December 27, 2023 NewsOrient

Following the coordinated attacks on over 20 Plateau villages on Christmas eve, which led to the massacre of over 115 people and burning down of villages, the Middle Belt Forum has expressed possibility of resorting to self defence to save it’s people from total extinction.

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF), in it’s reaction to the bloody attacks by yet to be identified terror groups, said the people of the region are left with no option but to resort to self-help to defend themselves given the failure of the Federal Government to put an end to the killings by armed herdsmen in that geopolitical zone of Nigeria.

The MBF, which alleged that the Federal Government knows the hideout of the blood thirsty marauders, wondered why it has failed to move decisively against them.

Middle Belt Forum said this through its National President, Dr Bitrus Pogu.

He frowned at the failure of the government to ensure the protection of the lives and property of the people.

“Section 14(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stipulates that ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government, Pogu reminded Nigerian government.

He said: “Conversely, the unrelenting massacre of our people in the Middle-Belt States, particularly recently on the Plateau, has shown without any vestige of pessimism that the government and security forces are complicit in the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous ethnic nationalities, who are not part of the Sokoto Caliphate.

“It is no longer news that the hideout from which these insurgents/terrorists launch their attacks on the states of Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, and Southern Kaduna has been known to the government and security forces for decades, yet they have deliberately fortified this evil theatre from any destruction, thus providing a safe haven for these terrorists to smuggle arms, train their mercenaries, and unleash unimaginable terror on innocent citizens without any provocation whatsoever.

“Our resolve to confront headlong this abysmal and surreptitious extinction of our people is anchored on our quest for the liberation of Middle-Belt states from the oppressive and tyrannical manipulations of external forces that have retarded development in our region.

“We shall take the bull by the horn to defend our people as the last option left to us, predicated on our land, our people, and our heritage,” Middle Belt Forum said.

NewsOrient reported earlier that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered Nigerian security Operatives to comb the area immediately and arrest the attackers.

This is even as concerned stakeholders have continued to condemn the Christmas bloody attacks on Plateau communities.

Photo Credit: Daily Post Nigeria

~ NewsOrient