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…As UK Lawmaker, Bishop Ndukuba others write UK Govt to stop reported killings in Nigeria

By Chinonso Alozie, Owerri

Reactions have continued to trail the alleged sectarian violence in Nigeria, as Religious leaders, a member of the Upper House of the United Kingdom, Baroness Cox, on Sunday, called on the United Kingdom Government to quickly halt the reported killings of Igbo, Yoruba and parts of the Northern Nigeria, by suspected Islamist Fulani Militia.

They made this call in a statement disclosed to Vanguard in Owerri, while responding to the letter from the office of the Minister for Africa for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, James Duddridge, on the alleged sectarian violence in Nigeria.

They claimed the violence in Nigeria, has continued unabated, especially the ethnoreligious violence demanding that the Nigerian government should be made to step up and hold those responsible to account.

The leaders who joined in the call to take action to stop the ethnoreligious reported killings in Nigeria include the United Kingdom Lawmaker of the Upper House, Baroness Cox, Chairman International Freedom of Religion and Belief, Jim Shannon MP, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Lisa Cameron, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Primate of the Church of Nigeria, His Grace, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jos, Nigeria, Most Rev. Dr B.A. Kwashi.

Also, the Provincial Office, Church of Nigeria, Reverend Canon Hassan John, International President Christian Solidarity International Law, Nigeria, John Eibner, International Organisation for Peacebuilding and Social Justice, PSJ-UK, Ayo Adedoyin, Founder and President Christain Solidarity Worldwide, CSW, Mervyn Thomas, Dr Khataza Gondwe and Ben Rogers of the CSW.

Also, Bishop of Guildford, Reverend Andrew Watson and Board Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Emeka Umeagbalasi.

According to the leaders said: “In a letter dated 23 September 2020 in response to the International Freedom of Religion Government to play a constructive role in reducing tensions in Nigeria.

We applaud this and Belief Report: ‘Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?’ you asserted the commitment of the UK Government to play a constructive role in reducing tensions in Nigeria. We applaud this commitment.

“However, the violence in Nigeria has continued unabated since then and a tragedy has unfolded this past week that is barely being reported. We, therefore, call upon the UK Government to acknowledge the scale of ethno-religious violence and to urge the Nigerian Government to hold those responsible to account to ensure that security and stability are provided for all communities in the north and Middle Belt, as well as the Yoruba and Igbo people in the south-west and south-east, together with the help and protection they urgently need.”

“Tragically, this phenomenon of sectarian violence is increasingly widespread across Nigeria, UK Government with such significant historic relations with Nigeria acknowledge the key the sake of all the people of Nigeria and for the sake of security across the continent, we urge causal factors it will not be possible to address this very disturbing situation adequately, for the UK Government to press the Nigerian Government to address this violence swiftly, and to and elsewhere.

Until influential members of the international community and especially the ensure protection, justice and recompense for victims of all ethnicities without bias,” They said.

“We have received information from local contacts of a large attack on remote villages in a western region of Plateau state bordering Kadunaby hundreds of armed assailants that began at 5 am on 2 August. Nine villages with a combined population of over 20,000people were hundreds of households razed to the ground.

By 3 August, 57 dead bodies of people who were hacked down as they tried to flee had been recovered from eight villages in the area.

“Thousands of small Retrospective efforts are underway to attribute these events to retribution or reprisal for cattle farms that were ready for harvest have been destroyed deliberately and a number of people are while the attackers have been identified as Islamist Fulani militia.

The Kwall district is now also missing. Rustling and the alleged killing of two Fulani men. While every death is deeply regrettable.

This cannot be used as justification for collective punishment, or for the massacres, displacements and destruction that has been underway for over a decade, and for which no perpetrator has been brought to justice,” They alleged.

Vanguard News Nigeria