Essay

By Umar Ardo

Introduction 

THE Fulbe today are probably the only people that traversed and settled in virtually the entire region of Western Africa. Ranging in sizes from tiny numbers of hundreds and thousands to large populace of tens of millions, the Fulbe occupy an influential position in the life and politics of many countries within the subcontinent, from Senegal in the west to Chad in the east. Against the general erroneous views of most latter-day elites who see the Fulbe role in modern nation-states as a recent phenomenon created by European colonialists, or at best beginning with the 19th century Usman Danfodio movement, the Fulbe role in the political evolution of West African States is in fact as old as antiquity. 

Indeed, from the earliest period, the history of the region of Western Africa is essentially the history of the power struggle between the Fulbe and non-Fulbe peoples for the control of the affairs of the region. Not only that the Fulbe are known to have inhabited the region from the earliest times, but they are also recorded as key participants in states formations from the first empire of Ghanata (Ghana) founded in approximately 300 AD to the advent of European colonial rule in the late 19th century. Running through this long period to the present day, with empires, kingdoms and states rising and falling, the Fulbe remained consistently active players, specifically in its political and economic evolution – sometimes as refugees, sometimes as riders; sometimes as underdogs, sometimes in the ascendant; and sometimes being ruled, sometimes being rulers, according to how their political fortunes fell and rose! Many wars, battles and conquests were fought, sometimes victorious, sometimes vanquished, but at all times the Fulbe have been on the move. 

Although they started mainly as pastoralists, most have long abandoned pastoralism to settled agricultural life and statecraft. We are told by Francis Moore who wrote on the Fulbe of Gambia in 1734 that: 

“They live in hoards and clans, built towns… They plant near their houses tobacco … and cotton; beyond that are their cornfields…. They are the greatest planters in the country, though they are strangers to it. They are very industrious and frugal, and raise more corns and cotton than they consume. As they have plenty of food, they never suffer any of their own nation to want…. As far as the eye could reach, not an inch of ground was left uncultivated or neglected”.  

Further, he speaks of vast plain covered with cattle. And the Tarik, written by Abdul-Rahman ben Imran in the 17th century, said that “the Fulbe have infused their individualities throughout Western Africa, with visible fertilizing influence from the banks of the Senegal to the Chad”.  And this was also accompanied, especially after Askia the Great of Songhai invaded the Fulbe enclave of Baghena and slew their leader, Damba Dumbi, by large scale Fulbe migrations south and eastwards. As contenders in power equations, they produce a class of statesmen and administrators whenever circumstances placed the governments of the kingdoms and countries in which they are settled into their hands. Also, being both pastoralists and agriculturalists, they as well dominate the economic life of their communities. 

Now, these 3 key elements of Fulbe life style – i.e. statecraft, agriculture and animal husbandry – gave them a measure of political edge in the power equation and economic self-reliance in the countries they inhabit. While this naturally set others against them, it also gave them strong bargaining platform in society, as we see them go into one alliance or other, with one group or the other, but always seeking to retain the initiatives. Wherever the situation proved unbearable, they move further away from the centre, both their settled and pastoralists communities, to some distant places and establish new settlements. Also, unsuccessful contestants for power often move away from the centre to “other virgin areas”. Traders, farmers and pastoralists likewise dispersed south and eastward as their trading, farming and pastoral networks developed, and they often had important political, as well as economic, influences on the groups with whom they came to live. This way, over the centuries, the Fulbe have managed to traverse and settle throughput the region. This is basically the societal flow throughout the pre-colonial West African societies as it relates to the Fulbe people.

Two key demographics need to be taken into account in discussing the Fulbe issue. First, West African population has increased in astronomical fold over the centuries. Second, West Africans are six times more mobile within their region than even Europeans are. These two prevailing factors, demography and mobility, coalesced to put excessive pressure on land, economy and politics of West African countries. Given their life style both as settled power contenders and agriculturalists, and mobile pastoralists and itinerant Islamic scholars and students, the Fulbe naturally make the bulk of this demographic increase and the mobility flux of the region. That these two strategic advantages of the Fulbe always turn out to be the source of resistance by other groups in society remained a decimal factor in West African politics. The resistance by these other groups to the two influences is the central issue facing the Fulbe, and their counter-response to such resistance hence becomes the Fulbe factor in West African politics. The significant point therefore is how do Fulbe elites of this vast region disable this resistance to attain sustainable development at the local, national and regional levels that would adequately meet the needs of a rapidly expanding and mobile Fulbe population. I believe that this issue should be at the centre of any developmental debate on the Fulbe.

We therefore need to understand the nature of the problem from its historical, ethnic, religious, geographical and political perspectives to be able to proffer durable solutions for the sake of our people, our country and our region. 

History

Hence, the rise and fall of these major Sudanic kingdoms and empires of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, the Hausa states, Kanem-Bornu, Nupe, etc. had a number of important consequences for the history of Western Africa as a whole, key of which is that it provided the background for the expansion and dispersion of the Fulbe throughout the region. Consequently, the final fall of the great empires of West Africa by the end of the 16th century gave rise to new states formation across the entire region. As critical actors in the great empires, the Fulbe, under the fervor of Islamic revolutions, started to establish distinct Fulbe/Islamic political entities of their own. Thus, in 1511, a Pullo named Salta Tayenda founded the State of Futa Toro. Here he was joined by many Mandinka fighters. Looking for a new home to settle, these Fulbe and Mandinka fighters marched round the fringe of the Wollof states and attacked Tekrur. The ruling chiefs were overthrown and a new royal lineage was established. The name Tekrur was changed to Futa Toro. The new Denianke. rulers remained in control until 1776. Influenced by their more settled Mandinga compatriots, having conquered and settled in Futa Toro the Fulbe readily abandoned their nomadic way of life for settled state life. A little over a century later in 1725, Futa Jallon was founded by two other Fulbe Islamic scholars, Karamokho Alfa and Ibrahim Sori. Less than a century later in 1804 another Pullo Islamic scholar, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, established the Sokoto Caliphate. In 1818 Seku Ahmadu, also a Pullo Islamic scholar, established the State of Massina, and finally the Tokolor Empire was established by Alhaj Umar in 1850. 

Beginning in 1889, imperial European states of Britain, France, Germany and Spain took over the entire territory and carved it into various protectorates of their colonial domination; out of which arose the present nation states of West Africa. 

Ethnicity:

All the five created nation-states were established almost exclusively by the Fulbe ethnic group using the religion of Islam as the foundation of their actions. As we have already seen, the Fulbe are basically in two main groups; the sedentary group permanently living in towns. This group is predominantly Muslim. For their knowledge in Islamic literature they peacefully integrated in settled communities. Initially numerically smaller, but over time the settled group grew much larger. They are the ones that have later ascended into positions of power under new states they themselves created. The other Fulbe groups are pastoralists. They are nomadic pastoral cattle herdsmen, either outright pagans or nominal Muslims, living permanently in the bush and pasturing the grasslands in a transhumance oscillating cycle. They live in clans and their entire lives centered on their herds and family. They sale herds to contribute to their settled kins’ war efforts, and also form the bulk of the Fulbe fighting forces. 

Geography: 

These five Fulbe States are geographically contiguous. They occupy roughly parts of the present day Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic. This territory lies within the vast Savannah Belt of West and Central Africa, in between the desert biome to the north and the rainforest to the south. Mostly located near the equator, it is of vast savannah plain grasslands, with two of Africa’s four major rivers (Niger and Benue), many smaller rivers and streams, and the Mega Chad Lake. It is a zone most conducive for nomadic pastoralism and herding, seasonally oscillating East-West wards. 

Politics: 

After the formation of these five nation-states, Fulbe government took control of all the lands in the territory for settlements, farming and grazing. In this way, a symbiotic relationship developed between the kith who took control of state and had power over land and their pastoralist kins that need land to graze their herds. While the Fulbe government will be guaranteeing, facilitating and protecting grazing lands for their pastoralist kins, who oscillate in transhumance cycles the grasslands of this vast territory, the latter support the Fulbe ruling elites militarily and financially. Also, the abundance of herds helped in the economy, nutrition and manure needs of these new Fulbe states. On the whole, so long as their pastoralist kins are happy in their transhumance life, their Fulbe ruling kith allowed them unhindered without settling, educating or Islamizing them. On their part, away from civilization, undisturbed and protected by their ruling kith whose efforts they helped in coming to positions of authority, the pastoralists are contented with their way of life in the forests and available to support the establishment. Both groups are also bonded by Pulaku, the Fulbe code of conduct symbolizing boundaries of Fulbe identity. 

Under European colonial powers, the status quo remained basically the same subject only to colonial alterations and interferences. Significant in such colonial alterations is colonial land administration and the demarcation and codification of grazing lands and cattle routes. Another significant alteration, which turned out to be a major source of political conflict,  is the grouping and adding to the Fulbe domains other territories, mostly of the coastal regions through which the Europeans took over the region, to form the new colonial nation-states. In the movements for decolonization and independence, the Fulbe ruling elites played significant roles and, with the exception of Guinea where they momentarily lost out, the Fulbe generally retain considerable power and influence in the post-colonial political order. 

And throughout these transitive stages – pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial – while the Fulbe ruling elites were undergoing fundamental transformations, their pastoral kins continued their transhumance life unperturbed. But now, as a result of certain factors, such as environmental, demographic, economic and political, open transhumance grazing is impossible. Suddenly, the natural habitat of the pastoralists, the forest, has vanished. Unaccustomed to sedentary civilization, the herdsmen emerge as security threat in banditry, kidnapping, etc., venting their frustration and anger on society.

Conclusion: 

From the points of view of history, geography and demography, the Fulbe have had advantages, political and economic in nature, and they still do. If skillfully cultivated, these can be used to sustain Fulbe political, economic, educational and scientific ascendancy in the sub-region, end banditry and jihadist movements that have lately been causing debilitating effects on Fulbe standing in society and put the Fulbe on the track of sustainable development throughout the subcontinent. Given the above, therefore, Fulbe elites, the kind on this platform, need to develop a template (or templates) towards settling not just the herdsmen’s security threat, but also other contending political, economic, educational, scientific and structural issues affecting their people in the region. 

The remaining Fulbe herdsmen in the bushes, for a start, must be brought out and settled, their herds ranched, by legislations ban open grazing and facilitate for the establishment of wide range of animal feeds industries and water treatment plants to develop animal-related industrial bases. This way, beyond creating wealth through animal husbandry and its value chain, it would remove an aged-old source of perennial conflicts between farmers and herders. It will be easy to succeed as it has enormous benefits for the herdsmen, the communities and the states. Cattle and animal owners can thus play important roles in the economy and nutrition of our communities. With its value-chain, herding is potentially a multi-trillion naira industry. With this done, the Fulbe elites can then concentrate in building, or rather resuscitating, their political base in the countries they live to attain sustainable development at the local, national and regional levels that would adequately meet the needs and aspirations of a rapidly expanding and mobile Fulbe population the world over.   

A.

-March 10, 2024 @ 14:25 GMT|

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