From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Five people, including a pastor, were killed and several others wounded as gunmen attacked the Kimakpa village of Kwall district in Bassa Local Government of Plateau State, at midnight, on Monday.
The Secretary, Irigwe Development Association ((IDA), Sam Jugo, in a statement, yesterday, said the villagers woke up to another carnage in the early hours of Monday.
He said: “We woke up this morning to another sad one. In the middle of the night of June 2, 2024, criminal invaders attacked and killed five of our residents in cold blood at Kimakpa. The criminal elements, who came in their numbers with heavy weaponry, killed a pastor of the Assemblies of God Church, Kwall, Pastor Dauda Dalyop.
Jugu named those killed to include Mrs Chummy Dauda, 57 years; Mr. Chwe Ajuhs, 26 years; Mr. Joshua Kusa, 45 years, and Mrs Rikwe Doro, 43 years old. He added that two people were severely injured and were undergoing treatment at home, stressing that troops of the Operation Safe Haven were instantly mobilised to avert further genocide.
“There’s uneasy calm in Kwall district as of now. The sad incident came just two days after some disgruntled elements ambushed some Rigwe youth on motorcycle while returning from Gero mining site and killed, instantly, Mr Irmiya Musa Timbi and severely injured one other.
“We use this medium to further appeal for calm to enable the security agencies carry out their investigations. We should upscale our vigilance, avoid night movements to distant destinations and suppress the urge for reprisal or taking the law in our hands, and give the security agencies the benefit of the doubt. As much as we are quite saddened by this condemnable incident, we cannot afford to aggravate the situation by seeking self help at this time. We call on the security agencies to do the needful by fishing out the culprits, so that the affected will see justice being served, as that’s the only way to restore the confidence of our people”.
Efforts to reach the Spokesman of the police, DSP Alfred Alabo, and his OPSH counterpart, Major Samson Khazom, STF, were unfruitful as they could not respond to the calls. The latest incident is coming less than three weeks after OPSH inaugurated a 17-man Peace Committee, to end the spate of killings in Irigwe land and the entire Bassa LGA and environs.
The committee replaced the 36-man joint committee inaugurated on September 11, 2021 to work out modalities to achieve peace and reconciliation between the various tribes in Bassa, Jos North and South as well as Riyom Local Government Areas of Plateau State. The 17-man committee, Daily Sun gathered, is to implement the recommendations of the 36-man committee as it affects Irigwe land, which became redundant over time.