Your Eminence,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you, in your capacity as the Grand Patron of Fillanin Daji associations such as Miyetti Allah, and, through you, to all Fulani elites in Nigeria: academics and scholars, clerics and traditional rulers, captains of industry, serving and retired officers of the military, police and paramilitary services, politicians, business tycoons, and opinion moulders.
Much of what is contained in this letter has been expressed earlier in a number of my social media posts. I have been compelled to compile those thoughts into this open letter by recent developments in Fulani banditry, particularly, the brazen humiliation and dehumanisation of captives, both men and women, abducted for ransom; the recording of atrocities on video; and the deliberate release of these videos to the world, thereby provoking public outrage and deepening negative sentiments.
This letter is written with urgency and profound concern. Your prolonged silence in the face of the escalating menace of Fulani banditry and terrorism across vast swathes of Nigeria is no longer neutral. Silence, at this moment in our history, increasingly projects an image closer to complicity than innocence.
I am not unmindful of the argument that you have spoken on this issue. Yet, when one compares whatever has been said under your authority to the forceful, sincere, and unambiguous words delivered by the Emir of Muri, spoken publicly at an Eid ground on Sallah day, not from the comfort of an office or conference room, the difference is stark. From you, we expect firmer words and decisive action.
Your Highness, by choosing near-quiet observation over principled and purposeful intervention, you are, perhaps unintentionally, endorsing a journey of systemic self-destruction embarked upon by the Fillanin Daji. Worse still, your silence has created a vacuum now occupied by a noisy, garrulous, and self-serving minority that has hijacked Fulani leadership, weaponised grievance, and is exploiting chaos for personal gain.
This is tragic. You and other Fulani elites are not just any group. You are the crème de la crème of the Fulani race, not only in Nigeria but globally. Yet, before your very eyes, charlatans and criminals are redefining Fulani identity, determining Fulani destiny, and dragging a noble people through the mud of history.
Surely, you know better. And surely, you know the following truths.
First, while it is undeniable that the Bush Fulani have long been unserved and underserved (despite the fact that their cousins, the Fillanin Gida, have occupied the commanding heights of Nigerian power since independence) this reality can never justify the present barbarism: the wanton destruction of lives and property, kidnapping for ransom, looting, and terror. The Bush Fulani are not the only Nigerians left behind by the state. Marginalisation is widespread across Nigeria.
Second, the widespread and coordinated involvement of Fillanin Daji in banditry and terrorism across this region proves that what we are witnessing is not accidental. It is organised. It is cultivated. Someone talked them into it. Someone is therefore profiting from it.
Third, and most alarming, the bandit economy is grooming an entire generation of Fillanin Daji into a culture of easy money, hard drugs, and extreme violence under the mentorship of infamous warlords such as Bello Turji and Dogo Gide. A generation raised by Turjis and Gides can only reproduce more Turjis and Gides. This is how societies rot from within, slowly at first, then all at once. This should trouble every well-meaning Nigerian. It should alarm you most of all.
As documented by Dr. Rufai of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, in his research “I Am a Bandit,” the modus operandi of bandit warlords makes one thing painfully clear: if this trajectory is not halted, it is only a matter of time before every Fillanin Daji family has a son, nephew, or cousin either enmeshed in criminal gangs and addicted to illicit drugs. The long-term consequences are too grim to fully imagine.
This letter is therefore a wake-up call. It is time for you to wake up and lead. You (including other Fulani elites) possess the intellectual sagacity, moral authority, networks, resources, and the capacity to mobilise even more resources to free the Fillanin Daji from themselves. If anyone can save them from self-destruction, and from the wolves living among them, it is you. Why wait for government alone to act or to negotiate questionable peace deals?
As a starting point, consider these urgent steps:
First, commit to a coordinated national awareness and social re-engineering campaign targeted at the Fillanin Daji. Engage gang leaders and criminal warlords directly. Talk sense into them. Make them understand the danger, futility, and inevitable dead end of banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping for ransom.
Second, educate and reorient the Bush Fulani towards constitutional, civilised, and lawful avenues for addressing real and perceived grievances, through advocacy, dialogue, lobbying, and political engagement (MACBAN and Kautal Hore as representatives of Fillanin Daji should know this).
Third, reassure them that with responsible Fulani elites like yourself standing firmly behind them, no legitimate aspiration is impossible to achieve within the Nigerian constitutional framework.
Fourth, intervene decisively in the lives of criminally inclined youths. They are on a collision course with ruin, and every right-thinking person knows this. Help them! Save them!
Fifth, make it clear that violent criminality is neither a closed shop nor a sustainable enterprise. Violence begets violence. He who lives by the sword—read: the gun—will ultimately die by the sword. Guide them back to the timeless wisdom of live and let live—a principle deeply rooted in both faith and common sense.
As the crème de la crème of the Fulani race, the burden of saving the average Bush Fulani, from himself, from the wolves among him, and from the manipulations of elite hawks, naturally falls on your shoulders. Do not be cowed or intimidated. Well-meaning Nigerians are watching. They are counting on you.
If you fail, you will not only be letting the country down, you will be letting yourself down. It would be a monumental shame if a people once represented by intellectuals are, under your watch, reduced to being symbolised by Dogo Gide and Bello Turji.
Come out publicly. Speak clearly. Name and shame bandit warlords like Turji, Gide, and Aleru. Let them know, unequivocally, that they are criminals not freedom fighters, that do not represent the Fulani, that they should fear the wrath of Allah, here and in the hereafter.
This is a wake-up call from a Nigerian Bahaushe, deeply troubled by the physical, human, economic, socio-cultural, and ecological destruction being unleashed on this part of the country by banditry and terrorism carried out in the name of the Fillanin Daji.
I believe you can still save the situation.
Please, do not let this be an empty plea.
Asha ruwa lafiya
Prof Aliyu Ammani
U/Shanu Kaduna
Prof. Aliyu Ammani is a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
