- Calls for thorough investigation
From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has totally and strongly condemned the 2023 Christmas Eve (between Dec 24 and 25) massacre by suspected Fulani herdsmen of not less 160 defenseless Plateau Christians in Ndun, Ngyong, Murfet, Makundary, Tamiso, Chiang, Tahore, Gawarbe, Dares, Darwat, etc in Bokkos Local Government Area where over 90 defenseless Christians were slaughtered and Gashishi and Ropp Districts of Barkin-Ladi LGA and others in Mangu LGA where not less than 70 others were hacked to death.
According to local authorities and the Voice of America, “the death toll has now risen to at least 160” with over 300 injured and not less than 20 communities attacked and 221 houses burned down or wantonly destroyed in Bokkos alone.
Intersociety also looked at the latest butcheries as a clear handiwork of Fulani Jihadists (Fulani Herdsmen and Fulani Bandits) and conspiratorial security chiefs and operatives particularly the operatives of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS.
The group has observed with deepest shock, dismay and sadness that security forces in Nigeria including the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police and the DSS; and Government-protected Fulani Jihadists have continued unchecked to slaughter, abduct and disappear thousands of defenseless Nigerians (mostly defenseless Christians and non Muslim others) on the grounds of their faith (religion) and ethnicity.
The Chairman of Intersociety, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi in a statement said that the worst of it all was that the butcheries, abductions and disappearances were politically sanctioned by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Sub-National (State) Governments in places where they have taken place.
The Nigerian Government and the country’s security forces and their agencies as presently constituted, must return the country to “the security and safety of the people by the people and for the people” and in the line of their sworn duties, shun divisive and discriminatory tendencies and partisanship, class criminalization, ethnic profiling and false-labeling.
Intersociety also renewed her earlier calls for the immediate scrapping of the Christian Association of Nigeria and founding of a new stronger central Christian association capable of rising to the occasion in matters of defense of Christian Faith and protection of the Christian Faithful, worship centers and their properties.
“It is further shocking and unbelievable that despite Jos and environs being the second most fortified city (after Kaduna) in Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general, in terms of military, intelligence and police facilities and their handlers or commanders, the City of Jos and environs have become most vulnerable and unprotected for Christians and other non Muslims and their sacred places of worship, lands and dwelling houses.
” As a matter of fact, Kaduna, Plateau and Benue States have become dangerously unsafe for Christians and non Muslim others; to the extent that Fulani Jihadists recklessly and rapaciously invade their Christian communities and other non Muslim settlements at will and slaughter them at will and unchallenged.
“Even when the deployed security forces receive early warning signals from the victims, the Fulani Jihadists still have their way and slaughter as many defenseless Christian citizens and burn down their properties as they wish and without resistance from any security quarters.
“It is strongly suspected that the 2023 Xmas Eve massacre of not less than 160 Plateau Christians was likely a clandestinely Government coordinated revenge killing using the Government-protected Fulani Jihadists to launch a reprisal attack over the 3rd Dec 2023 killing of over 120 defenseless Islamic Festival celebrants in Tudun Biri part of Kaduna State.
“The innocent Muslims numbering over 120 were killed by two airstrikes coordinated by the Nigerian Defense Headquarters of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The “class criminalization” sort of revenge killing of not less than 160 defenseless Plateau Christians must have also arisen from “transfer of criminality responsibility” through class criminalization and ethno-religious hatred and bigotry.
“The situation of Christians and other non Muslims in Nigeria or any part thereof has become so worrying and vulnerable that the slogan: “it is better to kill 100 Christians than to kill a Fulani Herdsman”; has seemingly become the coded operational modus of the country’s security forces and their commanders.
“Apart from the country’s security forces and their establishments being manifestly biased and partisan, the policy makers in Nigeria since mid 2015; mainly drawn from Muslim population have consistently worked to grossly undermine the religious freedoms and civil liberties’ provisions in the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended and other laws,” Umeagbalasi stated.