Maj. Gen. Rogers Ibe Nicholas, rtd, the chairman of the fact-finding committee on insecurity set up by Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has revealed that all ethnic groups are involved in the violence in the state.

After submitting the report of the committee to Mutfwang last month, there were speculations that the report had indicted Fulani herdsmen as the aggressors in the crisis, which has lasted several years.

But in an interview with the Sun Newspaper, Nicholas, a former commander of Operation Safe Haven, revealed that the report did not specifically say that Fulani herdsmen were the only ones responsible for the violence and killings in the state.

The former military officer noted that during the committee’s interactions with different communities in the state, it was discovered that both indigenes and non-indigenes were involved in the crisis.

He also stated that every ethnic group in the state, irrespective of their religious beliefs, was also part of the crisis.

“This committee that was set up by the state government was to make findings and make recommendations to the state government. They are still secret documents, which have been handed over to the state government.

“So, it’s not yet in the public domain, and it will not be fair for me to start revealing the findings and recommendations until after the government has issued a white paper on it, then it can be made public. But for now, it’s a state government paper, so it’s domiciled with them,” he said.

Nicholas said reports flying around that the committee had indicted the herdsmen were wrong and far from the committee’s findings, which showed that all ethnic groups in the state were involved.

He stressed that during interactions with community leaders, the committee was able to piece together information that violence in the state does not emanate from one group alone.

According to him, most of the attacks were reprisals after a group was attacked, which often led to bloodshed and wanton destruction of properties.

“I think people need to be corrected based on the statement that Fulani are the ones causing the problem. The report did not say that.

“While we are clear, everybody, all the ethnic groups in Plateau, are in one way or another involved in a crisis in the Plateau. All the ethnic groups. But I know in some places, certain fingers have been pointed at a particular ethnic group.

“But in our report, we never said Fulani. We made it clear that all the ethnic groups have an issue with the crises in the Plateau.

“Everybody knows what is happening in Plateau. People don’t want to come out and say, look, these are the problems. Well, the findings, like I said, the recommendations are still coming. When it’s made public, people will see the recommendations and the findings we have made,” he added.

‘Indigenes, non-indigenes involved in Plateau crisis’ – Fact-finding committee chairman