By George Onmonya Daniel
When Bashir Ahmed wrote a story complaining about the movie, The Herd, he admitted he only watched the thriller. Yet he quickly concluded that Fulani herdsmen are being demonised. He tried to explain that the herders are not bandits even though the bandits are Fulani. He added that he wondered if Ali Nuhu had seen the movie and allowed it passed through censor board. Has Ali Nuhu now become Arewa Director of censoring anything in a movie that doesn’t appeal to the likes of Bashir? Ridiculous.
I have been on social media for many years. In all these years I have met characters like Bashir. Quite educated, smart, and even fantastic writers. However, their Archiles heels has been how their religious worldview and ethnic background shaped how they think. They just cannot reason beyond certain horizon.
We watched in this country how the herdsmen community have quickly turned into the community of armed robbers, rapists, and mass murderers, yet we have people who quickly rush to defend them so much that they have blackmailed the government into silence and inaction when the Fulani herdsmen grow boldly by day, killing, kidnapping for ransome and just kidnaping to rape or imprison people in hundreds. They have even sold women to Fulani groups from Mali that the Zamfara State government went to pay ransom to get them back. The atrocities they have committed is unimaginable. Unspeakable. Yet they have defenders, even in movies.
These bandits burnt down vehicles with people inside. They are all over Tik Tok making videos, yet no outrage. But Bashir has an issue with a movie. How does Bashir know that majority of the Fulani herdsmen are not bandits? Does he have anything data like foreign minister Tuggar?
This is how they defended Sharia and Boko Haram, today they are defending Fulani herdsmen. This is how they mobilise to make dealing with these guys almost difficult for the government.
