Mbula Youth react to recent killings by Fulani herdsmen in official press statement

TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE DEMSA PROGRESSIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT, DEMSA LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ADAMAWA STATE, ON RECENT KILLINGS BY ARMED FULANI HERDSMEN IN OUR COMMUNITIES
TUESDAY, 10 JANUARY 2017.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press.
Thank you for your speedy response to our invitation. This is actually an SOS to the Government of Nigeria and to the international community. It is a call for justice and a demand that the rule of law be enforced in our land with a greater sense of urgency.
We address you today on behalf of youths from across the ten wards of Demsa Local Government Area of Adamawa State. We are here to present to the world the agony that we are in; the catastrophe that has invaded our communities and is literally killing us by the numbers each day, while the government prefers to look the other way. It is even sadder and more disheartening that the people causing us this pain are those considered our neighbours, people we have lived with for centuries.



For sometime now, communities within Demsa Local Government Area have become targets of systematic attacks by what we consider another version of the dreaded “Boko Haram” but in the guise of Fulani herdsmen. Just so we are fully aware of the scale of terror we now live with in our communities across Demsa: the Annual Global Terrorism Index Report for 2016 placed only Boko Haram, ISIS (otherwise called the Islamic State) and al-Shabab as the only terror groups that are more dangerous than Fulani herdsmen! In other words, these Fulani herdsmen are more dangerous than even al-Qaida! This is the context of what we are talking about today.
These herdsmen have constantly used guerilla attacks to further their sole agenda, namely, wanton murder of innocent, trusting and hard-working local farmers in our communities. They have also deliberately placed in danger, the religious harmony for which Demsa is famous. Their attacks have not only destroyed the local economy, but they have even made it impossible for our children to go to school! So, clearly, their strategy is to wipe us out and make it impossible for our children to rebuild our communities in the future. For the extremely lucky few that survive their attacks, their livelihoods and access to economic activities are also blocked. The attackers often target our homes, our local grain stores and markets! We believe that the purpose is to ensure that they leave us completely broken for generations!
The attacks on Koh, Garan, Idikajam, Kodomun and, most recently, Kwayine, Karlahi and Gidan Dadi were most tragic and represent the lowest form of barbarity. We can tell you that one common feature in all the attacks is the fact that they were all well-planned as though intended to achieve something bigger than merely seeking for grazing space for cattle. We are quite aware of the negotiations that took place between Government representatives and the Fulani herdsmen, which led to the eventual payment of four million naira (#4.5m) compensation for the eight (8) cows killed in Kwayine. This, clearly, is a fundamentally faulty strategy because by rewarding bad behavior, government is encouraging it!
We are also in the know of how the people of Kodomun protested and got the Government to eventually send a delegation to their community, months after a particularly gruesome attack by the same herdsmen. The Government, we are aware, gave the people of Kodomun 779 (seven hundred and seventy nine) bags of rice and N10,000,000 to help the community recover from the attacks in which many people lost their lives and property worth millions of Naira was destroyed.
What we do not understand, however, is the reason for the Kwayine attack. Why did the Fulani herdsmen collect the money given to them as payment for their alleged slain cows and still go ahead to organize the killing of the people whose farms they had grazed upon? It must be mentioned here that these farmers have yet to be compensated by the same Government, which does not waste time at all in offering compensation for alleged slain cattle!
We are therefore convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that there is more to these attacks than meets the eye.
So we will like to set the record straight: It is a known fact that the people of Demsa derive their livelihood from farming, particularly through crop cultivation. For some reason, however, the herdsmen, have, in spite of the vast uncultivated land of pasture across the state, refused to refrain from grazing on our farms. So, having watched closely the disdain of the Fulani herdsmen against our people, we the Demsa Progressive Youth Movement have decided to exploit all avenues to ensure that our people are protected along with their farms and property. The group appreciates the efforts of the State Government towards resolving conflicts in the State. However, we still want to call on the Government to device means of proffering lasting solutions to the incessant clashes between crop farmers and herdsmen in the State.
We also commiserate with the Nigerian Police Force who lost gallant mobile police officers in the hands of the same killers masquerading as herdsmen. The slain police officers were earlier sent to Kwayine to quell the mounting tension in the community. It is our belief that law enforcement agents will now understand the determination of these terrorists, given that we now share the same grief. We also hope that the Federal Government of Nigeria sees the killing of the police officers, whose only crime was law enforcement, as a direct attack on its authority and legitimacy. We hope that this would move the Federal Government, under General Muhammadu Buhari, to act more decisively towards securing Nigeria for all Nigerians, rather than only a special category of Nigerians.
God bless Demsa Local Government Area
God bless our Adamawa State
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thank you for your attention.
Signed:
Leader Leneke
President, Demsa Progressive Youth Movement