By VICTOR ALI
WORRIED by the incessant attacks and killings in Irigwe communities of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, the Irigwe Development Association (IDA) rose from its meeting held on June 16, 2024 with a strong condemnation of the heinous acts which they said began since 2000.
In a communique signed by IDA President, Rev. (Dr) Daniel Gya, and General Secretary, Danjuma Dickson Auta, the group noted that statistics had shown that over 1,300 Irigwe people were killed between 2017 and 2024, leaving many widowed and orphaned.
The communique also lamented that some communities had been completely wiped out, homes destroyed and the lands hitherto used for farming had been turned into grazing lands.
IDA noted that the Irigwe people had lived peacefully with the Fulani and requested for the payment of N1, 000,000,000.00 as compensation the families of people so far killed.
The communique disclosed that “the peace pact championed by the commander of the Special Task Force (STF) of the ‘Operation Safe Haven’ between the Rigwe and the resident Fulanis have been flagrantly abused by the Fulanis returning to the land without obeying the terms of the agreement.”
While noting that the agreement was signed on July 13, 2022, by the representatives of the Irigwe nation and the Fulani residents and countersigned by the commander of STF, representatives of the local and state governments, PIRC, Plateau State Peace Building Agency, Interfaith Mediation Centre (IMC), Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace Center (DREP) and the representative of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP0), the communique however stated that, “sadly, this agreement was not implemented and the killings continued.”
According to the communique, “If any Fulani man does not own property in Rigwe land, such a person has no business grazing in Rigweland and those who own property in Rigweland, should return to their lands accordingly and graze on their own property.
“If they do not return, they would graze their herds where they are living. We do not agree with Fulani’s living on the outskirts and coming to grace on our farmlands.”
The IDA stated that, because the Irigwe had co-existed peacefully with the Fulani, they must submit to the authorities in the land by abiding by their resolutions.
