Plateau senator slams NIPSS DG over ‘Berom militia’ comment

The lawmaker representing Plateau North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Pam Mwadkon Dachungyang, has slammed the Director General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, Professor Ayo Omotayo, for allegedly making derogatory comments about the Berom people.

During a television interview on Friday, Omotayo had, while responding to a question on the identity of gunmen who have attacked the institution on three occasions in the past two weeks, referred to the attackers as “Berom militias”, a remark that has drawn reactions and condemnation from different quarters.

While reacting to the interview in a statement on Saturday, Senator Dachungyang slammed Omotayo over the remarks, describing them as an insult not only to the Berom people but also to Plateau State, where the institution is located.

Dachungyang, who said he categorically rejects the DG’s claims, argued that any attempt to mischaracterise the Berom people or any other ethnic nationality on the Plateau, will be rejected.

“The identity of the Berom people is deeply rooted in values of integrity, hospitality, communal harmony, and their peaceful nature towards their neighbours and visitors alike,” the lawmaker said.

He added that the core values of the Berom people have been testified to by many, and no one, no matter how highly placed, will be allowed to reduce these time-tested attributes for negative narratives.

Dachungyang explained that the Berom people and other ethnic groups in the state have suffered unquantifiable losses due to unprovoked attacks on peaceful communities, and to suggest that the Berom have a militia amounts to a direct assault on the people.

“Since its establishment in 1979, the host community has been nothing but a good host, as there has been no record of any confrontation between the NIPSS Community and the people of Kuru.

“It is also on record that the sixteen DGs who superintended over the affairs of the Institution have had nothing but kind words in describing the host community. So I am surprised as to where Professor Omotayo got this ‘militia’ description from.

“The issue of land compensation is a legitimate claim that should not be used to blackmail the host community.

“I understand that the Kuru community has been engaging the Institute on this matter, and at no time has this engagement has there been an open confrontation, so one wonders where the DG got the notion that the attackers were Berom militia,” the senator added.