Gov Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau
By Pamtok Musa
No fewer than forty persons have been killed in a fresh attack by gunmen terrorists on Zike community, Kimakpa in the Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Mr Wakili Tongwe, a Kwall community leader, who disclosed this to newsmen on Monday, said the attackers invaded the village in the early hours of Monday and shot sporadically at residents who were scampering for safety after hearing gunshots.
He said that a team of vigilantes, including himself and some security personnel, were on patrol in another community when the attackers invaded the village and started shooting.
According to Wakil, although security personnel engaged the invaders and succeeded in repelling the attackers, the damage had been done, with about thirty-six persons shot dead and four others dying later.
Some other residents sustained gunshot wounds and are receiving medical attention at the hospital, he further said.
Security agencies in the state are yet to comment on the attack, which is coming less than two weeks after fifty-two persons were killed in some communities of the Bokkos Local Government Area of the North-Central state.
Plateau State has, for several decades, been a hotbed of killings, with gunmen sacking entire communities.
About 200 people were killed at Christmas 2023 celebrations during a bloody attack on a majority Christian community.
In May last year, around 40 people were killed and homes torched in the town of Wase.
Experts blame the fight for resources between farmers and herders as a major cause of the attacks.
But the governor of the state, Caleb Muftwang, says there is more to the attacks.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists.
“The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism.
“This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel,” the governor said in a recent interview on Channels TV.
He said bandits have taken over 64 communities in the state.
“As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau between Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Riyom local governments.
“They have been taken over, renamed, and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy,” ,” Muftwang said.
The Federal Government has been talking tough following the recent wave of attacks, vowing to flush out the assailants.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, “ordered the immediate and comprehensive deployment of police tactical assets to the affected areas of the state”.
