FULANIZATION/ISLAMIZATION: NO! BABA IYABO
FULANIZATION/ISLAMIZATION: NO! BABA IYABO
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
May 21, 2019
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No! No! This is not the Baba Iyabo we know, President Obasanjo sir, please, don't "discredit" your "hard earned status" of being a "statesman" by decending "so very low" because of your political difference with President Buhari who happens to be a Muslim-Fulani man.
I had course to pay my glowing accolades to President Obasanjo, on the occasion of his PhD award in my write ups published in the Daily Trust Newspaper of December 28, 2017, titled: OBJ PhD @80: Some lessons to learn, Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/obj-phd-80-some-lessons-to-learn.htm
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has in his recent outburst on Boko Haram Insurgency said: “...It is no longer an issue of lack of education and lack of employment for our youths in Nigeria which it began as, it is now West African fulanization, African Islamization..."
Baba Iyabo must be reminded that, if Boko Haram Insurgency is to be linked to"ethnicity" none of its leaders is (or was)Fulani by tribe from Muhammad Yusuf, Abubakar Shekau, Mamman Nur faction to the Abu Musab Al-Barnawi's faction. Criminality has no tribe. Bad eggs are found in every ethnic group.
A "statesman" should not engage in "ethnic" and or "religious" stereotype. A "statesman" should be an ethno-religious"unifier" and a "rallying point". What is even more disturbing was the venue where President Obasanjo made the statement which was at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Oleh in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State.
In my observation, what always triggers the accusation of Islamization in Nigeria is perhaps the "distortion" of facts on the "Jihad" of the great Shehu Uthman Ibn Fodio who happened to be a Muslim-Fulani man. Has President Obasanjo joined the gang of "Islamophobes" and or "Fulaniphobes" because of his difference with President Buhari ?
There are a lot of "misconception" out there about the great Shehu's "Jihad" and or "reform" of the 18th century. His reform was to the Muslim Hausa states not "Christians". In fact Shehu began as a preacher/teacher in around 1774 in the Hausa land after over 400 years existence of Islam.The great Shehu did not bring Islam to Nigeria as erroneously said.
Islam first came to Borno in the late 10th and or in the early 11th century through a "Sahaba" of the Prophet of Islam (SAW). It was brought to Kano by Malian merchants in the late 13th and or in the early 14th century.
The great Shehu did not first start "Jihad" against the Hausa Kings. He spent about 30 years from 1774-1804 preaching to the Hausas who were already Muslims, but combining Islam with tradition/peganism. It was even the Hausa Kings under "Yunfa"of Gobir Kingdom that first "persecuted" Shehu and his followers which forced them to "migrate" to "Gudu" from "Degel". They later took the war to Shehu before he retaliated.
The Sokoto Caliphate's boundary stretched to Kwani and Maradi both in Niger Republic, some parts of Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, Cameroun, and most of the old Northern Nigeria. These include Argungu, Gobir, Alkalawa, Gwandu, Zamfara, Kontagora, Minna, Bida, Kano, Hadejia, Jigawa, Katsina, Zaria, Bauchi, Katagum, Adamawa, and Yola. To the Southwards, it reached Abuja and Illorin. Other satellite towns and cities in the caliphate were Kalmalo, Kaura Namoda, Isa, Koko, Illo, Yawuri, Tegina, Agaie, Okene, Awuchi amongst others.
There was no evidence whatsoever that Shehu's "Jihad" forced either the none Hausa Muslims (Maguzawas) or other ethnic groups under its territory in its 96 years of reign (1804-1900) before the colonial conquest to Islam.
May God bless Nigeria!