Say demand’s for justice, protection
By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – Christian leaders and indigenous youth groups in Plateau State have renewed calls for comprehensive constitutional and legal reforms, insisting that their demands are rooted in justice, protection and peaceful coexistence rather than revenge.
The position was articulated at a joint press conference held on Wednesday in Jos by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Plateau State Chapter, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, and the Coalition of Indigenous Youths Bodies of Plateau State.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the groups, Rev. Dachomo said persistent insecurity in Plateau and other parts of the Middle Belt had exposed serious structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s governance and constitutional framework, adding communities affected by years of violence and displacement were not calling for reprisals.
“We do not seek revenge,” he stated. “What we seek is justice, protection, and the right to exist, to worship freely, and to live in peace on our ancestral lands.”
They also called for the urgent constitutional amendment to decentralise Nigeria’s security architecture, arguing that the current centralised policing system has proved inadequate in responding to local security threats, particularly in rural areas.
The groups urged the Federal Government to translate the recent Presidential support for decentralisation into concrete legislative action.
“Our calls for decentralisation of the security apparatus must be matched with immediate constitutional amendment,” Rev. Dachomo stressed, maintaining that deregulating security, as has been canvassed in other sectors, could improve efficiency, intelligence gathering and response time.
The groups further called for a review of the Firearms Act, describing it as a colonial-era law that no longer reflects Nigeria’s present security realities, a d stated that a reformed legal framework should allow properly vetted citizens to exercise their right to self-defence, warning that current restrictions leave law-abiding communities exposed.
On land governance, the groups urged reforms to the Land Use Act of 1978, which they said has weakened indigenous land rights and contributed to recurring disputes and displacement in the Middle Belt.
Restoring clearer land ownership and community control, they emphasised, would reduce tensions and promote long-term stability.
They insisted that the scale and pattern of violence against Christian communities in parts of the North and Middle Belt amounts to genocide, a claim they said is supported by years of documentation, victim lists and district reports.
They warned that prolonged inaction and denial risk repeating the kind of international failure witnessed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where early warning signs were ignored with catastrophic consequences.
The groups further raised concerns about access to justice, citing cases in which victims of attacks were prosecuted after defending themselves.
They argued that judicial reform must accompany security restructuring to restore public confidence in the rule of law.
The people called for greater international engagement focused on human rights monitoring, institutional strengthening and support for constitutional reform, including the establishment of a permanent international human rights monitoring mechanism in the Middle Belt region.
They also advocated a sovereign national conference to review Nigeria’s constitutional foundations and advance true federalism, justice and inclusion.
Rev. Dachomo noted that Nigeria stood at a critical juncture, warning that without meaningful constitutional reform, insecurity and mistrust would persist.
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