Communique of Bunu Development Association, Kogi State, after at its stakeholders meeting

Bunu Development Association (BDA) is a socio-cultural organization of Bunu people in Kabba/Bunu LGA of Kogi State. It is the official mouth organ of the people with the mandate to speak, contribute, advocate or intervene in any matter relating to the interest and development of Bunu people.

The Association held a stakeholder meeting comprising of traditional rulers, retired military and paramilitary personnel, and opinion leaders. This became necessary following the gruesome murder of the chairman of the Bunu hunters and his son on the 13th of August 2019 at Suku Bunu and other ugly situations such as series of killings and maiming Bunu land as a whole in the very recent time. The insecurity situation in our communities is thus becoming volatile and worrisome as a result of criminal activities of some armed Fulani herders and invaders. At the end of the meeting the following resolutions were made:

1. That Bunu people condemn in its entirety the gruesome murder of our illustrious sons, Mr Caleb Oshe and his son, Mr Sunday Oshe in their sleep by suspected Fulani herdsmen on 21st August 2019. We equally condemn another attack at Gori on 24th August 2019 in which a family was extorted of money at gunpoint, and there was an attempt to burn down their house. The victims identified the attackers as Fulani herdsmen. For these recent killings we  hereby demand as matter of urgency that the killers be fished out and be punished according to the law of the land within the next 3-6months without which Bunu people as of right, would demand that the Fulani/herdsmen settlers that are  fomenting troubles in these particular areas be relocated from our land as well as *demand* banning the Fulani nomads from herding anywhere around the affected areas until when the Government can guarantee our security in the areas and Bunuland as a whole.

2. That Bunu people also strongly deplore the unprovoked ravage, intimidation, and maiming carried out by armed Fulani herders on farms and farmers in Bunu forests and villages, which are becoming rampant.

3. That the Section 14 (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) affirms that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”, hence, it is the constitutional right of Bunu people to be provided with adequate security for their lives and properties.

We specifically, therefore, call for the immediate creation and equipment of police stations/posts to take care of over 40 Bunu communities which have no single functioning police station. The following locations are recommended :

i. Odoape police post to cover Agbede, Apaa, Agbadu, OdoApe, Aiyegunle Okebukun communities and all the farmlands occupied by the Ebira, the Bassa, the Hausas/Fulanis TIV’s and other non-indigenous settlers in the areas.

ii. Ayede police post to cover Edumo, Okeofin, Aiyede, Aherin, Iddo, Ilogun, Olle and Igbo and all non-indigenous settlers around the areas

iii. Iluke police post to cover Illah, Otafun, Idoyi, Aghara, Iluke, Odogbo, Odae, Ofere and Somule

iv.  Akutupa police post to cover Suku, Sado, Akutupa, Aiyetoro Kiri, Ike and all the non-indegenous settlers around the areas.

v.  Gori Police post to cover Ape, Gori, Tata, Ighun/Iigba and all the non-indigenous settlers in the areas (this particular area has been under constant attacks for a while).

vi. We also demand regular patrols of armed police squads on our major roads as immediate measures to check counter-attacks and reprisals.

4. That Bunuland, covering over 80% of the total land area of the expansive Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area, has been left totally unsecured, unprotected, and defenceless by successive governments and security agencies for decades.

The shared neglects are not unconnected with the fact that Bunu District with a very large expanse of land is the only district in the whole Kogi State without a separate Local Government Area of its own. Thus, it has remained an appendage to another district (Kabba people) whose population is also large enough to constitute a separate LGA and who has had Local Government Headquarter to her advantage since the colonial time. It is time for the government to start addressing the root cause of challenges in Bunu District, not in part but in whole, so that we will not keep nursing and treating symptoms,  leaving the causative agents. Notwithstanding, it is the primary responsibility of our government to provide security for its citizenry where they are located. Hence we demand our rights be protected as a peace-loving and law-abiding people of Bunu District.

5. That in the meantime, every community in Bunuland should endeavour to make security a topmost priority, devising ways of gathering reliable information about movement and activities of criminal elements to assist security agencies in stemming the acts of killing of farmers and villagers.

6. That each community, as a matter of urgency needs to intensify efforts to form vigilante groups to assist government efforts.

7. That the bad people among Fulani herders are hereby, sternly warned to steer clear of our farms and other properties, as pushing the people to the precipice with incessant killings and destruction of our people and their farmlands will certainly have a dangerous reverberating effect on peaceful cohabitation between the ever accommodating Bunu people and the hostile invaders.

8. That BDA will immediately set up a committee that would among others;

i. monitor security situation in Bunuland,

ii. make a follow-up on our demands from government,

iii. Come up with proactive ways to prevent security breakdowns and ensure that killings of our people and the destruction of their properties are addressed appropriately.

9. That we will start pulling resources together to encourage our local hunters/vigilante in support of the government’s effort for providing security for our people and defend them against external aggression.

10. That in the interest of peace, stability and sanctity of lives of law-abiding Bunu people, government at all levels should heed our yearnings in these regards so that we will neither feel alienated nor succumb to the temptation of seeking self-help on the very fragile issue of security.

Rev Josiah Jemibawondo*

Bunu Development Association President