7th November, 2018
PRESS RELEASE:
BEROM KILLERS: GO AFTER
THE BIG SHOTS
The Nigerian Police two days ago
arraigned 19 suspects in court over the killing of General Idris Muhammed
Alkali (rtd). All 19 men were remanded in prison.
However, the Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC) has questioned the line up in the list of 19 suspects. According to the
human rights organization, all 19 suspects are ordinary Berom citizens.
In a press statement issued on
Wednesday and signed by its director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola,
MURIC wondered if the 19 suspects were capable of commiting the crime alone.
“Those 19 men paraded on television
are ordinary Berom citizens. They are just the fall guys. They are incapable of
importing arms and ammunition from outside Nigeria. They lack the capacity to
finance the recruitment of hitmen, store weapons, train the militia and
distribute arms.
“The
police must dig deeper. Where are the financiers? Where are the big guys? Where
are their sponsors? What of their arms depot? There is need to identify the
armourer and trace the supply line as well as the illegal training camps which
of course are established with the official backing of their state governments.
The Plateau crisis festered because nobody was ever punished in spite of
the regular killings and it will continue to defy solutions until the big guns
behind the killings are dealt with the same way their errand boys are being treated
now. There must be no sacred cows in this case.
“Equally
didactic are several containers seized at the borders with the arms and
ammunitions particularly during the present Buhari administration. The fact
that such seizures began only after there was a change of leadership both in
the Federal Government (FG) and customs suggests that the illegal smuggling of
arms into the country has been going on for long with the tacit support of the immediate
past government at the federal level.
“Or could all these have been possible without the active connivance of
the immediate past administration at the federal level? What is very clear is
that the state governments of Plateau, Benue and Taraba provided official cover
for the criminals. It is interesting to note that illegal training camps have
also been discovered in those states.
“MURIC
is therefore dissatisfied with the prosecution of mere errand boys. The
sponsors must be fished out otherwise the killings will continue. Fulanis and
other Muslim travelers on that axis are now endangered species on whom Berom killers
can pounce any moment.
“The task before the Federal Government (FG) and the security agencies is
to find the sponsors, flood the highways which are usually blocked by the Berom
killers with soldiers and make the roads safe for travellers. These are
necessary steps in order to build trust in the Nigerian Muslim community.
Fulanis and Muslims are the victims and they need FG’s assurance that
government is prepared to provide security.
“By the way, what is the Directorate of State Services
doing in Plateau State? The onus is on the leadership of the state chapter of
the DSS to uncover the brains behind the killings. Hundreds of Muslims were massacred
in 2001. Again in 2011, an equally large number was merciless killed, roasted
and eaten up a la cannibals at the Id (Salah ground). No secret security outfit
worth its salt can remain ignorant of the nitty-gritties of such massive
killings under its watch. DSS should dust up its files and place its cards on
the table. Nigerian Muslims are tired of hanky-pankies.
As our last shot, we demand the arrest and prosecution of
the big shots behind the Berom killers. We charge the Plateau State chapter of
the DSS to get cracking. We assert emphatically, unequivocally and
categorically that there can be no enduring solution to the Plateau crisis
until the sponsors of killers are apprehended. There must be no sacred cows.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
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