Fulani Hegemony: Buhari As Tragedy, Tinubu As Affliction and the Feudal Logic of the 1966 Coups

Dele Farotimi says Nigeria’s crisis, did not begin yesterday. It is rooted in a feudal order that has outlived its usefulness but continues to shape power, privilege, and policy. In this conversation, Farotimi dissects what he describes as the feudal foundation of the Nigerian state, an order he says is sustained by Fulani hegemony and has systematically arrested development while condemning millions to despair. He portrays Muhammadu Buhari as the purest expression of this feudal class, a ruler whose years in power amounted to an unmitigated disaster for the country. Bola Tinubu, he insists, is not a departure from this tradition but its continuation, an affliction rather than a cure. Farotimi stretches the argument beyond contemporary politics, locating the January and July 1966 coups within the same feudal logic. To him, those military interventions were not historical accidents but inevitable outcomes of a deeply unequal system designed to reproduce domination. What emerges is a fierce interrogation of Nigeria’s past and present, and an unsettling question about whether the country can escape a structure that constantly regenerates failure. udarabooks.com WhatsApp: +2348099918449