Terrorism: M-Belt Forum seeks UN intervention over attacks

…Fingers FG in complicity to cover up ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide
…Says Buhari not demonstrating adequate commitment to end violence killings

By Editor

The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, has has called on the United Nations, UN, to urgently intervene to stop the senseless killing of innocent Nigerians in the Middle Belt region by murderous gangs of terrorists.

National President of the MBF, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, who made the call in a statement issued in Abuja, drew the attention of the global community to the wanton killings of innocent souls within the region and beyond by the terrorists.

He said the forum’s attention was drawn to last week’s visit to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, by the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres, for on-the-spot assessment on the devastation caused by Boko Haram terrorists in order to rally support for rebuilding the state.

Pogu noted that while “we commend the visit as it demonstrated global concerns over the devastations caused by these insurgents, the Forum is gravely worried that the visit was restricted only to Maiduguri, with the deliberate intention of excluding areas that are now victims of terror gangs whose atrocious expeditions have left hundreds of villages and towns in ruins and hundreds of thousands dead.

“We appeal to the world to take notice that the incumbent administration of President Buhari has abdicated its responsibility of guaranteeing the safety of lives and property.

“We call on the UN boss to note that his visit Tuesday, May 3, 2023, was purely a guarded tour aimed at covering up the heinous crimes against humanity being unleashed on the peoples of the Middle Belt.

“It is undeniable that communities in the Middle Belt have continued to bear the brunt of these terrorists whose activities have extended to towns and villages, leaving trails of bloodshed and horrifying violence on its trail.

“It is on record that security forces have had cause to warn that Boko Haram, in collaboration with the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Ansaru, it’s affiliate, is moving towards the North-west and North-central, with the singular purpose of unleashing violence on several Middle Belt communities.“

According to him, despite these warnings, not much has been done to protect defenceless communities in the Middle Belt against these incessant attacks that have assumed genocidal proportions aimed at ethnic cleansing and dislocation of indigenous communities from their ancestral lands.

He noted that that attacks on Niger State communities have left thousands of deaths and the unceasing ferocious assaults on Southern Kaduna and Plateau communities, thereby signaling grim realities that the Middle Belt has been turned soft targets by these evil men whose nebulous objective is to obliterate Middle Belt ethnic nationalities.

Adding that despite similar appeals to stop the killing of thousands on the Plateau and the constant assaults on peace-loving communities in Benue State, the current government, headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, has not demonstrated adequate commitment to end the violence associated with the activities of these coldblooded murderers.

Pogu stressed that while it has become clear as the day that these vicious attacks remain horrendous and underreported, we find the exclusion of Middle Belt from the areas to be visited by the UN scribe as akin to the government’ deliberate plot to avoid exposing to the world outside our boundaries the revolting horror unleashed on our people by these blood-thirsty terrorists who have never hidden their evil machination to annihilate our communities and take over our lands.

According to the statement, “As the umbrella organisation of ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt, we are constrained to state that we are totally opposed to the exclusion of our communities from the scheduled visits of Mr Guterres.

“We make bold to state here that many communities still suffering from the horror of Boko Haram are not only located in Borno but mostly in Middle Belt States of Kaduna, Niger, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, among others.

“Restricting Guterres’ visit to only Borno State is a desecration of the memories of those who have been killed by these criminals, with many others fleeing to Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps in search of succour.

“The Middle Belt Forum wishes to place on record that the incumbent administration, led by President Buhari, has never demonstrated the required political will to combat these monsters of terror that are slowly becoming an albatross in the survival of Nigeria.

“While we note that special attachment the presidency has for Boko Haram elements, as seen in various programmes to rehabilitate them and have some of them purportedly recruited into some of our security forces remain inscrutable and bizarre.

“We hold President Buhari responsible for the atrocities unleashed on our communities and we are quick to add that we remain resolute in condemning his glaring failure to protect the lives and property of our people.

“His government’s refusal to include our communities as some of the areas to be visited by the UN Secretary General reveals the deep-seated hatred his administration has for our people.

“In the last four years, attacks on Middle Belt communities have been on the increase, with no fewer than 400 communities attacked and the indigenes displaced by foreign invaders who have now taken over such communities and changed names of towns to reflect realities of new owners.

“We hold this as self-evident that as long as there is life, our captured territories shall be delivered from these monstrous destructive agents someday.

“The Middle Belt wishes to send a clear message to the UN Secretary General and the world that Nigeria has become a barbaric killing field whose bloodbath is being shielded from the world, with a clear intention and complicity in covering up the ongoing horrendous ethnic cleansing and genocide.

“We find it weird that the government is engaged in rehabilitating perpetrators of violence on citizens, while pampering those who have killed hundreds of thousands with programmes that tend to pour ashes of indignities on the graves of victims.