Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
Indigenous groups in Plateau State have again raised the alarm that Fulani militias have sacked over 102 hamlets and villages in the state, and now occupy them, calling on the federal government to urgently intervene.
The Berom Youths Moulder-Association (BYM), Forum of Bokkos Development Association (FBDA), and the Mwagavwul Youths Movement (MYM) in a joint press conference yesterday said: “In Plateau State, there are over 102 hamlets and villages that have been completely sacked, and are being occupied by the Fulanis.
“In addition, a peace-loving and kind Paramount Ruler of Bokkos Local Government Area, Da Lazarus Agai, was gruesomely killed in cold-blood in his farm, while a district head and a village head were also killed in similar circumstances.”
The groups were reacting to a statement issued by the Coalition of Fulani Groups, in which they claimed that “over 350 Fulani were killed, and thousands of their cattle rustled or killed.”
The groups, led by their Chairmen, Dalyop Mwantiri, Philip Julson, and Dawap Dankaka, warned that the Fulani spurious claim was a “diversionary ploy to take attention away from the heinous crime they committed on Christmas Eve in which over 200 persons were killed,” adding that the ridiculous claim that 350 Fulanis were killed was also a shameless ploy by the coalition to attract government humanitarian support to
them.
They said: “It’s a notorious fact that Fulani militants have been launching attacks and raiding hamlets and villages, committing all sorts of human rights abuses with the hope of displacing the natives, grabbing their lands and taking over the economic activities of those areas. So, it is very ironical for the victims of Fulani aggression and agenda to be portrayed as the aggressors in their own traditional homesteads and farmlands. This is, of course, a perfect work of their cheap propaganda, which is now common knowledge all over Nigeria.
“Fulani herders have been hosted by our communities for decades, but have now, in our view, counted themselves unworthy of the hospitality and accommodation of the native peoples who are largely sedentary peasant farmers, and are now fiercely displacing them to take over their ancestral lands.”
The groups said it is undisputed that the Fulani lack customary rights and authority over lands and territories “in all our villages and communities except those acquired through purchase, gifts and goodwill. “Little wonder, therefore, that Fulani militants have chosen terror as a means of conquest land acquisitions in this 21st century, where constitutionalism, civilization and civility are the hallmark of modern society.
“Our singular prayer is for the government to halt Fulani militants from raiding our hamlets and villages, killing our people and displacing them as well as disrupting our livelihoods. Their sponsors and networks within and outside Nigeria should be busted while the perpetrators and local accomplices be brought to justice.
“The will of the Nigerian government is indeed on trial as to whether these terrorists would go on unchecked or that security agents will rise to the occasion to guarantee the safety of lives and property of the citizens in this country.
“We call on our people to remain very vigilant and ready to defend themselves if they have, to under the circumstance we have found ourselves.”
