A report by Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) chronicling violence in the North Central region has cautioned that violence and banditry are not checkmated, Nigerians should expect increased communal tension in the region.
In the 35 page report by the humanitarian organisation the Nigerian authorities was advised to:
“End impunity by ensuring that complaints related to human rights violations are promptly, independently and impartially investigated, and those responsible are held to account after fair trials.
“There is an urgent need for the Nigerian authorities to enforce the rule of law to protect all its citizens. Following an attack by Fulani militia in central Nigeria, it must not be left to local vigilantes to take matters in their own hands.
“Analysts anticipate increased communal tensions in the build-up to the 2023 election.
“The Nigerian Government must provide additional and adequate security for vulnerable communities and displacement camps, including farms and villages in central Nigeria at risk of Fulani militia attacks.
“Where Nigerian military forces are overstretched, and where it is appropriate to do so, the police should be mobilised to carry some of the burden of protection of civilians.
“Nigerian authorities must cease persecuting journalists and whistleblowers who draw attention to their failures.
” The US Department of State should reverse its decision to remove Nigeria from its list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern regarding religious freedom.
“As part of its ongoing geographical footprint review, the UK Government must ensure immediate humanitarian assistance for displaced people in the Middle Belt, in addition to aid provided to the northeast and northwest.
In its conclusion, the report stated that:”Conflict between nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers has existed for a long time.
“For centuries, although disputes would arise, leaders would resolve them by compensating losses or sharing resources. In 2016, the Anglican Bishop of Bauchi, Musa Mwin Tula, warned us that this historic menace between herdsmen and farmers has jumped from a worrisome itch in
the north to a cancerous disease, spreading throughout the country, claiming lives and threatening to spiral into a monster.”
“Today, the Bishop’s warning has been realised. Well-armed Fulani militia frequently attack villages in the Middle Belt. The attacks are planned and coordinated, with a demonstrable goal of driving out indigenous Christian populations and seizing their land. We have visited and personally witnessed the results of recent land-grabs, massacres, atrocities, kidnappings and forced displacement Nigerian authorities at both the state and federal levels appear unable or unwilling to prevent the attacks, and instead engage in legal prosecution of journalists and activists who draw attention to the crisis.
” The international community appears similarly indifferent, providing no meaning engagement in favour of ending the violence or humanitarian assistance to the millions displaced across central Nigeria.