• Berom demands sack over ‘militia’ remark

Piqued by his alleged branding of the entire Berom ethnic group as “militias”, a group, the ‎Young Plateau Professional Patriots, has petitioned President Bola Tinubu for an immediate sack of the Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Professor Ayo Omotayo.
   
However, the NIPSS chief has refuted the claims that his assertion that a Berom militia was responsible for the recent attacks on the institute was intended to stigmatise the ethnic group.
   
Clarifying his remarks, Omotayo revealed that he had received repeated phone calls from individuals claiming to be Berom militia members, who threatened to reclaim what they described as ancestral land around the NIPSS facility, unless compensation was paid.
   
He added that “each time, I pleaded with them and assured them that the issue of compensation would be addressed through due process.” However, he acknowledged that the grievances raised by the host communities may be legitimate, particularly claims that some landowners were not adequately compensated.
   
Nevertheless, he emphasised that the land on which NIPSS is situated was acquired nearly five decades ago and that he holds no authority over compensation decisions. He stated that such concerns should be addressed transparently by relevant government authorities.
   
Describing the Berom people as “peaceful, friendly and hospitable,” Omotayo said the backlash following his remarks during an appearance on Arise Television was unfortunate, as it was never his intention to portray the Berom people as violent or lawless.
   
In a letter to President Tinubu on behalf of the group, Makut Mashat said the demand followed a television interview in which Professor Omotayo openly referred to the Berom race of Plateau State as “militias” during a discussion on the state’s security challenges.
   
Describing the statement as “unacceptable stigmatisation and criminalisation,” the group stated that “for the head of Nigeria’s apex bureaucratic and policy-formulating think-tank to engage in such dangerous, sweeping ethnic profiling is not only intellectually indefensible but a direct threat to peace, as it is of an entire ethnic group.
   
“The Berom people are a constitutionally recognised ethnic nationality with rich historical contributions to the economic, social, and political fabric of Nigeria.”
   
Noting that Berom, like any other group, comprises “civil servants, farmers, academics, military officers, and law-abiding professionals,” it stressed that “to reduce an entire indigenous population to the label of ‘militias’ amounts to collective condemnation.”
   
They argued that criminal liability is strictly personal but never communal, because the NIPSS director-general misrepresents the real security dynamics on the Plateau, adding that Omotayo’s remarks completely disregarded decades of documented suffering.
 
According to the group, “the real enemies of peace on the Plateau are well-known: terrorists, herder-militia, and bandits who have consistently killed, maimed, and destroyed entire villages, leaving thousands of innocent Berom men, women, and children displaced.
   
Stating that Omotayo was undermining the integrity and neutrality of NIPSS, which it noted was established to provide objective, evidence-based policy research and to foster national cohesion, the youth said that “to ignore these aggressors while branding the victims as the perpetrators is a structural injustice that cannot be overlooked.
   
“When its chief executive uses his national platform to validate biased narratives, the credibility of the entire institute is brought into disrepute. Furthermore, these careless remarks lend dangerous credence to the lingering rumours of a sinister agenda by external forces to relocate NIPSS from Jos – an idea seemingly fueled by the recent targeted attacks near the institute.”
   
Rejecting what it described as “the weaponisation of national institutions to profile and alienate an entire people,” the youth stated that “careless rhetoric from high-ranking public officials acts as fuel to existing fault lines.”
   
Nevertheless, Omotayo said, “NIPSS values its long-standing relationship with its host-communities and remains committed to peaceful coexistence and mutual respect.”
   
Meanwhile, he confirmed that arrests had been made following the attempted attack on the institute, but emphasised that the matter was being handled entirely by security agencies.
   
The director-general also disclosed that he has been under pressure to publicly name the Fulani actors in the incident, describing such a practice as inconsistent with the information available to investigators.
   
“Some people wanted me to come out and mention the Fulani as the perpetrators,” he said. “That would have been irresponsible and contrary to what the security agencies are finding.”