Survivors and eyewitnesses of the recent terrorist attacks in Plateau State have told tales of horror in the killings that have drawn general condemnation from within and outside the country.
LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that for two days beginning on Christmas Eve, terrorists invaded about 20 communities in the local government areas of Plateau State, killing and maiming everybody within sight and burning down houses and other property in a well-coordinated attack that left nearly 200 people dead.
The assistant youth leader, Maiyanga Community Bokkos local government area, Jeff Mato, told our correspondent that at about 5pm on Christmas Eve, he and others saw hundreds terrorists surrounding the neighbouring village of Darwat Hurun preparatory to invading the community.
He said: “Before we knew what was happening, they (attackers) started coming toward my village, Maiyanga, to also attack us. By that time we were trying to see how they could repel the attack because there were no any security personnel on sight, the terrorists struck our village.”
Mato said the terrorists killed 17 persons in Darwat Hurun and nine in Maiyanga. They also burnt down over 100 houses, several motorcycles, and livestock, and made away with a large quantity of food stuff harvested.
He said he and many others managed to escape to tell the story.
Another eyewitness, who gave his name as Pangnaan David, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that on that day, at about 4pm he and others received a security report that terrorists were coming to attack and that they should be on red alert in the area.
He narrated that while they were mobilising the youths to keep watch, they saw the terrorists fully armed to the teeth coming to attack their village.
According to him, there were Fulani tribesmen who had been residing in the area for quite some time and that at about 8pm they noticed the movement of cattle from their quarters, and before long there was a rain of bullets everywhere.
“I managed to escape to safety with my physically-challenged brother who is on wheel chair,” he said.
Mary Samuel, from the village of Bachik, survived the raid but lost 11 members of her family to the terrorists.
She told LEADERSHIP Weekend that they were all in the house waiting for a meal to be served when suddenly she saw a large number of people dressed in black uniforms.
Samuel said they have taken over any available space in the village.
According to her, they quickly attacked her family and killed her husband and his younger brother.
“We are a family of 12 people in our house; none survived the attack except only me. I ran to this place naked with some children without any cloth to protect us from the cold.
She went on: “I have nowhere to go or sleep except this primary school. I have been here for the past three days now without food or water. My family compound has been burnt to ashes with bags of grains that were harvested destroyed. The terrorists also looted our property while they were killing us .I crawled along with many others on the ground in the night in the bush to be able to reach here.”
Samuel, who was seen at the camp rolling and crying on the ground, appealed to government at all levels to intervene in their situation.
“The women you see here have no husbands. They have been killed, including the pastors that we have in the villages,” she said in a shaky voice.
Another survivor, Tabitha Timothy, from Darwat Hurun in Bokkos LGA told our correspondent that so many men were slaughtered right in her presence.
“Some women’s hands and legs were cut off with machetes by these heartless men. They also harvested our potatoes from the farm.
“Our houses were burnt down. A lot of women taking refuge in this stadium have not seen their husbands and children for the past three days; they might have been killed by these terrorists. For me, as I am talking to you, I do not know where my husband and children are.
“Since the past three days that we have been here, I have not seen my husband, nor children. I am pleading with government to come to our aid,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Indeed, it was black Christmas for residents of over 20 communities in Mangu, Barki Ladi and Bokkos local governments of Plateau State when suspected Fulani militia, in coordinated and unprovoked attacks, invaded the communities, killing men, women, children and maiming others in their sleep.
The Christmas Eve gory killings happened at a time residents of these communities, who are predominantly Christians, were preparing to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones who had travelled from the cities to the villages for the Yuletide.
However, their lives were cut short and so many families have been thrown into mourning by the marauders who cowardly crept into these peaceful communities to commit these heinous crimes.
At the last count, LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt, the attackers left over 200 people dead and 1,290 houses burnt, with 81 vehicles destroyed. Thousands of people were rendered homeless and are seeking refuge in churches, stadium. Many others have been maimed and are receiving treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Some of the villages that came under heavy attacks by the night marauders are Ndun, Ngyong, Murfet, Makundary, Tamiso, Chiang, Tahore, Gawarba, Dares, Meyenga, Darwat and Butura Kampani village, NTV, Hurum, and Darawat.
Plateau State Governor Celeb Mutfwang,, while speaking on the attacks on Channels TV, said no fewer than 64 communities had been displaced by terrorists who are occupying the areas and some schools.
Mutfwang also highlighted the immense burden placed on the state by the continuous displacement of citizens due to terrorist activities.
He said, “When people are dislocated from their villages and they have to run for shelter, now we are struggling to provide shelter for these people that have been displaced and dislocated from their communities.
“If they stay away from those communities for a sustained period of time, the terrorists would come in. As I am talking to you today in Riyom and Barki Ladi LGA, schools have been occupied by these terrorists for almost a number of years now.
“We have no fewer than 64 communities that have been displaced and their lands have been taken over by these terrorists.”
In the same vein, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Plateau Chapter, Rev. Fr. Polycarp Lubo, while reacting to the Christmas Eve massacre in communities in Mangu, Barki Ladi and Bokkos LGAs, said no fewer than 157 persons had been killed by the raiders.
Lubo expressed dismay that the people failed to heed to the early warning issued to them by the marauders.
Fr. Lubo said, “I was told that these killers or suspected herders actually sent letters to the villagers. They told them that they will not celebrate Christmas but will run away with their rice. So I am surprised they were not able to tell security agents or anybody about it.”
“As CAN chairman, I was told that over 150 people have been killed and as I was coming here I got report that a family of five and two others were killed in Barkin Ladi.
“So I am calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the military high command to relocate to the three embattled local government areas so that they can stop these senseless killings.”
Fr. Lubo called on the people of Plateau, especially the Plateau Indigenous Development Association (PIDAN), to rally their people together towards a common defence of their communities.
Similarly, the president of Evangelical Church Wining All (ECWA) and head of Denominational Churches in Plateau State Rev. (Dr.) Stephen Baba Panya has called on President Bola Tinubu to put a stop to the unwarranted killing of Christians and other innocent Nigerians who have been held captive in their own motherland.
ECWA president, in a statement issued in Jos, said
these attacks once again call for strategic intelligence, synergy, sincerity of purpose, commitment and the political will to address insecurity on the Plateau in particular and the country as a whole.
He urged government and security agencies to track, arrest and prosecute the perpetrators and sponsors of this heinous crime against humanity.
“The message must be unambiguous that no one is above the law. The only way to rekindle the hope of Nigerians and build public confidence in the government is to bring all the criminal elements to book.”
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