Human rights activist, Dele Farotimi, has slammed the way the Federal Government of Nigeria is handling the ongoing violence in parts of the country.
In an interview on Channel Television monitored by DAILY POST on Friday, Farotimi described the violence as genocide rather than what officials often term “farmer-herder clashes.”
Weighing in on the recent international attention drawn to the killings, including comments attributed to US President Donald Trump, Farotimi lambssted what he termed the government’s persistent attempt to downplay the scale and nature of the atrocities.
“You are calling genocide farmers-herders clash — what nonsense! How can a farmer who owns nothing be clashing with somebody carrying a Kalashnikov and M-16 rifles? And they are calling it a farmers-herders clash. You even find government persons peddling that idiocy,” he said.
Farotimi accused authorities of ignoring the reality of widespread killings while concealing the truth under misleading labels.
According to him, the government’s denial has now been exposed by external voices calling attention to the situation.
His comments are coming in the wake of renewed debates over insecurity in Nigeria and global criticism of the government’s perceived failure to protect citizens in affected communities.
