By Ijeoma Popoola
A coalition of citizens groups, Middle Belt Concern (MBC), on Thursday called on the Federal Government to do more to stop unlawful killings and displacements in the Middle Belt.
The MBC, a coalition of about 80 groups, also urged the government to return all displaced citizens to their ancestral homes.
A co- Convener of MBC, Mrs Ier Jonathan-Ichaver, made the call at a media roundtable in Lagos.
The roundtable had the theme: “Voice, Vision and Justice: Navigating the Middle Belt’s Future in the Nigerian Federation”.
She said: “For over a decade, our people in Benue, Southern Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara, Plateau, and across the Middle Belt, have buried their dead and fled their farms.
“The killings must stop, the displaced must be restored, and the politics of denial must end.”
She said that violence and unlawful killings in the region since 2000 had cost tens of thousands of lives, displaced many and deepened poverty in the area.
The co-convener said that citizens displaced by insecurity in the area were crowded into makeshift camps.
“They are our mothers, our farmers, our children,” she said, stressing that it was the duty of the state to protect its citizens.
“We demand immediate, verifiable action: a credible national count of the displaced, physical securing of ancestral homes, real trauma care and a binding roadmap to restorative justice.”
Jonathan-Ichaver said that violence in the Middle Belt should not be described as farmer-herder clashes or communal clashes.
“What is happening in the Middle Belt is not a clash. It is not a misunderstanding between neighbours.
“It is organised, repeated, and escalating violence that has overrun entire villages, driven millions from their homes,” she said.
She also said that the violence made women and children victims of atrocities such as rape and defilement.
She called on all Nigerians to collectively seek end to insecurity.
Another co-Convener of MBC, Mrs Marie Orgah, urged the government to fish out all sponsors, supporters, and perpetrators of terrorism to deter criminal activities.
She said that the government should focus more on justice, care and restoration for victims.
Orgah urged the government not to leave any terrorist unpunished, saying that such would embolden them. (NAN) www.nannews.ng
Edited by Esenvosa Izah