Human rights activist and lawyer, Dele Farotimi, has criticised the government’s handling of ongoing violence in parts of the country, describing it as genocide rather than what officials often term “farmer-herder clashes.”
Farotimi, on Friday, during an interview on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, while speaking on recent international attention drawn to the killings, including comments attributed to former U.S. President Donald Trump, condemned what he called the government’s persistent attempt to downplay the scale and nature of the atrocities.
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“You are calling genocide farmers-herders clash — what nonsense,” he said. “How can a farmer who owns nothing be clashing with somebody carrying a Kalashnikov and M-16 rifles? And they are calling it a farmers-herders clash. You even find government persons peddling that idiocy.”
He accused authorities of ignoring the reality of widespread killings while concealing the truth under misleading labels.
“Let us deal with the reality that has been painted for us. Some of us have held up mirrors for a while, showing Nigeria the fact of its ugly nudity, but it refused to change,” he stated.
Farotimi said the government’s denial has now been exposed by external voices calling attention to the situation.
His comments come amid renewed debates over insecurity in Nigeria and global criticism of the government’s perceived failure to protect citizens in affected communities
“Now someone outside is telling them the truth; the truth is not devalued in the tongue of a liar,” he said.
“The question is, has Donald Trump lied about the killings? Maybe you don’t like the fact that he has called it a genocide, which is a very political word to use. But it doesn’t change the fact that unacceptable casualties are being recorded within a country that proclaims itself to be at peace.”
The activist lamented that even as people are being buried in mass graves, official attention remains fixed on semantics rather than accountability.
“People are being buried in mass graves, and we are still quarrelling over what name Donald Trump called it. I don’t need Trump to tell me what I have seen and heard. I have been using the word genocide to describe what is happening in Nigeria for close to 10 years.”
Farotimi accused elements within government of complicity, saying they are aware of the killings but choose silence.
“They don’t need Trump to tell them what is happening in their country; they are complicit in what is happening,” he added.
“These are persons exercising the powers of impunity extended by the Nigerian state and the assurance that nothing will happen, so they can do as they please.”