In an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, Southern and Middle Belt leaders have called for the closure of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the north and for all the displaced persons restored to their ancestral homes to end what they termed the shameful policy of allowing invaders to occupy lands.
They have also prescribed the setting up of a security inquiry to determine the communities where original inhabitants had been displaced within the last two decades.
In the letter written under the aegis of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) titled: “Killings in the Middle Belt and threat to Nigeria’s continued corporate existence: the bucks stops with you,” they told the president that the people of Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin-Ladi Local Government areas of Plateau State, where over 200 innocent villagers were killed by terrorists on Christmas Eve were not able to share in the New Year joy he expressed to Nigerians.
They maintained that “the unrelenting massacre bordering on ethnic cleansing and armed occupation” of the territories of the indigenous peoples of the Middle-Belt and most parts of Northern Nigeria by identified ethnic militias have shown without any doubt that the Nigerian state, its government, and security forces have continued to fail in the fundamental duty of the security and welfare of citizens.
The SMBLF admonished Tinubu not to repeat the mistake of his predecessor whom they observed, rather than accept the reality of the danger posed to the corporate existence of the federation by “an extra-territorial agenda of the Fulani ethnic nationality, backed by organized and well-armed militias,” preferred to see the issues as “farmers/herders conflict.”
“It is a conflict where one side, fully armed, continues to attack and kill the innocent, who are being deliberately defanged by agents of the Government. Mr. President, your predecessor had all the facts and evidence of an ideological Fulanisation agenda but preferred to pander and prevaricate than bring justice to the victims of oppression and genocide,” the letter stated.
The forum asserted that the horror of the Christmas Eve massacre is also replicated in many other parts of the north including Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kebbi states.
The leaders stated: “In light of the foregoing, the SMBLF, moved by the patriotic desire for the corporate continuity of Nigeria and, the peaceful and mutually respectful coexistence of its diverse nationalities strongly urges that you, Mr. President consider the following:
“Your government holds an honest and truthful security inquiry to determine communities wherein the original inhabitants have been displaced in the last 2 decades and enforce the immediate return and resettlement of the people in their ancestral homes.
“Further to the above, the government should, in no distant future, close all IDP camps to end the shameful and sinful policy of building such refugee camps for the indigenous peoples while their ancestral homes are allowed to be occupied by the armed invaders.
“That the Security agencies, including the police, the Civil Defence Corps, and others be specially trained and equipped to rise to the challenges as Nigeria is fast becoming a banana or pariah state of its kid-gloves treatment of terrorism.
“That the Nigerian state which fought a tribal civil war to secure its corporate existence should not allow another internecine war of diverse tribes brought about by its permissive handling of provocative activities of local Fulani militias aided by collaborators from the West African sub-region and the Sahel.
“The desire of the Fulani to be treated as an exclusive “race” cannot be allowed to continue in a free and egalitarian Nation. They should seek land for their trade in the same way other Nigerians buy and manage land and stop this sense of entitlement.
“Urgent steps be taken to restructure Nigeria in line with the tenets of true federalism, to legitimize multi-level policing such that states and communities will provide commensurate security for their people.
“That you, Mr President, should rise to the occasion and dare the powers that be; decisively deal with the perpetrators of the senseless killings, end the massacre, and guarantee the safety of lives and property of citizens in all parts of our country, especially the Middle Belt Region, and restore the dignity of citizens and national pride; for which you will ever be remembered! Mr. President, kindly accept the assurances of our highest regards.”
The letter was signed by Chief Edwin Clark, Leader; Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Leader Afenifer; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, President-General, Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide; Dr. Pogu Bitrus, President, Middle Belt Forum, and Senator Emmanuel Ibok-Essien, National Chairman, PANDEF.
. TheWitness
