Thread by @SamuelOmogor

1.One very big problem Nigeria has is "MOB MINDSET." A lot of us don't think on our own, rather we allow others think for us. And this Fulani herdsmen thing is not different. Crime in whichever guise should be condemned and tackled. But the reason we are here

2. and not finding solutions is because rather than search for the truth, we decided to stereotype a particular TRIBE. Since May 29th, 2015, every act of kidnappings and banditry is now carried out by "Fulani herdsmen."
I remember when i came back from Germany in 2007, and was

3. traveling with my big sister from Abeokuta to Delta. Immediately we entered Edo state her security concerns changed. When we got to Benin she hardly let me get out of the car. We spent the night in Benin and on our way to Warri the next morning we needed cash, so we stopped

4. at several banks trying to get cash. Between Ugbowo and Sapele road we stopped at about 6 banks until we finally got cash from Zenith Sapele road. But guess what? In all these stops she never allowed me get out of the car. In fact at every point we stopped she asked me to lock

5. from inside. Reason was fear of me being kidnapped because according to her anybody who see's me will know i don't live in Nigeria, which was true. And the rate of kidnappings was just too much. The story wasn't different in my own Delta State. For years my mom never

6. allowed me to travel to Edo or Delta whenever I was in Nigeria. The story was like that for a long time but got reduced at a point. But the story and narratives has changed since 2015 when @MBuhari became President. Yes we have serious security issues in the Country. Yes,

7. the herdsmen are part of the security problems. But why has it not occured to us that those same Fulani's we have lived with peacefully for decades couldn't have just turned around overnight and become kidnappers? Why has it not occured to us that for a country fighting the

8. deadliest terror group in the world, some of these elements will disguise as Fulani herdsmen? In 2019, then President of Ohaneze Ndigbo Chief Nnia Nwodo told the whole world that Igbo's are kidnapping, rapping and killing Igbo's in Igbo land in the name of Fulani herdsmen. In

9. that same 2019, 3 Nigerians, 2 from the SE and one from the SS, travelled all the way to Ghana, conspired to kidnap 4 girls, collected ransom claiming to be Fulani herdsmen from Nigeria. They ended up killing the 4 innocent girls in Takoradi. The question we should be asking

10. ourselves is, did Chief Nwodo and Ohaneze LIE? If they didn't why the fixation on just Fulani's? And what makes us think what Ohaneze said isn't happening in other parts of the Country? Or did those kidnappers in my state of Delta handover to the Fulani herdsmen immediately

11. Buhari came to power and went on retirement? Criminals i know actually scream the loudest and point accusing fingers more? Have we even stopped to think that the Sunday Igbaho's of these world could actually be sponsors of heavy kidnapping gangs in that same Oyo

12. State and environs, but acting a script to deflect attention from him? Has it ever occured to us that for Nigerians to plan and travel to commit such crimes in another Country in the name of Fulani Herdsmen that alot from other tribes will be doing same here at home? Are we

13. saying there are no more Evans from the SS, SE, SW and other parts of the Country?

I know some for lack of understanding will come here to insult me and accuse me of speaking for the Fulani's. But the truth is my wish is that every single criminal in Nigeria should be

14. arrested and brought to justice even if they are related to me. But i will not join in stereotyping any tribe wether it's the Igbo's, Yoruba's, Hausa's, Fulani's, Edo's, Urhobo's or any other tribe for that matter over crimes i know are committed by some criminal elements

15. If every Igbo man is not of questionable character, if every Yoruba man is not a ritualist, if every young man from the Niger Delta is not a militant, then what makes you think EVERY FULANI man is a kidnapper or terrorists? If Igbo leaders weren't in support of the likes of

16. Dericho and Evans. If Edo leaders weren't in support of Anini, if Ijaw leaders weren't in support of militants, if Yoruba didn't support Oyenusi, what makes you think Fulani leaders are supporting herdsmen to kidnap?

Let's stop the stereotypes and really look around us.