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The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has alerted Nigeria and the international community to what it called “the horrifying and escalating campaign of extermination against the indigenous ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt region.”
The forum stated that last Tuesday’s massacre of 13 innocent Berom ethnic nationalities in Rachas village, Heipang District, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State has left them convinced of an action to exterminate the indigenous nationalities.
A statement issued by the forum’s National Spokesman, Luka Binniyat, said, “What is unfolding across our land is nothing short of genocide. This is the systematic, organized, and sustained effort to wipe out entire communities, seize ancestral territories, and erase native identities.”
He explained that what is happening today in the Middle Belt of Nigeria fits every criterion of genocide.
According to him, “Though our ancestors resisted both the Fulani and Kanuri jihads, the sad reality is that a renewed jihad has been launched in the 21st century against our people. It is now carried out by the descendants of those early invaders, manifesting through the Kanuri Islamic extremists who formed Boko Haram, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), and then the so-called bandits and allied terror groups mainly of the Fulani stock.”
Binniyat alleged that in the North-East, the Marghi, Babur-Bura, Kilba, Bachama, Mbula, Chibok, Higgi, and Lunguda peoples of southern Borno and Adamawa states, among others, have been targeted by Boko Haram and ISWAP since 2010, saying that entire communities such as Gwoza, Madagali, Michika, and Askira-Uba have been repeatedly attacked, leaving over 38,000 dead and more than 2.2 million displaced.
“In several areas of southern Borno, Boko Haram still holds territory, preventing the return of indigenous populations. Villages like Kirenowa, Warabe, and Pulka have been depopulated, while survivors languish in IDP camps in Maiduguri, Yola, and Mubi,” he lamented.
The spokesman opined that in Taraba State, attacks by Fulani militias on indigenous Jukun, Tiv, Kuteb, Ndola, Kona, and Mumuye communities have killed over 1,000 people in the last three years alone, stressing that towns like Takum, Wukari, and Ussa have suffered repeated invasions, with entire communities razed and farmlands seized.
He also stressed that the same “horror has spread to Gombe’s Tangale-speaking communities and parts of Adamawa’s Numan and Lamurde LGAs, where ethnic cleansing has driven thousands from their ancestral lands.”
In Benue State, he explained that the indigenous Tiv, Idoma, Agatu, and Igede peoples have endured unrelenting massacres since 2016, saying that according to official state figures, over 6,000 people have been killed, with more than 2 million displaced since 2015. LGAs such as Guma, Gwer West, Agatu, Logo, and Kwande have become killing fields, while Fulani militias have occupied dozens of villages in these regions, using them as bases for fresh attacks.
He added, “In Plateau State, especially in Mangu, Bokkos, Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Wase, and Bassa, attacks have become routine and devastating. Between April and August 2023, more than 1,200 Plateau natives, mostly Berom, Irigwe, and Mwaghavul, were murdered in coordinated night raids. In Mangu LGA, over 60 villages were burnt, churches destroyed, and over 80,000 people displaced. Despite repeated calls for federal intervention, no perpetrators have been brought to justice.
“In Nasarawa and Kogi States, indigenous communities such as the Eggon, Migili, Yeskuwa, Mada, Oworo, and Igbira ethnic groups are being systematically displaced by armed Fulani invaders always chanting the jihad slogan of ‘Allahu akbar!’ Native farms and grazing lands have been taken over by heavily armed Fulani militias who often operate freely most times, with state security posts not far away. It is no less worse in Niger State, where the Nupe in Lavun and Mokwa LGAs have been under consistent attacks by these bandits.”
As of mid-2024, he explained that over 400 indigenous communities in Niger State were reported to be either displaced or occupied by armed herdsmen and bandits, pointing out that the Shiroro–Munya–Rafi LGAs axis is considered one of the largest ungoverned spaces in West Africa today.
“In Southern Kaduna, the story is tragically similar. Indigenous Atyap, Adara, Ikulu, Kagoro, Numana, Ham, Gbagyi, and Chawai communities, among others, have suffered some of the deadliest attacks in recent memory by armed Fulani invaders. Since 2015, over 3,500 people have been killed, with hundreds of villages burned to the ground. Between 2020 and 2023, killings in Zangon Kataf, Kaura, and Kauru LGAs destroyed settlements and farmlands, with security forces often arriving hours or days after the carnage.
“In Southern Bauchi and Zuru Emirate of Kebbi State, the indigenous Sayawa, Duka, and Dakarkari peoples continue to experience violent encroachments, kidnappings, and displacements that mirror the genocidal pattern seen elsewhere to date in the Middle Belt. The MBF is not at this point alleging that the Nigerian State is officially sponsoring these acts of genocide. However, the government’s persistent failure to arrest, prosecute, and punish the perpetrators makes it morally and politically complicit.”
Even more disturbing, he lamented, is the pattern of state pardon granted to known bandits and militia leaders, many of whom are received with open celebrations organized by state governors who are Fulani and Kanuri as if they were heroes, saying that they paraded their high-caliber weapons, including grenades and anti-aircraft launchers, under the guise of “peace talks.”
“This practice emboldens killers and signals to victims that their lives do not matter. In contrast, community defenders and whistleblowers are often branded as troublemakers and arrested,” he explained.
The Middle Belt Forum therefore called for a United Nations-led independent inquiry into the killings and displacements across the Middle Belt and immediate military operations to reclaim occupied native territories and restore safety to displaced populations, as well as comprehensive resettlement and compensation for victims of genocidal violence.
The spokesman explained, “Official recognition of the ongoing genocide in the Middle Belt as a national crisis. Immediate designation of Fulani Ethnic Militias (a.k.a. bandits) as a terror group and disbanded.”
