A group of worried christian elders, under the banner of the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), have fingered foreign invaders, pretending to be religious extremists, of being behind the mindless killing of Nigerians within the country’s borders.
At a press conference on Zoom on Thursday, the elders, led by their chairman and secretary, former Taraba State deputy governor, Dr. Samuel Gani and Secretary, Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, wondered why after nearly one year in office, the present administration has been unable to dismantle the terrorist network the former administration of Muhammadu Buhari was unable to deal with.
Everyday.ng reports that other analysts have fingered some foreign governments of backing foreign terrorists and their local allies in the plot to take over lands that are known to contain rich mineral resources beneath for mining purposes, which licences some companies affiliated with the foreign governments have procured.
Meanwhile, the NCEF on Thursday called on the country’s different ethnic nationalities to tackle the foreign invaders who were out to erase them and take over their ancestral land with their own race.
They called on the various indigenous people groups to insist and come together to renegotiate the Nigerian project, while President Bola Tinubu should proceed to implement the report of the 2014 National Conference.
Everyday.ng reports that it is not the first time a call has been made for the peaceful re-negotiation of the Nigerian project following the expiration of the amalgamation treaty of 1914. That treaty allegedly expired in 2014 after 100 years in operation.
Below is the full text delivered at the press conference:
PRESS CONFERENCE
STATE OF THE NATION:
RACIAL DISPLACEMENT INVASION
Distinguished members of the Press, and fellow citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we welcome you to this Press Conference. We thank you for joining us as we deliberate on crucial issues that concern our country. It is our hope that the government and people of Nigeria shall consider the issues we shall raise in this conference.
National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) wishes to commence this Press Conference by expressing heartfelt condolences to our compatriots who were bereaved of their loved ones in various fatal incidents. We remember a distinguished member of the NCEF, Elder Shyngle Wigwe, whose children died in a fatal helicopter crash in USA. We also remember our fellow Christians who were brutally murdered by Islamist insurgents in the Northern parts of the country. Worthy of mention are the Nigerians killed by kidnappers and those felled in various avoidable death occurrences. May the departed souls rest in peace and may God comfort and strengthen the families they left behind.
As we mourn those who have died, particularly those murdered by religious insurgents, we urge the living to consider that the same threat is hanging over the heads of the survivors, if government does not attach seriousness to the activities of terrorists in the country. The problem facing Nigeria is a complex one and it is evident that we are facing an organized invasion by foreign forces masquerading as religious extremists.
Nigeria is facing a racial and cultural domination agenda disguised as religious intolerance. In addition to the wanton murder of announced that they have selected Nigeria as food hub for OIC member nations. This announcement was made without prior discussion with the ethnic nationalities that own the land, and without the consent of State Governors who statutorily control allocation of land in the country.
In Plateau and Kaduna states, data exists that hundreds of villages of the ethnic nationalities have been taken over by foreign Fulanis. The owners of the land have been driven into IDP camps while the names of the villages have been changed to Fulani names.
In Plateau state, over 102 villages were reportedly taken over by Fulani invaders while in Kaduna state, over 109 villages have been dislodged.
The owners of the land are in IDP camps. Recently, a community leader in the Niger Delta, Mr. Asari Dokubo, posted in a video clip that thousands of Fulanis have entered the country and they have taken over villages in Bayelsa and Rivers state.
He raised alarm that a displacement invasion is ongoing. Similar reports
have been made in Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, and in other parts of the country.
The recent visit of Hamas terrorists to Nigeria, bearing in mind that Hamas is not the government of Palestine, neither does it represent the Palestinian people in any legislative capacity, also raises concern about government’s commitment to fighting terrorism.
Shortly after the abduction of 287 secondary school children in Kuriga, Kaduna State, a security expert, Dr. Kabiru Adamu, stated on Arise TV that the location of the camps of the bandits was known to government four years ago.
Even if the Buhari administration failed to act, what stopped the Tinubu
administration from dismantling the camps of the terrorists?
NCEF is calling on the indigenous Muslims in Nigeria to calmly examine these issues and take positions that will be in the long-term best interest of their ethnic groups. What is going on is more than religion. For hundreds of years, before the Europeans started slave trade in Africa, the Arabs have been preying on black Africans as slave market.
The Arabic word “abeed” refers to a black African, as well as to a slave. The late Osama bin Laden shed more light on the Arabic word “abeed” in an interview in his lifetime when he said, “this is why whenever an Arab looks at a black African, what he sees is a slave.” This word, “abeed”, has not been expunged from the Arabic language.
This is the time for the indigenous ethnic nationalities to carefully define their friends and foes. The amount of blood that has been shed in Nigeria, involving indigenous Christians, Muslims, and traditionalists, prove that the indigenous ethnic nationalities have the same enemy. That enemy is a foreign invader.
The killings going on in Nigeria were not motivated by the indigenous ethnic nationalities. Unfortunately, some of the local actors were manipulated into thinking they were pursuing a religious agenda, but the puppet masters have no religious goal in view.
It is all about racial displacement.
In view of the foregoing, National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), wishes
to recommend as follows:
1. The Report of the 2014 National Conference, which included a draft new Constitution for Nigeria, should be implemented without any further delay. NCEF joins its voice with that of the eminent Nigerians in the Patriots Group, that held a Conference on 18th March 2024, calling for a new Constitution for Nigeria.
The perennial amendment of the Constitution by the National Assembly should cease, and the legislators should start work on a new Constitution for Nigeria. After five alterations to the Constitution, without any significant positive impact on the country, the National Assembly should commence work immediately on adopting the report of the 2014 National Conference with its draft Constitution.
2. There should be an immediate ban on nomadic cattle rearing. Cattle owners should be compelled to set up ranches at their own expense as business entrepreneurs. It should not be the responsibility of the government to fund one enterprise at the expense of other businesses in the country. After all, when the cattle are sold, the proceed is not handed over to the government.
3. The RUGA project should be abolished. In the first instance, the Federal Government has no statutory right to allocate land in Nigeria under the Land Use Act. This is the responsibility of the States. Any business investor that requires land should apply for land like other citizens. Preferential treatment should not be accorded any group in Nigeria.
4. The ethnic nationalities should assert their right and ownership over their ancestral land and assert the dominion of their thrones in Nigeria.
5. The ethnic socio-cultural groups such as Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Arewa Consultative Group, Middle Belt Forum, and PANDEF should consider these issues in greater detail. Nigerians have no problem with each other. It is external forces that are seeking to tear the country apart for hostile takeover of the land and its resources. The demand for devolution of power should be intensified by the ethnic nationalities.
6. President Tinubu should set forth his agenda for Nigeria instead of following in the infamous footsteps of his predecessor whose tenure brought only grief and penury to Nigerians.
7. NCEF wishes to reiterate its earlier recommendation that President Tinubu should appoint a Special Investigator to conduct a Commission of Inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the actors, in the various acts of terrorism and religious insurgency that overwhelmed Nigeria since 2009.
The purpose of this Press Conference is to awaken Nigerians to the reality of foreign invasion against the country. Nigeria is facing racial displacement invasion. It is this foreign invasion that is responsible for the insecurity in Nigeria and compromise of the delicate political balance in the country. While every Nigerian is free, according to Section 38 (1) of the Constitution to express his/her religious conviction, citizens must be careful not to jeopardise National Security under misguided religious fervour.
God bless Nigeria.
Dr Samuel D. Gani
Chairman,
National Christian Elders Forum
11th April 2024
Other NCEF members
●Dr. Saleh Hussaini, Vice Chairman (North)
●Elder Shyngle Wigwe, Vice Chairman (South)
●Mrs. Osaretin Demuren, Hon. Treasurer
●Prof. Joseph Otubu
●Dr. (Mrs) Kate Okparaeke
● Dr. Ayo Abifarin
● Gen. Zamani Lekwot (retd)
●Hon. Justice James Ogebe, JSC (retd)
●Elder Moses Ihonde
● Hon. Justice Kalajine Anigbogu (retd)
●Elder Nat Okoro
●Mr. Solomon Asemota, SAN
●Elder Matthew Owojaiye
● DIG P. L. Dabup
● Sir John W. Bagu
● Dame Priscilla Kuye
●Prof. (Mrs) Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye
● HRM Oba Dokun Thompson
●Dr. Taiwo Idemudia (Diaspora)
●Elder Minso Gadzama
●Apostle Bulus Musa Kewa
●Admiral Peter Adeniyi (Retd)
●Hon. Justice Goddy Anunihu (Retd.)
●Chief Sir Ferdinand Anikwe, PhD, KSJI
● Pastor Bosun Emmanuel (Secretary)