Defence Minister Visits Plateau as Cleric Raises Alarm Over ‘Genocide’
The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, on Saturday arrived at the Yakubu Gowon Airport in Heipang for a condolence visit and an on-the-ground assessment of areas affected by recent attacks in Zikke community, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
He was received by the General Officer Commanding 3 Division of the Nigerian Army and Commander of Operation Safe Haven, Major General Folusho Oyinlola. Also present were retired Brigadier General Gakji Shipi, Special Assistant to the Plateau State Governor on Security Matters, and other senior military officials.
Meanwhile, prominent Northern Christian cleric, Isa El-Buba, has decried the spate of violence in Plateau State, describing it as an ongoing genocide. Appearing on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme on Channels Television, El-Buba alleged that foreign terrorists, in collaboration with certain local herders, are systematically displacing indigenous communities and seizing their ancestral lands.
“These are not the local herders we used to know,” he said. “These are Fulani terrorists who target communities. They collaborate with some locals, gain intelligence, and then carry out the invasions.”
Echoing Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s recent declaration, El-Buba emphasized that the scale and frequency of the attacks suggest a calculated effort to destabilize the region and alter its demographic composition.
The Jos-based cleric, originally from Borno State, called for urgent national and international attention to what he termed a deliberate campaign of violence against Plateau communities.
