Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Sambo and I am a Fulani from Nigeria. I was born into a Muslim family but I gave my life to Jesus on January 11, 1990 and I am now a born again Christian. I am married with children.
What sort of challenges did you face after your conversion?
My uncles and brothers saw me as a kafir or infidel who had left the true faith of Islam and taken up an unacceptable religion. They stole my cows which were my inheritance from my father. They threatened my life and promised me many gifts and rewards if I would come back to Islam.
I was really angry with my family. I wondered how they could say and do these things against me. I left home at 4:00 a.m. without telling anyone except my mother. My anger at what my family had done made me feel like going back and fighting them. But the Spirit of the Lord told me, “Jesus had good reason to destroy His persecutors and He had all the power to do so, but He did not. You are to be like Him.”
Since that day, I have seen everyone in a different light, in the way Christ sees them. I started trying to love every human being I come across, whether they be Muslim or Christian or animist or whatever. Regardless of what they believe or who they are, I love them for who God made them to be. Just because I had the privilege of meeting and following Christ I am not superior to them, because we are all made in God’s image.
How did you hear about Christianity?
My family heard about Christianity from meeting Christians. My father and grandfather had Christian friends. As I grew up, I became friends with some missionaries. I met a missionary in 1989 who was a veterinarian; my father invited him to treat our family’s cattle. My father told this missionary that he wanted to give me a good education, and said he didn’t mind if it was a mission school so long as the education was good. The missionary asked, “What if he becomes a Christian?” My father said, “It’s his choice; I don’t have a problem with that.”
So I went to live with the missionary. He was working with Fulani Christians, and every Sunday we had a Bible study in Fulfulde and would sing hymns in Fulfulde. I decided to follow Jesus and I got baptized.
My father encouraged me in this decision; he told me: “You are free to choose your own religious beliefs. All I ask is that you don’t lie, you don’t steal, and you stay out of trouble.” I sometimes wonder whether my father was a secret disciple of Jesus Christ. Most of his friends were Christians and he was not that keen on Islam. I hardly ever found him reading the Qur’an, and he only participated in the communal Friday prayers every now and then.
The day I told my mother I had decided to follow Jesus Christ, she told a story that I had never heard before. Apparently when I was much younger, I had become very sick and my parents rushed me to a hospital which happened to be a Christian hospital. The doctors scheduled me for surgery the following day. But when the time came for the operation, they were amazed to discover that the ailment was completely gone! There were no scanning machines at the time so they kept me at the hospital for another two weeks in case the ailment resurfaced, but it never did. The doctors told my mother: “Please send your son to school, he will serve the Lord.” My mother kept what the doctors had said to herself until the day I announced that I was following Jesus. She had known all along that I would become a Christian. Despite that, my mother still thinks that I should remain a faithful Muslim. But this was her form of encouragement to me. Since then, I have never worried about anyone who has opposed me for being a Christian because my mother and father have supported and encouraged me.
However, some members of my family were deeply upset. One of my younger brothers did not want to see me any longer because I left Islam. He stopped eating or drinking in our home when I was there! I was praying for him, and I really thank God that now he and I are friends and we share our troubles and concerns with each other. We call each other every day and ask how our families are doing. He has really changed. Sometimes he listens to Christian sermons. I believe that one day he will ask the right questions about Jesus Christ.
What work do you do?
After school I joined a Christian vet and we shared the good news of Jesus Christ with Fulani herders as we treated their cattle. Some herders came to know Jesus at that time and I am still in touch with them to this day.
In 2004, I got involved with Bible translation, helping translate the Bible into Fulfulde from English, Hebrew and other sources. In other countries with a Fulani presence, like Cameroon, a Fulfulde Bible was already published and in use for many years, but the Fulfulde dialect there is different from the Central Nigerian one. Nigerian Fulani could not understand that dialect, which prompted the need for a Bible translation into the Central Nigerian dialect. Since 2011, the New Testament in the Central Nigerian dialect of Fulfulde has already been published. We have completed drafting the Old Testament, there are just three more books that need to be revised.
Are the Fulani the bad guys?
The Fulani are generally peace loving people. They move with their cattle from one place to another in search of grass. A few Fulani are settled in towns and cities and engage in business. Most Fulani are Muslim but they are content to live in any community, regardless of the religion there. Fulani don’t want to cause harm or trouble to other communities; their livelihoods depend on one another. The farmers grow grain and sell it to the Fulani, and the Fulani pass through with their animals, fertilising fields and selling milk, yoghurt and meat to the farmers. That is how the Fulani have been living for centuries in Nigeria.
However, things are changing. Farmers are relying on chemical fertilisers rather than welcoming us and our cows in the dry season to fertilise their farmland like they always did in the past. Many of the grazing grounds where we have fed our cattle for centuries are now covered over with buildings and roads or have been turned into farmland.
Source: Higazi
It is also increasingly harder for us to reach grassy areas as the ancient migratory routes for cattle have been blocked. If you look at old maps of Nigeria, you will see the routes designated by the federal government for herders and their animals to pass freely and legally to reach grassland areas without disturbing anyone. But today many of these routes have been turned into cornfields, so we cannot reach pasture safely; yet the federal government does nothing about this. We do not understand why they are not protecting these legal routes.
This leaves herders in a very difficult position. They do not know where to go to feed their cows. They cannot move safely on the legal routes. Many former pastures are now covered in farmland. We hardly know where to go and how to live in our own country.
Why do people call the Fulani terrorists?
Whenever there is a problem, there are scapegoats. Since the cattle routes were blocked, the Fulani have been in a very difficult position. Since they are migratory, they do not own much land to begin grazing zones, so they have to continue moving to find grassland. When they try to follow their old routes, they find their way blocked. This leads to conflict between herders and farmers.
In the past when cattle damaged a farm, we had good ways of resolving the issue. Village elders would discuss it and decide on compensation to be paid. But nowadays people often take matters into their own hands, and thus there is an ongoing cycle of reprisals and counter reprisals.
Social media has made the situation much worse because it is adding fuel to the fire. People take things completely out of context and don’t bother to verify the information they receive or post online. A lot of mistrust and misinformation is fueled by social media in this way. The government should take decisive action on authentication and verification processes regarding who is posting online, and impose a system of checks and balances on the information shared on social media (without, of course, suppressing freedom of expression). We would like to see the government monitoring writers, journalists and bloggers who are posting information that is creating more conflict and inciting hatred of anyone. If these media are not monitored, conflicts can virulently spread from one community to another causing horrific loss of life and property.
There is a myth being perpetrated on social media that Fulani are all terrorists, but it is not true. Most Fulani are peace loving people and are just trying to get on with their business like everyone else. Some have indeed turned to violence. But only one side of the story is usually told. There are many articles online describing how people from Christian communities were killed. This killing is wrong, and it is good that it is reported. However, since the crisis in Plateau State began in 2001, hundreds of innocent Fulani men, women and children have also been killed and their houses burned, both in cities and in villages. This is largely undocumented violence which continues to this day. There is intense hatred of Fulani; people are calling for getting rid of all Fulani from the land.
Stopping the conflict will require action at every level of society. At the federal level, we need migratory routes to be protected. We need fair legislation. We need local governors to protect the rights of Fulani to migrate and to graze on grasslands. Communities especially need to remember the way they lived before the cycles of violence began, and even more importantly, how they used to reconcile their differences peacefully. If that were to happen, Nigeria would become a safe haven for us all like it used to be before.
What is the nature of the conflict?
It is a struggle over access to land, with an ethnic component. Herders (Fulani) need to move their animals from one grazing area to the next. Farmers need to grow crops. For both, it is a matter of life and death.
Despite claims in the media, this is not a religious conflict. If it were, Muslims would not be able to live in the Middle Belt of Nigeria among Christian communities. And yet, we see many Muslims living peacefully in this area. In fact, all over Nigeria we see Christians and Muslims living together peacefully. In the west of Nigeria, you can find Yoruba communities and families which are multi-religious, with Christians, Muslims, and even atheists living together in peace. If you go to Benue state, you can find Muslims and Christians living peacefully. Berom Christians and Muslims live peacefully together. Both religions gather for worship, both religions move freely in Nigeria, and both live together peacefully in many communities.
In Riyom Local Government Area in Plateau State, whose population is majority Christian, there are markets where a Hausa Muslim can safely go, but a Fulani who shows up will be killed. This shows that the conflict is not about religion, but about ethnic rivalry. If this were a religious conflict, no Muslims could go there, neither a Hausa nor a Fulani.
Is there a genocide of Christians in Nigeria?
There is a lot of violence in Nigeria, but it does not fit the definition of “genocide”. Genocide means that one side is trying to wipe out another group. If you listen to just one side of the story, it may seem like it is genocide. However, the reality is that ninety percent of the attacks that you read about or hear in the news are reprisal attacks. When Fulani or their cattle are killed, hardly anyone mentions it in the news or on social media, even though this is something that is happening all the time. But when the Fulani retaliate, that is interpreted as jihad or genocide and broadcast all over the internet and the news. The reality is that so-called “Christians” are constantly attacking Fulani, their homes and villages, their cows. When a Fulani makes a report to the police, no action is taken. But Fulani reprisals are routinely posted on social media with remarks such as “innocent Christians are being attacked.” It is often claimed that Christians did not harm the Fulani. But that is not true. What we see are reprisals upon reprisals upon reprisals. The Fulani perspective is rarely reported in the media; our voice is consistently ignored.
I am very concerned about the highly publicized messaging from Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo. He is from the same Local Government Area as me so I know his community well. I am sorry to say that he is not honest in the way he is describing the situation in our area as Muslim jihadists attacking innocent Christians. He is leaving out part of the story: the widespread Christian attacks on Muslims in our area.
Reverend Dachomo claims there is a religious crisis focused on eliminating Christians. If this were true, Nigeria would be on fire! Day to day life would not be possible. Here in the north, most senators are Muslim, most governors are Muslim, the military has many Muslims both as officers and in the ranks. In this country, Muslims hold a good amount of power in their hands. If there was in truth a religious war, they would use that power to cause havoc for Christians. We would not be able to go to Christian schools, hospitals or churches every day as we do. Yet, for the most part we see Christians and Muslims getting on with their day to day lives. However, there is a lot of ethnic violence, with herders and farmers fighting over access to land.
We also have problems with kidnapping in Nigeria. Every community is involved, with kidnappers hailing from almost every ethnic group of Nigeria. But depending on the tribe of the kidnappers, the narrative changes. If someone from, say, the Berom or Tiv people kidnaps, it is reported as a kidnapping. But if someone from the Fulani tribe kidnaps, it is reported as jihad.
Historically speaking, kidnapping as a “business enterprise” began with the Igbos in the south and they are still engaged in it. In the north, youth who were unemployed and restless began copying the Igbo methods of kidnapping to get money. Besides unemployment, there are other reasons kidnapping became endemic in the north, such as the discovery of mineral resources in the areas around Katsina, Zamfara, and Kaduna. After the discovery, the elite decided to clear out all the Fulani in those areas. Even if the Fulani had built a house on land in that area, the authorities would claim that the “real owner” had already sold the land to them before the Fulani purchased it. Fulani residents would protest, saying they have been living there for the past 50 years, but to no avail. This has led to immense chaos, with Fulani youth losing prized cattle and dear family members as well as their homes. The miners who arrived later began paying some of the unemployed and desperate Fulani youth to protect the mines and that is how the kidnapping started in that area. And someone out there is continuing to supply weapons to the Fulani bandit youths; you cannot manufacture guns in the forests.
Is a US military response helpful?
If the US military drops bombs on Nigeria in the name of helping Christians, this will throw our country into chaos. Bombing Fulani in the Middle Belt would incite Fulani to retaliate against the Christians living around them; instead of helping the Christians, it would place them at risk.
In the US, people think there is a Christian genocide in Nigeria because they do not care to find out the truth. I ask the U.S. government and the American people not to be short sighted but to listen to every community and to extend a helping hand to every community living here, both Christian and Muslim. I ask the US government to help the Nigerian government to secure Nigeria’s borders by deploying their intelligence capacity to find out the sources of funds and weapons that perpetrate the violence, to trace the manufacturers and the supply routes. These weapons are not manna dropping from the sky for the bandits to use.
There are two individuals I would like to name specifically: Congressman Riley Moore and Mr Judd Saul, please stop repeating the lie that Fulani are not indigenous to Nigeria. We Fulani have been battling this issue for a long time, especially in Riyom Local Government Area. The governor now claims that we Fulani are not indigenous to this area. This is blatant racism! It denies our very existence! The Nigerian constitution has given us the right to live wherever we wish to. I was born in the Riyom Local Government Area. My great-great-grandparents’ graves are here. Today, I am being told that I am not a local resident or indigenous. My very existence is being denied. The U.S. government can help in this regard: help the Nigerian government abolish the law that authorized a state government to have the right to determine “indigeneship” as a separate category from citizenship. This will prevent local governors from persecuting people who have lived in their area for generations.
If you say we are not indigenous to Nigeria, then please tell us, where are we from? Where should we Fulani go? As Riley Moore’s ancestors migrated to the U.S. and call it their native land, so too did the Fulani migrate to and settle in and are now a part of Nigeria.
To Judd Saul I would ask: are you a true Christian? I am a Fulani Christian convert. I have come to understand who Christ is. Do you understand who Christ is? Does Christ say take up arms and kill your enemies? Christ denied Peter’s attempts to defend him. He says “those who live by the sword die by the sword” (Matthew 26.52) and “those who live by the will of God will live forever” (1 John 2.17). Judd Saul should help the Fulani Christians to share Jesus Christ with Fulani Muslims rather than saying the Fulani should be killed and destroyed.
I appeal to Judd Saul to remember that there are a lot of Fulani Christians. There are Fulani pastors, bishops, evangelists, in Nigeria and all across West Africa. We are trying to evangelize our people, to share with them the Word of God in our language. Satan is fighting us. Satan is fighting the Gospel, creating these narratives which Judd Saul is participating in. Who is going to take the Gospel to the Muslims? Judd Saul is creating animosity between Christians and Muslims in our country, making things more difficult for those who are trying to share the Good News. He should think of those who are going to hell without knowing Christ.
What should the U.S. Evangelicals do?
I have a message for US evangelicals. If you are truly Christians, please pray that God will break the bonds of enmity that Satan is creating here in Nigeria. This is the time that more missionaries are needed in Nigeria. This is the time to change the narrative. This is the time to sift chaff from grain; to test who is a true Christian and who is a “Christian” by being born into a Christian community instead of a Muslim community. Do you know there is no such thing as being born a follower of Jesus? One becomes a follower of Jesus. Everyone needs to come to the realization of who Jesus Christ is.
We need to help Christians here in Nigeria understand who Christ is and how to live as Christ lived, how to love our neighbours and how to love our enemies, how to do good to those who do evil to us. Only a true Christian, whether in the US or Nigeria, will grasp what I am trying to say.