The four branches of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Plateau State has urged the Federal Government to allow residents to defend themselves.

The NBA said that the worn-out slogan of “Enough is enough” should be “This is Enough, and let us Stand up and take Action.”

According to the state NBA, the communities should be allowed to defend themselves, urging the Federal Government to empower vulnerable communities with self-defence mechanisms and equipment, since the security personnel are not enough to secure citizens’ lives.

These and others were the submission of the four branches of the NBA in Jos yesterday at a press briefing at NUJ State Secretariat. The four branches are Jos, Pankshin, Bukuru, and Shendam.

Addressing the journalists, the Chairman, NBA Jos Branch, Leah Dagung Hassan, said that the branches were saddened and pained by the spate of violent attacks in Bokkos and Bassa, which had claimed many innocent lives, leaving others injured, displaced, traumatized, and grieving.

According to her, “It is utterly heart-wrenching that while Plateau State is yet to recover from the horror and pain of previous attacks, our peace is once again shattered by another wave of senseless and barbaric killings.

“These acts of violence are a direct assault on our shared humanity, the rule of law, and the fundamental right to life as enshrined in our constitution.”

She said that the reaction of the national NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), calling on the federal government to rise up to its responsibility of safeguarding and protecting the life of every citizen was adequately captured.

Hassan said that they in Plateau totally adopted the President’s address calling on the government to uphold the tenets of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the right to life.

She said, “We further condemn in the strongest possible terms these brutal and premeditated attacks and call on all security agents to rise above rhetoric and deliver swift, visible, and effective justice.

“The continued blood letting in Plateau State under the guise of communal crises must no longer be treated with indifference or vague promises.”

She submitted that the four branches commended the actions taken so far by the state government, calling on the comprehensive and proactive steps to forestall future occurrences of the genocidal attacks on the people.

This is not a communal clash, as stated by some individual attack to wipe out helpless citizens sleeping in their houses in night by wicked men who have no regard for human lives.

“We cannot continue to be silent in the face of these barbaric and evil acts of killing innocent citizens and taking over their ancestral lands, making them strangers in their own home,” Hassan posited.

She demanded that all perpetrators who are arrested be prosecuted in the state and not be taken to Abuja, where nothing will be heard about them again, which indicates that they have been released.

The Federal Government, according to her, should deploy adequate security personnel to vulnerable communities with clear mandates for community protection.

Also, she said that states should be allowed to establish state police who will be armed with weapons to defend their communities.

The NBA branches said they also need the provision of relief and rehabilitation for affected persons, particularly women and children, and settlement for displaced communities within the shortest time. (The Guardian)