•Says Plateau massacre is wake-up call
•Mutfwang rallies North-central governors to advance peace, unity for regional development
•Sule, Alia, Bago insist it’s act of terrorism
•SMBLF alleges terror siege, writes Tinubu
•President must prioritise security, NBA charges
Chuks Okocha, Sunday Aborisade in Abuja, Seriki Adinoyi in Jos, and George Okoh in Makurdi
Former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has said it is time President Bola Tinubu reviewed the country’s security architecture with a view to making it more proactive and strategic towards addressing recurring security challenges in the country. Mark said this yesterday in a statement by his media aide, Paul Mumeh.
The former senate president stated that a review of the security strategy would help to identify the loopholes in the system and devise means to end the incessant bloodshed in the country. He added that the recent massacre in Plateau State was a wake-up call.
As Plateau State reeled from the Christmas Eve massacre by alleged Fulani bandits, the governor, Caleb Mutfwang, yesterday rallied his North-central counterparts to advance peace and unity for regional development.
But Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule and his Benue and Niger states counterparts, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia and Umar Bago, respectively, described the Plateau incident as act of terrorism. They called for unity in the fight against terrorists disturbing the peace of the zone.
Similarly, Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), under the leadership of Chief Edwin Clark, raised the alarm, in a letter to Tinubu, that the entire Middle Belt region was currently under the siege of the Fulani militia, who were bent on occupying the entire region.
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) also decried the state of insecurity across Nigeria, saying Tinubu must show demonstrable commitment to securing lives and property in the country.
Mark, a retired General and politician, said the Plateau incidents in which 100 citizens were needlessly massacred should be a wake-up call that the security challenge needed urgent attention.
“It will not be out of place to declare an emergency on security,” he said. “Any step taken to end the continued killing of citizens will be worth the trouble,” Mark added.
He urged the government and security agencies to do more, saying life has become so cheap in Nigeria today that people have lost the humanity in them.
The former two-term senate president implored the federal government to collaborate with sub-national governments in the task of ensuring peace and security in the country.
Mark commiserated with the government and people of Plateau State, and he suggested that residents should be alert and cooperate with security operatives in order to prevent a reoccurrence.
He called for harmonious relationship between and among various ethnic and religious adherents in the country.
He also counselled against taking grievance to the extreme, stating, “There are legitimate channels to address grievances instead of resorting to self-help.”
Mutfwang Rallies North-central Governors
Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, reaffirmed his dedication to collaborating with his colleagues in the North-central geopolitical zone to promote peace, unity, and substantial development in the region.
Speaking during a condolence visit to him by the North-central Governors’ Forum, led by Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, Mutfwang expressed gratitude to his colleague-governors for their support after the recent attacks in Bokkos, Mangu, and Barkin-Ladi local government areas of Plateau State.
He said the North-central geopolitical zone was significant as a cohesive force in Nigeria and highlighted the region’s abundant natural resources, stating their potential benefits for the entire country.
Mutfwang called for combined effort to combat armed banditry, terrorism, and criminal activities prevalent in the region.
He appealed to the federal government for assistance in reconstructing the Wamba-Panyam and Akwanga-Jos roads, crucial gateways for security operations in the North-east, into dual-carriage ways.
Sule conveyed the zone’s condolences to the people of Plateau State for the Christmas Eve attacks, describing Plateau as a true home for Nigerians. He stressed the need to identify the cause of the incident for a lasting solution, and expressed confidence in Mutfwang’s ability to address the issue with wisdom and courage.
The governor characterised the incident as pure terrorism, urging the deployment of technology to identify perpetrators and curb their operations in the North-central. He also emphasised the collective responsibility of all Nigerians in addressing the challenge.
Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State and Niger State Governor Mohammed Umar Bago also condemned the heinous attacks in Plateau State. They called for unity to safeguard the common destiny of the North-central people. They also encouraged investment in agriculture to harness the region’s abundant natural resources.
Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Gyang Buba, appreciated the governors’ unity and urged them to focus on the region’s mineral resources for the prosperity of its people.
SMBLF Alleges Siege by Fulani Militia
Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), under the leadership of Chief Edwin Clark, alleged that the entire Middle Belt region was currently under the siege of the Fulani militia who were bent on occupying the whole region. The leaders, who stated this in an open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, asked the president to take immediate steps to stop the expansionist agenda of the terrorists to safeguard the corporate existence of Nigeria.
The letter was signed by Clark; Chief Ayo Adebanjo (Afenifere); Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu (Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide); Dr. Pogu Bitrus (Middle Belt Forum); and Senator Emmanuel Ibok-Essien of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).
The leaders lamented the plight of the people of Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin-Ladi local government areas of Plateau State, where over 200 innocent villagers were killed by terrorists, with more than 300 persons injured between Christmas Eve and December 26, 2023.
They commiserated with the affected families, and people of Plateau State, and commended the United Nations (UN), Amnesty International, the Pope, and the international community, generally, for their unequivocal condemnation of the killings on the Plateau.
The leaders urged the world to be conscious of the grave implications of these happenings on the corporate existence of the Nigerian federation. They noted 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 ethnic militias.
SMBLF insisted that the persistent occurrence had shown without any doubt that the Nigerian state, its government and security forces, had failed in the fundamental duty of the security and welfare of citizens, which are the primary purpose of government, as stated in Section 14(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
SMBLF stated in the letter, “Mr. President, unfortunately, and as it was with the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, 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 organised and well-armed militias, which was, since 2018, declared by Amnesty International as the ‘4th most deadly terrorist organisation in the world’, your administration has also, now, in bad faith, dressed this evil in the false garb of ‘herders/farmers’ clash.
“The blood-thirsty ethnic militias are not mere bandits. This 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 cycle of attacks, government inaction, and provable official complicity engendered a situation where no less a personality than General Theophilus. Danjuma (retd.), a former Chief of Army Staff and former Defence Minister, openly advised victims of terrorism to arm themselves, since the government appears unwilling to stem the atrocities being committed against the indigenous peoples.
“The audacious and reckless assertions by some prominent personalities of Fulani extraction, like Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, who ought to be more ‘civilised’, lent credence to the Fulanisation agenda.
“Nasir El-Rufai, reportedly, threatened that ‘whoever kills a Fulani herdsman, including the army, takes a death loan, repayable in 100 years’ on an alleged plan by the military to dislodge a Fulani-occupied settlement on other people’s ancestral home in the outskirts of Jos, Plateau State.
“He warned that ‘if the Nigerian Army goes and removes the Fulani settlement, any person wearing Nigerian Army uniform in 14 Western African countries is at risk.
“Governor Bala Mohammed, on his part, justified the possession of AK-47 weapons by the Fulani herders as self-defence in ‘practising the tradition of trans-human, pastoralism’ throughout West Africa with no regard for national boundaries, not to mention ancestral lands of other groups, which have no affinity to the Fulani.
“The Buhari administration tried all the tricks in its wits to create Fulani settlements in other people’s territories throughout Nigeria by different strategies of ‘land grabbing’ in the guise of RUGA, Grazing Routes, Cattle Colonies or contrived integrated agriculture schemes.
“New estates would be built for pastoralists with better amenities than the host communities whose lands would be acquired by the federal government, contrary to the provisions of the constitution, which make land use regulations an exclusive state affair.
“The horror of the Christmas Eve massacre in Plateau State is not different from the situation in Benue where several communities, particularly in Kwande, Gwer-West, Guma, Makurdi, and Logo local government areas are perennially attacked by the pampered armed Fulani ethnic militias who have taken over other people’s lands and homes.
“The operations of these armies of occupation, claimed to be foreigners, were allegedly boosted by El-Rufai’s admission of payment of huge amounts of money to Fulani militants across West Africa only to end up lamenting that these associates of his invariably made Kaduna State ungovernable.”
NBA: Tinubu Must Prioritise Security
President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN, decried the growing insecurity across the country, saying the president must show demonstrable commitment to prioritise security.
Maikyau condemned the December attacks by bandits on villages in Plateau State, which left nearly 200 Nigerians dead, and the earlier drone strike by the military on Tudun Biri in Kaduna State, which claimed the lives of over 100 Nigerians.
He stated, “From information made available by the military and other security sources, the Tudun Biri incident is suggestive of the gap in our security architecture – lack of inter-agency synergy and coordination.
“The attack in Plateau is clearly indicative of poor intelligence gathering or, a deliberate failure to act, despite the intelligence on the impending attacks on the villages, or notice of the attack on the villages by the bandits, as reported by community leaders.”
The NBA president, in his 2024 New Year message, urged the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to show demonstrable commitment to prioritising the security of life and property of Nigerians.
He stated, “Government, through our armed forces and other security agencies, must ensure that no square inch of the Nigerian territory is left ungoverned; no part of Nigeria should be left under the control of criminal elements by whatever name so-called.
“Government must make deliberate investment in security, of such a scale and magnitude, which will leave Nigerians in no doubt as to the sincerity of the statement made by the president.”
He said the federal government must adopt a holistic approach to the issue of security, while not overlooking the peculiarities of each region, and design concrete measures to deal with them. Maikyau said the government must neither be “scared” nor “ashamed” to make the right investments in security, “in line with global trends in security, without compromising our sovereignty”.
