A Christian cleric, Isa El-Buba, has alleged that foreign terrorists are colluding with some local herders to violently displace communities and occupy their ancestral lands in Plateau State.
“These are not the local herders that we used to know, these are Fulani terrorists who target communities. When these terrorists come in, they connive with some of the locals. They give them information, they come in from outside and they invade,” he said.
Speaking on Channels TV yesterday, the cleric supported the recent assertion by Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang that the attacks in the state amounted to genocide.
The Jos-based cleric who hails from Borno State, said the repeated and coordinated nature of the violence indicated a well-orchestrated plan to destabilise the region and ultimately reconfigure its demographic and territorial identity.
“Just like the governor said, it’s a genocide, it’s not something that just happened. It’s been happening with several attacks in the past and recently, what has happened on the Plateau.
“You know very well that Plateau is cosmopolitan. It houses virtually all Nigerians. And if anything goes wrong with Plateau, everything goes wrong with Nigeria,” he said.
He warned that Nigeria’s unity could be in jeopardy if urgent action is not taken.
“If there is no intervention, there is a bleak future for this country will stand together. We are actually in a very serious time in the history of this country.”
The cleric pointed to the disturbing reality that over 60 communities in Plateau have been attacked, their inhabitants killed or displaced, properties destroyed, and the attackers now living in the conquered communities.
“In some of the communities that were attacked—over 60 of them—the people who attacked those communities displaced the people, killed them, destroyed their properties and now occupy those communities. This tells you a lot about what these people are up to,” he stated.
He further alleged that the attackers feel emboldened due to perceived protection during the previous administration.
“In the past administration, these people felt it was their government. They felt protected. These people move with arms. I raised an alarm, called on the then president to speak to his own people in his own dialect,” he said.
He emphasised that the violence is not being perpetrated by the traditional Fulani herders known to local communities, but by armed, foreign Fulani extremists with a deliberate plan.
According to El-Buba, the goal of these attacks is not random violence, but a larger ideological agenda to seize land and permanently displace the original owners.
“They have a programme, a plan, a mandate, and that mandate is that they must occupy and send the owners of the land away.”
His comments have sparked renewed calls for federal authorities to act decisively to restore peace, justice, and secure land rights in Plateau and other affected regions.
El-Buba appealed for national unity and decisive leadership to prevent further bloodshed and protect Nigeria’s fragile cohesion.
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