NBA Backs Gen Danjuma On Self-Defence, Says, Enough Of Vague Promises

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Plateau State branch, has called on the federal government to train and allow communities to defend themselves against the marauding invaders that kill and maim citizens.

The NBA which echoed the call by General T.Y. Danujam, former Chief of Army Staff that citizens should arm and themselves, said this has become necessary since the current security personnel are not enough to secure the lives of the people.

It also said that the establishment of a State Police will assist in nipping in the bud the incessant killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen that recently attacked parts of Plateau State leaving many people dead and dozens homeless.

Chairman of Jos Branch of the NBA, Leah Hassan, who made the call on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, stressed that the NBA is seriously pained over the attacks on two communities in Bassa and Bokkos by terrorists.

Hassan noted that the senseless killings have shattered the peace of the state and left the residents in a terrible state of horror just as she described the killings as premeditated attacks.

She said the situation should no longer be treated with indifference or vague promises and tasked security agencies to rise up to their duty by ensuring that nothing of such happen again.

Not a few Nigerians have condemned the senseless attacks and killings as they challenged the government and security agencies to protect lives and property.

The ugly development prompted former Chief of Army Staff, General Theophilus Y. Danjuma (retd), called on citizens and communities to arm themselves for self defence against the bandits and criminals.

While describing the attacks as a “direct assault on our shared humanity, the rule of law, and the fundamental right to life as enshrined in our Constitution,” Hassan said the NBA in Plateau is deeply saddened and pained by the spate unwarranted spate of violent attacks in Bokkos and Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau State which claimed numerous innocent lives and left many others injured, displaced, traumatised, and grieving.

In the words of Hassan: “It is utterly heart-wrenching that while Plateau State is yet to recover from the horror and pain of previous attacks, our peace is once again shattered by another wave of senseless and barbaric killings.

“These acts of violence are a direct assault on our shared humanity, the rule of law, and the fundamental right to life as enshrined in our Constitution.

“We demand the immediate identification, arrest, and prosecution of the perpetrators of these wicked acts, that all perpetrators who are arrested be prosecuted in Plateau State and not taken to Abuja, where we no longer hear anything about them again, suggesting that they have been released.

“The Federal Government should deploy adequate security personnel to vulnerable communities with clear mandates for community protection.

“States should be allowed to establish State Police who will be armed with weapons to defend our communities, the establishment of a conflict resolution and early warning mechanism through collaboration with community leaders, civil society, and security stakeholders.

“The Federal Government should empower vulnerable communities with self-defense mechanisms and equipment since the current security personnel are not enough to secure our lives, and provision of relief and rehabilitation materials be made for affected persons, particularly women and children, and resettlement of displaced communities be done within the shortest possible time,” it said.