Massacre Of 48 In Plateau, Benue Ploy To Wipe Us Out – MBF

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – The Middle Forum (MBF) on Friday declared that the massacre of 48 persons in Yelwa Zangan, Plateau State, and Yelewta community in Benue state testifies to the existence of a hidden ploy to completely wipe out communities in the Middle Bet Region.

In a press statement signed by the President of MBF, Dr Pogu Bitrus, and made available to the media on Friday, the Forum condemned the “brutal attacks on Yelwa Zangam in Jos North, Plateau State and Yelewta community of Guma Local Government Area of Benue that claimed the lives of 48 persons, including women and children on Tuesday August 24, 2021. Coming after a series of threats issued by some Islamic clerics over the killing of 25 travellers in Jos penultimate Saturday, these attacks seemed to have reinforced the fact that there is a coordinated plot to turn our communities into killing fields in order to satisfy the expansionist agenda of these evil gangs.

“If Nigerians are in doubt over this orchestrated evil machination against ethnic nationalities in the country, especially the Middle Belt Region, the breaching of security at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) on Tuesday August 24, 2021 that resulted in the killing of two military officers and abduction of another by the terrorists, the gruesome murder of no fewer than 19 people in Madoh village, Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna, lend credence to claims that ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt are already marked for extermination.”

Describing the destruction of communities in the Middle Belt Region as a pointer to a sinister conspiracy against ethnic nationalities, the MBF said it “ is clear that the discriminatory structure of our country’s security architecture has opened up our security agencies for infiltration and facilitated attacks on the nation’s elite military’s institution. Our security forces must be cleansed of questionable characters whose loyalty is not for the Nigerian state but to certain forces committed to the final destruction of our country.

“That the spiraling insecurity situation is coming less than 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari had vowed not to leave office as a failure reaffirms the fear among citizens that the path in resolving the present insecurity is still fraught with thorns that may be difficult to unwrap within the remaining two years of the present administration. Despite the promise by President Buhari to crush these terrorists often labelled as kidnappers, unknown gunmen and bandits by security agencies, it has now become imperative for the government to wake up and halt the nation’s march to the precipice.”

Parts of the statement read:

“In the face of vicious attacks on Nigerian communities that have resulted in the avoidable deaths of thousands of citizens, the Forum calls for the immediate review of the nation’s top military command structure to tackle these monsters of destruction wrecking Nigeria.

“Furthermore, the Forum finds the planned review of 368 grazing reserves and routes in 25 states as approved by President Buhari as a deliberate attempt to awaken the monster of ethnic animosity that could end up turning our communities into rivers of mass slaughter.

“Even without being told that the matter is not within the purview of the Federal Government, President Buhari ought to know that state governors hold in trust lands on behalf of the people. Any attempt to dabble into an issue that is outside the constitutional function of the Federal Government is illegal and ultra vires.

“The Forum has always maintained and supported the adoption of ranching as the global best practice as opposed to open grazing. The 19 governors of the South have already ruled out open grazing and endorsed ranching as the best policy to contain security challenges associated with open grazing.

“We call on state governors to commence, without delay, the creation of ranches in collaboration with communities so as to avoid a situation where foreign herdsmen are settled to further unleash destruction on vulnerable communities. As the umbrella organisation of ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt, the MBF is poised to continue resisting any attempt to rob our people of their ancestral lands.

“The Forum wishes to stress unequivocally that it cannot be dissuaded from defending the rights of ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt as contained in the Nigerian Constitution. The Buhari-led government must shed off its toga of being seen as only interested in defending the interest of the Fulani group and people of his own faith.”