21st April,
2014
PRESS RELEASE:
STOP GENOCIDE AGAINST FULANIS
Heavily armed men of
the Nigerian Army allegedly drove in a convoy of ten Hilux vans on 2nd
April, 2014 to Kadarko and Rugar Ardo Sodangi settlements of Keana Local
Government, Nasarawa State. They were alleged to have descended on a small group
of mourners of Fulani descent. They shot all of them. Fifteen (15) people of Fulani
extraction lay dead at the end of the operation. Three (3) were
badly injured.
We of the Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC), keen on the need to maintain peace and harmony in
Nigeria, are deeply concerned particularly as this tragic scenario constitutes the emerging pattern in several
parts of Northern Nigeria, particularly in Plateau, Benue and
Adamawa.
Cattle-grazing is not
new in this country and it had been very peaceful in the past. But recently
there appears to be a kind of organized resistance and stereotyping of the Fulani
herdsmen. This is what we find disturbing.
Witnesses have
reportedly confirmed that efforts at reconciliation between Fulani herdsmen and
their neighbours have always been frustrated by external forces who perpetrate
fresh killings just when peace accords have either been signed or were about to
be signed.
The testimony given by the Osana of Keana, Dr. Emmanuel
Elayo also buttresses our suspicion. He expressed displeasure at the way his
subjects were massacred. He confirmed that the leader of the troops told him
that the operation was led by his superior and that he could not intervene. He
added that all calls to head of security agencies in the state did not yield
result.
MURIC finds all these disturbing. We wonder if we are not
witnessing some kind of ethnic cleansing with the Fulani as the main target.
This will have grave
consequences for the security question in Nigeria and the country’s corporate
existence. It is also very likely to cause ricochets not only in the West
African sub-region but also across other parts of the African continent
particularly East Africa and the Sudan where the Fulani have roots dating back
to centuries.
In essence, Nigeria may be promoting regional tension. This
is capable of affecting our relationship with countries in the region.
Backlashes against non-Fulani Nigerians doing businesses in those places may
become inevitable.
The Nigerian Muslim
community as a stakeholder in nation-building is also aware of the symbiotic relationship between
the Fulani and the religion of Islam and, by extension, the Muslim Ummah of
Nigeria. Any
hostile act against the Fulani is therefore an indirect attack on Muslims.
Genocide aimed at the Fulani is indubitably mass killing of Muslims. It is
war against Islam.
MURIC will not stand
akimbo while its members are being haunted from pillar to post. We therefore
strongly condemn the callous, criminal and barbaric act of those men in army
uniform who massacred innocent Fulanis.
We affirm that herdsmen
have the right to graze their cattle. It is the duty of the state and Federal
Governments to ensure that grazing grounds are provided where farmlands will
not be in danger of being destroyed. This has been the practice for decades and
we are surprised that it is now becoming an issue.
We call on the defence committees in the National Assembly
to investigate the massacre of the innocent Fulani people of Keana Local Government. We remind the Federal Government that it is
its duty to provide protection for all Nigerians including Fulani herdsmen throughout
the federation. FG should therefore do the needful. Government has the capacity
to stop cattle rustling.
We urge the National Human
Rights Commission to investigate this atrocity and come up with its report.
Finally, we remind Nigerians that a nation seeking peace cannot afford to
target any ethnic group for profiling.
Muslims throughout the
country are urged to continue to live in peace with their neighbours and to eschew
all acts capable of causing public disorder. We should be guided by the tragedy
in Rwanda.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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