Our Attackers Always Chant “Allahu Akbar” Coalition Reveals.

A Christian Youth group comprising of Bauchi, Plateau, Kaduna and Benue states have said that the ongoing attacks and killings in some parts of the states are coordinated and religiously motivated against the indigenous Christian Communities to forcefully take over their ancestral land and further impoverish the people.

Addressing a press conference in Jos, the coalition of the Christian Youth leaders drawn from Universal Reformed Christian Church (NKST), Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and Christian Association of Nigeria, Youth Wing (YOWICAN), Tafawa Balewa (Bauchi), Kaduna and Plateau States said the attacks are not farmers herders’s clashes as always reported.

Reading the text of the press conference on behalf of the coalition, Jethron Dooyum Moor revealed that the attackers always chant “Allahu Akbar” while carrying out the killings and destructions.

According to them, they have carefully observed the coordinated and systematic way and manner the attacks are carried out on their communities, which pointed that the attacks are religiously motivated.

“If not so, why the chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ during such attacks? We also view it as persecution, because the targeted communities are mostly Christian communities (With women and children being majority of the victims).

“We are convinced that the word to aptly describes the reality on ground is persecution. This persecution has manifested in acts of violence such as killings, kidnap for ransom, robbery, rape, abduction, forceful conversion of Christian minors etc.”

The coalition said this is contrary to the narrative that what has been happening is a case of two people fighting farmers and herdsmen, communal clashes, boundary disputes, land disputes, attacks by ‘unknown’ gunmen, or competition for scarce resources as a result of the effects of climate change.

They also lamented on what they described as systemic marginalization through the denial of opportunities within the public/civil service as well as deliberate refusal to implement an already gazetted Chiefdom like the Zaar Chiefdom in Bauchi State where a Muslim traditional leader was imposed on a predominantly Christian community.

The coalition demand that the perpetrators of such inhuman act be arrested and prosecuted according to the law, calling on security actors to be impartial and professional in carrying out their constitutional duties of protecting the lives and properties of Nigerians irrespective of religious inclinations.

“We demand that state governments in all affected states issue certificates of occupancy to all displaced persons over their ancestral lands to recognize their genuine titles. We demand that the right of farmers to cultivate their farmlands without harassment from cattle rearers be recognized by law and protected.

“We call on the government of Bauchi State to respect the right and wishes of the people of Zaar Chiefdom to nominate their chief without the imposition from any quarter.”

The coalition also called for a review of the security architecture in the country to strengthen community policing, which they believe would increase the confidence of the communities. They also called on politicians to desist from politicizing the situations as it could lead to breakdown of law and order.