Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
A Human Rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has raised the alarm over the killings of innocent Nigerians by suspected Boka Haram insurgents, herdsmen and armed bandits in North Central, North East and parts of North West and South East geopolitical zones of the country.
The group said that not even a single culprit, till date, has been arrested, investigated and put on trial or even convicted and jailed by the Federal Government for the killings.
A statement by the Chairman of Intersociety, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, alleged that the victims were mainly Christians, stressing that not less than 100 Christians lost their lives in Nigeria in April 2019 in the hands of Fulani jihadists or Islamic militias while others received various degrees of injuries.
It read in part: “In the past four months of 2019, January-April, 750-800 Christians have been targeted and killed by Nigeria’s mainstream anti Christian jihadist armed groups. Fulani Islamic militias of the MACBAN are responsible for 550-600 while Boko Haram and ISWAP Islamic terrorists account for the remaining 200 or more.
“In Enugu State, Southeast Nigeria, two prominent citizens-a Catholic priest and a university lecturer were also abducted and gruesomely murdered in March 2019 by the same jihadist Fulani militias. By recent independent reports, Anambra East and Anambra West council areas are presently under siege by Fulani Islamic militias who now carry out series of abductions, including abduction-for-ransom, abduction of young women-for-rape, killing of their captives in custody and unchecked encroachment on indigenous communal lands for religious reasons.
“All forms of killings outside the law in Nigeria are strongly condemned, but more condemned are the killing of citizens who are nonviolently exercising their constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms, and the silence, inaction and conspiracy of the present central government.
“It must be stated clearly that the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, Nigeria’s version of the Sudanese Janjaweed or genocidal camel/cattle herders’ group, has remained a registered organization with the Federal Government of Nigeria till date despite its midwifery, condoning and open support for its slaves’ jihadist and terrorist activities.
“The jihadist group is solely responsible for not less than 6,000 Christian deaths and burning or destruction of over 1000 churches between June 2015 and December 2018. In 2018 alone, it massacred not less than 2,400 Christians and destroyed hundreds of churches.
In the just past four months of 2019 (January-April), the jihadist group butchered 550-600 Christians with hundreds of homes and dozens of churches torched or destroyed.
“The government further down-plays, trivializes and stigmatizes the pure Christian genocide as “herders-farmers clashes” and stops at nothing in censoring and gagging media reports of the butcheries.”