Christian youth leaders from Benue, Southern Bauchi, Southern Kaduna and Plateau states have decried continuous killings, destruction of farmlands and forceful occupation of ancestral lands of indigenous people by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
According to the youth leaders, the coordinated and religiously-motivated attacks against Christian communities are meant to forcefully take over their ancestral lands and further impoverish the people.
Spokesman of the group, Jethro Dooyum, while addressing a press conference in Jos yesterday called for the review of the security architecture of these states to strengthen community policing which would boost confidence in the security forces and appealed to the federal government to ensure speedy trial of Christian youths in detention.
He said bullets, machetes or swords don’t recognise denominational boundaries, adding that Catholics, COCIN, ECWA, Anglican and NKST were not immune to the attacks by the jihadists.
“It is on this premise that we have come to speak out because what we are experiencing is not just insecurity. These are parts of a broader scheme targeted at depopulating, impoverishing and silencing indigenous people.
“We have carefully observed the coordinated and systematic way and manner the attacks are carried out on our communities. This points to us that these attacks are religiously motivated. If not so, why the chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ during such attacks?” he said.
“We reject the false narrative of farmers-herders clashes or land/communal clashes used in describing these attacks and demand that a spade be called a spade. What is going on is deliberate ethnic cleansing.”
The coalition also demanded the return of people displaced from their ancestral lands and urged governments in all affected states to issue certificates of occupancy to displaced persons over their ancestral lands to recognise their genuine titles.
The Christian youth leaders further demanded the right of farmers to cultivate their farmlands without harassment from cattle rearers and be recognised by law and protected while urging government at all levels to always ensure equal distribution of the commonwealth of the people, irrespective of religious and political inclinations.
