The Berom People in Jos are known for their rich cultural heritage, which is unique and portray God’s sovereign attributes. Lately violence that has held the people bound for a long time have returned at a time when they thought peace had finally prevailed.
Efforts to restore peace in Berom Land shattered was when Fulani herdsmen attacked Bisichi village in Foron District, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area last week, leaving 10 Berom People dead.
Imokay, a Nairalander wrote a moving appeal to the Federal government to intervene in the Berom Killings.
He said
This madness must stop. Something is hurting me and as each day goes by, it gets worse.
The blogs rarely report this. Its voice is muted on TV and radio. But for us that are affected, this voice is loud. Sometimes it is a shout, sometimes it is a cry, sometimes it is a prayer, sometimes it is just a hollow empty sound.
Berom people are being wiped out one family at a time. It started 14years ago. Our men, our women, our children are being murdered on the streets, on their farms, in their sleep, on the way to school and sometimes still in the womb.
The culprits are called Unknown gunmen. They are unknown to the security agencies, unknown to the bloggers, unknown to TV, Radio and Newspapers. They are most terrifyingly unknown to the presidency.
Funny thing is if you ask a three year old Berom boy who they are, he will tell you. I heard a statement from the FG vowing to deal with cattle rustlers and to protect cattle rearers. The Fulanis that carry AK47s alongside their sticks, but nothing was said of the Berom farmers. So who will protect the farmers? Who will protect their families from the cattle rearers?
My mother’s village is practically empty. The women and children are squatting in town. The men form bands, like vigilantes knowing that they cannot turn their backs away from their ancestral lands or they will be lost forever.
That is the plan. You all know. It is a war to claim territory.” We make their villages unsafe, they run away and we can roam and graze freely. 100years from now, no one will dispute it is ours.” It is a long term plan but one family a night, in a year thousands are killed year in year out and the plan is taking shape.
A chemical explosion at British America in Lamingo area in Jos and the Federal Government orders an investigation. Families are being snuffed out, not a word. He is chasing money for people that are dying. When (if) he gets this money, how many will be alive to benefit from it? I am speaking about my people, who are displaced all over plateau state. In my family house in Jos, we cook with a huge pot outside. I cannot tell you how much it costs. We will bear the cost, if only we knew when help will come.
The rest of Nigeria is looking at the North East, but they have hope. Who is looking at the North Central? We are looking at ourselves. When people from Benue speak, we understand only too well.
Someone asked what the security agencies are doing, we are asking the same. I remember when the soldiers in Vom were pursued by women baring their breasts. They were camping in the midst of Vom people and still families were being killed.
I understand America’s unwillingness to give up their guns. Too many crazy people. If the Berom people decided to bear arms, who in honesty will blame them? How do you look at the corpses of children with their milky bloody brains on the floor next to their severed heads and not burn with murderous rage? How do you look at young pretty girls wearing tights in the Jos morning cold strewn on the floor in awkward positions on half harvested potato farms and not want vengeance?
How do you wrap the bodies of your 65 year old uncle, his younger brother, his wife and two children in wrappers and lay them side by side in a large dug out red dirt ditch and still feel human? How does a mother stop being a mother when her breasts are still leaking with milk for a baby hacked to death with a cutlass? She would hug the older children for comfort, only they were killed too.
O ye kinsmen of Fulani, that jump into every thread and talk about how much cattle the Fulani have lost. Can you help us do a body count? Count your cattle and victims and we will count just our bodies. If ours is higher, will you stop? Will your thirsty god finally be appeased? I am equating the lives of my people to your cows. I am to understand they are precious to you. You have killed our old, young and the babies. You have spared no one.
I call on President Buhari because he said he is for us all. Not just the cattle rearers. Plateau state voted almost 50%, hear our cries.
Lastly, no one should mention graze reserves. You cannot soak a land with the blood of its indigenes and then hand it over to their killers. Your cows will be eating blood grass.As i was putting this piece together, new cries, young able bodied men,with lives snuffed out of them by unknown gun men.
Help us please, come to our aid……..people here that campaigned, hep us get the president, maybe no one is telling him. We learn from the last administration, that people in power can be isolated from things happening and that was or confidence i this new administration. The President must hear, know and act.
Ya Yesu Adagwi, see our tears. Save our children.