Gunmen kill 10, sack 6 villages in Plateau

THE raging hostility in the northern part of Plateau State between the Berom natives and the Fulani herdsmen took a frightening dimension on Monday with the killing of another 10 people, while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries in Riyom Local Government Area of the state. This is even as a member of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Daniel Dem, representing the affected constituency, disclosed that no fewer than 30 people had been killed by the rampaging Fulani in the past one month.

 A source close to Riyom Local Government told Nigerian Tribune that a group of people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, armed with sophisticated weapon, numbering about 40 stormed the hinterland of the council on Monday at about 5.30 p.m. in a guerrilla-like operation. It was learnt that the suspected Fulani herdsmen ransacked six villages, set houses ablaze at random and randomly opened fire during the operation which lasted for close to three hours before the arrival of men of the Special Task Force.

 Nigerian Tribune gathered from the local government authorities, that as of Tuesday morning, no fewer than 10 corpses of those gunned down while trying to escape were picked in different parts of the affected villages, most especially in the bush. The villages sacked by the marauders in the local government are Tahol, Kasual, Bangai, Sopp, Angwan Were and Tanyol, while the survivors of the raids are now taking refuge at a primary school at the council’s headquarters. 

Those who sustained injuries are, however, receiving treatment in various health centres within the locality. Honourable Daniel Dem , who represents the area in the House of Assembly, confirmed the incident, saying one of the reasons why state of emergency was declared in four local government areas of the state was to halt senseless killings of the people by the rampaging Fulani herdsmen in the local government, adding that the step taken by the Federal Government was yet to yield positive result.

 He called on the Federal Government to review the state of emergency declared in the four local government areas of the state, adding that the people of the affected areas were yet to feel the impact of the emergency rule in terms of protection of life and property. “What is the benefit of the emergency rule, when the affected areas are on siege and constant attack without any effort to ameliorate the situation? The attack is now more rampant than before when there was no emergency in place.

 In the past one month no fewer than 30 people had been killed by these people. Is the emergency a blessing or a curse?” he asked. The information officer of the Special Task Force, Captain Mdahyelya Markus who confirmed the attack, did not mention the number of causality but, however, declared that the command had sent reinforcement of STF men to all the affected villages.

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