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Killings: Plateau Groups To Drag FG Before ICC

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] coalition of ethnic groups in the Middle Belt have vowed to drag the Federal Government to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, to protest against the recent killings in three council areas in Plateau State by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The organisations included the Plateau Initiative for Development and Advancement of the Native, Middle Belt Youth Assembly and Christian Lawyers Fellowship Organisation of Nigeria.

The decision, according to the President of PIDAN, Dr. Aboi Madaki, became necessary because the Federal Government and its agencies, charged with the responsibility of protecting lives and property, have failed.

Speaking during a press conference in Jos on Saturday, PIDAN said the number of Internally Displaced Persons affected by the recent killings was 144,164.

He asked the Federal Government to “conduct a thorough search of all the Fulani settlements in the state with the view to arresting those with weapons of mass killings and those found to be unknown or foreign to the conflict areas and settlements.”

Mayaki said, “We are taking Federal Government to the International Criminal Court because they are not doing what they are supposed to do. PIDAN is a coordinating organisation; there are a great number of groups organisations on ground thinking in that line.’’

Meanwhile, a civil rights group, the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice said it has resolved to drag President Muhammadu Buhari to the ICC over worsening security situation in the country.

According to the group, the decision is part of the resolutions reached by its members after the monthly state of the nation meeting held on Saturday.

In a communiqué signed by its Executive Chairman, Adeniyi Sulaiman, the group pointed out that the seemingly nonchalant attitude of President Buhari had given rise to suspicion, which it added, suggested that he (President) had been giving tacit support to some foreign militias of Fulani extraction killing people across the country.