Plateau State governor Caleb Mutfwang, has lamented the killing of 140 people by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen in 17 communities in the Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas of the State.
Governor Mutfwang described the attacks, which unfolded in the majorly between Saturday and Monday as “senseless and unprovoked.”
“It has been a very terrifying Christmas for us here in Plateau,” said the governor Tuesday.
“As I am talking to you, in Mangu local government alone, we buried 15 people. As of this morning, in Bokkos, we are counting not less than 100 corpses. I am yet to take stock of (the deaths in) Barkin Ladi.”
Gov. Mutfwan said.
Some of the locals who spoke to Associated Press said that it took more than 12 hours before security agencies responded to their call for help.
“I called security but they never came. The ambush started 6 in the evening but security reached our place by 7 in the morning,” said Sunday Dawum, a youth leader in Bokkos. At least 27 people were killed in his village, Mbom Mbaru, including his brother, he said.
The Nigerian army said it has begun “clearance operations” in search of the suspects, with the help of other security agencies, although arrests are rare in such attacks.
“We will not rest until we bring all those culpable for these dastardly acts to book,” said Abdullsalam Abubakar, who commands the army’s special intervention operation in Plateau and neighboring states.
Meanwhile writing on his X page former Senator Shehu Sani said:“I watched the video of the outcome of the Massacre in Plateau State. This is one of the most cruel and evil acts of inhumanity I’ve ever seen. Should we condemn it and unequivocally demand justice or should we continue with the complicit practice of the deodorisation of mass murder using religious or ethnic sentiments?
“The scene of a baby crying on the back of the corpse of its mother is horror that should haunt the conscience of every responsible citizen of this country.”
