A Fulani socio-cultural group has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to order a high-powered investigation into the gruesome and unwarranted killings of 11 of their kinsmen while carrying out their legitimate work at Laduga Grazing Reserve area of Kaduna state allegedly by men of the Nigerian Army.
Recall that in its Thursday, January 11 statement, there was a report on the discovery of eleven dead bodies of Fulani youths of the Tilde Fulbe Community alleged to have been murdered in cold blood by men of the Nigerian Military, from the Nigerian School of Artillery, NASA, and the Nigerian Navy Armament Technology School at the Ladugga Grazing Reserve in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna state.
The names of the eleven victims were given as Safiyanu Adamu, Abdulkadir Idris, Akilu Abdullahi, Ibrahim Abubakar, Magaji Umar, Saidu Saleh, Abdulaziz Yusuf and Nura Magaji.
Reacting to the development in a statement on Friday, the Fulani group, operating under the aegis of Forum of Fulbe Professionals in Africa (FOFPRA),decried the silence of government and rights groups in the country over the dastardly act.
To this end,the group appealed to President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene by directing a high-powered investigation into the matter.
In the statement signed by FOFPRA President, Prof. Ibrahim Maccido and National Secretary,
Dr Mohammed Ibn Khalifa, respectively,the group particularly said it is time for President Tinubu, being the President and Commander In-Chief of the Armed Forces and the father of all,” to, as a matter of importance, delegate a high-powered investigation team to Kaduna state to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of these innocent Nigerians.”
The group,in the statement,said:”As executive and members of the Forum of FULBE Professionals in Africa (FOFPRA), a professional body of the Fulani tribe in the Sahel region,we wish to lend our voices to the injustice being perpetrated against our people in Nigeria and the urgent need for the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to address it in the interest of peace, equity and justice.”
According to the group, “This is particularly because of the brutal and unjustifiable killing of 11 innocent Fulani youths, namely: Adamu, Abdulkadir Idris, Akilu Abdullahi, Ibrahim Abubakar, Magaji Umar, Saidu Saleh, Abdulaziz Yusuf, and Nura Magaji, in the Laduga Grazing Reserve of Kaduna State, by the soldiers of Nigeria Army School of Artillery Kachia, under the 1 Division,Kaduna.”
The group claimed that the “kiillings were without any justification and up till this moment, the government has not taken any action known to us.”
“This is worrisome as Fulani people are human beings and have the right to life as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
“As such, this injustice will not be tolerated. We will pursue it to any court in the world to ensure that the officers and their men are held accountable for their actions,”it said.
The Fulbe Professionals,in the statement, said:”We have credible evidence that the soldiers killed them and dumped their corpses.
“We also wish to acknowledge that some of our boys are deviants and criminals, and may have dented the excellent reputation of the Fulani nation. However, the ones killed are clearly innocent boys who were going about their regular source of livelihood,”it added.
The group questioned if the military personnel officials had the right to have alleged order summary execution of the victims as they did.
“Come to think of it, even if the 11 boys were criminals, when has the Nigerian Army become a court of law to execute criminals summarily without trying them?
“On this note, we want to appeal to the president and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the father of all to, as a matter of importance, delegate a high-powered investigation team to Kaduna state to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of these innocent Nigerians.
“We appeal to the president and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to immediately order the deployment of the GOC 1 Division Kaduna, Maj. Gen. Valentine Okoro and Lt Atebe, the Commander of Nigeria School of Artillery (NASA) Kachia, and also commenced investigation against the duo who supervised the extra judicial killings of our children.
“These officers are actually causing bad blood for this administration in addition to the already negative publicity against the administration on security.
“The country is already overwhelmed with the issues of insecurity. We, therefore, do not need officers who will not complement the effort of the president to secure the country,”it added.
The group also called on international human rights agencies, especially the Amnesty International (AI) and Transparency International (TI), to intervene by fighting the alleged injustice.
