Palpable anger has trailed Tuesday’s simultaneous attack on 18 villages of Mangu LGA of Plateau State that led to the killing of over 100 people in less than 48 hours by persons suspected to be militia herders in the area.
The villages that came under attack by militia herders were under the Districts of Bwai, Panyam, Pushit, Mangu, Murish, Kombum, Fungzai, and Kubwat villages among many others.
Most of the victims who were killed by the suspected terrorists were women and children. They have been massacred during the overnight unprovoked attack. Their houses, foodstuffs, food barns, and seedlings were also burnt.
The killings are one among many in Mangu, Barki Ladi, Riyom, and Bokkos LGA where over 200 persons have been killed in the last four months before the latest attacks.
Thousands of protesting women also besieged the palace of the traditional ruler the Miskhaham Mwaghavul Da, John Putmang Hirse where a security meeting was convened with security chiefs, District heads, and government officials to address the security challenges in the area. They were protesting the killings of their sons and husbands by the militia.
Our correspondent reports that the villagers whose houses were burnt has relocated in large numbers with their belongings to seek refuge in Mangu town. Most of these communities have been deserted with nobody residing in the communities.
The victims of the attacks were given a mass burial amidst tears by relatives and members of the communities who gathered to witness the funeral service on Wednesday.
District heads of the affected communities who spoke at the Palace of Miskhaham Mwaghavul HRH Da John Putmang Hirse during the visit of the State governor Simon Lalong, secretary to state government (SSG), Prof. Danladi Atu and heads of security agencies in the state on a fact-finding mission to Mangu LG painted a very gory picture of the situation on ground.
The district head of Bwai, Da Gabriel Gusat explained that the conflict broke out in his community when Fulani men in the locality attacked and killed one of his subjects who approached a herder and complained of the destruction of his banana plantation by the herders’ cattle.
He noted that as a result of the conflict over 30 people were killed in Fungzai with a cumulative number of nearly 50 people in 10 villages.
Also, the Madakin Kombum, Da Samuel Auta summed up his narration alluding that the Fulanis were on an ethnic cleansing agenda as they ransacked villages unabated to kill whoever that is insight. He decried the absence of security personnel in the area.
Similarly, the Acting District Head of Mangu, Da Peter Yatep Kataka, said most people in the villages are now in his domain because of the attacks on the various villages.
He gave the casualty figure in Kantoma as 33 dead while 5 people were killed at Aloghom.
Kataka pointed out that the wailing that resonated at the Palace of the Mishkaham Mwaghavul during the visit was from women whose husbands have just been buried and were seeking justice for their loved ones who were brutally killed by the suspected herdsmen.
In the same vein, the District Head of Panyam, Da. Engr. Aminu Derwam alleged that there is an agenda behind the attack, stressing that his attention was drawn to the influx of Fulanis in his community who came from Murish. But on getting to the location, they were confronted by heavily armed herdsmen noting that they escaped by the whiskers, though luck run out for one of them who was arrested by security personnel.
He said Changal, Larkas, and other surrounding villages were also attacked. He said the attacks were calculated efforts to grab their grab land.
On his part, the district head of Pushit also took turns to narrate the ordeal of his people where he noted that Pushit is now crowded as a result of the sporadic attacks on communities.
According to him, Gwet, Nten, and other villages were attacked in the night and chronicled his remark by saying Mangu is under siege.
Again, the district head of Gindiri, Alhaji Tanko Adamu said Changal II was also attacked and people were killed by some assailants. He also said thousands of families lost their houses while appealing to the state and federal government for more security presence.
Also reacting to the killings, the speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abok Ayuba described as totally unacceptable the latest attacks and gruesome killing of over (100) people (including women and children) in Fungzai, Kubwat, Kantoma, Tanknale, and other communities of Mangu LGA.
He argued that the governor and security agencies must live up to their primary responsibility of protecting the lives and property of citizens by going beyond the usual rhetorics of condemning the continuous attack on our communities to demonstrate the sincerity of purpose, seriousness, and genuine commitment to curbing the excesses of land invaders and bring to an end the incessant killings in the State.
The Speaker also insisted that the best and most comforting condolence messages acceptable to the Plateau State House of Assembly under his speakership and indeed Plateau people at the moment from both President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Simon Lalong-led administrations respectively is the apprehension and prosecution of the perpetrators of these attacks and their sponsors.
Abok in a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen reiterated that the massive deployment of security personnel in the State House of Assembly complex to prevent him and his honourable colleagues from carrying out their constitutional responsibilities of lawmaking can better be redeployed to protecting communities that are susceptible to attacks by desperate land grabbers.
Furious over the attacks, the Senator-elect representing Plateau Central, Hon. Diket Plang, in a statement, said the constant onslaught against the peace-loving people of the senatorial district, precisely in Mangu and Bokoss local government areas, has reached such a crescendo that the people no longer sleep with their two eyes closed.
According to him, as a result of the attacks, the people who were predominantly farmers can no longer access their farms for fear of being attacked by gunmen, adding to the air of apprehension that presently pervades most communities in the affected local government area.
Hon. Plang, who lamented that the attack came at a time of the year when farming activities were going on across the communities, said if not tamed by the relevant authorities, the incessant attacks could lead to hunger apart from the present loss of lives.
Above all, the National President of Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA), Sir, Joseph Gwankat had disclosed that the death toll has risen to 125.
He said the victims were given mass burial in the evening of Wednesday, noting that more corpses are being recovered, he said, “A lot of people can not be accounted for. The process of recovering corpses is ongoing. As I am speaking to you we are still counting”.
According to him, more than 25,000 families were displaced and seeking refuge in Mangu town as a result of the burning down of their houses.
He appealed to the state and federal government to, as a matter of urgency, deploy adequate security personnel to the affected communities with a view to protecting the people from further attacks by these enemies of progress.
The MDA president also called on the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately come to the aid of those who are displaced as a result of the dastardly act.
The Miskhaham Mwaghavul, HRH Da John Putmang Hirse while speaking appealed to the military to deploy its intelligence gathering mechanism to unravel the people carrying out the killings and where they are coming from.
According to him, the entire Mwaghavul land is under siege.
He called on governments at all levels to rise to their primary responsibility of protecting the lives and prosperity of the citizens.
The Royal Father explained that the invaders came with sophisticated weapons and unleashed terror on his subjects. He questioned the whereabouts of the gunmen who are believed to always retreat to reload their arms after an attack on any of the communities noting that the number of casualties was disheartening.
On her part, women leader, Hon. Ishatu Mantu, said governor Simon Lalong has turned his back on the people of Mangu LGA, and they are being killed by assailants on their ancestral lands.
According to her, they were the people that voted him into power in 2015 stressing that Lalong won twice because of Mangu votes.
She appealed to the federal government to as a matter of urgency send in detachment of mobile policemen to the area to bring the carnage to an end immediately.
However, the Plateau State Police Command has disclosed that five suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the killings and are currently in the custody of the Special Task Force code-named Operation Safe Haven (OPSH).
In a statement issued in Jos by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Alfred Alabo, he said exhibits recovered from the bandits include AK47 rifle, a revolver pistol, and cartridges.
“In the course of the struggle with the attackers, one Cpl. Abdullahi Umar 07NA attached to Sector 8 STF sustained bullet injuries and is currently receiving treatment at the STF headquarters, Jos,” the PPRO stated.
The statement further said security personnel have been deployed to the area to forestall any further breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile, Lalong who was represented by the deputy governor, Prof. Sonni Tyoden, at the occasion, said the the state government on its part will do everything humanly possible to ensure citizens’ lives are protected.
“The state government is aware of her responsibility. That is why we are here today to sympathize with the people. I am here on this visit with members of the state emergency management agency (SEMA) and thenational emergency management agency (NEMA) with the view to take stock to assist the victims.
According to the governor, efforts are being made to bring succour to communities in Mangu Local Government Area attacked by suspected herdsmen while the same is being done to secure the lives and property of citizens in affected communities.
He called on the youths not to take the law into their hands, adding that the government will do everything possible to fish out the perpetrators of this heinous act so that they will be made to face the full wrath of the law of the land also commiserated with families who lost their loved ones to carnage.
On his part, the Plateau State governor-elect, Caleb Mutfwang, claimed that foreign mercenaries were behind the incessant attacks and killings in some communities in the State.
Mutfwang, who spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ monitored by our correspondent in Jos on Tuesday night, blamed foreign mercenaries for the incessant attacks on the Plateau people.
He admitted that he was not in the best position to speak about the crisis since he was yet to be sworn in as a governor of the State, Mutfwang, however, said: “I can assure you that these people are brought in from outside those communities.”
When asked if the attackers are Nigerians, he said, “I don’t have exact details to give you at the moment. But all the years down the line, a lot of their identities have been revealed that these are not Nigerians and they have been brought in as foreign mercenaries.”
According to Mutfwang, the mercenaries were being sponsored but he did not know those behind it.
“The purpose of those who perpetrate the attack may just be because they are hirelings. I want to ask: who is the person that is sponsoring them? Who is instigating them? What is his aim?
“Sometimes, it is difficult to disabuse your mind that this is not about land grabbing. The communities that have been displaced by now, it is not as if they are vacant. Some people are occupying them.
“We think it has a lot to do with land grabbing. It has a lot to do with the demarketing of the state because I can tell you that the security situation in the Plateau is not the worst in the North. But there has been a lot of demarketing of the Plateau,” the governor-elect said.
He also promised to work for the people, maintaining he won’t loot the state’s resources.
“My appetite for greed has been trimmed and I can assure you that I am not going there for stealing,” Mutfwang added, saying: “I am only going there to make sure that Plateau works.”
Be that as it may, can the Governor-elect Barr. Caleb Mutfwang tame this hydra-headed monster (killing by herders militia) that has defiled practical solutions over the years in the state? only time will tell.
