By Luka Binniyat
KADUNA–The once formidable political alliance between the Hausa and Fulani is falling apart after protracted deadly raids on the Hausa population by Fulani bandits, gangs, and terrorists in Northern Nigeria. These deadly raids created a major rupture in relationships between the ethnic groups.
Why the Emerging Hausa–Fulani Rift?
The current divide between Hausa and Fulani communities did not originate from cultural or religious differences; rather, it is rooted in a decade of sustained violence. Between 2015 and 2025, armed Fulani militias—commonly referred to as bandits—carried out an unprecedented campaign of terror across the North-West. The consequences have been profound:
- Widespread massacres in Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna States
- Destruction of over 3,000 villages
- Millions of residents displaced from ancestral lands
- Systematic kidnapping, rape, cattle rustling, enslavement and the imposition of forced levies on rural communities
- Open public boasts by i notorious Fulani warlords such as Bello Turji and Dogo Giɗe
- Allegations that certain high-ranking political actors have negotiated with, protected, or enabled some of these armed Fulani groups
Since Nigeria came under colonial rule in 1914, the Muslim Hausa and Fulani formed an oligarchy that lorded over the over 300 ethnic groups (mostly non-muslims) that formed the so-called Northern Nigeria.
This was made possible under the British infamous system of “Indirect Rule” which empowered favoured and existing pre-colonial traditional institutions to rule over much larger constituencies they never had control over before colonial rule.
The Hausa and Fulani elites became so indistinguishable in the eye of other Nigerians they became known as “Hausa/Fulani” – an ethnic amalgam of sorts. However, in reality, the Fulani, who are by far a minority and have no ancestral lands among the two, were the ones on top of the political and economic pyramid.
But beneath the Hausa/Fulani label lies a deep and painful contradiction. Today, as mass killings, kidnappings and village destructions sweep through Hausaland, a new movement of Hausa self-assertion has emerged. It is driven by anger, grief, and the determination to reclaim an identity overshadowed by Fulani political control.
At the heart of this agitation are cultural scholars, youth activists, community defenders, traditional-heritage revivalists, and human-rights coalitions documenting the atrocities visited upon Hausa communities from 1804 till date. Their message is clear: the Hausa are not the aggressors—nor have they ever ruled the Fulani—but they are now the primary victims of a war unleashed upon their ancestral land by the Fulani settlers on their land
Despite their long history, the Hausa never expelled, persecuted or subordinated the Fulani. Instead, they welcomed Fulani pastoralists, granting them grazing corridors, settlement rights and access to royal courts. Intermarriage became common, and Fulani scholars rose to influence in Hausa kingdoms.
Last week, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) heightened tensions further when its chairman, Bashir Dalhatu – a Fulani – openly called for amnesty and financial support for Fulani bandits—sparking outrage across Hausa communities.
To many, ACF’s statement confirmed long-standing suspicions: Fulani elites were protecting Fulani militias, even as Hausa communities were being wiped out.
The Hausa response, to the ACF’s amnesty proposal is blistering and uncompromising. Hausa Actvist Network (HAN) dismissed the notion that Fulani banditry stems from poverty, insisting instead that many of its commanders come from families long associated with violent criminal networks.
“The scale and intent of the attacks on Hausa land is nothing less than ethnic cleansing and genocide,” said HAN in its response siged by National Coordinator of the group, Dr. Danlado Saidu.
To the group, any attempt to compare Fulani bandits with Niger Delta activists is a distortion of history and an affront to justice.
“Granting amnesty without accountability,” they argue, “would be a betrayal of the dead, the displaced and the dispossessed.”
“Communities across our region are out in firm demands that we want an official identification of all our destroyed villages, compensation for victims, and the prosecution of political actors believed to have collaborated with or enabled the armed groups,” said HAN.
They insist that kidnapped children must be found and returned, and that ancestral lands seized or abandoned because of violence must be restored.
Above all, they maintain that the future of Hausaland cannot—and must not—be defined by Fulani elites or any external actors. It is Hausa voices, they say, that must guide the path forward.
The Agitation: Who Is Leading It?
While there is no single central organisation, the Hausa awakening is driven by several identifiable currents:
1. Hausa Cultural Revivalists
Public intellectuals, historians and social-media scholars calling for a return to Hausa autonomy, indigenous leadership, and acknowledgment of pre-Caliphate Hausa sovereignty.
2. Grassroots Community-Defense Movements
Neighbourhood vigilantes, village alliances, and civic protection networks formed in response to ongoing massacres and kidnappings. These groups reject ACF’s stance and demand justice for the dead.
3. Human-Rights and Victim-Advocacy Platforms
Civil-society groups in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto documenting massacres, destroyed villages and the identities of bandit commanders among others.
Possible Alliance With the Middle Belt
Speaking exclusively to TruthNigeria Nigeria from Abuja, the President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr Pogu Bitrus affirmed that the majority Hausa Muslims are now closing ranks with Hausa Christian and the Hausa that are still practicing traditional religion to work against the political domination of the Fulani.
“Many of their groups are coming to us in the MBF for security and political partnership,” he said.
“We are studying their proposal carefully and we shall soon take a position on it,” he said.
“But one thing is sure,” he said, “the relationship between the Hausa and Fulani will never be the same again,” he affirmed.
Luka Binniyat writes for TruthNigeria on Politics and Conflict from Kaduna.
