The Coalition of Southern and Middle Belt Youth Leaders Assembly, COSMBYLA, has condemned a 3-day ultimatum allegedly issued to members of Torkula community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen to vacate their land.
The coalition, which is the umbrella body of all the youth groups in the South East, South-South, South West and Middle Belt regions, expressed worry over how the assailants operate in the area despite heavy presence of military personnel.
In a statement issued and made available to reporters on Friday, the coalition’s President General, Goodluck Egwu Ibem, wondered why the military officers who claimed they have neutralized loyalists of Gana, (a notorious terrorist killed in 202) are unable to do same to the bandits.
Ibem alleged that “The military and other security agencies should know that Nigerians are not fools and cannot be deceived by any unusual antics. How can the military be effective only when they see Gana boys and ineffective when Fulani militia kill Benue indigenes in broad daylight?
“We have it on good authority that the Fulani militias want to conquer the southern part of Nigeria through Benue State. They want to take over communities on river Benue through which they will sail to the oil-rich South-South states.
“The plot to sack the communities along the Benue river is to avoid a situation where the people of those communities will see them sailing down to the South-South with their Fulani militias to attack the Niger Delta people.”
According to the statement, the coalition called on Southern governors and other stakeholders to join Benue in eradicating the security threat, alleging that there is an agenda by some individuals to take over the South.
Citing the Holy Bible “Mathew 11 :12 (And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violence take it by force), the coalition charged Benue youths take back their ancestral homes from the invaders.