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Plateau killings is pure genocide but government is pretending – Dalong
“When a group of people attack another group with the intention of wiping them off the face of the earth, it is genocide. When you employ a policy of starvation and trying to use that to wipe a community or a group of people, it’s genocide.”
These were the words of Solomon Dalong, former Minister of Sports as he weighed in on last week’s killing of Plateau State, for the umpteenth time, all but, accusing the Nigerian governments at the various levels as well as security operatives of petting the issue.
Particularly, he said the authorities were not only aware of the identities and where to locate the rampaging killers that left over 50 people dead in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, last week, only that they lacked the political will to find and eliminate them.
Dalong, while appearing on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS, on Monday, blamed what he called the longstanding reluctance of authorities in the country to confront the truth for the persistence of the situation, saying for starters the tag given to the phenomenon was wrong.
Hear him: “There is nothing like herder-farmer clashes on the Plateau. These are terrorists. They have enclaves. They grab land, rustle cattle, and displace natives. In the bush, there is a government, and these places are known.
“Let us not be hiding about Ministry of Livestock. Ministry of Livestock cannot even do anything about this problem. If you sum up this, you will come back to this issue of lack of a political will because if the political will to deal with the situation is there, these people will be given their rightful designation. They are terrorists. There was no farm or other animals that were either rustled by the community or they trespassed into any farmland that resulted into this series of attacks we are hearing.”
He also dismissed the excuse of difficult terrain and access roads often cited by security agencies, for their difficulty in dealing with the situation, stating that in country with a serious mindset to operatives should have adopted the use of modern surveillance technologies to redeem the situation adding that the situation would soon lead to genocide.
His words: “The security said, well, we couldn’t do anything because there are no access roads. I couldn’t fathom that because in a technologically-driven economy like ours, would the issue be that of access roads? What happened to drones and cameras, other sophisticated gadgets of intelligence gathering?
“The continued reluctance to name the violence for what it is — genocide — would only allow the attackers to remain on top of the situation while officials pretend to be. Nigerians must reject the ethnic framing of the conflict and demand a stronger, swifter response grounded in truth and justice.
“If we must be very honest in dealing with the plateau situation, first, we will have to stop pretending that it is herder-farmers’ clashes. Not at all. It is terrorism. It is genocidal because it has met the international definition of genocide. When a group of people attack another group with the intention of wiping them off the face of the earth, it is genocide. When you employ a policy of starvation and trying to use that to wipe a community or a group of people, it’s genocide. So, what is happening is genocidal.
“The problem is for the Federal Government to designate these people with their rightful names, consider them criminals, and stop even attaching ethnic identity to them. Yes, predominantly they belong to an ethnic nationality. But I don’t see them as operating in the overall interest of that particular ethnic nationality.
“Rather, they are criminals. And so if we do not treat them as criminals, we will miss the point and we’ll continue to hold visits to Plateau State by government officials and they will be on top of the situation while the criminals are on top of the situation.”
Nothing outside external intervention free from direct and indirect government influences, will assuage the feelings of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), in his current ordeal with the Federal Government
He wants President Bola Tinubu to constitute an independent, multi-stakeholder investigative panel to probe the controversy surrounding the council and the alleged N1.3 billion budget allocation.
Adeyemi, who made the request through an open letter to the President is emphatic that the current efforts by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the PFIPC scandal, would yield little positive result.
Maintaining that he did not believe the agency would come up with the true picture of what transpired, in the saga, which has seized the national space in the last three weeks, Adeyemi, said impartiality under the current framework of ICPC was almost zero.
In the letter copied to both Nigerian and global institutions, he wrote: “I commend your recent directive tasking the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) with investigating the circumstances surrounding the PFIPC Scandal and ₦1.3 billion allocation inserted into the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
“This directive is a vital first step, but the structural realities of this investigation compel me to speak out of a profound desire for absolute transparency.
“Under the current framework, obtaining a truly impartial hearing presents severe structural challenges. The public narrative emanating from official channels remains heavily weighted toward my immediate arrest, effectively overshadowing the gravity of the systemic vulnerabilities and high-level involvement I have brought to light. True accountability cannot be achieved when the agency conducting the investigation answers directly to the branch of government within which the core allegations lie.
“Furthermore, I must state clearly that walking freely into custody under the current arrangement poses an immediate, existential threat to my life. I have received verified, highly reliable intelligence indicating that I am targeted for elimination the moment I surface in an unmonitored environment.
“This is not an unfounded fear. My concerns are deeply validated by the highly alarming events surrounding Mr. Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola, a central intermediary in this matter.
Official reports claim Mr. Tanimola tragically died in a sudden fire incident at Kachi Hotel in Utako, Abuja. Yet, there remains a total absence of independent eyewitness or media verification of any such inferno.
“More disturbingly, under highly unclear circumstances and without the official involvement of any federal capital regulatory agency, the entire Kachi Hotel structure was swiftly invaded by unidentified armed actors and manually demolished down to the rubble days later — effectively erasing a vital physical crime scene and erasing material evidence.
“Following this calculated destruction of a key locus of this investigation, alongside multiple direct attempts on my life and the safety of my family, I am forced to communicate from a secure, undisclosed location.
“If this investigation is to command the absolute trust of the Nigerian public and the international community, it must transcend standard bureaucratic boundaries. Therefore, I respectfully urge Your Excellency to expand the scope of this inquiry by establishing an independent, multi-stakeholder investigative panel.
“To guarantee complete neutrality, this panel should comprise:
- Civil Society Organisations: Specifically Amnesty International, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and other transparency Organisations.
- The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA): To guarantee strict adherence to constitutional due process.
- Independent Media Representatives: Selected members from reputable print and broadcast institutions to ensure unfettered, transparent access to documentation.
- International Financial Observers: Representatives from the World Bank and the IMF, given that the funds in question tie directly to multilateral credit frameworks.
- Human Rights Observers: Amnesty International, to monitor compliance with international safety and legal standards.
- Diplomatic Observers: Representatives from the United Nations, United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, ECOWAS and the African Union.
- Statutory Enforcement: The ICPC and EFCC, serving as technical partners within this broader, independent coalition.
“The moment this independent, multi-stakeholder panel is constituted, I will immediately step forward to present comprehensive documentation and verifiable evidences. A system cannot credibly investigate itself when its own key actors are central to the discourse.
“By broadening this panel, you will demonstrate to the world that your administration’s commitment to anti-corruption is absolute, institutional, and above palace politics. The international community is closely watching how Nigeria handles this test of fiscal integrity and governance.
“I remain fully prepared to present the facts and cooperate entirely with a balanced, secure and independent panel.”
All is now set for the wholesome debate on President Bola Tinubu’s proposal for the creation of state police, with members of the House of Representatives, abandoning their own version of the pitch in favour of that of the executive.
The development, which was part of Tuesday’s plenary, saw the members began an accelerated hearing on the version of the legislation submitted by the President recently, leading to its speedily racing through the first and second readings to rest at the committee stage.
After the Green Chambers adopted the presidential version, effectively suspending the House’s earlier proposal, and attention shifted to the Executive-backed amendment, the document was transported to the House Committee on Constitutional Review for further legislative action.
The Executive bill is expected to undergo detailed scrutiny at the committee stage, where lawmakers will examine its key provisions before it is returned to the floor for further consideration.
Atiku Abubakar seventh attempt at the presidency has been halted by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which held that David Mark is not the fit and proper person to assume the position of the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) – the camp that produced the former Vice President as candidate of the party.
Hours after the former VP, who had attempted the bid for the nation’s number one job and is on the seventh edition by virtue of his nomination for the 2027 presidential election by the Mark, agreed with the position of the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by the former Senate President.
Justice Okon Abang, while reading the lead-judgement in the three-to-one split, said there was no reason for the appellate court to set aside the April 29 order by the lower court, adding that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who barred Mark and his executives from interfering with the tenure and functions of the party’s elected state executives, was in order.
Agreeing that the responsibility for conducting state congresses of political parties rested with elected state executive committees and not with the national leadership, he ordered INEC not to recognise the executive produced as a result of the defective process.
Though his position was echoed by Donatus Okorowo in the majority, Justice Abba Mohammed, who disagreed sharply, with a dissenting judgment, held that the case that precipitated the restraining order bordered on a non-justiciable internal affair of a political party, adding that lower court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
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