BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – A Former Director with the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Abuja Engr. Jimmy Cheto has petitioned the International Criminal Court of Justice and the United Nations on the unending killings in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, sying that the blood fields must stop.
Engr. Cheto, who holds a traditional title of Jarumi Langtang, is worried that the majority Berom tribal ethnic group in particular who reside around the state capital and environs, risks ethnic cleansing if prompt and definite steps are not taken by the international community to avert an impending Armageddon.
He observed that the Nigerian government appeared overwhelmed by the persistent destruction of property and human lives of its citizens, stressing that the senseless carnages where children, women and the aged were ambushed in their homes, worship places, ceremonies and farms by armed gunmen and incinerated was one death too many.
Cheto described the act as evil and reprehensible just as he decried other pockets of unprovoked killings of innocent people around the state particularly in Bassa, Baraki Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu Local Government Areas where the locals only enjoy grave side peace.
He noted that the continued loss of lives of defenceless citizens in Plateau State is a mark of failure of governance and therefore questioned the relevance of the much acclaimed peace initiatives of the APC state government.
Cheto also condemned the present security architecture of the federal government just as he observed sadly that some communities in Nigeria are perennially fault lines and blood fields.
He expressed his heartfelt condolences over the genocides, shares in the grief and sorrows of families, who have lost their loved ones and called for immediate government care for the injured and succour for those displaced in the killings.
