By Anayo Ezugwu

NIGERIANS have described the latest killing of more than 200 people in three local government areas of Plateau State an act of ethnic cleansing. They have also accused the federal government of encouraging the herdsmen by doing nothing to arrest the situation by apprehending and prosecuting the culprits.

Istifanus Gyang, a member representing Barkin Ladi/Riyom federal constituency in the House of Representatives, said the agenda of the killer herdsmen is to wipe out his constituency and takeover their lands.

On Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Thursday, June 28, Gyang said his constituency has lost 49 communities to herdsmen through land grabbing. He said the agenda of the herdsmen and their sponsors are to displace communities and occupy their lands.  He noted that over the years, there are communities in his constituency that have hosted herdsmen and they have co-existed overtime.

According to him, since the agenda of land grabbing started, the very host communities that accommodated herdsmen became the first victim of this ethnic cleansing. “How do you grab the land? You have to cleanse the people from the land before you can grab it. So when we talk of ethnic cleansing in this agenda of killing from one village to another, what they are doing is to displace communities and occupy it to consolidate. Next, you attack, kill, displace, occupy and consolidate, and that is how over 49 communities have been displaced and occupied by herdsmen.

“Having consolidated on them, they now move to again in this latest attack to now displace the next set of communities for occupation. This is simply what is at stake. Nigerians need to know this, it is as a result of this desire to forcefully acquire and occupy land that we are having this holocaust, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Even under the curfew that the state government imposed, three other villages were attacked, set ablaze and people killed on Tuesday, June 26.

“On Wednesday, June 27, I had to go round to over 10 internally displaced camps to administer relief amidst the pain and anguish people are passing through. This is the situation. It is ethnic cleansing at stake, so that the land of the people would be taking over and it is already being taking over.  Over one-third of Barkin Ladi and Riyom has been taken over. And it is not limited to these two local rnments; it is extended to three other local governments all in Plateau State,” he said.

Gyang appealed to the federal government to take responsibility in order to enforce law and order and bring the killings to an end. He said justice must be served by bringing back the land to its original owners. “I have launched what I called ‘Bring Back Our Land’. We are placing a demand on the nation to bring back our land. Our land has to be resorted because our people’s economy has been crippled.

“There is ongoing destruction of farm lands so that the economy of the locals would be crippled completely. The locals used to have cattle but the cattle were rustled by the same people. Their primary agenda is, if you can’t kill them, destroy farms and render them completely destitute. This is the situation in my constituency. The Nigerian state must take responsibility and confront the killer herdsmen as terrorists. If that is not done, the killings will not stop. Secondly, justice must be done. All the displaced communities must return back to their communities, to take back their farm lands and engage in their normal way of life.”

But Usman Baba-Ngelzarma, secretary general, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, denied the reports that the group was responsible for the attack. He said the group doesn’t condone such violence and has never endorsed the killings. He said the group never claimed responsibility of such violent act.

He said the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association is a non-violent, peaceful association. “We don’t encourage violence; we don’t accept it, support it, or condone it in any way and by whosoever. We don’t like violence.

“Whoever is speaking on behalf of this association that’s not the national president, my humble self, who is the national secretary, or the national PRO, is on his own. He’s not speaking for the association; he’s speaking on behalf of his humble self, not the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association. How can we take responsibility? We’re not a violent association.

“I lead an association that is after the lives of legitimate pastoralists. As far as we are concerned, whoever handles a dangerous weapon is never and will not be our member. And we consider him to be a criminal. This is our position. The only intelligence we have is when cows of our members are taken by cattle rustlers. We have information that the rustlers are coming with heavy weapons, taking away their cows in hundreds and thousands. This is information we always get.

“Today about two million cows were lost as a result of cattle rustling and this group of rustlers are so sophisticated that sometime even the security agency could not overcome them. It is going on in Zamfara now, this group of bandits who do they spare. They kill the pastoralists, take away cows and loot communities. So this is the information we get from our members when their cows are taken away. One thing remains certain, it is difficult for someone to steal cow without some people who understands the psychology of the cow, which is the Fulani man,” he said.

Irrespective of MACBAN’s position, Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary, Afenifere, said somebody must take responsibility of the actions and inactions of the herdsmen. He said whether MACBAN takes responsibility or not, the issue is that somebody is carrying out these killings and those that died didn’t commit suicide.

“I think that the time has come for the media to stop the wrong narrative of talking about farmers/herders clashes, these are not clashes. It is terrorism. How many herdsmen have farmers killed? And government is doing nothing about this group of arms men killing and taking over communities. Government should rise up now because the primary duty of government is to protect lives and properties. Any government that cannot do that is a failure.

“I agreed with Honourable Gyang that there is an agenda to takeover lands, displace people and that is why some of us are saying that the time has come for this country to stop running away from its shadows. We must address nationhood. A multi-ethnic society can only run on the bases of federalism.

“For years now we have been calling for ranches now the federal government is coming with its own idea of ranching which I have rejected, to say that they want to create federal territories all over the states for ranching. Their agenda is to transfer the situation in Plateau to every part of Nigeria. We don’t want that, anybody that wants to do ranching should approach the state government,” he said.

– Jun. 29, 2018 @ 14:49 GMT |