A group, Tabital Pulaaku International (TPI), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari, Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku and heads of security agencies to intervene and stop the “ongoing killings and forceful eviction of pastoralists in Gashaka, Gassol, and Bali local government areas of Taraba State
TPI, a volunteer non-governmental association promoting peace, understanding, and unity among Fulbe and other ethnic communities/cultures within Nigeria, Africa, and the Diaspora, made the call in a statement issued its Secretary General Dr. Mohammed Sale on Thursday.
It said, “It is with heavy heart, sorrow, and pains that the Nigeria chapter of the association wishes to draw the attention of Mr. President, the Governor of Taraba State, heads of all security formations (the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police, and Department of Security Service, etc.), the media, patriotic Nigerians and the international community as follows:
a. That a verbal vacation notice is alleged to have been issued to 8 Fulbe communities in Gashaka (Garbabi and Barmani) and Bali (Kungana, Jatau, Gazabu, Maihujja Karekare, and Kosa) LGAs of Taraba state, through the traditional authorities ordering them to leave/quit their original/ancestral settlements without providing any alternative place for them to move to, there by violating their fundamental human right as stipulated under chapter four of the 1999 constitution.
b. That as a direct consequence of this vacation notice, militia groups in connivance with locals of the affected communities supported by State Government vigilantes have taken the front line in forcefully evicting the pastoralists in these communities in a manner that appear as a direct/clear intention of/to exterminating these law abiding Nigerians from the surface of the earth.
c. That based on b above, hundreds of these innocent pastoralists who have lived in these areas for decades, including women, children, the elderly and young adults have been murdered in mass and their properties burnt down on daily basis for the last few weeks in a manner that can best be described as a genocide.
“Our Association therefore strongly believes that at this material time, it owes the Nigeria Government a responsibility to remind it of its basic responsibility, which is protecting lives and properties of the citizens.
“We are, therefore, not just surprised but equally worried about the possible complacency of the government in general and its relevant authorities in particular by allowing these brutal killings and atrocities on it citizens to be perpetrated in the manner and for long as it is this case.
“On this note, we wish to condemn in strong terms, the ongoing mass killings of pastoralist Fulɓe in Taraba state at the recently affected areas, and indeed the state as a whole.
“In a like manner, we wish to draw the attention of all the nation’s security agencies (the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Chief of Defence Military Intelligence, Inspector General of Police, the Director General of Department of State Services and the Commandant General of NSCDC) to this genocidal actions going on in these identified places and its wider implication to the peace and stability of the entire country if allowed to continue unchecked.
“We, hereby, appeal to the International Community and the media to prevail on relevant authorities at the Federal and State levels to take the appropriate actions to halt the ongoing killings of the pastoralists, cattle rustling, and in fact the unlawful, forceful eviction and burning of their settlements in parts of the State.
“As law-abiding citizens and associations, we are always prepared to provide evidences of our postulations and open to discussing these and other conflict resolution as well as peace management-related issues with authorities concerned.”
