The group expressed confidence that
such categorization would reduce, if not bring to an end, the incessant
terror attacks on farming communities by armed Fulani herdsmen.
HURIWA said this in a statement it
issued in Abuja on Sunday. The statement which was jointly signed by the
National Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media
Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, read, “The first reasonable step
was for the President to direct his Attorney General and Minister of
Justice, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, to file an application before the
Federal High Court Abuja division to procure the legal banning of armed
herdsmen and their activities and to declare them as terrorists so as to
put an end to the persistent massacre of unarmed farmers and other
innocent members of the public living peacefully in their respective
communities across the country.”
It urged the President to be concerned
about things that could advance human progress and create mutual harmony
amongst the divergent ethno-religious affiliations in Nigeria.
The human rights group accused the
administration of “conspiratorial silence,” describing it is a very
troubling security challenge threatening national cohesion and
endangering national security.
It noted that several global bodies had
already categorised armed Fulani herdsmen as one of the most deadly
terrorist organisations in the world next to Boko Haram in terms of
ferocity and degree of mass casualties of citizens from their many
bloody violence unleashed on communities across the six geopolitical
zones of the country.
The group wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari still didn’t think these armed Fulani herdsmen were as deadly as terrorists.
HURIWA recalled that in the last two
years, armed Fulani herdsmen precipitated the killings of over 8000
innocent civilians and the dispossession of farming communities in
places like Southern Kaduna and Benue states.
The statement read in part, “These
armed Fulani herdsmen operate like a well-funded and well-coordinated
platforms because whenever any attack attributable to them occurs, they
quickly demobilise and disappear into thin air even as it seems that
there are some levels of collaborative partnership between them and
commanders of security forces across the country.
“After thorough consideration of the
high levels of destruction of lives and property of Nigerians from all
parts of the country, perpetrated by armed Fulani herdsmen, we believe
that the best solution to these incessant invasions and attacks is for
President Muhammadu Buhari to step up his approach and worldview of the
seriousness of these trends and take concrete legal, security and
logistical steps to militarily put an end to the persistent genocide by
armed Fulani herdsmen by first and foremost declaring armed Fulani
herdsmen as terrorists.”
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