The Plateau Youth Council (PYC), has refuted claims by a Fulani group, the Coalition of Fulani Registered Organizations (COFRO), of victimization and ethnic profiling by the authorities and security agencies.
The Fulani group had in a statement on Thursday, claimed that herders were unjustly tagged as aggressors in any violence that occurs in Plateau State while they are actually the victims in most of the violence that occur in the state.
In the statement issued by the Chairman of the coalition in Bokkos Local Government Area, Sale Yusuf Adamu, the group said it rejected the claims that they are aggressors in the unending violence in the state, claiming that they are rather the victims.
But while reacting to the Fulani group’s statement, the Bokkos chapter of the PYC said such claims were not only baseless, but false and misleading.
In a rebuttal statement signed on Saturday by the Public Relations Officer of the Bokkos PYC, Makings Bwefang Sunday in behalf of its President, Mawash Dakol James, the council said it rejects the claims by the Fulani coalition as it was not the true position of things.
In the statement, the PYC described the Fulani coalition as an amorphous group not known to the authorities but who are bent on creating confusion in the LGA.
“We wish to state categorically that there is no such group or youth body exists in Bokkos Local Government Area or Plateau State. The said organization is fictitious, unregistered, and unknown to the authorities or to the communities it claims to represent. Its claims are therefore baseless and lack legitimacy,” part of the statement said.
It added that allegations by the Coalition that the Fulani community in the council has suffered killings, cattle rustling, and mass displacements, were deliberate attempts to distort facts as Fulani militias are actually the aggressors who repeatedly attack communities, killing the people and taking over their lands.
“It is therefore deceitful for Fulani groups to claim ancestral ownership of areas where they were only temporary settlers.
“The press conference of 27th August was laced with propaganda, aimed at justifying ongoing insecurity in Bokkos. Such narratives are dangerous, divisive, and undermine collective efforts toward peace and reconciliation,” the PYC said.
The PYC concluded by giving it’s position on sustainable peace in the state, reaffirming its commitment to peace, justice, and coexistence.
It added that peace must be built on truth and fairness, not on falsehoods or fabricated ancestral claims because distorting history only fuels further conflict.
