RUGA: Fani-Kayode accepts Fulani traditional title, swallows vomit on cow settlement in Nigeria, IPOB Kanu disappointed

Former minister and PDP operative Femi Fani-Kayode and out-lawed IPOB leader Nnamidi Kanu were jolly friends and sworn enemy of Fulani imperialism and President Muhammadu Buhari—until things changed lately.

Now turbaned as Sadaukin Shinkafi of the Shinkafi Emirate in Zamfara, Fani-Kayode, a Bible-thumping born-again Christian, will be tongue-tied—to the chagrin of Kanu.
But who cares—so long as it feels good?

“I am highly impressed with this title given to me as one of the heroes of Shinkafi emirate,” he said at a press briefing in Gusau after the ceremony.The Emir of Shinkafi, Muhammad Makwashe, also praised Fanikayode, saying the title was conferred on the Fulani-hater for his support and contributions to the development of Shinkafi emirate.

Whatever Fani-Kayode, who left public service in 2007, did to develop and support the Fulani emirate? Nothing concrete—other than the bile dripping in his pen, especially against the federal government effort to implement the Rural Grazing Area, a pro-Fulani policy in 2019.

In one of his many articles against the RUGA, Fani-Kayode likened the implementation to pushing Nigerian to the brink of war “simply because of their inexplicable and disgusting attraction to a mooing cow and their inordinate ambition and insatiable desire to conquer others”.

“They cannot use their cows and herdsmen from hell to cut us short and mow us down like the winter wheat and the summer grass,” he wrote in the Punch June 30, 2019.

He prefaced the articles with quotes from Kanu’s speeches on Fulani overbearing airs in Nigeria, revealing how prophetic they were as RUGA took shape then.

However, less than a year after his slashing criticism of RUGA, Fani-Kayode has taken a chieftaincy title from Zamfara, a Fulani state and supporter of RUGA. He can’t help savoring the sweet aroma of recognition.

“I came to Zamfara for bridge building. I went round the state, I am impressed with the peace been restored and various infrastructural development,” he said.

Kanu wouldn’t be really surprised seeing his ally walking back their words.

But the IPOB leader will be disappointed.