- Demand new constitution
- Ask Tinubu to appoint special investigator to probe killings
- Says indigenous ethnic nationalities should sit to renegotiate Nigeria
The National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) has raised an alarm over invasion of what it described as “foreign invasion” for the recent wave of murders and mayhem in the country.
The NCEF alleged that these foreign invaders kill and sack communities in rural areas, rename and occupy those communities.
Samuel Gani, chairman of NCEF, while addressing the press conference, said as part of measures to tackle insecurity, there should be an immediate ban on nomadic cattle rearing and that cattle owners should be compelled to set up ranches at their own expense as business entrepreneurs.
He pointed out that the recent visit of Hamas terrorists to Nigeria, despite not representing the Palestinian people, raises concerns about the government’s commitment to combating terrorism.
Gani said that in Plateau and Kaduna states, data exists that hundreds of villages of the ethnic nationalities have been taken over by foreign Fulanis.
The forum chairman stated that the owners of the land have been driven into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps while the names of the villages have been changed to Fulani names.
“In Plateau state, over 102 villages were reportedly taken over by Fulani invaders while in Kaduna state, over 109 villages have been dislodged. The owners of the land are in IDP camps,” Gani said.
“Recently, a community leader in the Niger Delta, Mr. Asari Dokubo, posted in a video clip that thousands of Fulanis have entered the country and they have taken over villages in Bayelsa and Rivers state. He raised alarm that a displacement invasion is ongoing. Similar reports have been made in Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, and in other parts of the country.
“The recent visit of Hamas terrorists to Nigeria, bearing in mind that Hamas is not the government of Palestine, neither does it represent the Palestinian people in any legislative capacity, also raises concern about government’s commitment to fighting terrorism.
“Shortly after the abduction of 287 secondary school children in Kuriga, Kaduna State, a security expert, Dr. Kabiru Adamu, stated on Arise TV that the location of the camps of the bandits was known to government four years ago.”
He insisted that it should not be the responsibility of the government to fund one enterprise at the expense of other businesses in the country , urging that the RUGA project be abolished as the federal government has no statutory right to allocate land under the Land Use Act.
“The ethnic nationalities should assert their right and ownership over their ancestral land and assert the dominion of their thrones in Nigeria,” Gani continued.
“The ethnic socio-cultural groups such as Afenifere, Ohaneze, Ndigbo, Arewa Consultative Group, Middle Belt Forum, and PANDEF should consider these issues in greater detail.
“Nigerians have no problem with each other. It is external forces that are seeking to tear the country apart for hostile takeover of the land and its resources. The demand for devolution of power should be intensified by the ethnic nationalities.
Gani called on President Bola Tinubu to set forth his agenda for Nigeria instead of following in the infamous footsteps of his predecessor whose tenure brought only grief and penury to Nigerians
The NCEF however recommended that “the Report of the 2014 National Conference, which included a draft new Constitution for Nigeria, should be implemented without any further delay.
It maintained that the problem facing Nigeria is a complex one and it is evident that the country is facing an organized invasion by foreign forces masquerading as religious extremists. “Nigeria is facing a racial and cultural domination agenda disguised as religious intolerance.”
The NCEF called on the indigenous Muslims in Nigeria to examine these issues and take positions that will be in the long-term best interest of their ethnic groups.
The group reiterated its earlier recommendation that Tinubu should appoint a “special investigator” to conduct a commission of inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the actors, in the various acts of terrorism and religious insurgency that had overwhelmed Nigeria since 2009.