Elder statesmen from four of the six geo-political zones of the country, under the aegis of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), have called on President Bola Tinubu to take a stand against the incessant killings and wanton destruction of lives and property in the Middle Belt.
They urged the President to nip the dire situation in its bud and not follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
The group claimed that Buhari handicapped himself by thinking that the Northwest were of the same religion and tribe, hence there was no reason to fight amongst themselves.
The leaders also described the killings as a threat to the corporate existence of the country, saying the buck stops at the President’s table to resolve the issue.
The group shared their grievances via a letter made available to journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, signed by the leader of SMBLF and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark; Chief Ayo Adebanjo, leader, Afenifere; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide; Dr. Pogu Bitrus, President, Middle Belt Forum; and Senator Emmanuel Ibok-Essien, National Chairman, Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF.
The letter reads in part, “The unrelenting massacre bordering on ethnic cleansing and armed occupation of the territories of the indigenous peoples of the Middle-Belt and most parts of Northern Nigeria by identified ethnic militias have shown without any doubt that the Nigerian state, its government, and security forces have continued to fail in the fundamental duty of the security and welfare of citizens as the primary purpose of government as stated in Section 14(b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Former President Muhammadu Buhari deliberately handicapped himself by a deceitful mindset that people of the North-West were of the same tribes and religion and wondered why they were fighting among themselves.
“Mr. President, unfortunately, and as it was with the Buhari administration, rather than accept the reality of the danger posed to the corporate existence of the federation by an extra-territorial agenda of the Fulani ethnic nationality, backed by organized and well-armed militias, which was, since 2018, declared by Amnesty International as the ‘4th most deadly terrorist organization in the world’, your administration has also, now, in bad faith, dressed this evil in the false garb of ‘herders/farmers’ clash’, and the blood-thirsty ethnic militias as mere bandits.
’It is a conflict where one side, fully armed, continues to attack and kill the innocent, who are being deliberately defanged by agents of the government.
“SMBLF holds as indisputably self-evident that all ethnic nationalities were and have settled in their portions of Nigeria before the amalgamation and establishment of Nigeria in 1914, and thus, the current rabid territorial ambition and quest for the alteration of the demographic structures of the federation will lead to chaos and internecine wars, the end of which may be the dismemberment of the fragile Nigerian federation.
“Mr. President, your predecessor had all the facts and evidence of an ideological Fulanisation agenda but preferred to pander and prevaricate than bring justice to the victims of oppression and genocide.”
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