Return 54 villages to Plateau indigenes
Summary
That is exactly what is happening in the Middle Belt, especially Plateau State, where armed herdsmen have attacked and displaced indigenous populations from no less than 54 villages in Jos South, Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and other local government areas. We are waiting impatiently for the Presidency to also affirm these attacks as “genocide” and immediately mobilise the armed forces to move in and bring the aggressors and their sponsors under the full weight of our laws. We are, albeit mildly, encouraged by the undertaking of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that the Federal Government will resettle all displaced persons back to their communities currently occupied by aggressors. Without first of all flushing out the attackers, bringing them to justice, reclaiming the villages they are occupying and resettling the indigenes in their communities, the Federal Government will continue to be seen as merely paying lip service to the Plateau and Middle Belt genocides. We are firmly against any measure designed to make the herdsmen militants feel they could benefit from their criminal aggression against innocent Nigerians, such as forcing people to give up their ancestral lands or “accommodate” their attackers.