Blood on the Plateau

•Scores massacred, thousands displaced in Bokkos, Bassa LGs

From Jude Dangwam, Jos

A cold sense of fear is returning to Plateau State following the resumption of deadly attacks on farming communities. The fresh onslaughts, happening after a long break, had broken hearts, disrupted homes and rained terror in many communities in Bokkos and Bassa local governments.

Eyewitness said the attackers, who enjoyed their cruel exploits, killed scores of innocent villagers and displaced others, who had fled their homes to secure their lives.

Maren Aradong, Village Head of Hurti in Manguna District of Bokkos LG, attested to the fact that more than 40 people were mauled down in cold blood in his community by the killers. He said that more than 700 villagers were dislodged. He added that the gunmen looted foodstuffs and other items before departing the community in a bloodletting orgy of triumph.

He recounted in tears: “Last Wednesday, at about 3:00p.m, some gunmen invaded our communities in their numbers. They came on a number of motorcycles and attacked us. Some of us survived by the whiskers.

“In Hurti alone, these gunmen killed more than 40 victims and displaced about 1,000 persons. They also burnt 383 houses, destroyed foodstuffs and looted other items.” He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to take drastic measures to halt the unwholesome killings and loss of innocent human lives in the state.

Governor Caleb Muftwang has been nothing but deeply frustrated: “As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau. They have been taken over, renamed and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy.

“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists. The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism? This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel.”

The governor stated that these attacks could no longer be seen and interpreted as the usual farmer-herder clashes: “We must come to the point where we know the sponsors because it is not just the work of ordinary people. This is being sponsored from somewhere.

“I am sure that in the coming days, the security agencies will work together, not at cross purposes but in unison, to be able to bring out the requisite intelligence that will help us to put this matter behind us.”

President, Plateau Initiative for Development and Advancement of the Natives (PIDAN), Nanpon Danjuma Sheni, said: “The latest unprovoked, cowardly and widespread attacks of defenceless women and children and unarmed men in Ruwi, Hurti and Tadai communities demonstrate clearly that there are evil forces who are determined to make our state ungovernable for reasons best known to them. 

“Updates from the Hurti, Manguna and other places indicate that several unarmed women, children and others, were brutally murdered in their homes. Currently, many homes had been completely burnt with thousands of our people in IDP camps. There is a dire need of emergency medical services, including urgent food supplies” they lamented.

“PIDAN cannot afford to stand aloof in the face of these unjustified attacks on our people. Let me, therefore, on behalf of PIDAN, which represents about 56 indigenous (autochthones) ethnic nationalities on the Plateau, extends our deepest condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones in the various attacks experienced within the last couple of months in the state, but particularly the latest ones in Bokkos, where a number of lives were, unfortunately, lost.

“We call on security agencies, particularly the police and Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) to up their game, be more proactive and take immediate steps to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, whoever they and their sponsors might be.

“PIDAN demands full investigations to this obvious genocide against our people. For far long, Plateau State has been in the eyes of the storm with our people being slaughtered in their homes and forcibly driven away from their farmlands.  

“These routine and unprovoked attacks have made our communities to live in perpetual fear, sleeping with one eye opened. If the intention of the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity is to take over the ancestral lands of our communities, let them be informed that they are wasting their time as our people will resist to the last man such dubious and evil plans.” 

PIDAN urged the respective Community Development Associations (CDAs) to reactivate and enhance their own internal security mechanisms, particularly their vigilance groups for the protection of their people: “After all, self-defence is guaranteed by our Constitution, local policing has become a must in all our communities. Security is everyone’s business. An attack on one is an attack on all.

“I call on the Plateau State and Federal Governments and all people of goodwill to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of these unprovoked and condemnable attacks. The patience of our people has reached its limits.”

Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, ordered the immediate deployment of police tactical assets to the affected areas.

Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the fresh deployment underscored the resolve of the Force to restore peace, ensuring the safety and security of all residents and bringing perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice:

“The IGP has tasked Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Department of Operations, Kwazhi Yakubu, to lead and coordinate the tactical team with significant reinforcements, including additional units of highly trained tactical personnel, state-of-the-art drones for enhanced surveillance, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), units of Police Mobile Force, helicopters and specialised platoons from the Special Intervention Squad (SIS).

“Resources will be strategically deployed to conduct special operations aimed at effectively curbing the incessant attacks in Bokkos LG and surrounding communities, which have tragically resulted in the loss of innocent lives.”