nothing if he partakes in an exercise that would decrease the population of his people in the areas, stressing that the action was devoid of any political, ethnic or religious reasons. But many have picked holes in his explanation. They claim that he used to shy away from any comment on the episode till he was warmly embraced by the state government at the press conference it organised.
When contacted by our correspondents to make further clarification on what he said at the press briefing, Badu declined, stating that he had said all that needed saying at the government-organised press briefing.
Just like the Ardo, there is great suspicion that the local government chairman who is said to owe his election success to the support of the government may have been given a script to act upon. They feel that his explanations belie the fact that the local government on its own could have engineered the expulsion and then later invite the state government and other security agencies to come and observe, as he wants to make people believe.
Many have noted that the Wase chairman had failed to disclose who among the expelled Fulani approached him to say they wanted to move and needed his assistance. Many also say his ignorance of the exact population of the Fulani that have been driven out goes to show that he was only co-opted into the act as he would have had such facts at the tip of his fingers if actually the complaint was from him.
In any case, Badu has denied that he wrote any security report to the state government on the issue before the exercise was carried out. He told newsmen in clear terms when asked if it was true that he wrote a security report that he did no such thing. Many say if it was the local government that acted based on the request by the Fulani, then it should have also been able to present those that made the request on behalf of the others, and that if the involvement of the LG government was based on a tip by the state government, then it should have come by way of a memo knowing the magnitude and sensitivity of the action.
Our correspondents also discovered that it was not the local government that approached the military and various security agencies in the state in order to carry out the exercise. According to Weekly Trust findings, the exercise spanned three to four days before the last of the Fulani was finally expelled.
However, there are aspects in the episode that indicate that Wase LG chairman is not entirely innocent of the bid to deplete the Fulani population in the area. Many allege that the Bashar area where the exercise was carried out has never been the stronghold of the PDP in the state and that the area has always posed the greatest threat to the aspirations of the PDP in elections.
The House of Representatives member from Wase, Hon. Idris Ahmed, who won his election on the platform of the AC is from the area and is seen as controlling the politics of that chiefdom.
The belief is that the local government chairman, even though a Fulani man, may have allowed himself to be used to reduce the population of the area for his political survival.
It was noted that before the local government election, the present chairman, Mohammed Abubakar Badu, who was then the PDP candidate, had been worried about how that would affect his electoral chances at that time and in the future. He was said to have complained about how the influx of the Fulani to the area might spell doom for the PDP if allowed to continue.
The chairman however denied this, saying he won his election by a very wide margin and that he doesn’t have to do anything of that sort to burnish his political advantage, which he says is enormous and unassailable.
But it is the state government that bears the highest suspicion as the bulk of the motives fit its design and intention.
The Reknan of Bashar while receiving the House of Assembly delegation to the area said he got reports from his subjects about the influx of more Fulani to the area, but that he was not aware that they posed any security threat. Our correspondents discovered that most Fulani and Hausa in the state have not been comfortable with Jang’s administration.
There is wide suspicion that the governor blames both his personal and ethnic misfortunes on the Hausa-Fulani population and may have vowed to do anything to frustrate their members so as to effectively check their number. The Council of Ulama in the state recently alluded to this in statement, stressing that the governor is highly xenophobic and may go ahead to implement more of such plans if not checked.
The Ulama elders in a statement signed by Sheik Balarabe Dawud, Sheik Muhammad Sani Yahya Jingir and Sheik Alhassan Saeed, said Jang wants to “implement a hate agenda and perpetrate violence against law-abiding Nigerian citizens.”
But the governor was said to have denied this at the Thursday meeting, insisting that the expulsion was done purely because of the reasons he had earlier expressed.
Weekly Trust also learnt that the exercise may have been carefully and meticulously planned by the government and that it was intended to be carried out under the most discreet manner so as not to arouse any suspicion. This, our correspondent learnt was why the initial denial by the state government officials that anything like that had taken place as it was much later, when the facts became glaring that the state government accepted something like took place but preferred to spin the whole idea on the local government while admitting only minimal involvement.
Our correspondents also found out that the idea for the expulsion had been an agenda at a state security meeting where it was fully deliberated upon before it was eventually carried out. The government is also suspected to have bankrolled the expense for the operation which was said to have gulped millions of naira.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Lerama, when contacted said he was busy with the security arrangement of the coronation of the Gbong Gwom hence he could not comment.
But a senior police officer in the Plateau State command, who preferred not to be named, confirmed that it was the Plateau State government that ordered the expulsion of the Fulani from Wase and that the matter was discussed at the State Security Council meeting.
Trailing the expelled
Though the exact location of all the expelled Fulani remain largely unknown, Weekly Trust traced a family of 30 to their new settlement, a village called Kampani in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, which is about 50 kilometres away from Bauchi town. Our correspondent, who was part of a team of journalists led by the Pastoral Resolve (PARE) and the Bauchi State Agency for Nomadic Education met with the expelled Fulani.
Narrating his ordeal and that of the members of his family that included about 10 children among them a three-week-old baby in the hands of Mobile Police and members of the Civil Defence Corps during the evacuation, 75-year-old Alhaji Muhammadu Maikatsari said it was an experience he would never have expected unless during war time.
The ailing and half blind old man said, “They bundled us into trucks with some of our belongings and animals and brought us to Kampani Village. Some of the members of my family were in the bush rearing cattle while others were doing other chores, but they just carried those they met and left the rest behind. We are now scattered. I don’t know where about 10 members of my family are. Only 30 of us made it here.”
The septuagenarian who seemed to still be in shock and could barely speak said they were living peacefully in the area when security men suddenly started chasing them away. When we came to the place about 10 years ago, our boys went to the district head of Bashar and reported our arrival. We will never go back now. We will stay here where we are wanted.”
Hauwa Hussaini, who appeared to be in her 30s, was nursing her one-week-old baby when the strategy befell them. She said she was about to go for her traditional morning bath for new mothers known in Hausa as wankan jego when she heard shouts, and on emerging from the makeshift bathroom, she was bundled into a waiting vehicle by the Mobile Policemen and members of the Civil Defence Corps.
“I was about to take my morning hot bath when I heard commotion. When I came out to see what the noise was about, I saw my family being bundled into a vehicle with security men wielding weapons. I was also not spared. I just rushed into the room and picked my baby up.”
47-year-old Muhammad Sani, another member of the family, also told Weekly Trust that they were driven in a truck under the menacing eyes of security operatives that included Mobile Policemen and Civil Defence Corps leaving everything behind. He said that they had stayed in Bashar in Wase Local Government Area for about ten years without any problem. “Our understanding is that it is the Plateau State government that is behind our eviction. It was like we were slaves captured in a war because nobody gave us any chance to carry our belongings or other members of our family when they came. These little things you see are the only things we were able to grab when they came.”
According to the Personal Assistant to the Bauchi State governor on Miyetti Allah, the moment they heard that the expelled Fulani were taking refuge in Bauchi, they swung into action to find and locate them. “We started the search for them in earnest six days ago (Sunday, May 10) until we discovered this family. We will soon write to the government to immediately come to their aid. We also heard that there are others in Dindima, Alkaleri Local Government Area and some in Ningi.”
Our correspondents were informed that the expelled Fulani are now camped in the middle of a bush completely cut off from life. There is neither a school nor any social amenity around them while their source of water is a stream that is about a mile away from the camp. Weekly Trust also observed that the expelled are still suffering from the psychological trauma arising from their forceful expulsion, because their children ran into the bush when they heard the sound of the approaching vehicles belonging to the Bauchi State governor’s PA on Miyetti Allah group and only emerged from their hiding places after being assured that it was friends in their midst, not foes.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 16 May 2009
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200905180725.html?viewall=1