By Dr. David Atte
Now that Gumi came to visit the foreign Fulani settled in Okun, with the blessing of the Governor of Kogi State, the social media is awash with comments from various Okun People. It is so interesting that it took the coming of the commander and sponsor of Fulani colonisation to Okunland before we woke up to what has been staring us in the face for the past 6 years !
Gumi praised the Kogi State Governor for allowing Fulani displaced elsewhere to settle in Kogi State. When he says, Kogi State, translate it to mean Okunland. Gumi did not go to Ebiraland. He did not go to Igalaland. Fulfude has become almost the first language in Odo Ape, in Isanlu, (largely in Irunda and Mopo communities), Ofere in Bunu, around Omi Dam in Yagba West and many other places. From The Egbe – Pategi Road, east to Ike Bunu, there are now over 8,500 fully settled Fulani.
All over Okunland today there is an estimated 15,000 fully settled Fulani in 72 of settlements of their own.
ALL THESE FULANI ARE NON NIGERIANS.
On whose land are they settled? Who gave them land to settle on? Did they take any permission from land owners? Now virtually all of these Fulani have NIN and PVC. Their movement and settlement is not random. Okunland has been sold on the platter of political ambition and expediency. Attention has been drawn to this problem over and over in the last 5 years as the influx started and progressed. Most of us didn’t seem bothered.
We did nothing. We did not protest. We did not go home to talk to our communities to say, “don’t give them land”. We did not ask our community members who were being chased from their farms, “what do you need to defend yourselves?” Appeals that Okun People should liaise back with the People at home for defensive action were ignored. Appeals were made to many OKUN holding Kogi State offices in this government or some who are representing Okun in Abuja. Some made promises but refused to keep them. Most did not bother.
Our elected or appointed officials, as well as maby of our traditional rulers were too afraid of telling the Governor that the security of Okunland was in jeopardy. Many Okun People took money and, or, cows from Fulani to let them settle on their land. Most of the Bunu, Yagba and Ijumu heartland forests are now occupied. And most these occupiers are armed! Federal Government ordered confiscation of wsapons from Nigerians but the Fulani were conspicuously alliwed to keep their own. The Gumi’s Brigades in the bush are fully armed. Sheikh Gumi is a retired Nigerian Army officer, so he is very experienced in this matter. Okun was able to monitor a lot of these people.
They are dangerous. The danger they pose to us now is not apparent, but we are now like a community in which killer instinct venomous baby snakes have been scattered everywhere. Currently, were are experiencing their small venom in the form of kidnappings, killings and deliberate destruction of farms. When they grow, experience in West and Central Africa show that they destroy everything in their path in a scorched earth policy. Okun was handicapped because it was clear that any move against the Fulani would meet serious State and Federal Governments’ power of reprisal! But, by looking the other way, by keeping quiet, by being afraid of talking about the safety of their People and their ancestral land, our members in the National and State Assemblies, our Commissioners, SSG, Advisers, Speaker, LGA Chairman, Traditional Rulers and other Leaders, will never be able to claim innocence in the wahala that Okun has experienced, and will experience in future, from the deliberate policy of using Okunland to settle foreign Fulanis through a new colonisation process.
(Hon. Fanwo, Hon. Abejide, thank you)
NOW WE ARE ARE ALL TALKING BECAUSE GUMI CAME. WHY DIDNT WE TALK BEFORE HE CAME? HIS COMING WAS TO VALIDATE THE FACT ON GROUND WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE STATE GOVERNOR. IT IS NOW IN THE OPEN.
NOW, ARE WE GOING TO LIMIT OURSELVES SO SOCIAL MEDIA LAMENTATIONS AND THROW UP OUR HANDS HELPLESSLY AND HOPELESSLY. HAVE WE FORGOTTEN THAT WE HAVE A BIG GOD WE CAN CRY TO WHEN WE FACE BIG PROBLEMS? THE GOD WHO CAN SOLVE BIG PROBLEM?
SO IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF THE LIVING GOD, OKUN’S LAND, WATER AND AIR WILL REJECT AND REPUDIATE THESE INVADERS! THE FORCES OF DAY UNDER THE SUN, AND NIGHT UNDER THE MOON WILL WORK AGAINST THEIR WELFARE AND HEALTH. AS THEY CAME, SO THEY WILL PACK AND LEAVE OKUNLAND. IN THEIR DEPARTURE, TGEY SHALL LEAVE IN PANIC BECAUSE OKUNLAND DOES NOT BELONG TO THEM. GOD GAVE IT TO US TO INHERIT AND NO UNINVITED STRANGER SHALL PROSPER IN IT.
Nobody can accuse Okunland of intolerance. No, we are extremely accommodating. We have accommodated Nigerian Fulani for ages. What we are experiencing now is government supported forced expropriation of our land without our consent. So it’s different. We reject this. Our ancestors and guardian spirits reject this and our generations yet unborn reject this too.
OKUN PEOPLE WILL NEVER BE TAKEN SLAVES AGAIN AS THE LORD LIVES. I HAVE SPOKEN IN THE EARS OF THE KING ABOVE ALL KINGS