*Pix above: Security forces look the other way during the mayhem
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The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (INTERSOCIETY) is presently in deep shock over the Christmas Eve massacre in Plateau State, Nigeria, alleging that security forces protect terrorists who wantonly kill Nigerians.
INTERSOCIETY made this known in a statement it issued on Tuesday, December 26, stating that it observed that “security forces in Nigeria including the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police and the DSS; and Government-protected Fulani Jihadists have continued unchecked to slaughter, abduct and disappear thousands of defenseless Nigerians (mostly defenseless Christians and non-Muslim) on the grounds of their faith (religion) and ethnicity.
“The worst of it all is that the butcheries, abductions and disappearances are politically-sanctioned by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Sub-National (State) Governments in places where they have taken place.”
The human rights group said: “The Nigerian Government and the country’s security forces and their agencies as presently constituted, must return the country to “the security and safety of the people by the people and for the people, and in the line of their sworn duties, shun divisive and discriminatory tendencies and partisanship, class criminalization, ethnic profiling and false-labeling.”
The statement by INTERSOCIETY signed by its officials, Emeka Umeagbalasi, board chair, and Chidinma Udegbunam, head, Campaign and Publicity reads inter alia: “Intersociety also renews her earlier calls for the immediate scrapping of the Christian Association of Nigeria and founding of a new stronger central Christian association capable of rising to the occasion in matters of defence of Christian Faith and protection of the Christian Faithful, worship centers and their properties.
Christmas Eve Massacre of 160 Defenseless Plateau Christians Strongly Condemned
“Totally and strongly condemned are the 2023 Christmas Eve (between Dec 24 and 25) massacre by Fulani Jihadists of not less 160 defenseless Plateau Christians in Ndun, Ngyong, Murfet, Makundary, Tamiso, Chiang, Tahore, Gawarbe, Dares, Darwat, etc in Bokkos Local Government Area where over 90 defenseless Christians were slaughtered and Gashishi and Ropp Districts of Barkin-Ladi LGA and others in Mangu LGA where not less than 70 others were hacked to death,” it lamented.
It continued: “According to local authorities and the Voice of America, “the death toll has now risen to at least 160” with over 300 injured and not less than 20 communities attacked and 221 houses burned down or wantonly destroyed in Bokkos alone. Intersociety also sees the latest butcheries as a clear handiwork of Fulani Jihadists (Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits) and conspiratorial security chiefs and operatives, particularly the operatives of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS.
“It is further shocking and unbelievable that despite Jos and environs being the second most fortified city (after Kaduna) in Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general, in terms of military, intelligence and police facilities and their handlers or commanders, the City of Jos and environs have become most vulnerable and unprotected for Christians and other non-Muslims and their sacred places of worship, lands and dwelling houses. As a matter of fact, Kaduna, Plateau and Benue States have become dangerously unsafe for Christians and non-Muslim, others; to the extent that Fulani Jihadists recklessly and rapaciously invade their Christian communities and other non-Muslim settlements at will and slaughter them at will and unchallenged. Even when the deployed security forces receive early warning signals from the victims, the Fulani Jihadists still have their way and slaughter as many defenseless Christian citizens and burn down their properties as they wish and without resistance from any security quarters.
It is Now ‘Better To Kill 100 Christians Than To Kill A Jihadist Fulani Herdsman In Nigeria
“The situation of Christians and other non-Muslims in Nigeria or any part thereof has become so worrying and vulnerable that the slogan: “it is better to kill 100 Christians than to kill a Fulani Herdsman”; has seemingly become the coded operational modus of the country’s security forces and their commanders. Apart from the country’s security forces and their establishments being manifestly biased and partisan, the policy makers in Nigeria since mid-2015; mainly drawn from Muslim population have consistently worked to grossly undermine the religious freedoms and civil liberties’ provisions in the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended and similar provisions in the country’s Treaty Laws such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 1981 (ratified and domesticated by Nigeria in 1983) and the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1976 (ratified by Nigeria in 1993). The above is to the extent that countless militarist and ouster legislations have been illegitimately enacted by the conformist National Assembly of Nigeria, particularly between 2016 and Nov 2023 to grossly undermine respect for religious freedoms including those provided in Sections 10 and 38 as well as rights to life, dignity of human person (freedom from torture); personal liberty and fair hearing; and rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association and freedom from discrimination (on the grounds of disability, place of birth, gender, class and ethnicity and religion). The country’s political leaders and security chiefs have directly or vicariously; or both, undermined these constitutional and statutory safeguards; to the extent that the security forces turn blind eyes when Christians and non-Muslim, others are attacked and massacred or terminally maimed by Fulani Jiand thadists (.i.e. Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits) urn around to protect the attackers and false-label the victims as “the attackers”.
“Fulani Jihadists Slaughtered Over 3,500 Christians, Security Forces Abducted Over 1000
“More than 4,500 Christians are most likely to have been slaughtered in Nigeria since the beginning of January 2023 by the combined forces of the Nigerian security forces (Armed forces, police and DSS) and the Government-protected Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits; out of which Fulani Jihadists accounted for over 3,500 Christian deaths. In the Lokpanta-Okigwe-Uturu-Umunneochi axis of the Port-Harcourt-Enugu Expressway in the Igbo South-East, over 300 Igbo-Christian travelers and their families, including the infants have been killed since January 2023 by the security forces-protected Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have also laid siege on other parts of Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo and Abia States till date; killing dozens and maiming hundreds. The estimates of “4,500 Christian deaths” from January to this date of Dec 2023 is subject to our forthcoming comprehensive review and updates.
“On the other hand, the whereabouts of at least 1000 Igbo-Christian citizens, mostly members of the male population in productive age-brackets, from the South-East could not be officially accounted for since January 2023 and have become victims of security forces abduction and disappearance or secret killings in the custody or on transit. Our several investigations have indicated that the country’s security forces particularly soldiers of the Nigerian Army and operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (various crack squads) and the DSS are responsible. The security forces and their commanders mentioned above are also found to have resorted to crudest form of law enforcement operations in the country since mid 2015; to the extent that hundreds of promising Igbo-Christians are being rounded up at night and secretly bundled away under phantom accusations, including “involvement in Biafra terrorism” from where they are permanently disappeared without being subjected to codified or statutory processes of criminal investigation, prosecution and sentencing or discharge and acquittal. Maximum force was also found to have been used or applied even when they were unarmed at the point of arrest leading to many of them being heavily tortured or inflicted with gunshot wounds. After being shot and injured, they are hardly treated or taken to hospital and when they die in custody or on transit, their bodies are disposed like dead fowls and records of their arrest (if any) erased./PLEASE SHARE
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chidinma Udegbunam, INTERSOCIETY
