The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, has
completely aligned itself with the position of the Nigerian Christian Elders’
Forum, NCEF, over the ceaseless bloodshed that is allegedly founded on the
orchestrated plans by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to annihilate and
dispossess the peoples of the Middle Belt and Southern Nigerians of their
ancestral lands.
The forum said the killings are a
deliberate plan by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to hand over their
lands to marauding Fulani herdsmen, saying, “This plan to subjugate and conquer
our people and Southern Nigeria will be vehemently resisted.”
Recall that the NCEF,
under the leadership of former Defence Minister, Lt. Gen. T.Y Danjuma (retd);
ex-Military Governor of Rivers State, General Zamani Lekwot (retd); and Chief
Solomon Asemota, SAN, had dragged Buhari to the United Kingdom, UK, Parliament,
over alleged move to Islamise Nigeria.
Alleging that the Nigerian leader
was pursuing a jihad or Islamisation agenda, they told the UK parliament that
Buhari was not serious about tackling insecurity arising from Boko Haram
insurgency and herdsmen-farmers crises in the country.
In a latest development, the MBF
National President, Dr Bitrus Pogu, in a statement, said, “The Forum wishes to
align itself completely with the position of the NCEF over the ceaseless
bloodshed that is deliberately founded on the orchestrated plans by the Muhammadu
Buhari-led administration to annihilate and disposses the peoples of the Middle
Belt and Southern Nigerians of their ancestral lands and hand over same to
marauding Fulani herdsmen terrorists. This plan to subjugate and conquer our
people and Southern Nigeria will be vehemently resisted.”
The forum said its attention has
been drawn to a statement credited to what it called an amorphous group that
calls itself the Middle Belt Conscience Guard (MBCG), adding that in its
publication, the said group did not hide its desperate intention to rubbish the
former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), former
military governor of old Rivers state, Gen. Zamani Lekwot (rtd), among other
notable members of the Nigerian Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) over their
written submission to the United Kingdom Parliament on the ongoing killings
across communities of the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria.
MBF said Middle Belt Conscience
Guard in its press statement that was purportedly signed by its president,
bearing the name, Prince Raymond Enejo, chided the NCEF for its publication in
which it accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of brazenly
pursuing an agenda of ‘Islamisation and Fulanisation’ in the country.
MBF added that in its submission,
the so-called group led by Enejo claimed that the NCEF’s statement amounted to
a deliberate act of provocation against the country, aimed at encouraging
Christians and Middle Belters to rise against the present government.
MBF maintained, “Ordinarily, our
Forum would not have bothered to respond to a publication that is baseless and
outrightly mischievous. We are, however, constrained to observe that as an
umbrella body for all groups in the Middle Belt Region, we are totally unaware
of the existence of this Middle Belt Conscience Guard. Our Forum, being a
multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural and non-partisan organisation, is
obliged to respond and clarified on issues raised by the conscience group that
is out to mislead members of the public.
“Though we believe that the NCEF
is capable of responding to all accusations raised againt it by the group, we
need not be its mouth piece. However, for the mere fact that two illustrious
sons of the Middle Belt Region, who are also members of the NCEF were
deliberately and mischieviously targeted for attack, this response has become
unavoidably necessary.
“The Forum considers the position
of the so-called conscience group as a deliberate falsehood that is aimed at
misleading the unsuspecting public through foisting diversionary plot to draw
the attention of the public away from the heinous genocide being perpetrated by
Fulani herdsmen terrorists across the Middle Belt and other parts of the
country in pursuit of the ‘Fulanisation’ agenda as earlier raised in the NCEF’s
submission and observed also by other notable persons and groups.”
MBF stated that considering the
inordinate reaction of the group to the position of the NCEF, it is either the
conscience group is non-existent or may be just a mercenary group hired by its
paymasters who are the real sponsors of the heinous pogrom in our communities
and ‘Fulanisation’ agenda in the country.
“As categorically declared by the
NCEF, current attempts at implementing the ‘Fulanisation’ agenda enjoys the
active support of the Buhari-led government. There are many proofs to back up
the NCEF’s assertion that there is a collusion between herdsmen and the Federal
Government in advancing this campaign. In the past four years of the Buhari
administration, tens of thousands of Nigerians have been decimated, with
several thousands killed on account of Fulani herdsmen terrorist invasion of
peaceful communitues across the country. Despite the troubling death toll, none
of the culprits has been arrested or brought to book.
“While attention of the present
government is being focused on combating the dread of Boko Haram in the
North-east zone, the present administration has been demonstrating fudging
attempts at battling rampaging Fulani terrorists whose bloodthirsty disposition
has brought devastation and anguish on our people.
“For avoidance of doubt, we wish
to inform Nigerians and the international community that the Middle Belt
peoples are now victims of a conspiracy to subjugate them and disinherit them
of their ancestral lands. We are calling on men and women of good conscience to
spare no efforts in exposing the ongoing heinous crimes against humanity in a
bid to unveil the dark spot of human conscience surrounding the massacres of
Nigerians and destruction of communities in the Middle Belt Region and other
parts of the country.
“The Forum has confidence that
history and God is on the side of the just. We remain steadfastly confident
that someday, we shall witness an end to these tragedies that have befallen the
Middle Belt Region and our nation,” the Middle Belt Forum observed.
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