The Bwatiye people of Demsa Local government of Adamawa State demanded that the federal government and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) disarm the Fulani herdsmen in their locality, so as to safeguard the lives of the remaining members of their ethnic group.
The people said the appeal has become necessary in view of the incessant attacks on the ethnic group by heavily armed Fulani herdsmen, which has led to the death of about 100 in Demsa local government of Adamawa state within the last seven months.
The Bwatiye people resident in Jos, the Plateau State capital who issued a statement in Jos yesterday, alleged that “armed Fulani herdsmen have attacked more than 10 villages in the locality between January and July this year.”
The statement which was signed by the national president of Pene Da Bwatiye, Prince Hezron Fada reads, “It is with a heavy heart that the Bwatiye Community represented by our umbrella organisation, PENE DA BWATIYE wish to draw the attention of Nigerians to the massive destruction of the rural town of Kodomun in Demsa Local Government of Adamawa State and the brutal cold blooded murder of twenty five (25) persons, comprising our revered elders, young and middle aged men and children.
“The attacks have left a population of about 2,500 inhabitants now homeless and scattered in towns and villages as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
“Please recall that from January to July this year, similar mass killings took place in the Bwatiye villages of Koh, Goron, Ndikajam, Tabongo, No-Ine Fawaire and Jimoh in Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State, where seventy two (72) deaths were recorded including the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Vunoklang, a suburb of the Jimeta metropolis.
“There is no doubt that the killings by the Fulani herdsmen and their hired mercenaries were perpetrated under a grand design to annihilate the Bwatiye race as a people. Up to this time, no one has been apprehended, questioned or sanctioned by the authorities over the incidences. Is this not a conspiracy of silence?
“As painful as the destruction and looting of property and the brutal killings of our defenceless people and the removal of some vital parts of their bodies for ritual purposes have been, we have managed with difficulty, to implore our communities to refrain from taking laws into their own hands, while we continue to look up to the State Government for justice and protection. (But) unfortunately, government has failed in this regard.
“We find this failure of government unacceptable, as it is equally becoming more challenging to restrain our people from rising up to their own self defence…..
The group said the impunity of the invaders will not stop unless the government ceases to treat them with kid gloves. It however expressed reservation, saying it will ‘wait and see’, citing what it termed the “non-compliance or complicity of security operatives.”
The statement further read: “You will recall that this Commissioner of Police on Tuesday 2nd August, 2016 said no life was lost in the invasion of Kodomun and that he did not allow his men to intervene in the attack because according him, it was a communal clash and to do so, would appear to be taking sides. This man is therefore not fit for a command position. He should be removed immediately by the Inspector General of Police.”
The group therefore demand “the immediate disarming of all Fulani herdsmen” and on the government to come to the aid of the victims of the recent Kodomun massacre through the provision of relief materials and rehabilitation.”
