The Fulbe Global Development and Rights Initiative (FGDRI) has called for justice from the federal government over the killing of pastoralists in Kaduna and Taraba states, saying it amounts to genocide.
Salim Musa Umar, President-General of FGDRI, in a statement, stated that there was an urgent need for government to intervene to save the ugly situation towards ensuring peaceful coexistence.
According to the President-General, “In the last few days, the media is flooded with images of innocent Fulbe pastoralists butchered and maimed in Taraba and Kaduna states. The Fulbe Global Development and Rights Initiative (FGDRI) is distressed by these rampant pogroms, especially the most recent ones that took place at Bali in Taraba and BirninGwari in Kaduna states.”
The group observed that in Bali local council, unsuspecting pastoralists were lured into a deceptive meeting by an armed vigilante group, alleging that it ended up being defenselessly attacked and mercilessly massacred by the criminals masquerading as a community vigilante group.
The statement also alleged that 12 pastoralists were shot dead and many sustained life-threatening injuries by the AK47-wielding armed criminals.
Sadly, the group lamented that the terror occurred barely four days after two pastoralists were forcefully snatched from the police and lynched in the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The group regretted that it is frightening to observe that the current killings are not isolated incidences, stressing that they are only examples of years of a sustained pattern of elimination, annihilation, and ethnic cleansing of Fulbe herding communities in various states of the federation.
