The displaced Bassa tribe of Toto local government area of Nasarawa State has called on the federal government to intervene in their case as the state government has refused to return them back to their ancestral homes.
The acting secretary, National Bassa Youth Development Association, Comr. Abdullahi Shuaibu, while disclosing this yesterday, revealed that the Bassas have lost lives and properties worth millions of Naira due to the displacement incident.
He said the government of Nasarawa State under the watch of Abdulahi Sule is yet to do enough to return the displaced Bassa people to their ancestral homes, neither has the government rendered any form of assistance, nor palliatives, nor provision for IDPs camps where the Bassas reside.
According to him, the royal fathers, elders, alongside the youths of both Bassas and Ebiras have been putting in their best to reach out to the state government, local government, and stakeholders within and outside the state to discuss the issue of the home return, but all efforts seems not to yield any positive result due to the political approach the incumbent government gives to the entire processes of the home return of the Bassa people.
He said, “Without gainsaying, Sule has neglected the Bassa people in his administration as he has not recognized or featured any Bassa person in his cabinet and this is one of the tribes known in the state, it’s perplexing that we laboured but reaped neglect from the state government.
“Your Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio, the Speaker House of representatives Tajudeen Abbas and all prominent personalities (home and abroad), we call for a quick intervention because since the inception of the communal crisis in April 2018 in Toto LGA of Nasarawa State, the Bassa people of the area have remained in exile till date,” he said.