Genocide On The Plateau and The Conspiracy of Silence [VIEWER DISCRETION] #PlateauSpeaks

The BIHA Project works to reduce the vulnerability of especially women and children to human trafficking (which drives forced labour, pornography /prostitution, organ black marketing and other crimes against humans and the State) by giving communities ownership of prevention mechanisms such as income generation opportunities within communities, increased ethical reorientation within family and institutional units, promoting self worth in the girl child and access to justice through alternative dispute resolution ?and by bringing State agencies such the National Human Rights Commission closer to poor communities.

However, the rising numbers of Internationally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in communities in and around Jos (where we have been working since 2012) has overwhelmed our small scale self funded effort of simply raising awareness of the dangers and vulnerability factors of human trafficking in Nigeria today.

It is a humanitarian crisis!

There is no day (within the past few months) we don’t experience or receive news in words and pictures of attacks and murders of Beroms and other Plateau residents by so called herdsmen.

An average of 30 murders every night, hundreds per week, thousands in months… the body count is growing!

The victims have similar profile; primarily Berom or around the high points of the Plateau, resident by birth and ancestry and Christian. … So these are not random attacks but carefully targeted. But Why?

I’m personally inundated with statistics that I’m shocked neither the Govt nor the people of Nigeria have done something substantial to end the needless bloodshed of innocent, unarmed women, children and other civilians in Plateau State by the said non resident individuals.

From what I hear, perpetrators have no claim to anything, they do not even live (by ownership or rent) within these communities because they don’t live in the targeted communities; they simply ride into town, maim, kill, rape, loot and leave day and night. They have never been brought to justice but roam freely in Nigeria.

This large-scale systematic killing of resident communities in Plateau started long before the Boko Haram attacks. ?This is a huge security problem that the Nigerian government has failed to address.

I have visited IDP camps (community halls and primary schools in Riyom) hosting entire communities that have been displaced by unidentified marauders. We’re living the days of the American “Wild, Wild, West”.

If anyone has legitimate claim to anything, anywhere in this country, why has that not been made public? If a claim or proposal has been made to government, why has government been quiet about it?

If there is a grand plan by the people and government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to expel or resettle the Beroms (and other affected ethnic tribes) in another country, why not say so (so that we can begin seeking asylum in other countries). Why do women, children and unarmed civilians have to die everyday in their homes, markets, farms…day and night?

The Beroms especially, being the ethnic majority on the Plateau in their hundreds of thousands, have been reduced to IDPs (refugees in their own country) with no livelihood! They have been reduced to beggars starving to death with zero support from agencies like NEMA.

What the State (Govt and her security agencies) has done repeatedly, is to harrass the residents that have been attacked by going house-to-house searching and seizing anything from kitchen knives, cooking pots, clothes, cars , people…whatever they can find from those brave enough to remain in the rubble- in the name weapons. Why can’t they do same with so called attackers? and make such public? If viewed as communal clashes, who are the communities? Name them. Show the world where they commune/LIVE!

What a DOUBLE TRAGEDY; a clear case of RAPE where the aggressor walks free and the victim is further raped and jailed by those who should offer justice and protection!

The swelling number of internal displacement is creating other security challenges. Amazingly, NOTHING is being done to stem the tide of GENOCIDE ON THE PLATEAU!!

Kaneng Rwang-Pam
The BIHA Project: Reducing The Vulnerability of Women & Young People To Human Trafficking by Promoting Social Accountability, Gender Equity & Youth Empowerment.
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