Portends Ethnic Cleansing, Genocidal Tendencies Constitutional Lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome has said that the bare-faced killings and butchery of hundreds of innocent souls in Plateau State by gunmen suspected to be Herdsmen, portends ethnic cleansing and genocidal tendencies.
Ozekhome in a statement last night, lampooned the government of the day saying “Its inability to put a stop to the fratricidal killings has not only turned Nigeria into a killing field, but also signals total abdication of governance by the current government. Consequently, he said since the primary purpose of government is ensuring security and welfare of its people, the present administration is not worthy of being called a government because it cannot protect its citizens from daily bloodbath.
The statement entitled, ‘Nigeria Has Become a Killing Field’, said, “The daily slaughter ritual in Nigeria that has turned the Nigerian geographical soil into a killing field is not only criminal, but also smacks of total abdication of governance by the current government. “It is most cruel, horrific, inhuman, dastardly and barbaric. “The latest theater of the absurd is Plateau state where hundreds of innocent and helpless Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable (children, women and elderly), have been mindlessly hacked down in cold blood.
“The government that appears covertly overwhelmed (if it ever cared at all), wrings its hands in utter helplessness and blames everyone and anyone, but itself. “Never before or after the three year bloody fratricidal civil war has Nigeria witnessed such bare-faced butchery of innocent souls in a manner that portends ethnic cleansing and genocidal tendencies. “The Nigerian Constitution (section 14), makes the welfare and security of lives and property the primary purpose of government. “Any government that cannot protect its citizens is not worth being called a government by any description or appellation.
“We have become a laughing stock before international circles, politicking about 2019, while our citizens are daily massacred in cold blood. “A governor that is supposed to be the Chief Security Officer of his state is nothing but a toothless bulldog, having been stripped of such luxury by sections 214 and 215 of the Constitution which enthrones a behemoth, elephantine and immobile Police Force. “That is why I have consistently and persistently clamoured for true fiscal federalism that allows for state Police and community policing.
“From Agatu in Benue state, Demsa in Adamawa state, Riyom, Barkin Ladi and Jos in Plateau state, to Southern Kaduna areas in Kaduna state, Taraba, Nassarawa, Delta, Edo and Enugu states, the story is similar: gory and hideous blood-letting. “The greatest irony in all these is that the killers are known. “They even thump their chests, confess and own up to their criminal acts. “But, the government not only looks the other way, but actually condones the heartless cold-blooded slaughter. “Nigeria cannot continue like this. “The government must rise up to the occasion, draft military personnel to these volatile areas and wash its hands off, like Pontius Pilate, of compromise, condonation, aiding and abetting of this national horror
