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Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has expressed frustration and anger that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is absolutely in control and command of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has done practically nothing whilst Fulani terrorists continued to bombard different communities in the Christian dominated State of PLATEAU State, killing, maiming, and destroying housing assets and farms.
HURIWA criticised the government of Nigeria for being very insensitive to the bloodletting going on in Plateau State just as HURIWA wondered how the President is comfortable with his non-performing military, police and intelligence chiefs who are cooling off in their well-furnished air-conditioned offices whilst civilians and citizens are slaughtered on daily basis in Plateau State for months now.
A statement by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko,
National Coordinator, HURIWA, said "We in HURIWA are absolutely gutted that the determined and well funded killers of Christian natives in Plateau State have been permitted to continue their killing sprees just as the Rights group carpeted the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Director General of the Department of State Services, the Comptroller-General of National Civil Defence Corps, for failing to put an end to these spectacles of bloodletting in Plateau state.
HURIWA expressed shock that at least 96 houses were destroyed on Monday during a violent attack in the Gyenbwas community, Langai District of Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State.
HURIWA said the twin failures of intelligence and security are factors responsible for these heinous and continuous carnage.
Witnesses and residents reported that the attackers looted food supplies, mattresses, cattle, and other valuables before setting homes ablaze. The traditional ruler of the area, Alhaji Yakubu Umar, also known as the Madugun Langai, confirmed the destruction and loss of life in an interview on Tuesday in Jos.
According to him, the death toll has risen to three, with two people confirmed dead on Monday and another body recovered the following day.
“This is the worst destruction we have ever witnessed,” Umar said.
“They burned clothing, work equipment, foodstuffs, and goods worth millions of naira. We have always lived peacefully with everyone, so this came as a shock.”
The Berom Youth Moulders Association (BYM) strongly denied any involvement, calling the allegations baseless.
HURIWA said the government owes the duty to protect the lives of Nigerians irrespective of their Ethno-religious affiliations. "Every life in Nigeria matters and government whose constitutional duty it is to protect lives and property of citizens must discharge this sacred duty with immediate effect and without making untenable excuses.
The civil Rights group pointedly stated that the terrorists are out to kill citizens and incapacitate farmers so as to inflict massive economic hemorrhage on the population just as the Rights group lamemted that the BYM President, Dalyop Solomon, stated that three Berom youths were attacked by suspected terrorists while working on a farm near the area.
He claimed they were now receiving treatment in a hospital.
Hear him: “Our people are being attacked constantly,” Solomon said. “Some are only defending themselves, which is lawful. If, in the process, there’s retaliation, it is not an organized assault. We have never planned or carried out any attack on Fulani communities.”
HURIWA also criticised that security heads for keeping the victims in the dark going by the disclosure in the media that efforts made to get a response from Operation Safe Haven, the joint military task force responsible for security in the region, were unsuccessful as spokesperson Major Samson Zhakom did not respond to inquiries.
The Rights group also asserted that the latest attack in Gyenbwas comes amid a series of violent incidents across Plateau State. In recent weeks, particularly in Riyom Local Government Area, 58 people have reportedly been killed, 31 injured, and more than 15,000 displaced due to attacks by armed groups.
HURIWA recalled that in a press briefing on Tuesday, Plateau Youth Council (PYC) Chairman Zang Davou decried what he described as coordinated and unrelenting violence.
He called for urgent intervention by the federal government, including the deployment of additional security forces to protect vulnerable communities.
HURIWA which expressed wholehearted solidarity with the people and the good government of Plateau state under the Peoples Democratic Party, pointedly accused the sponsors of the continuous genocidal killings in the Plateau communities as well coordinated programme to instigate the declaration of a state of emergency just as HURIWA asked the security chiefs to resign immediately if they can't stop the killings forthwith.
"We are asking that the President immediately dismiss his security chiefs for failing to stop the killings in Plateau State, arrest and prosecute the mass killers/terrorists and punish the killers and their sponsors. We appeal to all peoples in Nigeria to stop killing themselves but to work to uplift the country, their communities and create a climate of peace, unity and progress for the Nigerian state to blossom.
"It is a shame that the intelligence community embedded in the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can't preemptively prevent these dastardly attacks and the persistent terrorism violence unleashed venomously on the good people of Plateau state."