Outcast
By Yakubu Uba
Yola, April 27, 2018 (NAN) Alhaji Mustafa Sanusi, the District Head of Duhu in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa, has advocated ban of outcast and discriminatory customs to check insecurity in the state.
Sanusi made the call on Friday at a Peace Architecture Dialogue (PAD), organised for stakeholders in Yola.
He disclosed that the cultural problem of regarding some category of people or tribe (Matakam) as outcast in his area had forced many to join insurgent groups like Boko Haram.
The district head recalled that when the insurgents invaded his area in 2014, the category of people regarded as outcast, were easily recruited by Boko Haram.
“We conducted a research and discovered that about 70 per cent of the people who joined the insurgents were the outcasts comprising Matakam tribe and youths born out of wedlock being taunted as bastards,” Sanusi said.
Sanusi, therefore, called for new legislation and domestication of existing national and international statutes by the state government to ban such discriminatory customs.
He stressed that the discriminatory customs, if not urgently addressed “is a time bomb ready to explode and cause more security challenges in the state’’.
On success story so far recorded in his area, the district head said that five insurgents were recently killed in a joint operation by the military and the vigilante.
He said the development had helped to curtail cases of attacks and kidnappings in the area.
“We have also formed a group that also resolve cases of farmers/herders clashes in the area. As I speak now, we have people being trained on conflict early warning signs for prompt action in my area,’’ he said.
Sanusi commended the constitution of a mediation committee to look into complaints regarding insurgency and insecurity in the state.
He said the committee received over 135 complaints comprising 16 capital offences and had resolved five murder cases. (NAN)
YMU/ROT
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Edited by Rotimi Ijikanmi
District Head seeks ban of outcast customs to check insecurity in Adamawa
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