Group pleads urgent support from FG to end incessant Plateau attacks
From Tongnaan Bawa, Jos
A group under the aegis of Coalition of Middle-Belt Ethnic Nationalities In Plateau State have cried out for help from the Federal Government of Nigeria and the International communities over the incessant attacks and killing of farmers in the region.
Addressing a press conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Secretariat in Jos, Plateau State capital on Saturday, Prof. Abraham Dogo, the Coordinator of the coalition, described as unfortunate, the unprovoked recent killings in Bokkos and Bassa local government areas respectively.
The coalition while calling for urgent global interest to end the ugly situation, decried how farmers who are feeding the nation are being killed daily and called on people of the region to rise and speak with one voice to condemn the heinous act in the strongest possible terms.
“If our farmers, who feed the nation, are being hunted down like animals, then our collective future is under threat.
“This is not the first time but it must be the last. The Middle Belt has endured repeated attacks.
“Our people have been 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.” They lamented.
The coordinator of coalition maintained that the massacre of innocent souls and wide sprayed destruction of property in Middle-Belt Communities must be unequivocally condemned by all Nigerians.
The group unanimously commended the Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang for the proactive measures taken to avert further attacks in the state and recommend that swift steps be taken to provide relief materials, shelter, and medical care to survivors, and to establish a task force that will prevent a recurrence of the tragedy.
The group also called for an urgent need for the full engagement of Agro Rangers Personnel of NSCDC, Plateau State Command to assist in the protection of farmers, farmlands and other Agricultural investments.
According to them, full engagement of the Agro Rangers will help safeguard the lives of the vulnerable peasant farmers in the state as the raining season sets in.
“We call on the Federal Government of Nigeria 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.”
The coalition also called on the International communities and other global institutions to take urgent interest in the worsening humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, noting that the silence of the world in the face of targeted violence against indigenous communities is deafening.
While responding to questions from journalists, the President, Berom Education and Cultural Organization, (BECO) Dara Gyang Dudu, stressed the need for immediate prosecution of the arrested perpetrators in accordance with the law of the land, regardless of ethnicity or religion to serve as deterrent to others.
