The district head of Manguna in Bokkos local government area of Plateau State, Chief Raymond Alo, has revealed that some perpetrators of the attacks that led to the killing of over 60 persons are known members of the communities. Alo made the revelation during the visit of the Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang to the mass grave site where slain community members were buried.
He appealed to Governor Caleb Mutfwang to intensify efforts to draw federal government attention to the plight of the victims and the urgent need to rebuild their communities.
I gathered that the latest attacks began in Ruwi community, when the people were mourning the death of a loved one. They were suddenly attacked by suspected Fulani militias without any provocation or prior incidents to justify such violence and killing of innocent children and women.
Piqued, the Plateau, the Middle Belt Ethnic Nationalities, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the former military administrator (MILAD) of Plateau Rear Admiral Samuel Atukum retd have called on the federal government and security agencies to end the spate of killings and bloodbath.
Recently addressing newsmen in separate briefings at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre in Jos, the two groups said it had become obvious that the perpetrators of these dastardly acts were out to cleanse the entire ethnic groups in the state.
The chairman, Plateau State Civil Society Organisation Forum, Rev. Chris Damcher and representative of the Middle Belt Ethnic Nationalities, Prof. Abraham Dogo, who both spoke at the press briefings, expressed anger at what they described as attempts to totally annihilate all the ethnic groups on the Plateau.
Rear Admiral Samuel Atukum who also hails from Bokkos LGA on his part, alleged that there was a deliberate attempt to erase the people of Plateau State from the surface of the earth by constant attacks on its citizens.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Oluyemi Oluyede, and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who led a delegation of senior military officers on-the-spot assessment visit to the communities assured the people of Plateau State that the perpetrators of this heinous crime would be arrested to face the full wrath of the law.
Governor Caleb reaffirmed his administration’s unwavering commitment to rebuilding the destroyed communities and ensuring the safe return of all displaced persons to their homes adding that government is doing everything within the law to provide adequate security, particularly in Bokkos LGA, to allow farmers access to their lands.
