Plateau, Benue Killings: How to End Communal Clash in Nigeria, Lawyer Explains
- The National Assembly has been urged to use the ongoing constitutional review to set boundaries of each tribe in Nigeria
- Oladotun Hassan, a legal practitioner, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, explained that each land should be named after the aboriginal
- Hassan maintained that this is the major way in which communal clashes happening in some north-central states can come to an end
The recent killings in Plateau and Benue states have continued to generate reactions from concerned Nigerians. Recently, no fewer than 45 persons were killed in a fresh attack in Zike hamlet, Kimakpa community, Kwall District, Irigwe Chiefdom of Bassa local government area, Plateau state.
Witnesses on the scene said sporadic gunshots were heard from multiple locations, and by morning, many corpses were recovered at the time of this report. There was a similar attack in Benue and some north-central states.
Speaking of the incidents, Oladotun Hassan, a legal practitioner, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, explained that each land should be named after the aboriginal to curb incursion and stealing of vibes that fuel the attacks in those affected states.
Hassan explained that the ongoing constitutional review is an opportunity to address the tribal war and the incursion of lands between the farmers and herders in these states. His statement reads:
"The need for communal crisis will end when everybody knows their limit and their rights. Everybody should know their territory and boundary limits. This is because of this incursion and the stealing vibes that people will hijack the government. When a particular tribe in a state hijacks the government, they take the government to their own selfish interest.
"That's what's happening in Kaduna state, the people of Southern Kaduna are left out of the reality of the whole Kaduna, as if they're aliens in their own state. They're even treated as second-class, while others are being treated as the real Kaduna people. That's fake. That's where we should be dealing with to correct these anomalies that have bedevilled the country for a long time.
"The essence of a constitutional review brings up the conversations that draw our regional identities. I will suggest that the Igbo land be recognised as Igboland. Let them use the language, their cultural language, to describe their area. An American man would not be Washington Adewale, or the South Carolina. That's their own nomenclature, that's their language. When the Gold Coast was first called the Gold Coast, Ghanaians changed their country to Ghana. Ghana is the traditional word, same with Burkina Faso."
Source: Legit.ng
