The Democracy Vanguard of Nigerians in the Diaspora (DVND) yesterday took President Muhammadu Buhari to the international criminal court (ICC) over his alleged inaction to curtail the atrocities and killings by marauding Fulani herdsmen in the country.
In a petition dated July 17, 2019, titled: Acts of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in Nigeria, addressed to ICC’s Special Prosecutor in the Hague by its president, Timothy Sule, the group said President Buhari cannot exonerate himself from the ongoing killings by herders across the country, since being a Fulani himself; he has done next to nothing to stop the killer herdsmen.
The group also accused security agencies of complicity in the heinous crime allegedly committed by the herders. It maintained that the rising conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria was already deadlier than Boko Haram’s terrorism, which has claimed tens of hundreds of lives and property worth several billions of Naira.
Arguing that the alleged crimes committed by the herders fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC, it sought an independent investigation into the killings with a view to trying and punishing the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, the southeast geopolitical zone has raised a fresh alarm over the likelihood of Fulani herders spreading their killing field to the region with the recent attempted murder of a 35-year-old laborer, Patrick Nnabuchi in Awka, Anambra State.
Nnabuchi, who addressed journalists in the company of his landlord, Nwama Ibe, a member of the apex Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze-Ndigbo in Jos, said he narrowly escaped being killed by two herdsmen at a bush near Amaenyi Girls’ Secondary School, Awka last week.
A native of Eha Amufu, Enugu State, but resident in Awka, Nnabuchi said he was engaged to work in a farm around the school premises and that when he drew the attention of the herdsmen to the grazing and destruction of vegetables on the farm by the cows, they immediately challenged him.
He narrated further that he was taken unawares by the herders, who attacked him with a stick with a sharp iron knife at the edge, adding: “I was engaged by the school management to carry out some construction work in the school and have been on it before the incident took place.
“When I saw the cows trespassing the farm and grazing on people’s farmlands, I asked them to take away their cattle to avoid destroying the vegetables. Not long after I walked away, one of them ran after me and hit me on the head from behind.”
According to him, he fell unconscious until a security man and two other persons who were attracted to the scene when a woman raised an alarm took him to hospital, stressing that the assailants disappeared as soon as they carried out the dastardly act.
Speaking, Ibe, a former Publicity Secretary of Awka Development Union Nigeria (ADUN) condemned activities of the herdsmen, saying the attack was a wake-up call to Igbo people to be at alert.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Haruna Mohammed, said no such incident has been reported to the police.