“ We strongly call on Plateau People to practically stand up and defend themselves and their communities, as the conventional security design is no longer guaranteeing our safety as a people.” — Dasun Philip Peter
The above quote is culled from the Press Statement made by Honourable Dasun Philip Peter, the Chairman, House Committee on Information of Plateau State Assembly in Nigeria.
It is disheartening and very painful to hear a political representative of the people making, as it were, a public confession that the State Assembly is no longer capable of handling the challenges of the task of legislative duties for which they were elected to do.
The trust that the people of Plateau State or any State placed on their government is based on a clear and unmistakable understanding that their government have the abilities and the capabilities to organise and to set up necessary institutions of the commonwealth for the protection and defence of lives and properties and for the creation of necessary environment that will enhance the welfare, security, peace, progress and prosperity of the people.
As soon as a government proved itself incapable of performing these cardinal responsibilities, such a government has no reason to remain in power. It ought to be disbanded forthwith because such a moribund government will become a clog in the wheel of peace, progress and prosperity of the people.
To the best of my understanding, it seems the people of Plateau State must have to accept the fait accompli of the present predicament. The elected representatives of the Plateau State of Assembly have casually, irresponsibly, shamelessly and openly declared that they have become hopelessly lost and confused about what they need to do with the power bestowed on them by the people.
By their shameful declaration to the press, the Assembly Members have wilfully and carelessly caved in under the relentless barrage of the Fulani militiamen, killer herdsmen, bandits and terrorists.
And by this unusual confession from the State Assembly, the people of Plateau State and everyone concerned about security should take it that the Assembly Members are now at their tether’s end. It is clear they have unfortunately got to the point where there is no other choice open for them to take in this deadly matter of vicious killers and marauders rampaging and raiding the villages and towns than to throw the sacred functions, they had solemnly sworn on oath to perform, back to the people.
Therefore, the dishonourable officeholders of Plateau State should not wait to be told, they should at least have the decency to discharge themselves from their prestigious elected offices. They should vacate their positions in order to allow other able hands and minds in the communities to do the job.
We shall appeal to the people of Plateau State to be strong as they face the inevitable fact that there is no longer a functioning government in the State. Because, as soon as the serving members of their democratically elected Assembly can make this level of incompetence known to the electorate, it shows that the government is no longer capable of performing the job it was elected to do. Such a government ought to be disbanded immediately.
By the fact that the Assembly members told the people to go and defend themselves against killers and marauders without organising the legal, institutional and strategic mechanism for the people, it is like sending the people to their early graves.
The Members of the Plateau State of Assembly have simply behaved like a boxer that throws in the towel to signal his acceptance of defeat by a technical knock out (TKO).
As at this moment and going by the public declaration from the members of the Plateau State of Assembly, it should be taken that this Legislative Assembly has been technically knocked out (TKO) by a ragtag Fulani militiamen and killer marauders who are daily rampaging all the communities of the State with impunity, swagger and beastly braggadocio.
CALLING ON THE CIVIL SOCIETIES IN NIGERIA TO TAKE CHARGE OF THEIR COMMUNITIES
The Civil Societies across Plateau State must come out RIGHT NOW to save the day and the people from further bloodshed and loss of lives. Plateau State will sooner than later descend into chaos and a beastly state of anarchy as soon as the people came into the unfortunate conclusion that their government is hopelessly powerless to lead and to protect them.
This unprecedented development that sees every level of government in Nigeria receiving a TKO and bloody defeat from the Fulani Militiamen, Fulani Herdsmen, Fulani Bandits and Boko Haram insurgents is unfortunate but this is the reality of the time we are being forced to contend with in Nigeria.
Hence, the advice we are offering to the Plateau State Assembly shall equally apply to the National Assemblies in Abuja as well as other State Assemblies across the length and breadth of the country.
It is indeed very uncomfortable to accept the unpalatable truth that every State Government in Nigeria is being relentlessly pilloried into submission by Boko Haram insurgents, Fulani Herdsmen, Fulani Militiamen and Fulani Bandits.
At this precarious moment, the last option opened to the indigenous peoples of Nigeria for defence and protection is to call on the Civil Society of every community in the country to WAKE UP and to RISE UP to the existential challenges facing our people and societies.
We shall offer the following suggestions as immediate and possible steps of action and operations, that:
- Each community should, as a matter of urgency, organise a Community Defence/Vigilance Corp to police and guide the communities.
- Every member of the community who has retired from or still serving in the military forces should get involved in the mobilisation and in the training activities of the youths of their communities for Voluntary Defence Services.
- Every citizen in the community with military experience should participate in the training of the Community Youth Defence Corps in basic defence strategies (position, flanking, pre-emptive, counter-offensive, mobile and contraction.) and in basic defence operations to secure the resilience of the community and the deterrence of the Fulani Herdsmen, kidnappers, and militiamen.
- Trainers must use their military experience to improve the understanding of members of the community with strategic intelligence on the activities of the Fulani in their neighbourhood; and to train the volunteers in mapping, surveillance, combat techniques and martial skills to enable them to disarm all kinds of marauders that step into their communities for malevolent purposes, etc.
- Every community must prepare itself for War deterrence duties and for War, if the situation eventually gets to that level.
- Communities need to suspend all frivolous ceremonies in the society or moderate them to the most basic and essential activities needed for keeping oneself alive.
It is my solemn contention that if the indigenous people of Nigeria were spiritually conscious, we should all be wearing SACKCLOTH in the country. We ought to be in a state of national mourning for the loss of thousands of innocent lives that have been cruelly and brutally taken away from us by the Fulani hoodlums and barbarians.
Also, if the indigenous people of Nigeria are not in a somnambulist state of mind, by now we should be asking,
- How did it happen, like the case of an invasion by desert locusts, that unknown people just appeared and marched through our national borders unchallenged by our military and paramilitary forces?
- Why and how could our country be so easily invaded and our lands so freely occupied by thousands of alien invaders?
- Who ordered the northern borders of the country to be deliberately left opened for the malevolent purposes of ethnic cleansing, kidnapping, land grabbing and terrorism?
It is not too late for the indigenous people of Nigeria to take back our lives and our nations from the Barbarians who have stealthily and surreptitiously infiltrated and captured all the high political offices in the country and who are about to ethnically cleansed us and turn our ancestral lands into wastelands for cattle and other allied animals.
WAKE UP AND ARISE THE CIVIL SOCIETIES IN NIGERIA!!!
ALL THE GOVERNMENTS — federal, state, local — OF NIGERIA HAVE FAILED THE PEOPLE.
DELAYING ANY LONGER TO ACT NOW, WILL BE DISASTROUS FOR EVERYONE IN NIGERIA.
In The Spirit of Truth
SAM ABBD ISRAEL
SAM ABBD ISRAEL 