The Igbimo Oduduwa Youth Consultative Forum (IOYCF) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign if he cannot guarantee the security of Nigerians.
The call was made in reaction to the killings in Benue State by herdsmen that have claimed well over seventy lives in recent times.
A statement by the forum, yesterday, read “The spate of killings in this country, particularly in the northern part of the country calls for a serious attention. By the clear provisions of Section 14 of the Constitution, it is the sacred and fundamental responsibility of the government to protect its citizens. What we are witnessing in our nation today is the product of disintegration as a people. It is the result of unsettled grievances.
“Today is the tomorrow we never cared to cater for! Although we are very eager and curious as citizens of this great country to heap blame on the colonial masters who solemnized the marriage of the northern protectorate with southern protectorate without first obtaining the consent of both parties to the marriage.
“But the point is that we have been in this marriage for over 100 years. It is expected that we must have learnt how to tolerate one another but painfully today is the pay for the evil acts of Nigerians not colonial masters. What we are witnessing today in our dear country is what tribalism and religion has brought us.
“Notwithstanding, the Federal Government should wake up to its responsibility. My heart bled when I read the position of the media aide to the president claiming Fulani herdsmen equally killed under Goodluck Jonathan-led government. This unguarded and reckless statement credited to the media aide provoked my thought to ask what then is the change we voted for? Does that connote we should expect the killings of innocent Nigerians to continue unabated? Does that mean this government has failed us or should we rather be expecting another Messiah to take us out of this doldrums of killings and maiming of Nigerians by some selected Nigerians who believe they are above the law. I think the law is sacrosanct, according to the dictum of Lon Fuller that ‘be you ever so high, the law is above you’. The Fulani herdsmen are not ghosts but Nigerians and as such are not immune from arrest and investigation. It is our stern belief that injury to one is injury to all.
“Consequently, we the Igbimo Oduduwa Youth Consultative Forum (IOYCF) being the umbrella body for all the Oduduwa youth hereby call on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure discrete and holistic investigation into the gruesome murders of innocent Nigerians in Benue State and other parts of the country immediately to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book, otherwise the President should resign”.
Meanwhile, Benue State indigenes in large numbers, yesterday, stormed Abuja, the nation’s capital in protest of the wanton killings of their people by Fulani herdsmen and the ‘lukewarm’ attitude of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, in nipping the situation in the board.
Tiv, Idoma, Igede and other tribes in Benue, both young and old, arrived Abuja en-route Makurdi as early as 10am, and converged at the Unity Fountain where they addressed the press.
No fewer than 5,000 Benue indigenes have lost their lives with unquantified property destroyed by Fulani marauders in the last six years.
In February, 2016, the Fulani herdsmen hit Akwu, Aila and other villages in Agatu local government, killing 230 farmers in a day, the number later rose to 500 within two weeks.
Most recently, the people of Guma and Logo local government areas woke up to the news of the mindless killings of their people on Monday, 1st January, 2018, where over 80 people were said to have lost their lives.
However, about 73 bodies were recovered and given mass burial at the state capital, Makurdi, last week.
While the National Assembly is currently debating on the state of insecurity and proffering a national summit on security, the Fulani militia struck again last Wednesday, killing at least, five persons.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday during the rally, former member House of Assembly and former commissioner in Benue State, Hon Rebecca Apezan, said the President had abandoned Benue people at the moment of disaster and grief, and had decided to pitch tent with his Fulani brethren.
Apezan berated Buhari for not attending the mass burial in Makurdi or sending Federal Government delegation, saying, “he values cows more than human lives”.
She regretted that Benue people voted overwhelmingly for Buhari in the 2015 presidential election, saying it was because Benue loved him.
The politician said, “Since Buhari cannot help us, let Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara come to our aide in Benue.
“Also, we don’t need the police in Benue, let them give us Army to protect us”.
While declaring support for the anti-open grazing law recently promulgated by Governor Samuel Ortom in Benue State, Apezan also out-rightly rejected the cattle colony being proposed by the Federal Government.
The mass protest was planned to extend to the National Human Rights Commission, National Assembly, United Nations office and embassies of foreign missions in Nigeria, where protest letters are expected to be delivered by leaders.
In a related development, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has exonerated Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria of any culpability in the recent killings of farmers in some parts of the country by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
Speaking at the General Assembly of Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, IDFP, yesterday, in Abuja, Sultan Abubakar III, said the organisation has no control over any Fulani man.
The religious leader, who rather attributed the massacre of innocent lives to the handiwork of some criminal elements, however, charged the Federal Government and the security apparatus to urgently fish out perpetrators of the heinous crime and prosecute them.
Sultan asked, “How is it possible for Fulani to attack settlements or communities to carry out killings of innocent people, destroy property and disappear without trace? Sultan Abubakar III, said the Miyetti Allah was formed over 32 years to cater for welfare and advance the growth of Fulani business.
He said that any Fulani man carrying arms and ammunition is not a member of the Miyetti Allah, because the group which is now under his leadership as Grand Patron was never a criminal group.
Sultan Abubakar, who berated those calling for proscription of the group, challenged them to as well call for proscription of other Socio-ethnic organisations like the Afenifere, Ohanaeze ndi Igbo and Arewa Consultative Forum, among others.
According to him, “Miyetti Allah doesn’t control any Fulani man. Calling for proscription of Miyetti Allah is equivalent to calling for the proscription of other ethnic organisations like Afenifere, ACF, Ohanaeze and others “It was formed 32 years ago and these crises were not there. I am the patron and we have never asked Fulani herdsman to kill anybody.
“Any Fulani man caught killing is a criminal and should be treated as such. What are the security agencies doing? If they have failed, they should accept that they have failed.
“What is going on is not an ethnic problem; it’s not a religious problem. It’s an economic problem.” On the way out, the Sultan who advocated for dialogue, said, “What we need is to sit down and dialogue.
As religious leaders, we have to be very careful with what we say, because it carries weight, our followers listen to us very seriously.
“We must believe in one another, trust and love ourselves because that is what our two major religions advocate. We must continue to speak with one voice. We should not be labelling everybody a criminal because his brother is a criminal.”
The royal father also added that, “People are say, label Miyetti Allah a terrorist group. No, we are not terrorists and can’t join terrorism.”
On the situation in Benue state, he recalled, “This thing didn’t start today, in the past eight years, I have been to Benue many times to discuss this issue. “We had met for hours and agreements reached, yet nothing has been implemented.
Why? The former governors of Benue are still alive and they know all these. “Even the present governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom had written to me to come again with my peace mission, but we had not had the opportunity before this round of crisis.
“We must come to the bottom of this issue, how come these Fulani men are carrying guns without the security men knowing.
“I keep on repeating it, things are not okay, but they are not as bad as they are made to look especially in the social media. Let’s go round and speak to one another, not just staying in our comfort zones”, he said.
In his address, the President, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Dr. Samson Ayokunle accused some religious leaders of being insincere while commenting on the issue of killing of innocent people in the country.
Ayokunle, who was represented by the Bishop of Yola, Bishop Stephen Manza, said, as religious leaders, we need to condemn evil in this country.
We seated here today as religious leaders, but how sincere in what we say? He said, “Christians at all levels believe in peace. This is time for us to speak with one voice. But my concern is whether we are sincere in what we are doing.
“We religious leaders, we crevice people a lot. We say one thing when we have another thing in mind. Our tribal and religious affiliations have overshadowed our Nigerianness.
“The problem is that we keep mute once a person is killed and a member of our faith is not the victim. “Another thing is that we identify with people of our faith even when the person is doing the wrong thing.
We all know that President Muhammadu Buhari is not handling the security situation in the country well but certain persons are not talking may be because he is a Muslim. “And when Jonathan was there, some Christian leaders kept quiet because he’s a Christian.”
On his part, Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Dioceses, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, however, assured Nigerians that the problem of insecurity threatening the soul of the nation was surmountable if Nigerians build trust among themselves.
According to him, “Nothing happening in this country now that is beyond us, it is within our hands. But just like the Bishop of Yola has said, we need sincerity. “We shouldn’t be praying for peace, when in the real sense, we are the ones causing crises everywhere.
Talking for peace will give peace if there is truth. So, we must learn to build trust, trusting one another. We must join hands to do what is right.”