The recent massacre of over 50 people in Plateau State by some blood-thirsty gunmen is heart-rending. These killings occurred a few days after the brutal killing of 16 northern hunters in Uromi, Edo State. It shows how low we place the sanctity of human lives in Nigeria today.
According to reports, the attacks happened at Hurti, Daffo, Ruwi, Mangor, Manguna and some other communities in Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State on April 2, 2025. The assailants invaded the communities in their numbers on motorcycles about 3pm and started shooting indiscriminately. They burnt over 300 houses and looted foodstuff and other items and displaced over 1,800 persons.
Over the years, Plateau State, ironically known as ‘Home for Peace and Tourism’, has been reduced to a theatre of war. Over 7,000 people are said to have been killed in recurrent violence among different ethnic groups in the state since 1994.
One of the worst crises in the state occurred in September 2001 in Jos when a young woman tried to pass through a roadblock by Muslims observing Juma’at Prayer. The violence that erupted afterwards claimed the lives of about 1,000 people. About 600 people were killed in a series of violence that occurred in 2002. In 2008, over 1,000 people lost their lives when a crisis broke out between indigenous people and the Hausa-Fulani over a local government election in Jos North.
In 2023, over 400 people lost their lives and properties worth millions of naira destroyed in attacks and reprisals on some villages in Barkin Ladi, Mangu and Bokkos LGAs.
Within the past one week, at least 60 people have been killed by gunmen in some parts of the North. In Funtua LGA of Katsina State, bandits reportedly invaded some villages between Saturday and Sunday and abducted over 50 people, including women and children. They killed at least six people. In Kebbi State, Lakurawa terrorists reportedly killed about 16 persons on Sunday when they attacked Tungar Ladan and Tungar Taura communities in Augie LGA.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State said the recent attacks in his state were not farmer-herder clashes but a coordinated crime sponsored by conflict merchants. He said some of the attackers had been arrested and promised that they would be prosecuted.
One disturbing fact is that each time these savage attacks occur, government officials are among the first to condemn them and promise swift action. Afterwards, nothing happens and the cycle of violence continues. President Bola Tinubu condemned the killings in Plateau State and directed security agencies to hunt down the attackers.
The National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, promised that the perpetrators would face justice. While affirming that government was determined to end such attacks, Ribadu claimed that nearly 2,000 terror suspects had been prosecuted nationwide in the past 18 months. We hope the prosecution will end with serious punishment.
We agree with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) which called on the Federal Government to halt the attacks and declare a state of security emergency in vulnerable communities. The ACF also called for effective early-warning and early-response strategies that will incorporate the participation of community members.
Incidentally, the Plateau killings have shown the hypocrisy of some of our people. When 16 hunters were killed in Edo last month, some northern groups and individuals attempted to make it an ethnic issue. They threatened reprisals against southerners. Now that more people have been killed in the North-Central, those groups have remained silent.
It must be noted that crime or killing has no ethnic or religious colouration. It can happen anywhere and anytime. We must condemn it whenever and wherever it happens without imputing tribal motifs. Human life is sacrosanct and must be protected at all times.
The North-Central is the food basket of the country. The spate of insecurity there has affected the availability and affordability of food in the country. Many farmers no longer go to their farms for fear of being attacked. This poses a great danger to the efforts to tackle hunger in the country. It also prevents investors from coming to invest in these crisis-prone areas.
We condemn the killings in Plateau State and elsewhere in the country and urge the Federal Government to take decisive actions against the perpetrators of these atrocities. Any culprit arrested for these terrorist acts must be made to face the full weight of the law.
The enormity of these crimes appears to have overwhelmed our security agencies. Government should consider beefing up the numerical strength of the police and the military to help tackle sundry crimes in the country.
We have continuously harped on beefing up the intelligence arm of these security agencies. This has become more urgent now than ever before. Government should also be serious about halting the proliferation of illegal arms in the country. Perhaps, it is time the clamour for state police comes to fruition. The central police alone cannot handle the escalating security breaches in Nigeria today. We commiserate with the bereaved families and implore the federal and state governments to pay them adequate compensation. Those displaced should be adequately taken care of.