Plateau Youths Finger Herders’ Squad In Renewed Killings

A group, Plateau Youth Council (PYC), has raised the alarm over renewed killings by militia in the last two weeks with over 30 people sent to their untimely grave and property worth millions destroyed.

The group said information available to them showed that a killer squad operated by some herders was responsible for the killings in Plateau villages.

 It claimed that they carried out coordinated attacks in Mangu, Barkin-Ladi, Riyom, Jos South and Bokkos local government areas of the state.

The chairman of PYC, Lot Sunday Adas and his counterpart for Coalition of Plateau State, Dekete Joshua who addressed newsmen said from April 15, 2023 till date, the above villages and hamlets came under attacks, adding that “our people are killed, properties worth millions of naira have been destroyed while others have been displaced from their ancestral homes.”

The press briefing, which was held in collaboration with the Coalition of Plateau State Indigenous Youths, and the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN), revealed the killer group had imported to Plateau what it has been doing in southern Kaduna and Benue State.

Adas said: “Since April 15, 2023 to April 29, 2023, a total of nine persons were killed in different incidences in Mangu LGA, nine in Barkin Ladi LGA, six persons in Riyom LGA, six persons in Jos South LGA and three persons in Bokkos LGA, bringing the total number to 33 persons.

“These attacks are orchestrated largely to disrupt farming activities, economic livelihoods, displace population and grab lands in these communities.

“The aforementioned attacks are in addition to the many attacks that have taken place in several villages in Bokkos, Riyom and Bassa LGAs.

“The above incidents are sufficient evidence that the Fulani militias have resumed their onslaughts on the innocent people of Plateau state just like it has been happening in parts of Southern Kaduna and Benue state. In our view, these attacks should never be mistaken for isolated incidents or better still, the so-called farmer-herder clashes. Rather, they are strategies of war and terrorism aimed at disrupting farming activities, displacing the people and grabbing their lands.

“Unfortunately for the victims in all these villages and Hamlets of Plateau State, the response of security agencies, particularly the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), has always come too late and too little to save their lives and situation despite the early warning signals sent to them by members of our coalition.

“Today, these people have lost their lives, their dreams and aspirations in life cut short while their responsibilities over their children and wives have to be shouldered by surviving family members whether young or aged. To us, this was entirely avoidable and therefore, highly condemnable.”