It is now beyond any reasonable doubt that Government of Nigeria and its security agencies as presently constituted has consistently t...
It is now beyond any reasonable doubt that Government of
Nigeria and its security agencies as presently constituted has consistently
told litany of lies, numbering over twenty to cover up Herdsmen terror-jihadism
in Nigeria or any part thereof and protect or shield its perpetrators; all in a
bid to misinform and mislead Nigerians and members of the int’l community and
intensify the anti Christian butcheries.
Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law also
makes bold to say that the most dangerous dimension to the ongoing jihadist
atrocities in the country is the Government lies as well as elevation of Fulani
jihadism to state cover and protection. These are directly or indirectly done
by same Government in grave contravention of Sections 10 and 38 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and rights to freedom of
religion and worship contained in various regional and international rights
treaty laws acceded to by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
We hereby call on the present Government of Nigeria to do
the needful by ‘courageously’ telling Nigerians that ‘it is no longer secret that
it has since 2016 adopted radical Islamism as state religion in Nigeria or any
part thereof including Kaduna State’. This will formally allow citizens of
other religions including moderate Muslims to rise in defense of their faith
and ethnic identities under the constitutional and lawful rights to life and
self defense. It must be boldly pointed out that the very reason why citizens
of non Muslim faith in the country allow themselves to be massacred
unchallenged by Fulani and other Jihadists is because of their continuing
belief that ‘the country’s security forces are secularly instituted to protect
all citizens irrespective of their tribes or religions.
As a matter of fact, the over twenty lies told by Government
of Nigeria since 2016 when Herdsmen Jihadism began to earn state cover and
protection, have reached a point of stagnancy and irreversibility. In other
words, lies have been so told that ‘there seem to be no new lies to tell’. In
the over twenty lies, first was that killings by Herdsmen jihadism were
“herders-farmers clashes”; yet the Nigerian Government failed to answer the
following questions: how many Muslim farmers have been killed by Fulani
Jihadists in the Middle Belt and how many Mosques or Islamic learning centers
have been razed or destroyed across the country?
The Government of Nigeria moved to introduce other lies such
as: “land disputes” and “killings coming from dislodged armed militias from
Libya”. From these, Government lied further by claiming that “Fulani Herdsmen
are not armed with rifles but machetes used in cutting foliages for their
cows”. As if these were not enough, same Government lied and deceitfully
introduced “RUGA” and “National Livestock Transformation Plan”; clandestinely
designed to make the Jihadist Herdsmen bonafide indigenes or natives of all the
localities in Nigeria. This is even when the landmass of three northern States
of Niger, Borno and Katsina are much more than the landmass of the entire
seventeen Southern States put together. In the Igbo Southeast, the landmass of
Niger State alone is roughly three times
more than that of the former which has only 29,525km2 as against latter’s over
76,000km2.
Not done, the same Government lied and deceitfully directed
the Nigerian Army to establish “(Fulani) Cattle Ranching throughout the
country’s Army or Military formations”. Recent lies told by same present
central Government and its security agencies include: “killings as a result
revenge and reprisal over previous killings or those perpetrated by the
criminal activities of criminal gangs”; “killings carried out by bandits, or
kidnappers, or unknown gunmen, or cult gangs, or involving two Christian
communities, or communal clash, or communal reprisals (etc)”.
Statistical Instances
Of Lies Told By Government Of Nigeria
In Southern Kaduna, the Presidency lied to the effect that
“the killings are reprisals and avenge killings and criminal activities by
criminal gangs”. The Army said killings “are communal and not religious”; and
the Police said “casualty statistics compiled and released by the victim
communities are fake news”.
Police Lies Over
Recent Massacre Of 14 In Kogi
The Nigeria Police Force through its Kogi State CP, Mr. Ede
Ayuba Ekpeji, had on 29th July 2020, via a press conference, lied when he
claimed that “the fourteen persons killed in Agbadu Community, near Lokoja,
were victims of Communal reprisal following a long standing dispute between two
neighboring communities”. On the contrary, the 14 slain defenseless citizens
were Christian worshippers belonging to the Bethel Parish of the Baptist Church
located in Agbadu-Daruwana, near Lokoja in Kogi State. They were inside the
Church when Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacked and hacked them to death in the
early morning or 2.a.m. of 29 July.
The Police claims were also strongly rubbished by the
Christian (Int’l) Post report of 5th August 2020. Quoting Morning Star news,
the internationally respected Christian media was quoted as follows: “According
to Morning Star News, leaders of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship posted on
the group’s Facebook page that the victims in the Agbadu-Daruwana attack are
all congregants of Bethel Baptist Church, a member of the Lokoja Baptist
Association who have since been buried,”
“The attack took place in a predominantly-Christian village,
near other villages that have been victims of attacks”. “They invaded the
village armed with guns and riding motorcycles,” the resident named Rachael
Nuhu claimed. “They were speaking in the Fulani language as they attacked our
people. This is not the first time they’re attacking our communities, as other
villages around us had been attacked in a similar way by these herdsmen.”
Intersociety had earlier investigated and debunked the Police claims in our
‘statistical data’ updated on 5th August 2020.
Azikoro-Bayelsa Church Killings Likely The Handiwork Of
Jihadist Herdsmen: Again in strongly suspected Jihadist Herdsmen attack in
Azikoro Community, Yanegoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the State
Police Command through CP Mike Okoli, is most likely to have joined his other
colleagues in deliberately misrepresenting facts and trivializing the jihadist
atrocities of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in the country. This, the CP most
likely did by labeling the killing of four Christians including two Igbo
Christians as “retaliation by cultists over partnership between Police and
residents in successful war against them (cultists)”.
The strongly suspected Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen had in the
late night and early hours 5th and 6th
of August 2020 invaded the Lion of Judea Fire Deliverance Ministry (Church) and
its vicinity and shot dead four defenseless Christians, namely: Alfred Marcus,
30-year old, Gabriel Ejimofor, 45-year old, Uchechukwu Ejimofor (female),
38-year old and one Imomotimi. The Jihadist attackers also burnt and destroyed
part of the Church and its properties.
Independently speaking and according to a verified Facebook
post, “Fulani Herdsmen are all over the bush of Azikoro town. They come out
every night in group to kill people. On the 2nd of August 2020, two vibrant
youths were killed. We thought, as Police would always claim, that they were cultists
or just cult victims. On 4th to 5th of August, three vigilante members were
also killed and we thought same. Now on the night of August 5th into the early
morning of its 6th, they invaded a church, called LION OF JUDAH FIRE
DELIVERANCE MINISTRY and killed four persons including a man and his pregnant
wife”. It is recalled that it was in the same Azikoro that a Police Sergeant,
Charles Biweribo was gruesomely stabbed to death by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen on
10th March 2020.
Names Of 25 Out Of 33
Christians Butchered By Jihadist Herdsmen In (Atyap) Zango-Kataf
The following 25 out of 33 defenseless Christians butchered
on Wednesday night (August 5) and early hours of Thursday (August 6) in five
Atyap villages of Apiashyim, Kibori, Apiako, Atakmawei and Magamiya located in
Zango-Kataf, Kaduna State are: Luka Duniya, Peter Reuben, Monday Daniel, Mary
Ado, Ezekiel Ado, Monday Ado, Nma Julius, Akan Ayei, Israel Yakubu, Joel Ayuba,
Alice Samuel, Ladi Mathias, Vincent Simon, Mba Aboi Tela, Yashim Joseph, Victor
Usman, Ezekiel Duniya, Jude Dauda, John Achi, Nkoo Dabo, Denis Ayuba, Bege
Joshua, Jerry Yakuba, Jessy Yakubu and Amako Tachio; totaling 25. Among the
injured are: Tyusan Andrew and Jethro Joshua. A video clip showing some
recovered bodies of the slain is attached.
Signed: Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, Amaka Damaris
Onuoha, Esq., Head, Campaign & Publicity, and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head,
Civil Liberties & Rule of Law
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