Seeks True Federalism, State Police To Confront Terror
Southern and Middle-Belt Forum (SMBLF) comprising the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan Niger Delta Development Forum (PANDEF) and Middle-belt Forum, on Friday stated that the Federal Government has failed to defend the citizens, hence Nigerians should rise and defend themselves.
The group expressed dismay over the inability of the Federal Government to put an end to the killings of Nigerians within their communities, stressing that the people must stop lamenting but instead confront and liberate themselves from armed militias.
A statement signed by leaders of the group, Oba Oladipo Olaitan (Afenifere), Dr. Bitrus Pogu (Middle Belt Forum), Senator John Azuta-Mbata (Ohanaeze Ndigbo World-Wide), and Amb. Godknows Igali (PANDEF), noted that the ongoing killings in various parts of the country could best be described as genocide .
According to SMBLF, Nigeria is currently under siege, particularly with the style of operations of those they described as terrorists and militias, stressing that they are not only killing the people but also taking over their lands, particularly in the North Central.
The statement added: “The latest cold-blooded murder of not less than 50 innocent citizens of Irigwe ethnicity in Zike and Kakpa villages in Kwall District, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State last Sunday, following similar killings of over 80 innocent lives in Bokkos Local Government Area a few days earlier, now leaves the people with no choice but to take their destinies in their own hands, severally and jointly.
“These terrorist killings wiping out entire families and villages hypocritically branded “farmers/herders clash” on the farmers’ land have become so commonplace that officials of the Nigerian State on each occurrence only indulge in comparative statistical analysis of the number of lives lost.”
The only crime of our people is being Nigerians with their ancestral land and its rich resources on which they live peacefully.
“SMBLF notes that only a day after the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for security agencies to pursue the perpetrators of the Bokkos killings and, in an astonishing display of impudence, a group calling itself the “Coalition of Registered Fulani Organisations in Plateau State”, led by one Garba Abdullahi, held a press conference in Kaduna wherein they issued conditions for peace.
“Amongst their demands was the removal of certain military commanders from Plateau State. Just days after these threats, as the condition was not met and knowing that the presidential order was of no moment, the Bassa massacre occurred just as terror with sorrow, tears and blood were unleashed on parts of Benue State by the same Fulani militias.
“While we may acknowledge that many Nigerians of Fulani origin may not support these heinous crimes perpetrated by their kinsmen from all over the West African sub-region, the continued silence of their prominent leaders is suggestive of complicity in a clear Fulanisation agenda of Nigeria.
“It has become undeniable that Nigeria is under siege by these well-coordinated, well-armed Fulani militias bringing with them kidnapping, murder, and chaos. Their activities are no longer random acts of violence; they are part of a deliberate strategy of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing.”
While emphasising that the government had been condoning the atrocities of the militias, the groups emphasised that the continued resolve of the Federal Government to pay lip service to the issue of federalism and state police has further fuelled the insecurity in the country.
SMBLF further alleged that if state security outfits such as the Western Nigerian Security Network, otherwise known as the Amotekun Corps, had not been stifled by the government, the situation would have been better managed, particularly in the Southwest.
The group added: “In every community attacked, the Fulani militias not only destroy but also settle on the lands, often without resistance from the very security forces deployed to protect citizens. All the Federal Government does is condone these modern-day territorial conquests while the landowners are packed in camps of internally displaced persons as rescued slaves with no hopes of returning home.
“All proposals and resolutions by well-meaning Nigerians, which have even enjoyed national consensus for security of life and property, including an end to open grazing, establishment of state police, restructuring and true federalism, have been rejected by the Federal Government.
“As leaders, SMBLF can no longer remain in a state of lamentation and idle mourning while our people are, in their numbers, butchered in cold blood. The soil of our homelands has drunk enough of our own blood.
“As a minimum demand, we call on the political representatives of our people, particularly at the National and State Assemblies, for legislation in support of state police and an immediate end to open grazing without prejudice to the governors immediately putting in place security structures with the capacity to withstand terror in our respective states.
“To the people: Rise, stop mourning and lamentation; organise according to your respective cultural and indigenous ways of community defence, seek necessary capacity wherever possible and available.”
