Nigerians in Diaspora, under the umbrella body of South, Middle Belt and Northern Minorities Forum, SMBNMF, have notified the United Nations, UN, Secretary-General, Antonio Gutters, alleging that government officials and security operatives have taken sides as mass killings become a pattern of life in territories belonging to Northern minorities.
The body now called on the United Nations to show a keener interest in the on-going killings in some territories in the affected Northern minorities.
The President of SMBNMF, Sidney Imohbio, in a letter he presented to the UN Secretary in New York on Tuesday, stated that the killings appear to have prompted an armed race among the contending parties.
He warned that the crisis may engulf the country if the international community continued to look the other way.
The statement explained that SMBNMF has 24 branches in Nigeria, saying that the facts available show that minorities have become targets of ethnic cleansing with no fewer than 1000 ethnic minorities killed between November 2019 and July 2020.
The group clearly stated in the petition, “The worst victims are women and children.”
The group suggested that the UN Secretary-General should appoint a Special Rapporteur to visit Nigeria and ascertain the extent of the killings for appropriate actions.
The group affirmed that, “People are being killed daily in Southern Kaduna, Plateau and territories belonging to minorities in the North. The Nigerian and Kaduna state government appear helpless.
“It is time for the United Nations to appoint a Special Rapporteur for Nigeria in order for the UN to stop the carnage.”
It explained that the killings represent a potential threat to global peace, stressing, “Nigeria is the biggest country in Africa. The killings in Kaduna and other places in the country can spur arms race with each side acquiring arms to fight each other.”
The group called on the UN to act at the appropriate time before it is too late, explaining that this is what has been happening with millions of people displaced, including women and children.
The group explained that while Nigerians need a united front to save the country and prevent a violent breakup, the Southern Nigeria, Middle Belt and Northern Minorities are calling for UN interest and its intervention at this time.
NAN