Herdsmen Killings: HURIWA Seeks End To Occupation Of Indigenous Lands

A prominent civil Rights organization- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on the UNITED Nations; European Union and The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to quickly ensure the evacuation of all armed Fulani herdsmen occupying villages they attacked in Plateau; Benue, Adamawa; Taraba and Southern Kaduna States to enable the ancestral land owners to return to their homes and resume farming activities.

Already, HURIWA has decided to petition World leaders today through their Embassies and High Commissions to demand diplomatic pressure on Nigerian President and the National Assembly to act decisively to bring perpetrators of the mass killings to justice and retrieve lands of the victims of the vicious attacks from the armed occupiers. HURIWA disclosed that it has been inundated by calls from the victims in Plateau, Benue and Southern Kaduna State who are currently unable to return to their homes because of alleged forceful occupation by armed Fulani herdsmen.

HURIWA says reports reaching the national secretariat of the Pro- democracy body have revealed that Nigerians driven away from the farmlands including Places of worship have been prevented by the armed forceful occupiers of these territories from returning to resume their normal life just as the Rights group stated that should govern ment of Nigeria delays in ejecting the illegal occupants from these violently seized lands it therefore means that Nigeria is sitting precariously on a keg of gunpowder which may implode and explode into a prolonged civil war in no time from now.

Relatedly,  HURIWA has resolved to send a protest letter to the governing council of the International Criminal court in The Hague Netherlands to demand the removal of the Nigerian born President Mr. Chile Eboe-Osuji following his seemingly compromised role leading to the ignominious invitation he extended to the Nigerian President to deliver a guest lecture at the just ended 20th anniversary of the International Criminal court when it is a notorious fact that there are over a dozen petitions sent to the International Criminal court accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of conspiracy in the killings of thousands of Christian Northerners by armed Fulani herdsmen (his kinsmen)  who enjoy tacit approval of the current Nigerian government which against constitutional provisions appointed an all Moslem/Hausa/Fulani security chiefs since coming to office in 2015-a situation that motivated the armed fulani killer hoodlums.

HURIWA stated thus:”Our board of Trustees met over the weekend and decided that a letter of protest be sent to the governing council of the International Criminal court in The Hague Netherlands to demand the removal of its Nigerian born President Mr Chile Eboe-Osuji over his alleged dubious relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari which culminated in the invitation to Buhari by Eboe-osuji to deliver a landmark lecture before that august and hitherto distinguished body.

“We want the ICC to note that the recent politically tainted visit to the Nigerian President by the Presiding judge of ICC Mr Chile Eboe-osuji is suspicious because it was after that nocturnal visit that the unprecedented invitation was extended to the Nigerian President whose human rights records are some of the worst globally going by several indictments in reports authored by the United States Department of State and Amnesty international amongst several other local and global wide Human Rights bodies”.

“We suspect that the President of ICC may have been compromised by the politicians to buy the current President the juicy slot of a speaking opportunity before the International community in which case the Presidency feasted on the invitation to harvest torrents of PUBLIC relations’ objectives for the embattled Nigerian President who is notorious for human rights violations and for disobeying court orders.

“This is a government under which several persons are kept in underground cells of the Department of state services (DSS) for years without trial including journalists and leaders of religious minorities such as the Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and his wife who have been detained for three years even after soldiers killed hundreds of their unarmed members in Zaria, Kaduna State.

“The erstwhile National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki has 6 Federal High Court bails but President Muhammadu Buhari has so far refused to respect any of these in flagrant breach of the Constitutional principle of separation of powers and he is deploying armed police and DSS to harass and intimidate vocal members of the Senate who have protested these serial illegalities of the current administration. ”

In a statement made available to ElombahNews by the. national Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA accused the government of President Muhammadu Buhari of tolerating crimes against humanity committed by his kinsmen who have not only attacked communities in the North Central states including a large portion of Southern Kaduna dominated by Northern Christian farmers and have reportedly taken over their lands and housing assets which clearly violates all well-known human rights norms and laws including the chapter four of the 1999 Constitution which amongst others guarantees citizens the right to own landed property and the Right not to be expelled from their communities.

HURIWA condemns the government for failing to bring to trial the armed Fulani herdsmen responsible for the killings of over 6000 farmers in the last three years of his administration.

The Rights group however stated that the failure of the Federal Government to eject all forceful armed occupants of communities attacked by armed Fulani herdsmen is the clearest evidence of the heinous crimes against humanity for which top members of the current administration ought to be charged before an independent and a neutral International Criminal court if the compromised Nigerian-born President Mr Chile Eboe-Osuji is eased out.

HURIWA said it read with consternation a presentation in which the writer who has immense credibility stated that the crises have moved from Jos, the State capital to the hinterlands where the narrative has taken a new dimension just as in the villages, hitherto “unknown gunmen” now called “suspected herdsmen” terrorized the indigenous tribes, uprooted them from their ancestral homes and took over their property.

HURIWA recalled that the presentation written by someone knowledgeable about the terrain in Plateau state disclosed that despite the continued lamentations of the people and promises by the authorities of bringing perpetrators to book, not much has been done to ensure justice for the victims. Following the seeming failure of the government, there are now calls for self-defence by the people.

HURIWA quoted the writer as stating unambiguously thus: “Those in support of the call for self-defence maintained that the country was on the brink of acute food shortage as farmers were being killed with cattle grazing on their farmlands while the farming communities have been sacked from their farms. Surviving farmers have now been accommodated in the Internally Displaced Persons camps spread across four local government areas of the State.

Since the killing of over 200 people and displacement of thousands of survivors about a month ago, especially in Barkin Ladi and Riyom local government areas of the State, herders have continued to harvest crops found in the farms and destroying others thereby causing the survivors, especially those who took loans to cultivate the crops more trauma.”

HURIWA has also expressed shock at the trending story that several communities attacked by armed Fulani herdsmen in Benue State are still being occupied by the attackers even as the real owners of these lands are now internally displaced.

The Rights group has therefore charged the International community and World leaders to prevail on the Nigerian government to eject all forceful armed occupants of communities attacked in the middle belt and ensure that the rightful owners of those ancestral communities are returned to their homelands to avoid stoking serious conflagration that may consume the corporate entity called Nigeria.

HURIWA recalled that it is trite that the extant constitution of 1999 (as amended) recognized the individual private rights to property and specifically their right to own landed property as enshrined in section 43 and wondered why the Presidency and the National Assembly are doing nothing to direct The law enforcement authorities to ensure the safe return of all the real land owners back to their communities and the arrest, prosecution and sanctioning of the attackers in accordance with the rule of law.

HURIWA said it has become imperative that Nigerians organise nationwide strikes and demonstrations to compel the Presidency to declare as terrorist group the Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association (MACBAN) for their active sponsorship of the terror attacks on communities and the destruction and forceful occupation of farmlands belonging to Christian farmers.