Fulani community sues FG, Taraba government at ECOWAS court, demands $200m

- A Fulani association has accused the federal goverment and Taraba state governments of destroying lives and properties in 19 communities in Mambilla

- In June, residents of Mambilla plateau in Sardauna local government area of Taraba state took arms against each other over a protracted land dispute

- The association has now sued the federal government $200m as compensation for the damages suffered by their members during the clash

Nigeria's federal government and Taraba state have been slammed with a $200m lawsuit by the the Fulani community in Nigeria over alleged rights violation during the recent communal clash between herdsmen and farmers on the Mambilla plateau.

In June, residents of Mambilla plateau in Sardauna local government area of Taraba state took arms against each other over a protracted land dispute and this resulted into a bloody carnage.

In the suit which was filed at the ECOWAS court in Abuja, the petitioner demanded for a whopping sum as compensation for loss they alleged to have suffered during the crises, Premium Times reports.

The crises have been dogged with conflicting reports in terms of casualties since the unfortunate incident.

While the Nigerian government reported that only 18 people were killed in the violence, the Fulani community claimed that at least 732 people were killed or missing and 25,000 cattle were killed in the process.

Fulani leaders also alleged that they lost properties worth millions of naira as their properties were looted and destroyed.

The suit at the ECOWAS court was filed by the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, with the federal government of Nigeria as first respondent and the Taraba State government as second.

According to complaints filed by its solicitor, Yusuf Dankofa, a Professor of Law, and three others, the Fulani association accused the federal goverment and Taraba state governments of destroying lives and properties in 19 communities in Mambilla “between 17th and 23rd of June, 2017 in a well-coordinated and organized manner fit to be aptly described as “Genocide”.

In the filing, the applicants said that the “Fulani communities on the Mambilla Plateau suffered continuous and well-coordinated attacks by the militia group of the Mambilla ethnic group under the leadership of the Sardauna Local Government Chairman whose authority is as stipulated by the 2nd Defendant as provided by the Constitution of the 1st Defendant.

Part of the petition read:

5. NARRATION OF FACTS BY THE PLAINTIFF:

i. This suit is brought by the Registered Trustees of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria (to be subsequently called: “Gan Allah”) on behalf of the Fulani Communities on the Mambilla Plateau of Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State; against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a member of the Economic Community for West Africa (ECOWAS) and a state party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples‟ Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, and other related human rights treaties and against the 2nd Defendant for its roles in permitting the carnage committed against the Fulani Communities on the Mambilla Plateau.