Don’t Conduct Census Now, Middle Belt Forum Tells Tinubu

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has appealed to President Bola Tinubu, to suspend indefinitely, the census being proposed by the National Population Commission (NPC).

National President of the MBF, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, made the appeal in a statement he personally signed, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY, in Abuja, yesterday.

The Chairman of the NPC, Alhaji Nasir Kwarra last Thursday, visited the Presidential Villa where he had disclosed that Tinubu would soon fix new dates for the 2023 national population and housing census.

However, reacting to his comment, Pogu said the former President Muhammadu Buhari had suspended the exercise on the heels of protests by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), mostly in the Middle Belt.

He said conducting the census with some of them in various IDP camps, would amount to excluding them for the exercise, among other reasons.

Part of the statement read, “The MBF is completely averse to the position of the NPC when viewed against the current level of insecurity plaguing the country, especially the Middle Belt.

“We believe that for the headcount to be successful and achieve its aims, the security of lives and overall security must be guaranteed.

“No nation ever conducts population and housing census when some territories have been overrun and occupied by dreaded foreign terrorists, with millions of her citizens displaced by vicious and bloodthirsty criminals ravaging the country.

“We refer specifically to terror attacks on some Middle Bet communities where defenceless and law-abiding citizens have been killed in the last one decade, with no succour coming their way.

“In Southern Borno, for instance, Boko Haram elements have carried out attacks on communities, forcing inhabitants to flee their ancestral land for safety.

“It is a fact that some of these citizens, who have been traumatised and turned into refugees in their own country and other neighbouring countries, are yet to return to their communities in the last 10 years.

“In some states like Plateau, Niger, Benue, and Kaduna, communities have been decimated, with thousands of people chased out of their ancestral lands.

“In clear demonstration of illegalities, these foreign occupiers of these towns have renamed these communities under the watch of security forces.

“Despite the condemnation and outcries against forceful eviction of citizens from their natural habitation, the dream of fleeing indigenous people returning to their communities is still a mirage.”

It added: “In Plateau State, for instance, the ceaseless wind of violence blowing across Mangu LGA, at the weekend led to the burning down of houses and murder of hundreds of law-abiding Nigerians in the last three months.

“In the same period, no fewer than 30 people were mauled by bike-riding terrorists as they unleashed terror attacks on Ukum, Benue State, in continuation of their killing spree.

“Considering the incessant violence that has been unleashed on communities of Plateau and Benue, among other states, there seems to be a premeditated ploy to cleanse the states of indigenous population in order to take over their lands, while allowing coldblooded murderers an opportunity to take over their towns and villages.

“For now, what must be of primary focus to the Federal Government should not be on conducting population and housing census.

“What should be of priority is to ensure that the millions of displaced persons across Nigeria, especially in the Middle Belt Region, are provided with adequate security to return to where they were forced to flee from.

“Conducting the census now without addressing the IDP issues amounts to a deliberate maneuver to palm off a false demography on a nation whose citizens have been driven from their habitations by foreign Fulani invaders.

“As desirable as the population and housing census is to any nation, certain parameters crucial to the conduct of a transparent headcount must be attained.”

According to the statement, “in a situation where foreign criminal Fulani militias have overtaken some Middle Belt communities, the federal government must not spare any person or interest in restoring order and providing adequate security for lives and property.

“If the census goes ahead as planned without resolving the present security challenges and returning IDPs to their communities, legitimacy would be conferred on the vicious brigands that have continued to carry out genocidal attacks on defenceless communities.

“No nation, including Nigeria, should conduct a census in troublous times. While not underestimating the relevance of the headcount, the Forum calls on the Federal Government to work towards resolving security challenges in order to avoid conducting another census that may be marred in disputes. 

“The MBF is of the strong view that displaced communities living in make-shift habitation must be returned to their ancestral lands, and not be left with the mislaid feeling that they have been abandoned at the mercies of bloodthirsty invaders and criminals.

“There is no way the NPC can rationalise its call on President Tinubu to fix new dates for the suspended population and housing census when Nigeria is still enmeshed in fighting a war against elements tearing the country apart.”