By Baba Lawan
September 2025
Abstract
This paper examines the long-term consequences of colonial “divide and rule” strategies on Hausa–Fulani relations in Northern Nigeria. It argues that British reliance on Fulani elites under indirect rule, coupled with later French manipulation of Fulani pastoralists in the Sahel, institutionalized ethnic divisions that persist into the present. The rising Hausa frustration, including disparagement of historical figures such as Usman ɗan Fodio, reveals the dangerous erosion of shared heritage. Situating these tensions within comparative cases of ethnic violence across Africa, Europe, and Asia, the paper highlights the risk of Northern Nigeria descending into a Rwanda-type genocide if preventative measures are not taken
1. Introduction
Colonialism in Africa was not only an exploitative extraction of resources but also a restructuring of societies in ways that left enduring political and social cleavages. Among the most consequential of these strategies was “divide and rule,” which deliberately fractured ethnic and religious solidarities to ease imperial control. In Nigeria, British policies entrenched divisions between the Hausa and Fulani, privileging Fulani elites under indirect rule while marginalizing Hausa communities. Later, French manipulation of Fulani pastoralists across the Sahel further weaponized ethnicity through violence, insurgency, and banditry.
This study explores how these policies created fault lines that today manifest as inter-communal tensions, banditry, and ideological fractures in Northern Nigeria. Drawing on global cases of ethnic conflict, it situates Hausa–Fulani relations within wider comparative patterns, warning of the catastrophic risks of unchecked ethnic polarization
2. Literature Review
Scholars of African history and politics have long emphasized the central role of colonialism in shaping ethnic relations. Frederick Lugard’s The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa codified the logic of indirect rule, privileging Fulani aristocracy as instruments of governance.¹ Murray Last, in The Sokoto Caliphate, highlights how Hausa–Fulani collaboration had historically underpinned a unified state before British intervention disrupted it.² John Paden demonstrates how colonial authorities deliberately politicized religion and ethnicity in Kano to fragment resistance.³
Comparative scholarship shows that Nigeria’s experience is not isolated. Alison Des Forges’s landmark study of Rwanda demonstrates how Belgian favoritism toward Tutsis and anti-Hutu propaganda laid the foundations for the 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 were killed in 100 days.⁴ The International Crisis Group likewise documents how contemporary farmer–herder conflicts across the Sahel are exacerbated by external manipulation and weak governance.⁵
When analyzed globally, Hausa–Fulani tensions align with broader patterns of politicized ethnicity. In Africa, the bloodiest examples include Rwanda (1994, genocide); Nigeria’s own Civil War (1967–1970, civil war and ethnic cleansing); Sudan’s Darfur crisis (2003–present, genocide); South Sudan (2013–2018, civil war); Ethiopia’s Tigray war (2020–2022, civil war); the Democratic Republic of Congo’s “Africa’s World War” (1998–2003, ethnic war, ~5 million deaths); and Kenya’s 2007–2008 election violence.⁶
In Europe, the Yugoslav wars marked the continent’s most violent ethnic conflicts since World War II. Bosnia (1992–1995) saw genocide and ethnic cleansing, most infamously at Srebrenica. Kosovo (1998–1999) similarly witnessed large-scale ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serbian forces.⁷
In Asia, ethnic conflicts often intertwine with state nationalism and religion. The Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 caused up to 2 million deaths and displaced 14 million. Iraq’s Anfal campaign (1986–1989) constituted state-led ethnic cleansing of Kurds. Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingya Muslims since 2017 has been widely described as genocide, while Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war (1983–2009) illustrates the devastation of ethnonationalist insurgency.⁸
Patterns emerge across regions: in Africa, weak postcolonial states and artificial colonial borders underpin recurring genocides and civil wars; in Europe, the collapse of multiethnic federations led to ethnic cleansing; and in Asia, conflicts are often tied to religion, nationalism, and authoritarian repression.⁹
This global perspective underscores that Hausa–Fulani tensions in Nigeria are part of a recurring global pattern where ethnicity is weaponized as a political tool. If unchecked, these dynamics risk escalating into mass atrocities.
3. The British Strategy of Divide and Rule
3.1 The Sokoto Caliphate and Colonial Disruption
The Sokoto Caliphate, founded by Usman ɗan Fodio in the early 19th century, represented a synthesis of Fulani religious leadership and Hausa demographic and economic support. This collaboration created one of West Africa’s most powerful precolonial states. However, Britain viewed this unity as a threat. By privileging Fulani aristocracy under indirect rule while sidelining Hausa communities, it fractured this balance.
3.2 Religious Manipulation
British administrators attempted to induce Hausa elites to convert to Christianity with the promise of restored political dominance. The Hausa refusal entrenched their marginalization, while Fulani elites were retained as intermediaries of colonial governance. This sowed seeds of Hausa resentment and feelings of betrayal that persist today.
4. Postcolonial Legacies and French Influence
4.1 Political Domination
After independence, Fulani elites remained dominant in political and traditional institutions, while many Hausa perceived themselves as excluded from power. These imbalances deepened perceptions of Fulani hegemony.
4.2 The French Factor in the Sahel
France, seeking to preserve influence in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, cultivated pastoral Fulani groups facing economic and ecological marginalization. Arming and manipulating them through proxy militias, France exacerbated farmer–herder conflicts, insurgencies, and cross-border banditry. These developments fed Hausa narratives of Fulani culpability for violence across Northern Nigeria.
5. Contemporary Manifestations: Violence and Resentment
5.1 Banditry and Terrorism
Today, Nigeria’s banditry crisis is heavily associated with Fulani pastoralist militias engaged in kidnappings, massacres, and destruction of villages. The humanitarian toll is immense: thousands killed, millions displaced, and livelihoods destroyed.
5.2 Hausa Frustration and Historical Revisionism
A dangerous development is the Hausa backlash, which increasingly targets even revered Fulani figures such as ɗan Fodio and his successors. This revisionism erodes the shared historical foundations of Hausa–Fulani unity, aligning with external agendas to fragment the region further.
6. Comparative Risks: Lessons from Rwanda
The Rwandan genocide illustrates how colonial favoritism, propaganda, and resentment can spiral into mass killing. Just as Belgium weaponized Tutsi–Hutu divisions, external actors have entrenched Hausa–Fulani antagonisms. The danger lies in Hausa frustration hardening into blanket hostility against all Fulani, echoing the totalizing logic of genocide.
7. Preventative Measures
1. Political and Economic Reform: Nigerian authorities must address pastoralist–farmer conflicts through equitable resource management, security reform, and anti-corruption measures.
2. Public Education: Religious and community leaders should emphasize the shared legacies of Hausa–Fulani cooperation, countering hate narratives.
3. Historical Protection: Efforts must be made to preserve the legacies of ɗan Fodio and the Sokoto Caliphate as shared cultural heritage.
4. Regional Unity: Northern elites must resist external manipulation, particularly from former colonial powers, and prioritize collective security.
8. Conclusion
The Hausa–Fulani case illustrates how colonial manipulation of ethnicity continues to haunt African societies. British divide-and-rule tactics fractured a once-unified polity, while French interference in the Sahel further weaponized Fulani identity. The resulting resentments threaten to escalate into genocidal violence reminiscent of Rwanda. Yet, history also offers a path of unity: the Caliphate model demonstrated that Hausa and Fulani could achieve greatness together. Preventing mass atrocity in Northern Nigeria requires recovering this spirit of solidarity, rejecting external manipulations, and addressing contemporary grievances before they metastasize into catastrophe . Both our ambassadors of peace especially Gimbiyar Hausa and Nasiru Adamu El-hikaya call our society regardless of ethics to accept peace
Reference
1. Frederick Lugard, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (London: William Blackwood, 1922).
2. Murray Last, The Sokoto Caliphate (London: Longman, 1967).
3. John N. Paden, Religion and Political Culture in Kano (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973).
4. Alison Des Forges, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999).
5. International Crisis Group, Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer–Herder Violence (Brussels: ICG, 2018).
6. Gérard Prunier, Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); Alex de Waal, The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa (Cambridge: Polity, 2015).
7. Sabrina P. Ramet, Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milošević (Boulder: Westview Press, 2002).
8. Yasmin Saikia and Chad Haines, eds., People’s Peace: Prospects for a Human Future (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2019); Human Rights Watch, “All You Can Do is Pray”: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State (2013).
9. Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict, 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000).
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