No fewer than 200 defenceless civilians were murdered by gunmen and extremists nationwide in January 2024 alone including attacks on Barkin Ladi and Bokkos areas of Plateau State, a report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has stated.
The armed attackers also had a culture of renaming some of the villages they sacked, the report added, while citing how “Rankum was renamed Mahanga; Fass in Riyom (renamed Tafawa), Gwoi in Barkin Ladi (renamed Lugere), Fit ma Bucher (renamed Magaraje), Farandong Hai (renamed Josho) and Horop Mushere (renamed Dajin Gwamna) all in Bokkos.”
The Intersociety report released on Wednesday to SaharaReporters called on the international community to intensify their campaigns against ethno-religious persecution in Nigeria and compel the President Bola Tinubu-led government to respect religious freedom and human rights.
The report partly read, “Many of the Plateau Christian villages uprooted and sacked by Jihadist herdsmen have been renamed including: Rankum (renamed Mahanga), Fass in Riyom (renamed Tafawa), Gwoi in Barkin Ladi (renamed Lugere), Fit ma Bucher (renamed Magaraje), Farandong Hai (renamed Josho) and Horop Mushere (renamed Dajin Gwamna) all in Bokkos; all of which currently serve as staging grounds for more Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacks in Plateau State.
“The attacks on defenceless Nigerians in the past 13 months (Jan 2023-Jan 2024) also led to the burning down or wanton destruction of more than 20,000 houses and uprooting and sacking of no fewer than 500 communities in the ten worst hit States of Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and other parts of the state; Niger, Taraba, Borno, Yobe, Adawama, Kebbi, FCT, Kogi and Enugu State where over 22 communities have been attacked or threatened with Jihadist herdsmen and nomad militia attacks.
“The most shocking of it all is that the herdsmen operate freely and unchallenged with impunity and reckless abandon; with the Nigerian Security Forces (NSFs), widely accused of turning blind eyes or looking the other side; except when it comes to protection of cows and their herders. “Instances of the Nigerian Military’s brazen partisanship and biasness in the massacre of Nigerians are too many to be mentioned. “Our recommendations are: calling, as a matter of extreme urgency, for the appointment of the UN Secretary General’s Special Emergency Envoy on Nigeria and UN Security Council Resolution authorizing comprehensive UN-backed Commission of Inquiry or International Investigation into systematic and well-coordinated ethno-religious attacks by government-protected Jihadists on defenceless Nigerians and their sacred places of worship and learning, dwelling houses and means of livelihood.
“The International UN Investigation call shall cover the ongoing mass killings, abductions, disappearances, torture, lootings, wanton destruction of civilian houses and other properties and other grievous international offenses ravaging the Old Eastern Nigeria, particularly in Imo and other parts of the Southeast. “Calling for immediate appointment by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; of Special Representatives on Nigeria (.i.e. UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Worship or Belief and a Special Rep of the UN Refugee Agency) to comprehensively investigate the situation of millions of Christian IDPs and other moderate Muslims including those that have crossed international borders (refugees) so as to ascertain their numbers and locations and roles played by the Nigerian Government regarding their welfare; a fundamental part of the country’s international human rights and humanitarian obligations under UN System.
“The UN-backed Commission of Inquiry or investigations shall be comprehensive, timely and conclusive with their outcomes referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in accordance with Chapter Seven (V11) of the UN Charter of 1945; for criminal investigation including arrest, trial and conviction of the individual and group perpetrators including state actors (aiders, instigators, sponsors and abettors) and group and individual non state actors such as MACBAN and FUNAM.”