Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Borno, Yobe, Adamawa states protested in Jos, Plateau State yesterday, claiming that the Federal Government had ceded the Northeast to the Boko Haram. They urged the United Nations (UN) to declare the affected areas the global body’s territory and deploy peace-keeping troops to secure lives and property, Yusufu Aminu Idegu reports.
They gathered at the Church of the Brethren Jos, Plateau State capital, yesterday in their hundreds, looking dejected, as if they have been condemned to perish in total hopelessness. They were women, men and children of Christian faith, who were routed out of their ancestral homes in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the Boko Haram war machines and now taking refuge in camps and schools in the state capital. They all have sad stories to tell, but decided to address the reporters at the church through their spokesman, Rev. Dr. Samuel Dali.
The victims, before the news conference started, staged a peaceful protest at their camps. They appealed to “good citizens of Nigeria” to come to their aid to resettle them anywhere in the country, outside the Boko Haram-held territories.
They claimed they were taking refuge in churches and schools, hoping on the United Nations (UN) to come to their aid, as they had lost confidence in the Federal Government.
The IDPs claimed that they left their homes in the Northeast states to Jos, just like their other 700,000 members, since, according to them, it appeared the government had formally ceded the troubled areas to the Boko Haram.
Dali, in his address to reporters, stressed that the body language of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration suggested that the states had been surrendered to the insurgents.
According to him, there were over 2,000 IDPs from the northeast living at camps and schools in Jos alone.
His words: “It is with heavy heart and traumatised soul and spirit that I am addressing you today on behalf of the displaced Christians and people from Northern Nigeria.
“It is obvious or apparent that the Federal Government lacks the political will to protect and defend our people in Northern Nigeria from the Boko Haram insurgency and attacks from the Fulani militias.
“The Federal Government seems to be toying with the lives and limbs of the Christians in Northern Nigeria for political gains. While Boko Haram and the Fulani militia and their sponsors are killing innocent Nigerian citizens, especially the Christians, the government seems not to care and has abdicated from its responsibility to protect lives.
“There have been protracted attacks by Fulani and other ethnic militias in Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau and many other states in the North, the government seems not to care, talk more of employing lasting solutions.
“In all these attacks, Christians and their churches are mostly affected. At least 700, 000 members of the church, mostly women and children, have been displaced and now scattered in places like Jos, Abuja, Kaduna and Yola”.
Dali added: “Over 8,000 members have been murdered or killed by the Boko Haram insurgents and 270 churches have been destroyed completely, while 45 out of the 50 District Church Councils (DCC) have been affected.
“There is no explanation the government can give, as to why the Federal troops will run away from the towns prior to the attack on such towns by Boko Haram, without putting any resistance. It seems government does not care about its citizens in that zone”.
The displaced persons then declared that “since the Federal Government has not been decisive in handling the protracted crises, the Christian community in the Northeast and Northern Nigeria have lost confidence in the Federal Government”.
The United Nation (UN), they added, must intervene and declare the “Northeastern Nigeria a UN territory with immediate effect and send in UN peace-keeping troops to secure the lives of the remaining traumatised people”.
The cleric noted: “We have to state here that the Christians in Northeastern Nigeria are disappointed with response of the international community to the pogrom by Boko Haram with the active connivance of the Federal Government against Northern Christians.
“Available reports show that 11,213 Christians have been killed by Boko Haram before Mubi, Maiha, Hong and Gombi local governments were seized by the insurgence.
“So far, 1,056,000 have been displaced by the insurgency. These are mostly children and elderly people.
“We express our disappointment with the international community that with over 11,000 persons killed and over million displaced; the international community has refused to notice the pogrom against Northern Nigeria’s Christians. Rather, they have shifted their attention and resources only to Iraq, Syria, Gaza and Afghanistan as if those being killed in Nigeria are not human beings”.
After the news conference, the displaced Christians promised to mobilise other displaced persons from the Northeast to converge on Aso Rock, if nothing was done to return them to their homes soon.
“We have resolved that all the internally displaced persons from the Northeastern part – wherever they are – and those, who are refugees in Cameroon, to move en masse to Abuja, which is the safest place in Nigeria so far”.
But in far away Abuja, there was an uncertainty in the Senate yesterday over the state of emergency rule in the three affected states.
The upper chamber, as if listening to the cries of the Jos protesters, failed to approve President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for further extension of emergency rule in the three states.
Senate President, David Mark, announced after over two hours closed door session that debate on Jonathan’s request would continue today, after the senators were not positively disposed to the president’s request.
Jonathan, had in a letter entitled “Re: Extension of the period for the Proclamation of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States,” dated November 17, 2014, asked the Senate to endorse further extension of the period of emergency rule in the three states.
The letter read in part: “May I respectfully draw your attention to the State of Emergency Proclamation 2013, in respect of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, which was approved by the National Assembly and extended for a further period of six months by the National Assembly as conveyed by the Clerk of the National Assembly’s letter dated 21st May 2014.
“By virtue of the provisions of Section 305(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the Proclamation aforementioned will elapse after a period of six months from the date of approval of the National Assembly except the period is extended by the National Assembly.
“It is important to state that despite concerted efforts by this Administration to stem the tide of terrorism and insurgency in the affected states, the security challenges that necessitated the Proclamation are yet to abate.
“Consequently, it has become imperative to request the approval of the state for extension of the period for the State of Emergency for a further period of six months.
“In view of the foregoing, I most respectfully request Distinguished Senators to consider and approve by resolution the extension of the Proclamation of the State of Emergency by further period of six months from the date of expiration of the current period.”
However, before the Senate went into closed session to consider the letter, some Senators attempted to block even the consideration of the letter.
The Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba had moved that the Senate should resolve into Executive Session to consider the presidential request.
What followed was a deafening “nay” when Mark put the question.
After his explanation, which seemed to have calmed frayed nerves, Mark again put the question for the Senate to consider the letter.
The mood in the Senate slightly changed as the lawmakers gave their approval that the letter should be considered.
For about 20 minutes, senators were seen in the chamber discussing in groups while the Chief Whip laboured to restore order.
Insiders said that the debate in the closed session was “very heated” as some northern lawmakers insisted that no further extension of state of emergency should be granted.
If further extension is granted, it would be the third time the National Assembly would approve President Jonathan’s request to extend the period of State of Emergency in the three states.
But according to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the total number of Nigerians, who were displaced as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency, had risen to 650,000.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the country has witnessed thousands of deaths and 221,000 square kilometres of its territory captured by sect.
The APC described as a scorecard of failure, the claims of achievements by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in its almost 60 months in the saddle, saying Nigerians could not wait to sweep away the governments.
“Today, after the Jonathan administration has spent $32 billion on security and defence, Nigeria is not any safer, with thousands of deaths, 221,000 square kilometres of territory captured by Boko Haram, 650,000 Nigerians internally displaced and also a daily harvest of death from ethno-religious crisis, clashes between pastoralists and farmers, armed robberies and kidnapping.
“To make matters worse, our once proud and globally-acknowledged military has been brought to its knees by lack of necessary fighting equipment, even with $32 billion spent. One wonders where the huge funds went to,” the party added.
It also accused the President of insensitivity to the plight of the people who voted him into office, as he would rather fly to Burkina Faso than visit Chibok, Buni Yadi and Potiskum, which are some of the places where dozens of youth have been killed and maimed by the Boko Haram terrorists in recent times.
“The President should not just be the Commander-in-Chief but also the Consoler-in-Chief. A President who delights in comparing himself with the likes Obama must learn to act like the U.S. President, who did not hesitate to visit his nation’s troops in Iraq and Afghanistan despite the risks involved,” he added.
The Catholic Bishops Conference also decried the method of sharing relief materials to the displaced people.
Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with the President last week, the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, urged the Federal Government to collaborate with the church, claiming it had good relief structure on ground.
He said: “We are here on behalf of the Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria. We came not to wish him a bad day, but to talk about our nation. We had some concerns about the situation of security in the nation as well as political developments. So, in general terms, we shared with him in a conversation and discussion.”
Saying the bishops felt that things were not right, the cleric noted that Nigerian territory was being taken away.
He said: “The people we look after are displaced, their homes, their villages, towns are captured and they are internally displaced in their own land.
“We thought this is not right. We have families that are just stranded. We thought that the President should know. As Catholics, we have laid a good structure for relief and taking care of such situations. We want the government to collaborate with us”.
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