A Coalition of Middle-Belt Nationalities Leaders in Plateau State, has called for unity among the states in the region to fight and resist the invasion, killings, land grabbing among others, going on in the region.
Speaking at a Press Conference at the NUJ Press Center in Jos, the Coalition while condemning in totality the attacks and the killings of Over 60 innocent people in Bokkos LGA as well as the destruction of several properties worth Millions of Naira said it is time to put an end to such menace.
Reading the text, Prof. Abraham Dogo, the Co-ordinator, Joint Leadership of Middle-Belt Ethnic Nationalities Jos, Plateau State, described the killings as senseless and brutal massacre.
“These innocent and defenceless citizens were mercilessly killed by suspected armed and deadly herders/terrorists — agents of destruction who have no regard for human life, law, or peaceful coexistence”, he said.
The group noted with disenchantment that the middle belt region has endured repeated attacks and its people killed, displaced, and traumatized beyond measure. We are farmers, not fighters. “We are builders, not destroyers And yet, we are being targeted — again and again — simply for existing on our ancestral land.
“The Massacre of innocent souls and wide sprayed destruction of property in Middle-Belt Communities must be unequivocally condemned by all Nigerians.
“In addition, as described by Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s that the attack is a “genocide” and a well-coordinated plan to impoverish and intimidate the people, particularly during the farming season is nothing but the ONLY Truth”.
The group posited that the right to life is the most sacred of all, saying “If our farmers, who feed the nation, are being hunted down like animals, then our collective future is under threat”.
The middle belt group applauded the efforts of Governor Caleb Mutfwang for the proactive measures taken to avert further attacks in the state and recommend that swift steps to provide relief materials, shelter, and medical care to survivors, and to establish a task force that will prevent a recurrence of this tragedy.
“There is an urgent need to solicit for the full engagement of Agro Rangers Personnel of NSCDC, Plateau State Command to assist in the protection of our Farmers, Farmlands and other Agricultural investments and to safeguard the lives of our vulnerable peasant farmers in the State as the raining season sets in”.
To the Federal Government, the Group urged it to immediately deploy more security forces to the affected areas, arrest and prosecute the perpetrators according to the law, and fulfill its constitutional duty to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians — regardless of region, religion, or ethnicity.
It further called on the International Community – the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS, Amnesty International, and other global institutions – to take urgent interest in the worsening humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The silence of the world in the face of targeted violence against indigenous communities is deafening. We need your voice. We need your action”, the Group stated.
During the question and answer session, the Coalition, vehemently stated that “Enough is a Enough’ of the killings in the region and that the the need for inquiry of the perpetrators was not necessary, as investigations in the past have identified the attackers, invaders and killers”.
“These are the same people who are killing in Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi States, and other states in the South East and South-South and South West”. They said.
The Coalition, lamented over the new plans of the attackers which is aimed at killing farmers during the farming season.
