Annkio Briggs, Justice and equity advocate, has called on the international community to rescue Nigeria from the brink of self destruction over inability to govern well.
Briggs, who spoke at a coalition of rights groups from across the nation, hosted by her group, Niger Delta Self Determination Movement, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said: “Before us is a nation at war with itself but in denial because an inept government refuses to take responsibility for governance. In 2018 alone, thousands of our compatriots were massacred in their homes, farmlands and innumerable displaced from their ancestral homes. “Herdsmen occupation of peoples ancestral lands is deliberate land grabbing agenda carefully orchestrated by foes of Nigeria who, we suspect, have tacit support of the present government. “From Benue to Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kogi and Nassarawa states, all in Northern Nigeria, have suffered large scale massacres throughout 2018 but more pronounced in North Central. “These massacres have extended to communities in the South-South, South-East and South- West. Therefore, let those in the South of Nigeria not think that it is not coming here because it is already here,” she lamented.
The rights group accused President Muhammadu Buhari of allegedly taking sides by not condemning the rampage of herdsmen, adding that prolonged failure to deal with the situation portends a national food crisis and more suffering. The coalition said: “We demand that government should put mechanism in place to reclaim, on behalf of internally displaced persons, their homeland so that they can return home before the elections so that their votes can count. “Till date, no prosecution has been secured against killer herdsmen and yet five villagers in Adamawa who exercised their right to self defence were arrested, prosecuted and given life sentence.”
