A group known as Plateau State Youth Veterans have berated Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) agitations for state of emergency in Plateau, following a genocide that occurred recently in some communities of Bokkos and Bassa local governments.

Recalled, the national publicity secretary of ACF, Prof. Tukur Muhammed Baba, on 6th April, 2025 calling for the immediate declaration of state of emergency in Plateau. The pronouncement which youth veterans bemoans, said "this is unfortunate and condemned in its strongest terms.

"It is on record that several states in Northern Nigeria such as Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe among others have serious and incomparable security challenges compared to that of Plateau state but such calls were not directed at them.This to us is a preferential, partial and bias call.

"We are not surprise because in 2004, The ACF and Muslim Ummah after being suspected of sponsoring of the killings of Christians in COCIN Church and some communities in Yelwa Shendam, they went on to call on then President- Olusegun Obasanjo, to declare a state of emergency in the state, which the President did. Today, this same group is calling for yet another state of emergency in Plateau state.
If the ACF considers us to be part of the purported North, why the differential treatment?"

The youth veterans who staged a protest on Friday in Jos, capital city against unabated killings of innocent lives in the state by terrorists stated that, ethnic cleansing, mass murders and genocide have no place in a civilized society. It is time for us to identify the terrorists that indulge in this barbarity, eliminate every single one of them and seal our borders in order to keep them out of country.  

Chairman of the group, Adamu Kevin Kesuwo, call on the Federal and State Government to dismantle the Almajiri system of education and encourage an encompassing educational system that combines the Western and Islamic tenets, which should include the Sangaya system.

According to Kesuwo, "we demand for the de-escalation of religious extremism, where the Christians and Muslims are given equal freedom to worship in any part of the country. In addition, state media coverages in the 36 states, should broadcast both Christian and Muslim programmes. 

"We urge the security agencies to be proactive and not reactive.  They should engage more in intelligence gathering, than the fire service approach, that they had always engaged in, which often result in limited response. Most times after the perpetrators must have caused a lot of havoc and have left the scene of the crisis.

 "As a result of the lack of tangible successes by our security agencies, our natives and communities are left with no option but to resort to self-defence. Absolutely, if the state cannot protect us, self-defence is not a right but it has become a necessity. Section 33(2) of the Nigerian constitution allows for self-defence in any cases of unlawful violence.

"We strongly and publicly reject the assertion and narrative that the crisis on the Plateau is communal misunderstanding or farmer-herder but a genocide on a peaceful people, who are murdered in their sleep; observing wakes and on their legitimate businesses. Indeed, what is happening in Plateau is a pogrom.

"We, the Veterans demand a stop to enabling culture of impunity and reckless indifference from diverse quarters by equating the victim with the attacker via dishonest impartiality because of some religious and political biases. We consider it as an insult to the victims and their grieving families. Let’s call spade a spade. Otherwise, what explains the phrase that “God is great”, which is often mentioned before and after the killing of a purported Plateau state Christian. 

"We call on the Plateau government to synergize with Federal government to seeing to the implementation of Plateau Anti –Land Grabbing Law and complete prohibition of open grazing in the state.

"We also call on the international community, especially the United Nations to independently investigate these gruesome murders. And  request that swift and responsible actions be taken to return the displaced families to their ancestral lands."