Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
Another crisis (has nothing to do with either the Niger Delta or Boko Haram) in Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt".

Could Nigeria end up like Central African Republic (albeit on a much larger scale)? Yes, if urgent steps aren't taken.
This incident is not a crisis (by African standards).

This is Nigeria's current crisis:

Nigeria orders probe into 'missing $20bn' of oil money

Now back to the side-show at Katsina...

From the BBC:

Nigeria attack: Scores killed in Katsina state

Most Fulani-related violence in Nigeria is concentrated around central Plateau state, where Muslim herders are pitted against Christian farmers. Thousands have been killed in recent years.

Such conflicts - a mix of land disputes, tribal and religious animosity - are unrelated to the Islamist insurgency concentrated mainly in Nigeria's northeast, in which many civilians have also been killed.
So this 'crisis' has been festering for some time then... Can this be blamed on the colonial power? I suggest not. More an indication of incompetence by a government more interested in stealing oil money than governing the country.

These land issues where herders and farmers compete for the diminishing land resources - mainly due to population growth, over grazing and poor land husbandry - are common place. Something has to give.

The Brits would probably have given the Fulani an ultimatum to surrender the perpetrators and when they were not produced conducted a punitive raid where they confiscated cattle - say 100 for each person killed - and handed them over to the surviving victims.

This of course would just cause the Fulani to conduct raids to steal 'their' cattle back.

So send up some military helicopters and shoot 5,000 or so Fulani cattle and engage any tribesmen who fire on the helicopters. On second thoughts, make that 10,000 cattle to make sure they get the message and also reduce the pressure on the grazing land available.

Happy hunting