Text of Press Conference held by the Middle Belt Dialogue on the spate of violence in Northern Nigeria
Protocol
Gentlemen of the Press,
You are warmly welcome to today's press conference. As you are all aware, our country is undergoing troubling times, and as critical stakeholders in the Nigerian project, we also want to voice out our stand on this nagging issue of national security.
After observing the unrelenting gruesome campaign of terror on Nigeria and especially on the minority people of Northern Nigeria since the coming to power of the present government, by a narrow band of people bent on destroying this country, the Middle Belt Dialogue (MBD) feels obliged to speak up on this national problem.
Gentlemen of the Press, as you are aware, the MBD is a socio-cultural affiliation of all the minority ethnic groups of Northern Nigeria. Our members also include Hausa and Fulani, who's socio-cultural and spiritual values are identical with that of the majority of the people of the Middle Belt. You can therefore see why we have to speak on this dangerous trend that has caused so much destruction to Nigeria, second only to the Nigerian Civil war.
Recall that we issued a press release last year pointing out that the present round of genocide on the Plateau, started last year, was launched to give Northern elements a pretext for a coup d'etat. With the excuse that Jonathan could not guarantee security as a pretext, the Northern elements were supposed to stop the 2011 elections from taking place. The elections did take place, and immediately it became apparent that President Jonathan Goodluck was set to emerge winner of the last presidential election, an orchestrated campaign of terror was unleashed on his supporters in Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Bauchi and even Plateau State by well trained murderers and arsonists who have been brainwashed to believe that power must always remain with a certain part of the country at whatever cost. While some Hausa and Fulani politicians and traditional leaders had their residential houses vandalised over their perceived or real friendship to President Goodluck Jonathan, the major targets were Churches, homes and business outfits of everyone that was not a Hausa/Fulani Muslim, most of whom voted for the President.
It is impossible to quantify the human and material wastage exacted by these well armed, very prepared gangs of killers. We regret and condemn the irresponsible violent show of hate which led to the untimely death of hundreds and we want to note here that the people of the Middle Belt were the worst hit. The simple reason was because the Middle Belt came out to defiantly support and vote for Jonathan Ebele Goodluck, as the presidential election results from our areas clearly shows.
The aftermath is this unrelenting gruesome campaign of terror on Nigeria and especially on the people of Middle Belt since the coming to power of the present government by foreign trained jihadists, with local support all bent on destroying this country. The cruelty carried out on our people continued even after the post election violence.
In Plateau, the mass murder of villagers by Hausa/ Fulani militia has now reached a frightening dimension .Our people in Bauchi and Borno are daily massacred by Hausa/Fulani militia simply for not showing sympathy to the hate philosophy of Boko Haram.
Another goal of these Jihadists is to drive them from their fertile ancestral lands. In Benue and Kaduna, the story is the same. The recent major reason for the heightened hatred on our people was mainly because we all decided to support a minority from the Ijaw Nation. The hatred for the new government is manifested by a deranged group called Boko Haram, who want Sharia form of government imposed on the entire country. Anything short of this and Nigeria can as well burn. They have bombed several churches and public buildings, killing hundreds and causing everlasting hardship for hundreds of thousands. The evil of this group has no territorial limit, as they attacked the United Nations Buildings in Abuja, killing innocent men and women of many nationalities offering humanitarian services to Nigerians.
The aim of Boko Haram and its sponsors is to rubbish the government that we have put in so much sacrifice to elect. Boko Haram wants to cause a state of total insecurity, social chaos and underdevelopment in Nigeria to give its backers enough reason for the overthrow of this government.
We also suspect that under the cover of Boko Haram, some northern leaders are using these mindless killing of people and the humiliation that government has suffered by this spate of bombings, to negotiate for relevance and stay close to the corridors of power.
Gentlemen, in view of this, the MBD wants to state as follows:
The Federal Government should show genuine commitment to protecting the lives and property of Nigerians and securing the Middle Belt region, by first and foremost prosecuting the hundreds of murderers arrested while in the act. While there is some comfort in President Jonathan's comment that the contents of Wikileaks `leaks' are akin to beer parlour talk, we urge the President to clarify for us the revelation that government has set free all those who were arrested for planting bombs and had even confessed to killings in the name of religion and politics.
We want to also state our disappointment with the present government on how our people have been so snubbed and rubbished in the appointment of persons into public offices. In Gombe, Adamawa, Kaduna, Borno, Bauchi and Kebbi states the Federal Government shocked the Middle Belt, when the President only chose to pick those who campaigned against his interest for plum political offices. We feel humiliated and despised by this action, as it goes completely against natural justice. We are therefore calling for a review of these appointments.
This kind of treatment is part of the contributing factors why some people are encouraged to run over our communities and slaughter us en mass, since no one cares about us. They already have their own firmly entrenched in government to bail them out should they be caught. We are not happy with this development, and we want make it clear that we have been short-changed by this government, as far as political appointments are concerned.
This not to say that our support and loyalty to this government and for the corporate existence of Nigeria should be in doubt. We believe that the great losers in the end of this barbarism would be the Hausa and Fulani. Because as long as they believe that terror is the best means to force the minority of the North to support them, the more we will make sure that no Hausa or Fulani would ever rule Nigeria again, as far as the ballot box will determine who wins. The Middle Belt has started its campaign for the 2015 presidential election, and we have no doubt that we will produce the next president. We will never, never support those who are either directly involved in a futile strategy to annihilate us, or those culpable in the mass murder of our people through their conspiratorial silence.
The Middle Belt, while noting the shortcomings of this Government in some areas, will never be intimidated into abandoning its support for this government.
We also want to say that the North would be most unpleasant for all if the Middle Belt also starts planning invasions of Hausa Fulani communities with the same kind of horror our people go through each night. Those who plot these killings need to be reminded that no single group has the monopoly of violence. Our silence and dependence on Government does not mean that we are not capable of defending ourselves. Surely, even a cursory look at history will show that our people have what is takes to defend themselves.
Finally, we call on all our brothers and sisters in Middle Belt, especially in Plateau, Borno, Kaduna and Bauchi, to do all within their legitimate means to defend their communities in the face of the designed pogroms levied against them.
Thank you gentlemen, for the attention, and may God bless us all.
Hon. Aminu Zang
Coordinator, Plateau State Chapter
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