Numan Youths Protest Killings as Group Seeks Prosecution in Toto/ Bassa LGAs Crisis

James Emejo in Abuja

Youths from the Numan Federation of Adamawa State Thursday stormed the National Assembly to protest against what they termed constant killings of their people.

The Numan youths from Bwatiye tribe, came in their hundreds, carrying placards with various inscriptions.

They alleged that suspected herdsmen had been attacking their communities and killing them, while the government has been looking the other way.

They claimed that as at the last count, they had lost about 21 villages to the suspected herdsmen with over 200 people killed, while many others were displaced.

“We want the government to protect our lives and property. We’re here to let National Assembly know what we’ve been going through. We want them to come to our aid.

“We’re not indicting the state government, but we want our lives protected. We’re adding our voices to the calls by our elders,” one of the protest leaders said.

Addressing the protesters, their representative at the House of Representatives, Talatu Yohanna, said being part of government, she would take their plight to the leadership of the House.

Some of the inscriptions on their placards were: ‘Bwatiye people say no to ethnic cleansing in the middle belt region of Nigeria;’ ‘You cannot kill us and occupy our land;’ ‘PMB put an end to the massacre;’ ‘Over 200 lives lost in Numan Federation; ‘Baba Buhari Stop the Killings,’ among others.

The youths later submitted a petition to the National Assembly under the Bwatiye Development Association (BDA) in which they made certain demands signed by their president Chief Hezron Fada (JP).

“We demand that the FGN sets up the machinery to identify these foreign forces and their Nigerian counterparts. They should be prosecuted and punished for their heinous crimes against the Nigerian nation.”

In another development, the Egbura National Development Association (ENDA) has suggested the prosecution of prominent personalities bringing lasting peace between Egbura and Bassa ethnic groups in Toto Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa State and Bassa LGA in Kogi State, respectively after a break down of law and order in the communities, leading to the deaths of 15 persons.

The House of Representatives has already passed a motion condemning the killings and called for probe.

Addressing journalists in Abuja through its President, Prof. Ibrahim Aguye and its Secretary, Prof. Yusuf Aboki, the group called on both states to look into its suggestions with a view to bringing the intractable feuds between the two ethnic groups to an end.

It further called on the Nasarawa state government to probe a high ranking officer with one of the anti-graft bodies and a top civil servant in the legal department of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as a one-time Chairman of Toto LGA for their roles in the bloody crisis engulfing Toto LGA of the state.

The group said: “We are aware that a prominent personality who is also a traditional ruler, and a politician both in Kogi State, a high ranking officer with one of the anti-graft bodies and a top civil servant in the legal department of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as a one-time Chairman of Toto LGA, who are all sons of Bassa and their conspirators within and without Nasarawa and Kogi states, are some of the notable sponsors of this latest terror being visited on Egburas and their communities in the two states.”

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